Islamic radical movements on the political map of the modern world. Deradicalization of Islamists: international and Russian experience. Volume V

Islamic radical movements on the political map of the modern world. Deradicalization of Islamists: international and Russian experience. Volume V"
Rep. editors Ph.D. ON THE. Neflyasheva, Ph.D. O.V. Karpacheva
M.: IAS RAS, 2023. – 386 p.
ISBN 978-5-91298-280-4

The monograph is the fifth issue of the periodical “Islamic radical movements on the political map of the modern world.”

The transformation of terrorism into one of the main threats to modern peace and security of mankind confirms the need for a comprehensive counter-terrorism policy. In the early 2000s in many countries of the world, a global anti-terrorist agenda was formed, political, legal and military responses to the threats of terrorism were formulated. However, data on the practice of counter-terrorism force actions shows that, despite the large number of operations around the world to eliminate armed militants, the threat of terrorism has not decreased. Or it decreased, but to an insignificant extent.

Many states have succeeded in the short term in their fight against terrorism but failed in the long term. Forceful opposition to religiously motivated violence produces short-term results. The futility of using only a forceful approach in combating the threats of violent extremism motivated by religion is confirmed by practice in a variety of countries and regions.

Deradicalization is an incentive to renounce the ideology of extremism by those individuals who have already committed terrorist acts or participated in the activities of extremist groups and preventing the radicalization of potential terrorist recruits. Deradicalization is becoming an important strategic goal in the fight against religious extremism and terrorism. This issue is dedicated to the problems of achieving this goal.

The purpose of the work is an in-depth comparative analysis of theoretical and methodological approaches to the essence and content of the processes of deradicalization of adherents of extremist ideologies, on the one hand, and the practical experience of implementing programs for the deradicalization of Islamists, on the other.

The first chapter contains an analysis of the conceptual foundations of deradicalization programs, including the same in the works of Muslim scientists who do not stop searching for theoretical foundations to justify the illegitimacy of radical ideas in Islam and see the task as convincingly sounding arguments based on the sacred dogma of the Koran. Also in the first chapter, psychological approaches and methods that can work productively in deradicalization processes are proposed.

The second chapter is devoted to a critical understanding of the experience of many countries in which Islamist deradicalization programs are being implemented or have been implemented for several years (Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Great Britain, Malaysia, African countries).

The third chapter examines the most successful practices of preventing radical Islamism and deradicalization in the post-Soviet space – in the regions of the Russian Federation (Tatarstan, North Caucasus), the Muslim population of which is exposed to the influence of radical Islamism. The program of the government of Kazakhstan “Zhusan” is being considered – a program for the repatriation and rehabilitation of citizens of Kazakhstan evacuated from zones of terrorist activity in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Depending on the historical, cultural and political context in different countries, deradicalization programs have their own specifics. Some programs emphasize the rejection of radical ideology, others – the rejection of violent extremism to achieve political goals, social rehabilitation and reintegration.

The innovation of these programs lies in the fact that they offer methodologies and methods that are outside the usual framework of counter-terrorism policy, based only on forceful approaches in relation to convicted terrorists and those at risk.

In the course of the study, the authors relied on an interdisciplinary approach that involved the use of psychological methods in the processes of deradicalization, the experience of cultural anthropology, which studies the potential of traditional cultural mechanisms and institutions for the deradicalization of social and political behavior, the role of family, civil society and religious authorities in the process of implementing deradicalization programs.