​Radical (Re)thinking: Identifying radical groups by their ideas, not their methods

For most people, the word “radical” is synonymous with the use of violence in social action. This is, however, not always true.
 
Radical groups are defined by radical ideas rather than radical methods.
 
The word “radical” itself is an adjective that means going to the origin and fundamental, especially in regards to change from accepted or traditional forms. Nowhere in the various definitions of “radical” is violence mentioned.
 
Radical doesn’t only refer to the chosen form of action, but also to the driving idea or aspiration. Radical groups’ expect to change not only social norms or governmental policies, but also the very fundamentals of society. For instance, how best to fight social injustices? Such groups may focus on changing the constitution itself rather than individual government policies.

Is radicalism in the eye of the beholder? For example, some Muslim women wear burqas, which are perceived by some as an indicator of radicalism.

Who are the radicals? 5 types of radical group defined by motivation
 
Bertjan Doosje and his colleagues categorise radical groups into five different types based on their main concerns. These are:

1. Nationalistic or separatist groups
2. Extreme right-wing groups
3. Extreme left-wing groups
4. Single issue groups (e.g. animal rights), and
5. Religiously motivated groups.  

The diversity of radical groups both in terms of their focus and in terms of their methods needs to be acknowledged so that we can avoid over-simplification in how we understand them and how we respond.
 
Radical religious groups in Indonesia seek to change the entire social structure
 
Indonesia is governed by common law. Nonetheless, polls suggest that the majority of Indonesians would support the implementation of Islamic law. In this context, many of the country’s radical groups are driven by religious motivation – without necessarily supporting violence, they seek to fundamentally alter the state.
 
In the course of my research, I recently talked with the regional spokesman of one Indonesian religious movement that aims to revive the Islamic State, a borderless state that governs all Muslims in the world and non-Muslims within their territory, and hearkens back to the Caliphate that included parts of Asia, Europe, and Africa during the second millennium. I asked if his movement endorsed the use of physical violence as part of their strategy. “Absolutely Not!”, he replied, “We are a peaceful movement and our orientation is educating Muslims on the vision of Caliphate.”
 
This group criticises specific governmental policies and social norms, but attributes the root cause of problems to the underlying structure of Indonesian society. In their view, for instance, harmful policies are merely symptoms of a wider problem: the “wrong” constitution and a fundamentally flawed system of managing the nation. So, for radical groups like this one, the solution is changing the structure of rules that influence the whole governmental and social system.  
 
Thus, although such movements never use physical violence as the strategy, we can categorise them as radical due to their ideas and visions.
 
How do such movements promote change? And how do people respond to peaceful revolutionary or radical movements within their society?  These are topics that I hope to pursue in my PhD research.
 
-  Susilo Wibisono