Context and Objectives

The process of radicalization leading to violence is intricate and multifaceted, responding to myriad risk and protective factors across various levels of an individual’s ecosystem. While there is an extensive body of literature on such factors, it often falls short of capturing the intricate interactions that either heighten or diminish the risk of violent extremism.

To verify if any commonalities exist among trajectories into violent extremism, we are conducting a systematic review of the qualitative and quantitative evidence on trajectories leading individuals to violent radical cognitions and/or behaviors. To our knowledge, even though there are now numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses on risk and protective factors for violent extremism, no synthesis of entry trajectories has been conducted.

Identifying common ground in trajectories has the potential to improve the capacity to monitor medium- and long-term outcomes (in terms of progress or mitigating chronic risk) and develop prevention efforts that are more sensitive to time and interaction between factors than those relying only on lists of risk and protective factors.