Axis 1 - Terrorism(s)/counter-terrorism, radicalization/resocialization

Professors supervising the research axis : Pr. Alain Bauer (Cnam) - Pr. Elyamine Settoul (Cnam)

Associate researchers: Pr. Martin Jones, Pr. Ryszard Machnikowski, Pr. Louise Shelley, Pr. Peter Lehr, Pr. David Omand, Pr. Christian Vallar, Pr. Michel Wieviorka (FMSH), Pr. Arturo Alvarado (C. de Mexico), Pr. Javier Argomaniz (St Andrews), Pr. Giuseppe Ariacchi (Sardagine), Pr. Magnus Ranstrop, Pr. James Lewis. 

Associate experts:  Dr. Sajjan Gohel,  John Raine,  The Hon. Michael Chertoff, Dr. Xavier Raufer, Sébastien Boussois, Anne Bader,  Maria Mourani,  Thierry Toutin. 

PhD students: Anne de Bongain,  François Freynet,  Julien Marx

This line of research aims to empirically decipher the processes of radicalization and disengagement. It comprises both theoretical and empirical aspects. From a theoretical point of view, our team has developed an epistemological reflection on the concept of radicalization with a jihadist frame of reference, highlighting the eminently disparate realities it covers. Several competing paradigms have been mobilized to account for the root causes of the massification of the jihadist phenomenon. Some theorizations focus their attention on the religious sides of the enrolment dynamic (Kepel 2017, Rougier 2019, Micheron), while others accord a structural role to criminological (Bauer 2016), generational (Khosrokhavar 2015, Roy 2017), geopolitical (Burgat 2016, Atran 2016, Crettiez 2017) or even psychological (Bronner 2009, Bouzar 2018) factors in the genesis and expression of these dynamics.

However relevant these different schools of thought may be, they cannot account for the internal sociological diversity of the jihadist phenomenon. Our analyses offer a holistic vision of these jihadization dynamics, which were the subject of the book Penser la radicalisation djihadiste. Acteurs, Théories, Mutations, PUF, 2022 (preface Marc Sageman). We have also developed an international reflection on the imperative need to connect these processes of passage to violence to local socio-political specificities. This led to an international collective work coordinated by Elyamine Settoul: Settoul E, Balzacq T, Radicalization in Theory and Practice: Understanding religious violence in Western Europe, Michigan University Press, 2022. With the return of hundreds of fighters from the Iraqi-Syrian zones, research orientations now tend to focus on the prison management of these detainees. The aim is to understand more specifically the conditions of “desistance” and ideological disengagement. Our team is also managing two European projects which aim to use our research activities to help professionals understand these issues. These projects, described below, are the MIRAD and CEDAR programs. MIRAD (Multi Ideological Radicalisation Assessment and Disengagment) aims to improve disengagement and reintegration programs in the field of counter-radicalization (notably by setting up risk assessment methods for the penitentiary system). By working jointly with various counter-radicalization actors in Europe, the project aims to facilitate exchanges and best practices in the assessment and management of radicalized individuals. CEDAR (Continuing Education Against Radicalization) aims to develop e-learning tools in three languages (French, English, Spanish) on the subject of radicalization for professionals in the socio-educational sector.

As part of the “Strategic Research” program set up with the SGDSN, the axis contributes annually to the “Assises de la Recherche Stratégique” (Strategic Research Conferences).

In addition, since 2013, the team has been responsible for the production and publication of the International Journal On Criminology and the annual International Criminology Conference in Washington DC, both in English and published in the USA.