Exploring the discrimination–radicalization nexus: empirical evidence from youth and young adults in Belgium

Abstract

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Exclusion and Antisystem Attitudes: The Impact of Perceived Discrimination in Attitudes towards Democracy and the Willingness to Use Violence among Adolescents in Brussels

“…In addition, young people who had experiences of discrimination while interacting with the justice system were more likely to endorse violent extremism. Reporting more reasons for being discriminated against and more settings in which discrimination was experienced was also a meaningful association (Frounfelker et al 2019).…”

Youth Extremism as a Response to Global Threats?

“…In line with the general model of threat regulation (Jonas et al, 2014), personal uncertainty is a direct predictor of Islamist radicalization among the Dutch Muslim youth (Doosje, Loseman & van den Bos, 2013) while anomic aspirations (which include perceived normlessness, hence uncertainty) underlies right wing extremism among German youth samples (Hagan, Merkens & Boehnke, 1995). Similarly, the identity and cultural uncertainty experienced by minority youth in Western countries due to exposure to social exclusion is linked with increased support for radicalism to achieve goals linked with meaning and purpose (Lyons-Padilla, Gelfand, Mirahmadi, Farooq & van Egmond, 2015;Frounfelker, Frissen, Vanorio, Rousseau & d'Haenens, 2019). In line with these findings, recent research suggests that perceived oppression leads to higher increased violent disinhibition, and that this link was exacerbated by identity and cultural integration related variables among samples of both Muslim and non-Muslim youth (Lobato, Moya, Moyano & Trujillo, 2018).…”

Islam and Security in the West

“…Even though Belgium defined itself as a multicultural state from an early stage in its modern development, it appears that there is a growing polarization of the Belgian society when it comes to Islam, and discrimination of migrants and minorities has been linked to CVE discussions (Frounfelker et al 2019). Institutional racism, particularly towards Muslims, has been recorded in the fields of employment, education, State bureaucracy and the media, whilst neo-liberalism, the deregulation of information and security concerns surrounding terrorism have been seen to degrade traditionally multicultural policies of the Belgian State (Touag 2017).…”