RADIS meets RAN LOCAL

By Alexander Swidziniewski, Violence Prevention Network

In June 2024, the two research projects RadiRa and RaMi of the research network RADIS had the opportunity to present their key research findings to an international group of experts during a meeting of the RAN LOCAL working group with representatives from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, and the Institute of Social Safety in Poland. The invited scholars came from the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), Coventry University in England, and the Coordination Center for Countering Violent Extremism in Albania. The three-hour online knowledge exchange was initiated by Violence Prevention Network.

The 10^th post of this blog-series focuses on the discussion of the research findings which was inspiring and insightful for all participants. The results of the RADIS research projects will be briefly presented in this blog as well as reflections on the lively discussion.

Extremist actors with a good sense of where to find recruits in local contexts

The project RadiRa made the start by sharing three key findings on the factors of religiously motivated radicalisation in local contexts and social spaces. First, the research design of the project was explained, which stunned the participants due to its impressive nature by conducting a year of ethnographic fieldwork in three different neighbourhoods where Islamist groups are active. The findings are: (1) Norms in a neighbourhood promote radicalisation more than its social structure; (2) The social workers interviewed in the districts surveyed who are not directly involved in radicalisation prevention do not see their work as dealing with the main problems of their clients. Reasons for radicalisation could not be specified by the interviewees; and (3) Apart from the method of Communities that Care (CtC), which is a local preventive long-term strategy and used in over 50 municipalities in Germany, each strategy for preventing radicalisation is individually oriented. The interviewees emphasised that the approaches in the neighbourhoods must be linked to a city-wide strategy to counter radicalisation. Overall, the project found that the recruitment strategy of extremist actors remains the same regardless of local conditions, although they tend to seek followers in poorer neighbourhoods. The main question remains therefore: How can cities develop a tool to strengthen the resilience of their citizens and to use “local area” as a tool for prevention?

RadiRa specified that extremists have a good sense of where to find potential recruits in cities. This line of thinking was acknowledged and was seen as an interesting point to think about further: How do extremists perceive the neighbourhood where they might find fertile ground for their views. This prompted reflection on what can be done about the feeling of some citizens that the law is not binding (legal cynicism) and how to implement the sense that both the state and institutions are working for them and not against them. In this context it is important to know whether the lack of collective efficacy fuels this cynicism.

For the case of Albania, it was stated that the radicalisation processes were initiated by extremist actors from the capital Tirana and targeted rural areas where people felt left behind because the state was unable to reach these areas. The extremist actors provided economic and medical resources, convinced people of their worldview and stirred up citizens’ mistrust towards the state. RadiRa emphasised that extremists can see and fill the gaps the state cannot close and create a sense of belonging. A similar situation was mentioned in the case of Poland, where in certain areas mistrust towards the police and authorities is widespread. In some formerly left-wing neighbourhoods for example, football hooligans occupied the neighbourhood and founded venues such as MMA clubs etc. where they established a culture of violence and criminality against the system, among other things.

While social workers focus generally on the economically vulnerable, the most extreme cases of right-wing extremism in Finland occurred among people who were not on the radar. These people were not found in troubled neighbourhoods, but on the contrary, in richer districts. These are areas which are usually not reached out to by social workers. It was therefore suggested that intelligence services should get involved in these hard-to-reach social spaces because it was assumed that there is no other way to get into such social circles where radicalisation takes place.

Local contexts in Great Britain and Germany: the narratives shift to the right

The project RaMi explored the question of how anti-Muslim narratives are disseminated in local communities, which actors are involved and whether such narratives lead to a normalisation of the political right. Such dynamics were compared in case studies in Germany and Great Britain. Interviews were conducted with Muslim and non-Muslim actors in civil society and local politics in medium-sized cities with varying degrees of diversity. One of the main findings is that normalisation processes of right-wing positions lead to racist views in the mainstream. Two mechanisms could be identified for this process: 1) negative framing of the topics of migration, religion and integration; and 2) trivialisation and deliberate transgression of political taboos. A central question was whether the neutrality principle of state actors hinders the possibilities of counteracting mainstreaming racism.

Based on past experiences in Albania, the neutrality of state actors is considered important. For example, the state is not neutral when it comes to gender issues, which makes it difficult to support people who are fighting discrimination on a civil society level. This raises the question of whether people feel safe to talk about their problems and struggles in public. A top-down approach was chosen in Albania, such as educational programmes and national strategies that address, e. g. discrimination, gender issues, extremist goals, etc. In terms of these and other issues, the example of Poland suggests shifting cooperation from governmental to civil society institutions, as the former PiS-led government has pushed the boundaries of what can be said even further and therefore counteracted the logic of prevention projects. A bottom-up approach was therefore chosen in Poland and multi-sectoral networks between urban and civic groups were established that share democratic attitudes and want to strengthen democratic norms and minority rights.

The experts present in the workshop therefore advised the NGOs to look for strong players at local level to work together. This was emphasised by the example of Great Britain, where it was noted that local politicians are sanctioned for hate speech, but politicians at national and international level are not. Far-right activists feel supported when such speeches arise. In terms of countering religious-based extremism, an interfaith council was established in Albania to create positive role models in the local context. This helped to spread counternarratives in areas that state actors could not reach. A strong civil society is therefore crucial to creating resilience in the face of polarising opinions.

To prevent such developments, it was assumed to look closer at the racist narratives which are strategically used by extremist actors to gain support among the local societies. Civil society and political actors should ensure that their responses do not fuel these narratives.

Conclusion

The research has contributed to a better understanding of the phenomenon of extremism in local contexts. The discussion showed that there are various ways of dealing with it and that it is possible to learn from each other.

By the end of the workshop, it was clear that every country represented has similar issues and challenges in urban spaces. Normative discussions and negotiations take place between polarised (non-)state actors and networks. Strategies are used that normalise racist and xenophobic attributes, reinforce mistrust towards state authorities and aim to break taboos. Local politics run the risk of reinforcing this process through rhetorical repetition. This thwarts the principle of neutrality.

The norms in the neighbourhoods and people’s beliefs about what is right and wrong are a starting point for discussing further solutions. These can lead to even changing the culture of a neighbourhood. It is easy to understand how norms are established in local contexts, but how these norms can be changed is complicated and represents a blind spot in research. A future discussion should therefore focus even more on how to build neighbourhood resilience and strengthen democracy at the local level.

About the project:

RADIS – Research on radical Islam in Germany and Europe

Within the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funding programme „Societal Causes and Effects of Radical Islam in Germany and Europe“, twelve projects are conducting research on the many facets of the phenomenon of radical Islam: What are the reasons for the increase in Islamist tendencies in the German-speaking and European areas? How do Islamist movements affect specific social groups or society as a whole? And what are the implications of these findings for the work of prevention practitioners, politicians and administrators, civil society, security authorities, and the media? Researchers from many different disciplines are investigating these and other questions from a wide variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives in the period from 2020 to 2025.