Radicalización ideológico-política y terrorismo: un enfoque psicosocial

Abstract

ResumenLa radicalización ideológico-política y el terrorismo generan una serie de consecuencias desastrosas para el correcto funcionamiento de una sociedad. Actualmente, situaciones de convulsión social consecuencia de la crisis económica y migratoria, así como el terrorismo de corte ideológico-religioso, están ocasionando un aumento de la polarización y la radicalización ideológico-política. El planteamiento de intervenciones preventivas eficaces para atajar estos procesos requiere de un estudio sistemático y multidisciplinar en el que la psicología social debe ostentar un papel central. El objetivo del presente trabajo es hacer una propuesta comprensiva de corte conceptual que permita ordenar los procesos psicosociales que subyacen a la radicalización violenta de grupos con ideologías políticas extremistas. Concretamente, se pretende poner de manifiesto la idoneidad de analizar un conjunto de variables psicosociales que desempeñan un papel esencial en el equilibrio personal del individuo, en relación con el reclutamiento de terroristas, así como con el mantenimiento funcional de grupos radicalizados. Asimismo, y en respuesta a la necesidad de considerar nuevas perspectivas de investigación en el estudio del fenómeno terrorista, se examina el papel de la victimización y victimización competitiva, encontrándose suficientes argumentos teóricos como para recomendar la incorporación de dichos constructos en futuras investigaciones. Escritos de Psicología Psychological WritingsAbstract Ideological-political radicalization and terrorism generate a series of disastrous consequences for the correct functioning of society. Nowadays, polarization and ideological-political radicalization are on the rise. Factors contributing to this are situations of social upheaval like the migratory and economic crisis, as well as terrorism of an ideological-religious nature. The proposal of effective preventive interventions requires a multidisciplinary and systematic study of the phenomenon, in which social psychology is destined to play a central role. The aim of the current revision is to compile a comprehensive proposal of a conceptual nature, which will illustrate the psychosocial processes underlying violent radicalization of groups with extreme political ideologies. Specifically, the aim is to highlight the suitability of analyzing a set of psychosocial variables, which play an essential role in an individual's personal balance, related to terrorists' recruitment and the maintenance of extremist groups. Likewise, and as a response to the need to consider new research perspectives when studying the terrorism phenomenon, the part of victimization and competitive victimization in explaining terrorism is analyzed. The findings suggest enough theoretical links to encourage the integration of these constructs in future research.

Social participation and radicalism: the mediating role of group identification / Participación social y radicalismo: el papel mediador de la identificación grupal

“…Radicalism has primarily been studied in contexts of terrorism (Bazaga & Tamayo, 2021;Gøtzsche-Astrup et al, 2020), mainly for religious (Gómez et al, 2022) or political (Torres-Marín et al, 2017) reasons. However, some studies have explored this phenomenon in social movements and found tendencies to radicalization in some movements, including those with ecological claims (Belli et al, 2022;Costa, 2008).…”

“…El radicalismo ha sido estudiado mayoritariamente en los contextos del terrorismo (Bazaga & Tamayo, 2021;Gøtzsche-Astrup et al, 2020), principalmente por motivos religiosos (Gómez et al, 2022) o políticos (Torres-Marín et al, 2017). No obstante, algunas investigaciones han profundizado en este fenómeno en el caso de movimientos sociales, encontrando tendencias de radicalización en algunos movimientos como el ecologista (Belli et al, 2022;Costa, 2008).…”

An Attempt at a Theoretical Explanation of Violent Islamist Radicalization in Spain

“…Other perspectives which reach a certain level of consensus are the consideration of the Salafist-jihadist matrix as the breeding ground where radicalization takes place but in combination with other factors that are usually specified in two categories: internal push factors and external pull factors (Table 1) (Mirchandani 2017). Regarding internal factors, there are existential crisis episodes, which are common to almost all the terrorists: real or perceived oppression, real or perceived exclusion, anger and frustration due to unfulfilled expectations-the higher these are, the more difficult they are to satisfy, which connects both poor and unsatisfied middle classes or rich people with a desire for recognition, to mention several apparently opposite profiles-a lack of sense, a search for ties, for belonging and bonding, and a desire for recognition and a better life (Torres-Marín et al 2017). The pull factors would consist of the appeal of the Salafist-jihadist ideology itself because in a very simple (and reductionistic) manner, it explains Muslim individual and collective marginalization and offers a direct and clear alternative based on the beauty of the group belonged to, fascination for adventure and violence, the possibility of being acknowledged, of having a life which makes sense, in the other life (if you commit suicide) or in the caliphate, etc.…”

An Attempt at a Theoretical Explanation of Violent Islamist Radicalization in Spain

“…Other perspectives which reach a certain level of consensus are the consideration of the Salafist-jihadist matrix as the breeding ground where radicalizacion takes place but in combination with other factors that are usually specified in two categories: internal push factors and external pull factors (Mirchandani, 2017). Regarding internal factors, we talk about existential crisis episodes commons in almost all the terrorists, real or perceived oppression, real or perceived exclusion, anger and frustration for the unfulfilled expectations -the higher, the more difficult to satisfy, which connects both poor and middle unsatisfied classes or rich people with a desire for recognition, to mention several profiles apparently opposite-, lack of sense, search for ties, belonging and bonding, recognition and a better life desire (Trujillo et al, 2017). Pull factors would be appeal of the Salafist-jihadist ideology, because in a very simple way (and reductionistic) explains the way Muslims individual and collective marginalization and offers a direct and clear response; beauty of the belonging group, the cell; fascination for adventure and violence; possibility of being recognised, having a full of sense life in the other life (if you are a suicide) or in the caliphate, etc.…”