In the fight against terrorism, administrative measures are increasingly applied. This is called the administrative approach on terrorism. A recent bill seeks to the withdrawal of the Dutch citizenship of those who are suspected of certain terrorist activities abroad and when such is needed in the context of national security. Under this bill it is made possible to withdraw the Dutch citizenship of those who voluntarily join a terrorist group abroad. The idea behind this proposed administrative measure is to protect the national security of the Netherlands, by banning those who voluntarily joined a jihadi organization and pose a threat to national security due to their return. The bill has several major drawbacks: the limited legal protection of the persons concerned, the possible criminal nature of this measure and doubts about its effectiveness.

Research into radicalization and terrorism assumes that violent individuals have political or religious intentions and motivations. However, what ‘political or religious motivations’ exactly are changes through time. A rigorous conceptual demarcation of ‘radicalization’ and ‘terrorism’ runs the risk of overlooking societal and political changes leading to a variety of violent outbursts that may have more in common than assumed at forehand. Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s concept of ‘the radical loser’ is used as an example of a broader conceptualization that can function as a category enabling interconnected and interdisciplinary research into different manifestations of violence, both in their differences and their similarities. Whether or not terrorists, school shooters and violent lone actors are fundamentally different categories should be a topic of academic enquiry instead of being taken for granted.

In order to understand why people can turn to violence to achieve political or societal changes, it is important to examine factors that can trigger a process of radicalization. In this article the authors outline such a model of trigger factors. In this model they specify trigger factors at the micro level (individual level), meso level (group level), and macro level (societal level). In addition, the authors argue that it is important to take into account personal characteristics, such as age, gender, and the type of motivation, behind a radicalization process. With respect to these types of motivation, the authors distinguish between sensation seekers, justice seekers, identity seekers, and meaning seekers. This model enables to discern triggers in the radicalization process of specific people in specific contexts.

Islamic State uses an age old apocalyptic narrative to attract followers and legitimatize its existence. The author shows which narrative elements were used during earlier stages of violence-inciting apocalyptic manifestations in Christianity and Western ideology and how they can be retraced in the communications and enactments of Islamic State. The use of such a narrative explains why the movement has been so much more powerful in attracting followers than al-Qaeda.