Since the end of 2020, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) has been funding 12 research projects and the RADIS transfer project, which are investigating the social causes and effects of Islamism in Germany and Europe. The results should also help policymakers and practitioners in the fight against Islamism.
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The BMFTR promotes research into radical Islamism in order to generate knowledge and strengthen policy and practice in dealing with radicalisation trends.
The projects are networked internally and externally through the transfer project "Societal Causes and Effects of Radical Islam in Germany and Europe" (RADIS). Central scientific project findings are brought together with measures for the socially and practically orientated transfer of results and knowledge and exchanged with both politicians and the generally interested public.
Islamism - like other forms of extremism - has become part of the social reality in Germany and many European countries - with far-reaching consequences for peaceful, secure coexistence, social cohesion and our liberal democracy. This makes it all the more important to understand the causes, mechanisms and effects of extremist ideologies. Only with this knowledge can we succeed in identifying social risk factors and strengthening democratic values.
The projects funded to date have investigated whether and to what extent the influence of Islamists has an impact on social life, on insecurities and on (perceived) threats, which different currents of Islamism exist and how society as a whole or parts of society deal with them. Various possible causes of Islamist radicalisation were also examined at an individual, institutional and societal level.
The results of the projects were presented at the RADIS transfer and final conference on 8 April 2025 in Berlin, which brought together more than 100 researchers and representatives from prevention practice and politics, administration, the media and civil society. Results and recommendations from over four years of research were discussed and compared with current challenges. Key starting points for future research and prevention work as well as for politics and society were also highlighted at the conference.
For example, cooperation between state and civil society actors should be strengthened in order to ensure long-term, broad-based and transfer-orientated research and effective prevention work. Educational professionals should be trained and educated. Muslim communities should respond to Islamist attacks in an active and socio-political manner, according to the researchers. Radicalisation and co-radicalisation spirals should be prevented by supporting and further developing measures to promote democracy, strengthen social participation and diversity, as well as anti-racism work, and by taking a long-term approach. The highly dynamic Islamist messages to increasingly younger young people in social media (Instagram, TikTok etc.) and on platforms on the internet (YouTube) should also be effectively combated immediately and in the long term in order to prevent further polarisation and division.
Due to the continuing challenges that Islamism poses to Western societies and their liberal basic orders, the BMFTR is continuing its commitment in the fight against Islamism: In order to provide research-based answers to the current, urgent questions in this complex of topics and to be able to decisively counter the Islamist radicalisation of ever younger people, the BMFTR is providing further funding for Islamism research within the framework of the funding guideline "Islamism: Effects, Counter-Strategies and Preventive Measures". Following a science-led selection process, the new projects are due to start in spring 2026.
