The two faces of Janus: educational pathways into and out of violent extremism in Norway

Abstract

ABSTRACT The prevention of violent extremism in education has given rise to considerable policy debates in Norway. A key feature of this, illustrated in the growing stream of curricular and security policy reforms, is that these debates risk being disconnected from graspable elements in the social lives of young people. Using qualitative document analysis (QDA), this study analysis educational efforts to prevent violent extremism in Norway. The analysis suggests that interventions are structured according to reductionist thinking of cause and effect in which the individual is at the receiving end of security efforts. In particular, the dominant mode of preventing extremism is through therapeutic strategies aimed at helping vulnerable individuals becoming resilient to extreme ideologies and to help them respond to structural grievances. There is less attention on the role of social mechanisms including the reciprocal interplay between structural, social and individual factors in the analysed projects. Based on these findings, the study suggests the importance of exploring social processes in which extremism is engaged and resisted. Furthermore, it is argued that social movement theory (SMT) offers a promising way to understand the role of social processes in pathways into and out of extremism.