Radicalisation research and prevention in Germany

Radicalisation and extremism, including terrorism, pose an ongoing challenge to democratic societies. We understand violent radicalisation as a consequence of inadequately managed societal conflicts. Consequently, MOTRA also views the prevention and combating of radicalised violence as a task for society as a whole and aims to contribute to this effort.

Particular emphasis is placed on identifying and preventing extremism before it can turn into violence . To this end, it is essential to generate knowledge about the extent, development, forms, and causes of political and/or religiously motivated extremism and to transfer this knowledge to the relevant fields of action in science, politics, and practice.

The collaborative project MOTRA contributes to evidence-based policy and practice by pursuing two central objectives:

• Empirical-analytical objective: monitoring radicalisation in Germany
  Holistic and systematic monitoring is implemented using multi-methods, longitudinal phenomenon and trend analyses and in-depth case studies. Systematic phenomenon monitoring enables faster identification and classification of new phenomena. Therefore, it provides a basis of information for drawing conclusions on significant developments regarding the observed phenomena.
• Structural objective: an active transfer platform for science, practice, and politics
  The platform shares MOTRA's findings with researchers, practitioners and policymakers. It also connects existing research initiatives in Germany that address these phenomenna. In this way, it aims to shorten the time between research findings being produced and being put into practice.

The Berghof Foundation in the MOTRA consortium

The Berghof Foundation builds on its experience in creating spaces for dialogue and conflict transformation and brings the field of peace and conflict research to the interdisciplinary consortium. It contributes to MOTRA's overarching goals by organising regular qualitative expert panels at the regional and national levels.

These expert panels have three objectives: (1) to involve a broad spectrum of actors in the identification of hidden or new radicalisation processes, (2) to include different societal perspectives into the evaluation of these phenomena and the challenges associated with them,  and (3) to strengthen the practical relevance of the issues pursued by the consortium and the conflict sensitivity of survey perspectives and instruments.

The panels include experts from academia, security agencies, and civil society, with a particular focus on practitioners in social education and social work who work on prevention. By incorporating practical perspectives, the Berghof module combines the empirical-analytical and structural objectives of MOTRA.

In line with the objective of discovering new and hidden trends, the surveys are characterised by an open and flexible approach to questioning. This allows respondents to focus on the issues that are important to them. In addition, this module focuses on different perspectives on radicalisation, reciprocal and co-radicalising dynamics, gender-specific aspects, and the interplay between online and offline processes.

In cyclical data collection, the same experts participate several times over the course of the project. This allows findings from the previous cycle to be incorporated into the survey and to observe how processes change over a longer period of time.

The project consortium consists of the following core partner organisations:

• Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), Wiesbaden (lead)
• Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
• Kriminologische Zentralstelle e. V., Wiesbaden
• German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Hamburg
• Berghof Foundation Operations gGmbH, Berlin
• Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) gGmbH, Berlin
• Universität Hamburg
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Hochschule Fresenius (HSF), Wiesbaden

The project is funded by the civil security research program of the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space. The project is also funded by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and the German Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.