radical political behavior
Definition
Radical political behavior refers to actions that challenge societal norms regarding both appropriate political goals and acceptable means of pursuing them. It is understood as a continuum ranging from normative, institutionally endorsed conduct such as voting, through confrontational non-normative acts including unauthorized demonstrations and property damage, to violent extremism such as terrorism. What unites these behaviors is their rejection of established boundaries around how political change should be pursued, rather than any uniform level of violence. Among Swedish adolescents tracked from ages 13 to 17, within-person increases in political distrust, powerlessness, and dissatisfaction were each concurrently associated with increases in radical political behavior, with political distrust accounting for the largest share of variance at 19%. The effects were consistently stronger for boys than girls, suggesting that gendered pathways into radicalization emerge during adolescence itself.
Sources: Miklikowska & Besta (2026)
Related Terms
- adolescence (1 shared article)
- political trust (1 shared article)
- radicalism (1 shared article)
- radicalization (1 shared article)
- political alienation (1 shared article)
- political powerlessness (1 shared article)
- political dissatisfaction (1 shared article)
Applications
Radical Political Behavior and Political Alienation
Political alienation, comprising political distrust, powerlessness, and dissatisfaction, is theorized to increase the likelihood of radical political behavior by undermining individuals' sense of significance and reducing the perceived effectiveness of conventional political channels. In a five-wave longitudinal study of Swedish youth, both within-person fluctuations and between-person differences in all three alienation dimensions were associated with corresponding levels of radicalism across adolescence. Political dissatisfaction showed a reciprocal relationship with radicalization in a cross-lagged panel model, meaning the two constructs reinforced each other over time, while distrust and powerlessness operated largely as concurrent rather than temporally predictive factors.
Sources: Miklikowska & Besta (2026)
Radical Political Behavior and Political Dissatisfaction
Political dissatisfaction, defined as negative evaluations of how the political system performs, was associated with non-normative political participation and disengagement from conventional forms of political action such as voting. Among adolescents, it accounted for 15% of the variance in radical political behavior at the within-person level. Uniquely among the three alienation dimensions examined, dissatisfaction and radicalism showed a reciprocal over-time dynamic, each reinforcing the other across the study period.
Sources: Miklikowska & Besta (2026)
Radical Political Behavior and Gender
Gender significantly moderated the relationship between political alienation and radical political behavior, with the effects of distrust, powerlessness, and dissatisfaction all being more pronounced for boys than girls. This pattern aligns with the finding that gendered pathways into radicalization begin during adolescence.
Sources: Miklikowska & Besta (2026)
