Radicalisation as a bulletproof vest? A qualitative analysis of Belgian professionals’ ‘ in-between ’ perspectives

Recent studies highlight multi-level, relational and context-sensitive approaches to radicalisation. This qualitative research explores how Belgian professionals working in welfare, prevention, mental health and justice make sense of radicalisation in everyday practice. Their accounts depict radicalisation as a psychosocial process rooted in exclusion, misrecognition and the search for belonging. Across sectors, professionals describe individuals developing defensive and identity-restoring responses to fractured social and self-recognition. We conceptualise this process as the construction of a bulletproof vest: protective identities that withstand vulnerability and restore coherence. From their distinct in-between perspective, professionals navigate tensions between care and control, seeking to preserve trust and professional integrity. They stress that what may appear as problematic radicalisation does not necessarily equate to violent radicalisation; it can reflect resilience, resistance or meaning-making. They challenge reductionist interpretations and expose how societal narratives conflate Islam with radicalisation, reproducing mistrust and reinforcing the conditions that make the bulletproof vest necessary.