Radicalization through Social Media

Open Access Publication on the Staging and Mobilization of Right-wing and Islamist Actors

Cardboard hashtag in the shipping container, Amsterdam (Photo: Jan Baborák, Unsplash, Unsplash License).

Photo: Jan Baborák, Unsplash, Unsplash License.

How do radicalization processes unfold in Social Media and under what conditions do they lead to acts of violence in the real world? Answers to these questions are offered in the newly published volume Inszenieren und Mobilisieren: Rechte und islamistische Akteure digital und analog (in German), edited by Ursula Birsl (Philipps-­Universität Marburg), Julian Junk (PRIF), Martin Kahl (IFSH) and Robert Pelzer (TU Berlin)

This volume brings together findings from case studies of online and offline communications in the extreme right and Salafist jihadism. In their contributions, PRIF researchers Hande Abay and Manjana Sold examine mobilization techniques and radicalization dynamics of Salafist groups in the virtual and real worlds. Co-editor Julian Junk reflects on issues of responsibility to social science research in social media in his contribution with Ursula Birsl.

The studies were conducted as part of the research network Propaganda, Mobilization and Radicalization in the virtual and real World. Causes, Processes and Counter-Strategies in the Context of the Asylum and Refugee Debate, in short: PANDORA.

The volume is available for download as an open access publication at this link.