Leaving Terrorism Behind By Fernando Reinarres Analysis

In his article, Leaving Terrorism Behind: Individual and Collective Disengagement, Fernando Reinarres identifies three overarching reasons that an individual may have to abandon the terrorist group he belongs to. Reinarres’s three are disagreement with personal, structural, and organizational elements found in that group. The decision to leave a terrorist organization is the result of either disengagement or deradicalization, which are very different, despite the fact that they usually result in the same outcome. Disengagement refers specifically to a change in the behavior of the terrorist, which may mean leaving the group or changing their role within the organization. They no longer belong to that terrorist organization and no longer subject to their rules and discipline. Disengagement does not require that the person change their beliefs or values, but that they no longer use violence as the means of achieving change. In contrast, a terrorist who has gone through deradicalization has …show more content…
These may include the political context of the time, the reactions of society and issues related to the internal workings of the terrorist organization. More specifically, if there is a change in politics or society that has made it significantly different from when that person joined the terrorist group, especially if it has solved the problems that led them to terrorism, then that individual may choose to break away. In politics, there may be a change in government or a singular even that prompts the terrorist to leave their organization. A change in views from society have also commonly been a factor that has led people away from terrorism, for example, a decrease in support. There are also organizational factors that may lead a terrorist to leave their group, such as disagreement with a leader or with the way the organization is being