Profiles in Violent Extremism

This chapter describes 10 instances of radicalization in which individuals committed or attempted to commit politically motivated acts of extreme violence against others. What strikes one about these depictions is that the perpetrators’ backgrounds and circumstances couldn’t be more different: They varied vastly in age, gender, culture, and beliefs. This might create the impression that the search for a common psychology of violent extremism is a “will-o’-the-wisp” doomed in advance to fail because each case is different and of its own kind. Contrary to that view, the authors argue that the apparent substantial differences conceal fundamental similarities and that, at a deeper level, the basic psychological determinants of violent extremism are similar, despite the surface differences.