Radicalisation in the West: Causes and Patterns — Tahir Abbas

9. 9. 2025

This episode of The IR thinker examines how radicalisation is evolving across Western democracies, in conversation with Professor Tahir Abbas. Moving from the storming of the US Capitol and far-right online mobilisation in the United States, through post-Brexit identity politics and the Prevent strategy in the United Kingdom, to intergenerational tensions and social unrest in Western Europe, the discussion unpacks how online ecosystems, crises of capitalism, migration debates and gendered vulnerabilities interact to produce diverse pathways into extremism. 

The episode explores the blurred boundaries between extremism and terrorism, the rise of the incel subculture, transnational networks behind riots and protests, and the “Gaza effect” on British Muslim politics, before reflecting on the conceptual and ethical challenges of researching radicalisation in highly polarised societies.

Tahir Abbas

Professor Tahir Abbas is Professor of Criminology and Global Justice at Aston University in Birmingham, and formerly Professor of Radicalisation Studies at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. His interdisciplinary work spans criminology, sociology, politics, Islamic studies and critical terrorism studies, with a particular focus on radicalisation, extremism and political violence in Western contexts. He has authored and edited around twenty books, delivered lectures in over one hundred cities worldwide, and led the EU H2020 DRIVE project, which investigated how social exclusion, disenchantment and marginalisation shape polarising ideas, values and beliefs in north-western Europe.

Publications:

Capitalism, State Power, and the Production of Extremism

Global counter-terrorism: A decolonial approach

Voices of Gen Z

Protecting the people: populism and masculine security in India and Hungary

Islamophobia and Radicalisation: A Vicious Cycle

Muslim Britain: communities under pressure

Content

00:00 – Introduction
02:07 – Online platforms, far-right mobilisation, and the January 6 attack (USA)
05:30 – Online communication patterns preceding offline violence (USA)
08:33 – Framing extremist groups as terrorist organisations: unintended consequences (USA)
10:46 – Drawing the line between extremism and terrorism (USA)
14:32 – The rise of the incel subculture and gendered vulnerabilities (USA)
19:13 – Summary of US radicalisation
22:32 – Post-Brexit identity politics and the Prevent strategy (UK)
31:11 – Transnational networks and the 2023 riots (UK)
34:57 – The Gaza effect, British Muslim identity, and electoral mobilisation (UK)
39:31 – Summary of UK radicalisation
42:51 – Intergenerational differences within migrant and minority communities (Western Europe)
48:44 – Youth, information exposure, and latent radicalisation risks (Western Europe)
51:33 – Crises of capitalism, migration debates, and social unrest (Western Europe)
54:02 – Summary of Western European radicalisation
56:06 – Researching Radicalisation: Challenges and Reflections