Mechanisms of Political Radicalization: Pathways

ln this article we describe mechanisms of radicalization relevant to understanding the origins or terrorism. We must immediately acknowledge that the idea of mechunistn IS somewhat different in different domains of social science, sometimes with conflict­ ing definitions used within a single discipline. 1,2 Here we use mechanism in the gen­ eral sense traditionally employed in Psychology: "the means or mariner 111 \\ hieh something is accomplished. Thus, the mechanism of vision includes the physica. stimulus and the physiological and neural processes involved ,,~