The N Trilogy

Chapter 4 presents the theoretical framework that forms the backbone of the remaining chapters in the book. This framework identifies three basic factors (the three Ns) that perform important roles within the radicalization process—that is, the process whereby individuals comes to endorse and/or act upon an extreme ideology. These factors are the individual’s psychological needs, the narratives to which individual are exposed, and the social networks that embrace those narratives. These factors are first discussed within the context of extremism as a general phenomenon, before being applied to violent extremism as its specific case. Throughout the discussion, the analysis is specifically applied to right-wing extremism in Germany. The chapter ends by examining alternative models of radicalization and how these models are related to the three-factor framework advanced here.