Radicalization, violence and (in)security. International Research Report
[ French version ]
Project Management – Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD)
Head of project, Scientific Director
Reda BENKIRANE, sociologist, associate researcher at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID, Geneva), at Centre Jacques Berque (CNRS USR 3136, Rabat, Morocco) and member of IrPhiL [l’Institut de Recherches Philosophiques] in Lyon (IrPhiL, University of Lyon).
Deputy Head of project, Operations Coordinator
Soline AUBÉ
Regional Director
Alexandre LIEBESKIND
Regional Coordinator, Francophone Africa
Constance VIDEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: AN ‘EPIC, UNUSUAL AND STRATEGIC STUDY’
1.Perceptions: the challenges
2.Methodology
I. THE STATE AND CITIZENSHIP, RELIGION AND IDENTITY
1. The State: geographical extent and historical depth
Slavery and servitude: the hidden variables of radicalization?
Some key issues related to the state
2. The state: norms and forms
The states of the Sahel: three common denominators
Radicalism in an era of globalisation
3. Religion: dormancy and new trends
The three stages of Islamization
4. Religion: political expression and the demand for citizenship
II. INTER-COMMUNAL AND CROSS-BORDER DYNAMICS
1. The border as creative frame, generator of personal ties and wealth
Cultural richness and social diversity: the border as mixing place
Beyond subsistence: the border as a zone of relative abundance
2. Ethnic tensions and the collapse of the nomadic way of life
3. Daily life subject to conflict, harmful flows and corruption
The cross-border region as a focal point of imbalance
Rethinking the periphery, restoring the relationship with the governed
III. RADICALIZATION: CLUES AND PROCESS
1. Tentative definition and the demographic influence
Radicalization as a drug: healing remedy and/or deadly toxin
The pattern of growth
Demographics
2. The religious expression of radicalization
Religious fundamentalism and violence: the perils of shortcuts
The potentiality of violence
The collapse of the traditional system of religious teaching: the breeding ground for violence
3. Semantic warfare: the consequence of “floating signifiers”
Vocabulary: its impact on conflict and the comprehension of the adversary
Jihad and (in)security: who says what?
4. (In)secure and (in)humane practices: coping with extreme violence
Stunning violence; appalling cruelty
The possibility of a “dirty war”
IV. THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
1. Demographic weight vs. social subordination
2. Women as victims/actors on the front line: towards change in the social order
Perceptions of vulnerability
The role of women as protectors
3. Young people: the weak – but essential – link in the ‘terror economy”’
“What does a 20-year-old dream of?”
When socio-economic normality is impossible to access: the potential attraction of
extremism
The impasse of de-radicalization
The solution at the individual level
V. AVENUES FOR REFLECTION
ADDENDUM: STATISTICAL AND THEMATIC INSIGHTS
I. Statistical study of the perceptions of people living on the border regions of the Sahel
II. De-radicalisation: panacea or smoke screen?
III. Strategic alliance: the role of women in the implantation of jihadists in Mali
IV. The intractable problems of the Sahel’s border regions: a deeper approach to the security issue
V. Security regimes in the Sahel: the role of the state
VI. Transitional justice in the Sahel: towards a new logic
VII. The clash of perceptions: illegal migration as a quest for security
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