Resilience against violent radicalisation : why haven’t more Islamists taken up arms in Egypt since 2013?

Abstract

While most research on violent radicalisation often focuses on answering the question why people take up arms, this paper seeks to answer the opposite question: why have more Islamists not taken up arms in Egypt since 2013? In Egypt, after the military intervention against the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013 and the new regime’s decision to classify the movement as a terrorist organisation, many voices warned that non-violent Islamists would shift their tactics to include the use of violence. However, only a minority among the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters have decided to do so. In answering the "why not" question, this study seeks to contribute to the larger debate on the sources of resilience against violent radicalisation and how to understand the roles of legitimacy, social trust, organisational rules and external actors in increasing the resilience of Islamist youths against violent radicalisation.