Islamism, Radicalisation and Violent Extremism: Perspectives of Young Muslim Australians

Abstract

Islam and Muslims continue to be a focus of media, political and public debate, most often in the context of social relations and national security. Based on the findings of focus groups conducted with young Muslim Australians, and using time-period effects as a theoretical framework, this chapter discusses the perspectives of young Muslim Australians concerning radicalisation and violent extremism and what it is like to be a young Muslim in the contemporary climate. It contends that the radicalisation and extremism observed among some Muslim Australians in recent years do not arise from within the religion of Islam per se but in association with the post-colonial, political ideology of Islamism. However widespread the problem of Islamism (or its overtly violent variant jihadism) may appear in media and political discourses, this ideology does not necessarily inform how young Muslim Australians self-identify or envision their place, or that of Islam, in contemporary Australian society.