SAVE Supporting Document: Creating a Partner

A Qualitative Study of Political Extremists and Ex-Gang Members Who Have Chosen the Antiviolence Path

March 26, 2012

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Radicalization and Extremism

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Overview

This paper focuses on identifying the nature and characteristics of members of two groups of former extremists: former Palestinian and Israeli militants and former U.S. gang members. By exploring the underlying processes that led these two groups to turn away from violent extremism, Rony Berger and Philip Zimbardo aim to decipher the "psychological code" of former extremists in order to help develop effective antiradicalization programs.

This paper was commissioned by Google Ideas. The content and opinions expressed in the paper are the authors' own.

Rony Berger

Faculty, Emergency Medicine, Ben Gurion University, Israel

Philip Zimbardo

Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Stanford University

The Council on Foreign Relations takes no institutional positions on policy issues and has no affiliation with the U.S. government. All views expressed in its publications and on its website are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.

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Radicalization and Extremism

United States

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