The causal role of ideology and Cultural Systems in radicalisation and de-radicalisation

ABSTRACT

The concepts of radicalisation and de-radicalisation are primarily defined by the assumption they make that there is a causal relationship between ideas and action. However, the causal role of ideas in informing behaviour has been strongly contested and has thus far eluded and undermined radicalisation and de-radicalisation conceptually and practically. The following article provides a theoretical basis for identifying the causal relationship between ideas and action through Margaret Archer’s critical realist ontology. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Northern Ireland, the article identifies processes of ideational causal reproduction and morphogenesis in the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s thinking on armed struggle during its transition away from armed violence. It argues that the adoption of the Armalite and Ballot Box strategy in the 1980s introduced a contradiction in the movement’s ideology and that the movement was pressured to address this contradiction through three corrective cycles throughout the peace-process, subsequently softening its position on armed struggle.

KEYWORDS:

• Radicalisation
• de-radicalisation
• terrorism
• ideology
• causality
• Archer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Gordon Clubb's research has focused on de-radicalisation, re-integration and the use of former combatants in countering violent extremism. Publications include Social Movement De-Radicalisation and the Decline of the Terrorism: The Morphogenesis of the Irish Republican movement (Routledge 2017) and Understanding the Effectiveness and Desirability of De-Radicalisation: How de-radicalisation is framed in the Daily Mail (British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2019).

Shaun McDaid is Senior Lecturer in the Division of Criminology, Politics and Sociology at the University of Huddersfield. His research focuses on political violence and its prevention. He is co-author of Radicalisation and Counter-Radicalisation in Higher Education (Emerald, 2018) and author of Template for Peace: Northern Ireland, 1972–75 (Manchester University Press, 2013).

ORCID

Shaun McDaid http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8015-6475