"What role do narratives play in committing terrorist attacks?"
On 8 August, Prof. Beatrice de Graaf (History of International Relations) and Prof. Kees van den Bos (Psychology) wrote about the ideology of a terrorist in the Dutch newspaper NRC. What role do narratives and ideologies play in committing attacks?
鈥淥f course, G枚kmen T. was a crazy madman, but he also believed in an ideology that gave him direction," De Graaf says. "Narratives and ideologies have a huge impact on terrorists, even if they make a confused impression at first sight like G枚kmen T., the man who killed four people this year in a tram in Utrecht."
Deradicalization
How do you deradicalize a terrorist? Do narratives play a role in this? "In moderation," Van den Bos says. His book Waarom mensen radicaliseren (Why do people radicalize?) has been published this year. "You won't get there with a general counternarrative; you have to point out the inconsistencies in the individual story of the attacker."
Institutions for Open Societies
Beatrice de Graaf and Kees van den Bos are connected to Institutions for Open Societies - an interdisciplinary research area of Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 focused on the development and expansion of healthy open societies everywhere