The Radical Redemption Model: Terrorist Beliefs and Narratives

What do convicted terrorists really believe when they say they committed their acts in the name of a higher authority? Combining oral history, social psychology, and historical research, Beatrice de Graaf explores the belief systems that underlie acts of religious terrorism. From interviews with terrorist detainees from the Netherlands, Syria, Pakistan, and Indonesia—mostly jihadists and some right-wing extremists—de Graaf reconstructs life stories of surrender, struggle, sacrifice, and redemption. She unravels the nexus between extreme beliefs and terrorist activity, presenting a grounded theory of radical redemption, in which people commit acts of violence as personal, psychological quests for significance. De Graaf's analysis examines how these beliefs developed in individual cases, and what happened when the hoped-for redemption was not fulfilled. Ultimately, by focusing on the extreme beliefs of individuals, The Radical Redemption Model offers a new understanding of the elusive and perennial connection between religion and violence, and between radical beliefs and terrorism.

About the Author

Beatrice de Graaf is Distinguished Professor and holds the Chair of History of International Relations at Utrecht University. She has authored and edited several books such as Fighting Terror after Napoleon , for which she received the Arenberg Prize for the Best Book in European History in 2022. She won the Stevin Prize in 2018, which is widely regarded as one of the highest academic distinctions in the Netherlands. She is also an editor of the Journal of Modern European History and of Terrorism and Political Violence .