The radicalisation phenomenon through young people: environmental, individual vulnerabilities and prevention’s strategies

Abstract

Recent data show that foreign fighters and lone wolves are of very young age. There have been many attempts to give explanations. Here there is the will to assimilate different approaches to give teachers and education operators some knowledge about the most common variables of these teens. From an environmental point of view, theories of cultural conflicts and of subculture assume relevance, as the key concept of relative deprivation.
The most common individual factors are social marginalisation, medium cognitive abilities, exasperated sense of justice and morality, superficial knowledge of the belonging faith/ideology. Those characteristics, added to the typical ones of teenagers, can create a fertile field for triggers, whether traumas or meetings with charismatic leaders. Made the choice, boys become rapidly “born again”: they stave off significant others, teachers and parents. They change routine activities until they pass to violent action, pushed or alone. European agencies which deal with radicalisation elaborated prevention strategies and hope that teachers will be able to have a specific training on those matters.