Strategies for Preventing Radicalisation: Insights from the Practitioner Perspective

Abstract

Violent extremism is one of the biggest problems nowadays. Particularly, some characteristics of young people make them more vulnerable to radicalisation, so different prevention strategies have been developed. However, these strategies do not always take into consideration risk and protective factors, nor the skills that professionals should have. Therefore, this research aims at identifying prevention strategies through the reinforcement of protective factors that strength resilience against violent extremism considering the skills that professionals should have. A total of 70 professionals were interviewed on risk and protective factors in seven different countries of the European Union. After categorising these factors, a network analysis showed four clusters corresponding to four different prevention strategies: ‘empowering community identities’, ‘breaking out the brick wall’, ‘dismantling the extremist dynamics’, and ‘believing in higher values’. In summary, these four prevention strategies provide a conceptual framework of the skills needed to prevent adolescents from violent extremism.