Thank you to both promoters for allowing me to search for answers to the question I have had since I first got interested in terrorism a lifetime ago: ‘Why?’ Thank you for allowing me to conduct my own study—not forcing your interests onto me—while guiding me through the process. To Professor Hussein Solomon, thank you for all your support, friendship and for the last nudge...

Preventing and combating terrorism should start with understanding what drives an individual to resort to violence, taking into consideration that not all people experience the same external circumstances—not even people growing up in the same household. To understand radicalization, the role political socialization plays will be analyzed to explain the participation of individuals in...

Since gaining independence from Britain in 1962, Uganda has experienced its fair share of political turmoil fueled by religious and ethnic divides, requiring a brief description of Uganda’s demographic profile. Considering the interrelation between demographic information and political developments, this chapter will introduce the political background of Uganda that contributed to...

Islamist extremism did not manifest in Kenya for the first time—when al-Shabaab was implicated in a number of attacks on restaurants, public places and churches—at the time of Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia in 2011. Instead, the most memorable manifestation of the growing threat of extremism since independence, can be traced back to the US embassy attacks in Nairobi,...

After the previous two chapters that served as an introduction to the sociopolitical context in which al-Shabaab and the MRC in Kenya and the ADF and LRA in Uganda were established, the following chapters will present the role different elements associated with political socialization played in the radicalization process.

In the process of building personality, identity formation is a critical component in how an individual develops. The loyalties he or she establishes will influence how the world will be interpreted, but also how he or she is willing to respond. This chapter will, therefore, stand still on ‘what’ a person learns before continuing with ‘from whom’ (socialization agents) and...

Political socialization requires ‘agents’ or mediators through which an individual, from birth until death, learns. These are divided between primary socialization agents (including the family, school, peers and groups) and secondary socialization agents (including the media and political experiences). These pave the way a child, and later an adult, learns and consequently...

The focus of this chapter will be on the role peers, with specific reference to friends, groups and the media, play in the political socialization process leading up to radicalization. The age of the person socialized plays a critical role in the influence both friends and groups will have in the political socialization process and will receive special attention. Adolescence and early adulthood...

Understanding the role political socialization plays in the radicalization process requires an appreciation of internal (personal) as well as external (environmental) influences. The previous chapters dealt with the former—internal socialization agents—and the influence of ethnic and religious background on an individual’s development. This chapter will focus on external...

Everything that was presented thus far cumulates into understanding radicalization. Starting with the individual and how socialization occurs and explaining how individuals identify with others (most notably based on ethnicity and religion), followed by a broad description of external circumstances, the person finally needs to go over in action to take the final decision to join and actively...

A variety of countermeasures, involving multiple actors, are required to successfully counter radicalization. One of the biggest mistakes that governments and security agencies make is to be guided by their own perceptions of the causes of terrorism, individuals’ reasons for joining these organizations, and then to base their strategies on...

Anneli Botha is an independent consultant on radicalization and terrorism in Africa. During the period 2003 and 2016 she worked as a senior researcher on terrorism at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS in Pretoria, South Africa). After completing an honors degree in International Politics at the University of Pretoria, she joined the South African Police Service’s Crime...