Radical Islam Vs. The Alt-Right

Scott Atran finds deep-set similarities between two extreme political movements with ostensibly opposing views but similar tactics: radical Islam and the alt-right.

It is not only violence and extremism—or hatred of Jews—that unite them, he writes, but in the ways they exploit the breakdown in liberal democracy today. In his view, these two extreme positions are structurally congruent thought structures and modes of action.

“One of the problems may be looking at radical Islam instead of larger, more global forces worldwide. These attacks are unleashed from the dark side of globalisation, where desire for liberal democracy is lost.”

Forces of globalization are both the impetus for such extremism and its method of engagement and recruitment. Peer-to-peer recruiting largely over the internet has replaced top-down cultish ideological indoctrination. And yet many in power see these inclinations and movements as “just atavistic blips” and are unwilling to “change their policies or behaviour” in response.

Atran prescribes community engagement and intervention focused on youth above all as ways to combat extremism. He argues that we have to learn to see youth as a resource and believe in their ability to change if we are ever going to create a future for either liberalism or democracy.