TerrorismThe Violent Extremist Lifecycle: Lessons from Northern Ireland

A new guide, released by CREST, draws on a reanalysis of interview data from the 1980s and 1990s that explored the lifecycle phases among loyalist and republican paramilitaries from across Northern Ireland. It offers twelve lessons that are relevant not only to those working within the Northern Ireland context today but also to those working to reduce the threat from violent extremists elsewhere.

1. Involvement comes before ideology
Being socialized within a family, friendship network and community that was sympathetic and supportive to particular armed groups or their goals was key to creating the conditions for people to gravitate towards armed extremist groups.

These processes remain visible now. Disaffected republicans use antagonism around policing as a means of attracting support from new members, while the flag protests and perceptions of the erosion of unionist culture attract young unionists toward loyalism.

While radicalization is often viewed as an ideological process, it may help to view it as a social process. It is the sense of belonging, affiliation and connectedness that begins the journey that leads to ideology.

In other words, it is not ideological zeal which drives the individual into the arms of an extremist group, but the affinity with the group that drives the individual to the ideology.

2. Involvement can be a reaction to perceptions of injustice

The young Northern Irish men and women who joined paramilitary groups consistently reported how they lacked any deep political or ideological understanding before they became involved with them.

Instead, they were moved to become involved in response to perceptions of injustice, threats from the other community, or experiences of discrimination or violence from the other community or the British State, usually via the actions of the security forces.

3. Attractive alternatives can pull people away from involvement
Family and social networks can push and pull in different directions: The same conditions that attract people to extremist groups can also pull people towards groups which can guide them away from extremism to more prosocial activities.

Countermeasures to protect against engagement should therefore include the provision of alternative groups which are attractive to susceptible young people.

Likewise, using role models to deliver pro-social messages via social and conventional media could help those vulnerable to threat and uncertainty from shifting towards extremist or populist outlooks.