The divine deviance &ndash towards a sociological theory of radical Islamism

Radical Islamism is widely appreciated as the very cognitive and ideological framework and denominator for the creation of a worldview that is hostile to the principles of pluralism and peaceful co-existence. Empirically tested knowledge of the phenomenon, as well as efforts to develop a comprehensive and falsifiable theoretical proposal, is on the other hand, rather limited in regard to the crucial question: What is Islamic radicalisation? On the basis of in-depth explorative interviews, a nationwide representative survey, and final conceptual refinement of findings with stakeholders and experts, and through methodological triangulation, awareness of the guidelines of the methodology of phenomenological theory (by development of codes, concepts, categories and finally theory and cross examination of widespread hypotheses) this study attempts: a) to provide a conceptual clarification of the concept 'radical Islamism'; b) to introduce a falsifiable theoretical proposition to the question of the attributes of the phenomenon 'radical Islamism'; c) to outline some empirical research implications of the proposed theoretical framework.