Cultural
Distance
in the
Netherlands
-And the Cultural
Background factors of
Radicalization-
Name: Lennard Willem Kosterman Student ID: S0905054
Email: l.w.kosterman@umail. leidenuniv.nl
Supervisor: Mw. Dr. P.G.M. Aarten Second reader: Dhr. Msc. T.J.M. Dekkers
Master Thesis Crisis and Security Management Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs Leiden University
1
“Preservation of one's own culture does not
require contempt or disrespect for other
cultures.”
1- Cesar Chavez-2
1 www.brainyquote.com (visited 14/10/2017) 2
Cesar Chavez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labour leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association. His non-violent tactics made the farm workers' cause a nationwide supported movement.
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Acknowledgements
-This thesis is dedicated to Dr. Gep Eisenloeffel-
Dr. Gep Eisenloeffel, was a former Management Minor Coordinator at Leiden University. During one of his guest lectures in May 2015, he introduced me to Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory and inspired me to use it for this thesis. After the lecture we talked about the rough idea for this thesis and the use of that theory. He selflessly and
enthusiastically offered to and help. His inspiring story and introduction to the framework made this thesis possible. Dr. Gep Eisenloeffel died expectantly just two months later and his death came as an absolute shock. My thoughts and best wishes go
out to his family.
This thesis is further dedicated to all people who are a victim of discrimination and who struggle to find their place in society. During the course of this thesis, the researcher gained a profound understanding of the struggles they face and the injustice they endure.
Your struggle does not go by unnoticed.
This thesis would not be possible without the continued support of a couple important people i n my life: First, and foremost my mother. She raised me, supported me, and believed in me through thick
and thin. This thesis is also fruit of your labour. Thank you for everything.
Secondly, I would also like to thank Pauline Aarten, for her time, patience and valuable insights. With your guidance I was able to finally finish this thesis.
Furthermore, I would like to thank my friends and loved ones, for making this process easier for me. And of course, some much needed though love.
Lastly, I would like to thank Uncle Duo, who supported my financially though the years. Your continued support was much appreciated and much needed.
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Abstract
The researcher sought to find the answers to the following research question: To what extend
can the cultural divide between the Dutch-Western culture and the Dutch-Islamic culture in the Netherland, act as a push-factor in the radicalisation process? To answer the research
question, two sub-questions were formulated: (1.) To what extent and on which dimensions does the Cultural Dimensions Theory (CDT) show a cultural divide between the Western culture and the Islamic culture in the Netherlands? and (2.) To what extent does the Dutch Islamic group meet the background factors, which are cultural push-factors in the radicalisation process? With a slight alteration to Hofstede’s (2013a) sociological ‘Cultural Dimensions theory’ and accompanying survey, the two cultures could be culturally compared on a six-dimensional scale (Western group n=78, Islamic group n=20). Furthermore, Precht’s (2007), theory was used to supplement the questionnaire with questions relating to the culturally influenced background factors. The factors impact the likelihood of entering the first step in the radicalization process. The five factors were: relative deprivation; the feeling of discrimination; the measure of segregation; perceived injustice and; the absence of critical Muslim debate on Islamic terrorism. Results showed a cultural divide on four of the six cultural dimensions, ranging from 18-28 percent difference. Together with the already apparent cultural divide, the Islamic showed group to be at an even greater cultural distance. A large part of the group is ‘segregated’ to ‘culturally isolated’. A very considerable amount feels discriminated against by, and are far less trusting towards the Western group and the government. They more often belonged to a less privileged group in society, who held lower education levels and the less wanted jobs. And lastly, only marginally talk about Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism. A substantial part of the Islamic group meet the background factors, are at a cultural distance and these influence the likelihood of entering the first stage of radicalizing.
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Content table
Acknowledgements ... 2 Abstract ... 3 Content table ... 4 1. Introduction ... 6 1.2 Research Question ... 81.3 The Cultural Context of the Netherlands ... 9
1.4 The Cultural Polarisation Context ... 11
1.5 Societal Relevance ... 14
1.6 Academic Relevance ... 14
1.7 Reading Guideline ... 15
2. Theory ... 16
2.1 What is Culture? ... 16
2.2 The Start of Cultural Research ... 18
2.3 Cultural Dimensions ... 19
2.3.1 Cultural Dimensions Theory ... 19
2.3.2 The World Values Map ... 21
2.4 Critiques on Cultural Research ... 23
2.4.1 Critiques on National Culture ... 23
2.4.2 The Religion versus Culture critique ... 24
2.5 Clashing Cultures ... 26
2.5.1 Radicalism ... 28
2.6 Expectations ... 30
3. Methodology ... 32
3.1 Measuring Cultural Distance ... 32
3.1.1. Formulas for index calculation ... 34
3.2 Measuring Background Factors ... 35
3.3 Data Gathering ... 37
3.3.1. Sample ... 39
3.3.2 Adapted VSM2013 Reliability & Validity ... 40
3.3.3 Background Factor Reliability & Validity ... 42
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4.1 Cultural Distance Results ... 43
4.2 Background Factor Results ... 46
5. Conclusion ... 51 5.1 Sub-Conclusions ... 51 5.2 Main Conclusion ... 53 5.3 Limitations ... 54 5.4 Discussion ... 55 5.5 Recommendations ... 57
5.5.1 Recommendations for Further Research ... 57
5.5.2 Policy Recommendations ... 58 6. Bibliography ... 60 6.1 Articles ... 60 6.2 Books ... 62 6.3 Rapports ... 63 6.4 Websites/notes ... 65 7. Appendix ... 68 Appendix i ... 68 Appendix ii ... 71 Appendix iii ... 72 Appendix iiii ... 79
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1. Introduction
Tension is on the rise in the Netherlands and there is a heated debate going on about immigration and the place of Islam in the Netherlands. Eight of out ten Dutch citizens reports to feeling a lot of tension and half of this groups reports feeling this tension in their personal environment.3 This tension cuts through society as it appears to form a division between in-group native Dutch, and Islamic immigrants. The tension between these in-group was further fuelled by the murders on Islam critics Pim Fortuyn4 (2002) and Theo van Gogh5 (2004); the immigration crisis and; the recurring terroristic attacks throughout the Western world by radical Islamists by Al-Qaeda6 and ISIL7.
This research will shed some light ‘if’ and ‘how’ these two cultures are culturally different. With the use of Geert Hofstede’s8 survey and with a slight alteration, his Cultural Dimensions Theory (CDT)9 can be used to measure the cultural distance between the Islamic and Western
3
www.cbs.nl (visited 27/11/2017)
4 Pim Fortuyn (19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and
professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in 2002. Fortuyn had outspoken views about multiculturalism, immigration and Islam in the Netherlands. Fortuyn was assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf. In court at his trial, van der Graaf said he murdered Fortuyn to stop him from exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak members of society" in seeking political power.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 14/10/2017)
5
Theo" van Gogh (23 July 1957 – 2 November 2004) was a Dutch film director, film producer, television director, television producer, television presenter, screenwriter, actor, critic and author. Van Gogh produced the short film Submission (2004), which criticized the treatment of women in Islam and this resulted in an outrage from the Dutch Muslim community. Van Gogh was murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim who objected to the controversial film.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 14/10/2017)
6 Al-Qaeda is a militant Sunni Islamist multi-national organization founded by Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaeda has
mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countries, including the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, the September 11 attacks, and the 2002 Bali bombings.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 14/10/2017)
7
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a Salafi jihadist militant group and a unrecognised proto-state that follows a fundamentalist, Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. This terrorist organisation is widely known for its videos of beheadings of both soldiers and civilians, including journalists and aid workers, and its destruction of cultural heritage sites.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 14/10/2017)
8 Gerard Hofstede (born 2 October 1928) is a Dutch social psychologist, former IBM employee, and Professor
Emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, well known for his pioneering research on cross-cultural groups and organizations. Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 14/10/2017)
9
Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural communication, developed by Geert Hofstede. It describes the effects of a society's culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behaviour, using a structure derived from factor analysis.
7
culture in the Netherlands. Through his research, Hofstede (2013a) found that national cultures could be compared on a six dimensional scale. Each portraying a different overarching value system, which guide every day personal choices. Differing too greatly on some of these dimensions show cultural distance and a possible clash of value systems. Knowing how the Islamic and the Western culture in the Netherlands differ could help better understand the two groups. It could be the start of a meaningful dialogue between the groups, and perhaps even prevent diverging them further. In diverged and segregated societies, more people are at risk of entering the first stage of Islamic radicalisation, according to Precht’s theory (2007).
This research will use the Cultural Map of the World, devised by Inglehart and Welzel10, for the slight alteration to Hofstede’s theory. Respondents are not categorized by nationality, but rather by their self-placement to the main and overarching world cultures. Culture influences individual choice, guides behaviour and forms your vision about how life should look like. Two large groups with each a very different outlook on life and living in one territory can be cause for friction and become polarised. Some examples of this friction are given in paragraph 1.4.
At the moment, Dutch society seems to be polarised between the Western and Islamic cultural groups, adding to frustration, fear and aggression (paragraph 1.3-1.4). Polarisation takes place on several levels and can take many forms. For example on the meso-level, the Islamic group is relatively segregated, feels discriminated against, has a lower socio-economic status and finds it more difficult to get their fair chance on the labour market. These factors combined form the bulk of the background factors which are push-factors in the radicalisation process (Precht, 2007). The same fear that fuels polarisation and discrimination might be helping to cause exactly what society is afraid of: radicalized Islamic fundamentalist who might execute a terrorist attack on Dutch soil.
10 The Inglehart–Welzel cultural map of the world is a map, or more precisely, a scatter plot created by political
scientists Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel based on the World Values Survey. It depicts closely linked cultural values that vary between societies in two predominant dimensions: traditional versus secular-rational values on the vertical y-axis and survival versus self-expression values on the horizontal x-axis.
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1.2 Research Question
If these two cultures are so incompatible they might also have a significantly different outlook on life, adding to their friction. To research if these cultures are as different as some people claim, the two cultures can be culturally compared on a six-dimensional scale using Hofstede’s (2013a) sociological ‘Cultural Dimensions theory’. With a slight alteration to his original survey, the two Dutch groups can be adequately compared, as differences and similarities will become apparent. Furthermore, to grasp the seriousness of the situation, it is worth wile to research if the situation has become so grave for the Islamic group, that they meet some of the background factors and treated as a separate (cultural) group. The factors impact the likelihood of entering the first step in the radicalization process.
With those notions in mind the following research question was formulated:
“To what extend can the cultural divide between the Western culture and the Dutch-Islamic culture in the Netherland, act as a push-factor in the radicalisation process?”
To answer the research question, two sub-questions are formulated:
1. “To what extent and on which dimensions does the Cultural Dimensions Theory (CDT) show a cultural divide between the Western culture and the Islamic culture in the Netherlands?”
2. “To what extent does the Dutch Islamic group meet the background factors, which are cultural push-factors in the radicalisation process?”
Both these sub-questions help to answer the research question. In the end, this research will not measure radicalisation, but rather assess the implications of two cultures who are at a cultural distance, which could influence the risk of entering the radicalisation process. The influencing factors are the previously mentioned background factors (Precht, 2007) and a (culturally) polarised society.
In order to answer this research question, the Dutch context is described below. It provides insight into the Islamic immigration history to the Netherlands, describes the situation today, and provides insight into how two cultures have become polarised.
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1.3 The Cultural Context of the Netherlands
According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS)11, the Netherlands is a country in Western Europe, has a population of roughly seventeen million of which 77% are ethnically Dutch. Roughly 50% percent of the Dutch citizens are irreligious and 44% identify as a Christian. Of those seventeen million citizens, 800 thousand are ethnically Moroccan or Turk and around 5% of the total population is a religious Muslim.
The ethnic Turks and Moroccans came to the Netherlands as guest workers in the 1960s and 1970s. They were expected to return to their own country in the future. However, a lot did not return. In the 1980s and 1990s, their families re-joint with them in the Netherlands.. In the 1990s and 2000s, another large group from the Islamic world came to the Netherlands as asylum seekers. This group consisted of Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans (CBS, 2014). Currently, most Muslim immigrants live in the four major cities; Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. In Amsterdam, these immigrants make up 17% of the population, totalling around 140 thousand (CBS, 2005).
Among the Turkish immigrants, 20% is ‘totally segregated’ from the Dutch society and 4% is ‘ethnically isolated’ according to the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP, 2015).12 Another 53% fell into the ‘mild segregation’ category. The numbers for Moroccan immigrants are; 25% ‘totally segregated’, 7% ‘ethnically isolated’ and 47% of that group is ‘mildly segregated’. The individuals belonging to this last group are mostly the elder immigrants and immigrants of the first generation, belong to the ‘lower income groups’, and often have a ‘strong religious orientation’ (SCP, 2015).
It was originally thought that ‘religiosity’ was decreasing among the second generation of Muslim immigrants, and that this loss of religiosity would be a good thing because of its diminishing effect on segregation. However, the notion of more irreligious immigrants
11
Statistics Netherlands (CBS) publishes reliable and coherent statistical information which responds to the needs of the Dutch society. The responsibility of CBS is twofold: firstly, to compile (official) national statistics and secondly to compile European (community) statistics.
Source: www.cbs.nl (visited 04/11/2017)
12 The SCP is a government agency which conducts research into the social aspects of all areas of government
policy. The main fields studied are health, welfare, social security, the labour market and education, with a particular focus on the interfaces between these fields. The reports published by SCP are widely used by government, civil servants, local authorities and academics.
10
appeared to be false. The younger generation, grown up in a more individualised county, has become more individualised and sees expression of religiosity as an individual experience. Hence the participation in Islamic rituals, such as participating in prayers at Mosques, has gone down (Berger, 2014;178). Many of these young Muslims mainly identify themselves though their religion. They feel more connected to a globalized Muslim community, and don’t have the deep ethno-national attachment to their country of origin as their parents do. In their search for more connectivity, Islamic orthodox or radical groups are trying to give these youth a ‘sense of belonging’ and provide them with clear cut answers to the questions they face.
Some of the youth have become radicalized, feeling discriminated against, angry and frustrated by the lack opportunities and felt trust (IMES, 2007). This feeling of discrimination and lack of trust is understandable considering there is a high anti-Muslim sentiment in the Netherlands, which has increased after of the murder of Theo van Gogh and the 9/11 attacks (Berger, 2014;196). Furthermore, 40% of all the Mosques in the Netherlands have experienced at least one discriminatory incident between 2005 and 201013. These incidents ranged from ‘graffiti texts’, to ‘threat letters’ and ‘arson’, according to the Dutch researcher Ineke van der Valk. She further noted that, discrimination is ‘frequent’ in educational institutions and on the labour market, and Muslim immigrants are ‘less likely to find a job’, and ‘more likely to lose their job’ in economic hardship (Van der Valk, 2012;90-91).
With this notion in mind and the shock that a lot of the Turkish youth supported the religious violence of IS, the SCP started its own research into the subject. They found that these feelings of discrimination and opinions about IS were related to; ‘the lack of interethnic contact’; ‘lack of identification with the mainstream culture’; and the ‘feeling of discrimination’ and ‘seclusion’ in the Netherlands (SCP, 2015). The SCP further notes that the divide between these two cultures in the Netherlands will widen with every added extremely ‘polarised dimensions’, and could possibly have ‘severe consequences’. These polarised dimensions will enhance ‘emotional distance’ to the Netherlands and make people more susceptible to extremist influences (SCP, 2015). The issues for both polarised groups are briefly discussed below, in order to gain a better understanding of the situation.
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1.4 The Cultural Polarisation Context
In December 2016, the SCP concluded that 40 percent of the Dutch Turks and Moroccans no longer feel welcome in the Netherlands.14 Especially the second generation Muslim immigrants feel discriminated against more often, and there is a growing concern about getting a fair chance on the labour market. There are a number of reports dealing with labour market discrimination and even recently the journalistic consumer programme ‘Radar’ again showed that this concern is justified. They showed that almost half the employment agencies will help filter out minorities for possible job opportunities if clients asked them to.15
The critical attitude towards Muslim culture and their religion increases the feeling of discrimination. For instance, the Dutch politician and leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) Geert Wilders16, called for ‘Less, Less and Less’17 Moroccans. Furthermore, several mosques (Leiden18, Dordrecht19, Venlo20), and even a primary school21 have been occupied by extremists, scanting and waving with banners which have discriminatory slogans on them. Furthermore, several Muslim interest groups report that; discrimination and violence against Muslim are on the rise; is constantly underestimated by politicians, and systematically underreported by the media. This statement triggered the nationally distributed Dutch newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’22
, who launched research into the subject and found that these claims were correct. Even with the underreported discriminatory incidents and violence against Muslims, the Dutch National Police does confirm the upward trend.23 The reported numbers are only the proverbial ‘tip of the iceberg’, also because the willingness to report incidents has always been historically low among this group.24 In all, it’s easy to understand their fears, frustrations and the growing feeling they are no longer welcome.
14 www.nos.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 15
www.nos.nl (visited 01/03/2018)
16
The Party for Freedom (PVV) is a Dutch nationalist and right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands, founded in 2006 by Geert Wilders. The PVV calls for a strong assimilationist stance on integration; proposed banning the Quran; shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands; and is consistently Eurosceptic.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 14/10/2017)
17 www.ad.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 18 www.omroepwest.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 19 www.nos.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 20 www.dagelijksestandaard.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 21 www.nrc.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 22 www.joop.bnnvara.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 23 www.nos.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 24 www.volkskrant.nl (visited 09/01/2018)
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Besides the fears and frustrations of the Dutch Muslims, the SCP also reported another group of people on the direct opposite who are fearful and displeased. This group is sceptic and displeased with the number of Islamic refugees and immigrant travelling to the Netherlands. They feel immigration itself is undesirable and immigration policies are failing. According to this group, the growing number of Muslims directly interferes with the Dutch ‘way of life’ and the ‘Dutch identity’. They associate ‘Islam’ with ‘violence’ and believe ‘Islamic values’ are completely incompatible with their ‘Western-Dutch values’.25
The divide between these groups thus becomes more apparent and only seems to widen as incidents ad up.
In 2015, the Netherlands is ‘flushed’ with thousands of immigrants because of the war in Iraq and Syria and the Islam sceptic group is fed up. Some groups acts out and assault the police by throwing fences, fireworks and beer bottles in a confrontation in front of the Town Hall of Geldermalsen.26 At the same time, city officials were hosting a meeting revolving around the question ‘if’, and if so, ‘how many’ refugees the town should house.
The Islam sceptic group feels ‘injustice’ because they have difficulty making ends meet, and feel ‘angry’ because of the high amounts of money that goes into helping these immigrants, and not them. A large percentage of the sceptic group belongs to the middle and lower income groups, have a lower educational background, or are unemployed.27 This group is faced with lower pensions, housing problems and rising medical costs. The new group of immigrants will need to tap further into the Dutch social security system in order to build their new lives in the Netherlands. The sceptic groups feels the money should be directed to solve their problems first. In fact, they fear that by allowing all these Muslim immigrant into the country, the government will make matters worse because more people will have to compete for jobs and governmental funds. Besides the economic arguments, the sceptic groups believes both cultures are too divergent to live together. They name examples such as the acceptance of the LGBT community28 and in believing in equal rights for woman in society. Sybrand Buma29, foreman for the largest Christian party CDA, also believes this notion and calls for a reduction 25 www.nos.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 26 www.rtlnieuws.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 27 www.nos.nl (visited 14/10/2017) 28
www.wikipedia.org The LGBT community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and LGBT-supportive people, organizations, and subcultures, united by a common culture and social movements. (visited 14/10/2017)
29
Sybrand van Haersma ‘Buma’ (born 30 July 1965) is a Dutch politician and leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
13
in the number of Muslim immigrants30, while PVV leader Wilders calls for a complete immigration stop.
The Islam sceptic group is also fearful for Islamic terrorism and crime. There is indeed an overrepresentation of ‘young Moroccan males’ in crime rates. However, research shows that when the populations are weight for ‘social-economic status’, crime-rates are about the same for Muslim immigrants, as they are for the original Dutch population.31 Several scientists like Roel Jennisen,32Godfied Engbersen,33 and Jaco Dagevos34 note that religion and ethnicity do not play a role in crime rates. What does, is: being a ‘young male’; who is ‘jobless’; living in an ‘urban city’; hanging around with ‘criminal friends’; and who had ‘no role model’ who could correct him when he did something wrong.35 For that reason, it is important to guide immigrants through the immigration process and prevent them from becoming segregated, jobless and without an formal education and hope for a better future.
Besides the ‘crimes rates issues’ there is also a fear for terrorism. Until now, there has not been a terroristic attacks in the Netherlands. Although the murder on Theo van Gogh was religiously inspired and might be considered a ‘terrorist event’, it was the act of one ‘lone wolf’. Although, the murderer Mohammed Bouyeri was an Islamic fundamentalist, in the ‘Pim Fortuyn murder’ it was a radical environmentalist. Resuming, Dutch law enforcement agencies have foiled some terroristic plots and cells, but the notion that Muslim immigrants are the main threat to society seems unsubstantiated and claims are inconclusive at this point. Indeed, Islamic ‘foreign fighters’ who are traumatised by fighting in a warzone are a problem when they might come back. However, this is hardly a problem of Islamic foreign fighters alone, but for all who have fought in a war abroad.36
When all taken together, the Netherlands seems to become a less stable liberal democracy with a divided society. The ‘immigration issue’ and the ‘place of Islam in the Netherlands’
30
www.volkskrant.nl (visited 14/10/2017)
31
www.nrc.nl (visited 27/11/2017)
32 Roel Jennissen is a sociologist and scientific researcher for The Netherlands Scientific Council for
Government Policy (WRR). He focusses on migration and diversity topics. Source: www.wrr.nl (visited 27/11/2017)
33 Godfried Engbersen is the Director of the Sociology department at Erasmus University Rotterdam and
member of the WRR.
Source: www.wrr.nl (visited 27/11-2017)
34 Jaco Dagevos is a senior researcher for the SCP. His areas of expertise are: (ethnic) minorities, integration and
discrimination.
Source: www.scp.nl (visited 27/11/2017)
35
www.nrc.nl (visited 27/11/2017)
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pins cultural groups against each other and discrimination and violence are on the rise. People are becoming more ‘unsettled’, ‘fearful’, and ‘angry’, while some politicians seem to widen the gap in an already polarised society. There is an added paradoxical threat to the growing polarisation. Namely, the growing feelings of being unwelcome and discrimination, combined with violence against Muslims is food for ‘radical thoughts’. It fuels radicalisation and entices support for, and perhaps even participation in terrorism. Paradoxically, the Islam sceptic group might help to cause exactly what they are afraid of and; provide the context in which people radicalize and indirectly might help to cause a much feared terrorist attack.
1.5 Societal Relevance
Bearing the above mentioned information in mind, it is becoming increasingly more important to research the cultural differences and similarities between these groups. The SCP (2015) also highlights the importance of stopping further polarisation and radicalisation, and the importance of research which helps to clarify on which ‘specific dimensions’ these group are polarising. Further research is necessary, according to the EU institution CORDIS37, to find policies which stimulate ‘dialogues’ between Muslims and the majority population of the nation.38
Through the use of Hofstede’s theory, the real cultural distance between these groups can be measured and this data could be used as a starting point for a proper debate between the groups. Furthermore, it is likely that some similarities will be found, which could possibly form a ‘bridge’ between these two converged and polarised groups. In the future, this could mean less violent incidents and less discrimination.
1.6 Academic Relevance
With a slight alteration, Hofstede’s CDT can be used to compare different cultures living together within the same country. Usually, his theory is used to compare countries, companies or other clear cut groups. This researcher believes that the two researched groups are different enough, that they can be researched using the CDT as well. These two cultures are compared
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Community Research and Development Information Service
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using statistically proven dimensions, which guide the everyday behaviour of citizens. The CDT does not merely compare the groups on a ‘single issue’ item, such as the acceptance of ‘gay rights’, but compares the overarching cultural dimension of that item. Knowing how cultures differ on these dimension opens the possibility to predict possible heated debates, and allows a society to diminish their impact through various policies. It also provides some insight into how immigrating and integrating into the Dutch (Western) culture might have influenced the Islamic group on the Hofstede cultural dimensions.
Besides the ‘new use’ for this old theory, this research will ‘test’ if this CDT adaptation is useful in measuring the ‘cultural distance’ between these groups. For that goal, this researcher will gather its own data, and reliability tests will be conducted. The researcher will furthermore formulate questions related to Precht’s (2007) meso-level background factors. Although, it is beyond the scope of this research to form a measureable ‘background factor scale’, it strives to take the first steps towards it and inspire others. These factors help to interpret if the Islamic group is treated differently, as another cultural group, which influence the likelihood of entering the first stage of the radicalisation process.
1.7 Reading Guideline
The next chapter contains a detailed account of the relevant literature dealing culture and cultural research. The ‘Methodology’ chapter contains a clear and precise overview of the adopted theory, a conceptualisation of the used concepts, the used research and data gathering methods. It furthermore describes the sample and the reliability of the constructs. That section is followed by the ‘Results’ chapter which contains a description of the found data. Next is the ‘Conclusions’ chapter where the results are interpreted, limitations are discussed and it also contains recommendations for further research and policy. The ‘Bibliography’ chapter contains a complete list of used sources for this research, and is followed by the ‘Appendix’.
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2. Theory
In the theory section the first discussed subject is the word ‘culture’ and what culture entails. The beginning of cultural research is discussed, followed by several, partly overlapping, theories which try and measure culture and cultural dimensions. The next part deals with the ‘influence of culture’ on individuals and ‘individual choice’. After that, critiques about cultural research will be discussed, followed by a part dealing with the found background factors which are the first stepping stone towards radicalisation.
2.1 What is Culture?
The modern word ‘culture’ is derived from the Latin word ‘colere’, which means: ‘to inhabit’; ‘care for’; ‘nurture’; ‘till’; or ‘cultus’.The word finds its origin in the scriptures of the ancient Roman politician Cicero39 who wrote the ‘Cultura animi’, meaning the cultivation of the soul. By nurturing ones soul man could reach the highest possible stage in human development, and he used the agricultural metaphor ‘cultivate’ to illustrate his idea. 40
In current society, the word ‘culture’ has a multitude of different meanings and interpretations (Hofstede, 2011;1096). Most often the term is used in the ‘anthropological sense’ to describe the differences between ethnic groups or tribes. It is also used to compare nations with each other, which is a common practice in field of Political Science and Sociology. More recently, there have been attempts to compare organizations and occupational cultures with each other, in the business study field (Bing, 2004; de Mooij & Hofstede, 2010).
Each field of research and study can have different levels of aggregation and these different levels can also change the researched concepts. For instance, the organisational culture of a company can change when people change jobs and leave, or when new people become part of the researched company group. This is an example of an easily changed cultural research group. However, societal, national and gender specific culture are far more stable over time. That is because they are formed and internalized from a young age on, and often reside in our
39
Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman politician and lawyer, who served as consul in the year 63 BC, and is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 01/04/2017).
17
unconscious mind. They form and influence our values and preferences, and also guide how we interact with other people (Hofstede, 2001;5).
The word ‘culture’ has had different meanings across time and space, and researched concepts have also changed according to the chosen aggregate level. However, scholars like Hofstede and Hofstede (2005) mention that we need to distinguish the following two main interpretations of the word culture:
(1) The first interpretation is culture in the more ‘narrow sense’ of the word and encompasses the ‘fruits and labours of civilization’. The opera, the ballet, music, museums, art exhibitions and all forms of art and literature fall into this category. The category is also called ‘culture one’, according to the authors (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). This interpretation seems more in line with the old interpretation of Cicero.
(2) The second interpretation of the word, is culture in a more ‘broad sense’ of the word and most often used in the Sociology and Anthropology field. It is used to distinguish and compare groups of people and labelled: ‘culture two’ by Hofstede & Hofstede (2005). According to Hofstede (2011; 3): “Culture is the collective programming of the mind that
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others". However, the
collective groups do not need to be mutually exclusive, and members can be part of multiple overlapping collectives. Each collective has a variety of individual group members who each have their own specific characteristics. Usually, these characteristics partially overlap with the other group members and, when taken together, form a rough mean for that collective group (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005).
This paper will use the broad sense of the word ‘culture’ to culturally compare the two researched groups. The first cultural group is the ‘Western-Dutch cultural group’(western culture/group) and the second is the ‘Dutch-Islamic cultural group’(Islamic group). In the next part, an account is given of the start cultural research.
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2.2 The Start of Cultural Research
As noted before, this paper will use the broad sense of the word culture (culture two) to compare the groups. It is this papers aim to find out on which cultural dimensions these cultural groups differ and on which they are the same. The answer will shed some light on the question if there is a cultural divide in the Dutch society, and on which dimensions. There have been numerous attempts by scholars to find an appropriate framework for cultural comparisons with accompanying dimensions. Below, a short overview is given. Out of these attempts two main frameworks followed, one of which is the cultural distance theory of Geert Hofstede. Both frameworks will be discussed separately in the next sub-paragraph.
One of the first to mention the possible existence of a general framework to compare cultures was the American anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn41 (1953). He stated in an article first published in 1951, that all cultures face more or less the same universal challenges and each culture must find its own common answer to cope with them. During the same time as Kluckhohn (1953), the American sociologists Talcott Parsons and Edward Shils researched a relating subject. They studied the predictability of human action. Their research led to a better empirical understanding of human action, which is influenced by culture. The authors (1951;77) believed that human action could be predicted by five pattern variables. These variables present five alternative choices between two opposing pairs.42
In 1969, American sociologist Alex Inkeles and psychologist Daniel Levinsin (1969) summarized literature from all the fields dealing with ‘national character’. They made a clear distinction in the aggregated level of analysis and interpreted national character as “the most common personality type within a society”. They made a survey, and from the gathered data they found three issues that met their criteria for a national (cultural) dimension. The first being: (1) ‘the relation people have to authority’; the second was (2) ‘the conception of self’ and furthermore dealt with masculinity-femininity; the and last dimension (3) dealt with the
41
Clyde Kluckhohn (January 11, 1905– July 28, 1960), was an American anthropologist and social theorist, best known for his long-term ethnographic work among the Navajo and his contributions to the development of theory of culture within American anthropology.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 01/11/ 2017)
42 1. Affectivity (need gratification) versus affective neutrality (restraint of impulses); 2. Self-orientation versus
collectivity-orientation; 3. Universalism (applying general standards) versus particularism (taking particular relationships into account); 4. Ascription (judging others by who they are) versus achievement (judging them by what they do); 5. Specificity (limiting relations to others to specific spheres) versus diffuseness (no prior limitations to nature of relations). (Hofstede, 2011;4)
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different ways of ‘dealing with conflict’, and other human dilemmas like the ‘level of control’ over ‘aggression’ and ‘expression’.
These three issues were used, incorporated and empirically proven by Geert Hofstede and are now part of his ‘cultural dimensions framework’ (Hofstede 2011, 5). His framework is used in this paper and it will be further explained below. All of the above mentioned researchers have paved the way for future cultural research, helped to form cultural frameworks and found ways to measurably compare cultures.
2.3 Cultural Dimensions
The two most notable and widely used theories to compare cultures will be discussed below. The first is the ‘Cultural Dimensions Theory’ by Geert Hofstede (2001), which will be used for research purposes in this paper . The second is the ‘World Values map’(WVM) by Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel (Inglehart, 2006). The last theory is mainly used to determine which overarching cultures are present, and can be used as a dividing demographic value. Both theories provide a better insight into the distinguishable global cultures, the comparable cultural dimensions, and how these influence human action.
2.3.1 Cultural Dimensions Theory
The main cultural framework was developed in the eighties by the Dutch social psychologist and former IBM43 employee, Geert Hofstede. He based his model on data gathered from a worldwide IBM employee value survey. Using factor analysis he initially found four cultural dimensions. All of these dimensions related to the different ways of coping with ‘uncertainty’, ‘inequality’, the relationship of the ‘individual within the group’ and the emotional implications of ‘being a male or a female’. Several cross-national replication studies have been conducted with varying populations between 1990 and 2002. Every study proved and strengthened Hofstede’s initial results.
43 IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) is an American multinational technology company with
operations in over 170 countries. IBM manufactures and markets computers hardware, middleware and software, and offers hosting and consulting services. Its inventions include the automated teller machine (ATM), the PC, the floppy disk, the hard disk drive, the magnetic stripe card.
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The four original dimensions where the: ‘individualism-collectivism’; ‘uncertainty avoidance’ (high-low); ‘power distance’(high-low); and the ‘masculinity-femininity’ dimensions. The first deals with how people act towards each other. Do individuals feel a strong obligation towards the collective, or feel more free to express their own opinions and strive for their own goals? The second, deals with how strongly a society strives to control events and uncertain outcomes, or does it accept uncertainty and deals with obstacles as they present themselves? ‘Power distance’ relates to social hierarchy. Which members in society are influential and should be listened to? Countries who score low on this dimension tend to be quite egalitarian and very few people have a privileged place in society. The fourth dimension (masculinity-femininity) relates to a ‘task orientation focus’ and ‘competiveness’, versus a more ‘person-orientated focus’ based on cooperation.
The for mentioned four dimensions were refined and supplemented with two more dimensions. The ‘short-term’ versus ‘long-term’ orientation was discovered by Hofstede in Hong Kong. This fifth dimension relates to how people make decisions and find solutions for the problems they face. A short-term orientated society will look for the solution which sprouts the highest direct result, while a long-term orientation aims for a possibly lower short term reward but more stable in the long run. The sixth and currently last dimension was found by Hofstede in 2010. He called it the ‘indulgence’ versus ‘self-restraint’ dimension. It deals with the question ‘to what extend should people be free to indulge themselves and do what they feel like, or to what extend should people restrain themselves’? Countries which score low on this scale believe public affection and sexual freedom should be limited and the freedom of speech should be restricted to the private sphere.
All of Hofstede’s dimensions will be further explained in the ‘Methodology chapter’ to ensure the correct understanding of these concepts and their place in this thesis. Hofstede’s model is highly regarded and considered one of the strongest in comparing and researching cultures. Many scientist use his framework to further grasp how culture influences the individual. For example, the Israeli social psychologist Shalom H. Schwartz (2012) used it to form his ‘Theory of Basic Human Values’.44
His theory doesn’t offer a dimensional framework to compare cultures, but does offer valuable insight into how individual values vary in different
44
The Theory of Basic Human values, developed by Shalom H. Schwartz, is a theory in the field of intercultural research. The author considers the theory as an essential extension of previous approaches to comparative intercultural research theories, such as the Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, and has been extensively applied in cross-cultural studies of individual values. Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 27/11/2017)
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culture. It is, however, not relevant for this study because it deals with culture on a different aggregate level.
The next sub-paragraph deals with the ‘World Values Map of the World’. It helps to interpret and define the existing cultures and gain a better understanding of how cultural dimensions develop.
2.3.2 The World Values Map
The second theory which has had quite some influence made by American political scientist Ronald Inglehart and the German political scientist Christian Welzel. Based on the World Values Survey45,the authors made a scatter plot with on the y-axis the ‘secular’ versus ‘rational’ value dimension. The x-axis showed the ‘survival’ versus ‘self-expression’ dimension. The dots on the scatter plot depict countries and their dimensional ‘closeness’ on two dimensions.
The ‘secular/rational’ dimension depicts the ‘religious’ or ‘traditional’ values which are more common in agrarian and conservative societies, versus the more ‘secular’, ‘bureaucratic’ and ‘rational’ values, which are more dominant in urban industrialized societies (Inglehart, 2006;116).46 The ‘survival/self-expression’ dimension shows an inter-generational shift between the older ‘materialistic’ generations and the younger ‘post-materialistic’ generations. The elder generation emphasizes ‘economic’ and ‘physical security/prosperity’ above anything else. The younger generation puts greater emphasis on ‘self-expression’, ‘well-being’ and ‘quality of life’.47 Both dimensions show a strong link with economic
45
The World Values Survey (WVS) is a global research project that explores people’s values and beliefs, how they change over time and what social and political impact they have. It is carried out by a worldwide network of social scientists who, since 1981, have conducted representative national surveys in almost 100 countries.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 02/11/2017).
46 The secular has an emphasis on religion and religious values, like the two-parent families and the rejection of
divorce, abortion, euthanasia and suicide. Furthermore, authority plays a more important role in these societies. Society believes civilians should listen to the state and the police, employees to their boss, and children to their parents. Lastly, compared to rational societies these countries tend to be more nationalistic Obviously, the rational countries are exactly the opposite and are more liberal and less inclined to listen to authority. (Inglehart, 2006;120).
47 According to Inglehart (2006;116), the shift towards self-expression makes liberal democratic institutions
more likely to emerge and thrive. In these post-materialistic societies people tend to be tolerant to foreigners, LGBT and other ‘outgroups’. Furthermore, people are more trusting towards each other and place a higher emphases on happiness, imagination, self-expression, and less emphasis on working hard and obedience (Inglehart, 2006;120).
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development. Although economic development plays an important role in shaping societies there are more influencing factors. ‘Religion’, as a part of culture, and ‘historic events’ are also important in shaping cultural values. According to the author (Inglehart, 2006), big historic events as the collapse of a political system, prove to be so influential that they can cause a shift from anything that causes ‘insecurity’ or ‘change’.
Inglehart’s &Welzel’s (Inglehart, 2006) theory helps to further understand how culture is shaped, which is useful for data interpretation. Although, the authors (Inglehart, 2006) do not specifically mention the Islamic cultural group, it is easy to form it using the data from the scatterplot. This research will use the country grouping of the ‘Western world’ (see figure 1, below, right circle), and the ‘Islamic world’ (figure 1, left circle). The main cultures they identified roughly coincide with those used by Huntington and ‘Clash of Civilizations’ theory (1993). This strengthens the researchers idea to use them for this research. According to Huntington (1993:25), the world is divided in seven, possibly eight civilizations with each their different outlook on life. These civilizations are the West, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American and perhaps the African civilizations.
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2.4 Critiques on Cultural Research
A multitude of comparative cultural studies have been executed, each with enough data to support their own respective claims. Nevertheless, there still remain some critical voices who challenge the existence and usefulness of ‘national culture’ as a concept, and the ‘nation’ as an appropriate unit of analysis in cultural research. Furthermore, some authors persist that ‘religion’ and not ‘culture’ should be the correct concept used in comparative cultural research. Both critiques will be discussed below, the first being the usefulness ‘national culture’, followed by the debate concerning the appropriate comparative tool: ‘religion’ or ‘culture’.
2.4.1 Critiques on National Culture
Although the ‘nation-state’ is still the primary unit of analysis in cultural research, authors like House & Jacidan (2004) and Lenartowicz & Roth (2001) question its usefulness and some show that differences within a country can arise (Tung, 2008). Large ‘subcultures’ exist in many countries, theoretically undermining the strength and use of the nation-state as a unit of analysis. Because the nation-state is not a single unit with a single culture, the empirical data would be partially corrupted.
As stated above, cultural dimensions are significantly similar across borders. It is theorised that people who live close to the border culturally intermix with those living on the other side, blurring the usefulness of the researched concepts. Examples of such countries are: Malaysia and Indonesia; Mexico and Guatemala; African nations like: Ghana; Burkina Faso; and Mali (Minkov & Hofstede, 2012;134); but also the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium. Although these last two territories share a common language and part of their history in linked, their cultural scores do roughly coincide with the general scores for their individual countries (Hofstede, 1980; Hofstede, 2001). These findings strengthen Hofstede’s model.
Besides the possible cultural similarities across borders, the existence of large ‘intra-national’ subcultures potentially undermine Hofstede’s model as well. Some countries are so large: China; India; Indonesia; or seem so diverse: Spain; and Switzerland, that some might question the usability of these nations as a single homogeneous entity. Peterson et al.(2006) used the World Values Survey (WVS) to show that Nigerian sub-cultural can differ on some
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levels, but where also very similar on others. In South-America, Lenartowicz, Johnson & White (2003) found some value similarities across national borders and also differences within national borders. In response, (Hofstede et al. , 2010) conducted their own research in Brazil and found evidence of a single Brazilian culture, which had less in common with the other South-American states. They theorised that modern nation states could have a unifying effect on these large subcultures and merge them into a single one. However, at this point in time there is insufficient data and research to prove, or disprove any such effects (Minkov & Hofstede, 2012;136).
Lastly, Boyacigiller et al. (2001)further note that national borders are somewhat arbitrary and subject to change, possibly having an impact on cross- and intra-national cultural differences. This means they are not stable over time and therefore less suitable for research purposes. The authors point to the disintegrated states of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union for their argument. With this notion in mind and the current ease of migrating to another country, this author believes sub-cultural could exist with a single country.
To conclude, subcultures may be distinguishable from the national culture and sometimes national culture are not easily distinguishable from other nations. Country boarders are furthermore drawn up artificially, which gives rise to the idea that national culture is not a useful concept for comparative cultural research. With this in mind, the researcher believes research into large subcultures, belonging to different overarching world cultures, is justified. Especially in cases of immigration. When immigrants move from one culture to another they will not become an ‘average’ Dutch citizen, with a western culture from the minute they set foot on Dutch soil. Culture is instilled from a young age and internalised both consciously and unconsciously (Hofstede, 2001;5). Therefore, cultural adaptation is often a slow process and during this process cultural values can clash. It important to note that the Dutch culture is a smaller part of the bigger Western culture. Furthermore, the Islamic culture refers to a large overarching culture of Islam and not to the religion or individual sub-cultures.
2.4.2 The Religion versus Culture critique
The notion that religion shapes culture is an old one, but gained momentum after the German sociologist Max Weber (1930) argued that ‘Protestantism’ had generated an emphasis on ‘hard work’ and ‘thrift’ as values. Although, this aspect of his theory is contested and by some
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even completely rejected (Becker & Woessmann, 2009; Blum & Dudley, 2001; Cantoni, 2015; Delacroix & Nielsen, 2001), many highly regarded scholars still believe his theory holds some truth. Among them Samuel Huntington (1993), Inglehart and Baker (2000), Inglehart (2007). All stated that religion has a powerful control over people’s values. Welzel and Inglehart (2009) even stated that Islam has had a negative effect on people’s ‘emancipative values’, and Harrison in turn (2010;26) stated that ‘religion’ is the most influential ‘creator of cultural values’. Although the idea that religion has shaped culture is an old one, that does not make it true.
In most cases, environmental differences can easily be singled out as the most important variable that lets religion penetrate to a certain territory, and in turn shape culture (Minkov & Hofstede, 2014;802-803). Authors have wrongly pointed out that Islamic states ‘promote autocratic rule’. Although, there are indeed more dictators in Islamic states compared to Western states, the Islamic rulers can afford to prevent democratization because of their oil wealth (Welzel, 2009).
Authors often attribute values to religion, but often religion is nothing more than a codified set of: ‘rules’; ‘ethics’; ‘customs’; and ‘values’ of a particular timeframe. Writing them down in a holy book seems nothing more than an attempt to preserve them forever. For example, at the dawn of Islam and Christianity both religions believed the man to be superior to the woman. In current day Indonesia and the Middle East, this still appears to be the case. However, this notion predates the rise of Islam by at least four centuries (Minkov & Hofstede, 2014; 803) and although both countries adhere to the same religion, they are very different (Geertz, 1968). Therefore, it is culture that shapes countries. And although some studies have concluded that ‘Christians’, ‘Muslims’, ‘Hindus’ and ‘Buddhist’ differed significantly in their working goals (Parboteeah et al., 2009), they did not control for nationality and thus cannot claim religion is the cause for the differing working goals (Minkov & Hofstede, 2014;805). The formation of culture is a complex process in which many individuals interact with each other and their environment, and cope with historical, political and economic challenges. According to ‘complexity theory’, this process is so complex, chaotic and happens on so many levels, it is impossible to steer, shape or create by human design. ‘Religion’ is shaped and formed by man and therefor it cannot have shaped culture in all its complexities (Minkov & Hofstede, 2014;805).
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Although the leaders of the Soviet Union have tried to shape the minds and believes of people, Inglehart (1997) notes that seventy years of indoctrination did not produce a new culture with accompanying values. The Soviets might have failed in shaping their own culture, but this does not mean that culture cannot be shaped at all. A government can ruin and impoverish a country to such a degree that its citizens need to adopt a ‘survival mode’, with accompanying ‘survival values’. It can also keep its citizens uneducated and thus promote ‘conservative values’ to a certain degree. The government has the power to impose laws which can influence the personal decision-making process of citizens. In doing so, the government can contribute or slightly steer the national culture of a territory, but never fully shape it, or change it values in a rigorous way (Minkov & Hofstede, 2014;805).
To summarize, religion is a codification of the values of that specific time and it works to preserve them. Culture can change slowly through all individuals interacting with each other and their environment, but is too complex to steer and form by human design. And although the government has the power to shape some part of a national culture, it is only marginal. This, in combination with the fact that the nation state can be contested as a unit for analyses, makes the author confident that the ‘Western culture’ can be compared to ‘Islamic culture’ in the Netherlands.
In the next part, this thesis investigates the idea that cultural distance can cause cultures to clash, and it searches for indicators which have an impact on Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism.
2.5 Clashing Cultures
The idea of ‘clashing cultures’ is most commonly linked to American political scientist Samuel Huntington .48 According to Huntington’s theory (1993:25), the world is divided in seven, possibly eight civilizations with each their different outlook on life. Along the cultural
48
Samuel Huntington (April 18, 1927 – December 24, 2008) was an American political scientist, adviser and academic. He was director of Harvard's Center for International Affairs and the White House Coordinator of Security Planning for the National Security Council during the Carter administration. He argued that future wars would be fought not between countries, but between cultures, and that Islamic extremism would
become the biggest threat to world peace. Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 04/11/2017)
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fault lines separating those civilizations, conflict between those civilizations could ignite.49 According to Huntington (1993:23-24) a civilization can be defined as the following broad concept:
“A civilization is a cultural entity (…), the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species. It is defined both by common objective elements, such as language, history, religion, customs, institutions, and by the subjective self-identification on people”
Huntington (1993:25-26) names several reasons for the assumption that cultures will clash. First, people from different civilizations have different views on the relationship between: ‘God and man’; ‘the individual’ and ‘the group’; ‘the citizen’ and ‘the state’; and different views on the relative importance of ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities’; ‘liberty’ and ‘authority’; ‘equality’ and ‘hierarchy’. Second, the world has become a smaller place, due to ‘globalisation’, ‘regionalisation’, and ‘interdependence’ (as well as social media) and this puts strain on cultural identities. Third, there is a ‘de-secularisation’ going on and this, in combination with the loss of cultural identity makes some people hold on to their heritage more aggressively.
Huntington’s theory is contested by several authors. For example, Choizza (2002;711) and Fox (2002;415) both note that no significant clashes have taken place between Western, Confucian or Muslim countries. On that note, Inglehart & Norris (2002;235) state that Huntington is indeed mistaken that ‘clashes’ would take place because of democratic values alone. It is because of ‘cultures’ and their different values that countries can clash. According to Inglehart & Welzel (2010;563) research also shows that peoples’ beliefs and values (which are rooted in culture) play an important role in how a society functions. Although these measurements are subjective, they do play a vital part in objective realities. The subjective self-identification alongside differing cultural identities, can be cause for objective friction due to differing cultural values.
49 In Europe, this dividing-line runs downwards from the borders between Finland and Russia, and towards the
boarders between the Balkans and Russia. This dividing line runs straight through Ukraine. Already in 1993, Huntington (1993:30) underlined the cultural divide between the Ukrainian citizens, and the possible violence it might induce. In 2013, unrest began in Ukraine resulting in the Crimean crisis and a civil war between pro Russia and Ukrainian forces.
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This difference in cultural values might be cause for a clash between the Western and Islamic cultural values in the Netherlands. These clashes can occur in the form of ‘non-violent’ discrimination, ‘semi-violent’ occupation of schools, or become ‘actually violent’ by attacking people on the street or committing a terroristic attack. Across the Western world, several violent clashes have taken place in form of terrorist attacks executed by radicalized Islamic fundamentalists.
In order to prevent these clashes, it is useful to understand what cultural factors influence the likelihood of entering the radicalization process. These are discussed in the next paragraph.
2.5.1 Radicalism
According to the Swedish scholar Magnus Ranstorp50 the road towards violent extremism is conceptualized very difficultly. Each case is unique, creating an infinite amount of possible influencing factors. In his paper written for the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN)51, he does note that the infinite combination can be categorized in nine influencing factor groups52, and that these groups can be divided in ‘push’- and ‘pull’-factors53 (Ranstrop, 2016). The pull-factors are of use, but beyond the scope of this paper. This research focusses on the role of society, ‘culture’, and cultural distance as a possible ‘push factor’, not the ‘pulling factors’ of radical groups and their believes.
50 Per Magnus Ranstorp has written about Hizballah, Hamas, al-Qaeda and other militant Islamic movements.
He is the Research Director of the Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defence College, directing a project on Strategic Terrorist Threats to Europe which focuses on radicalisation and recruitment of salafist-jihadist terrorists across Europe and the convergence between Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear Weapons and Terrorism.
Source: www.wikipedia.org (visited 05/11/2017)
51 The Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) brings together practitioners from around Europe working on
the prevention of radicalisation. RAN is a network of frontline or grassroots practitioners from around Europe who work daily with people who have already been radicalised, or who are vulnerable to radicalisation. Practitioners include police and prison authorities, but also those who are not traditionally involved in counter-terrorism activities, such as teachers, youth workers, civil society representatives, local authorities
representatives and healthcare professionals.
Source: www.ec.europa.eu (visited 05/11/2017)
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1) individual socio-psychological factors; 2) social factors; 3) political factors; 4) ideological and religious dimensions; 5) the role of culture and identity issues; 6) trauma and other trigger mechanisms; and three other factors that are a motor for radicalisation: 7) group dynamics; 8) radicalisers/groomers; and 9) the role of social media (Ranstrop, 2016).
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The pull-factors are a personal quest, a sense of belonging to a cause, ideology or social network; power and control; a sense of loyalty and commitment; a sense of excitement and adventure; a romanticised view of ideology and cause; the possibility of heroism, personal redemption, etc. (Ranstrop, 2016).
