Conclusion

Abstract

This concluding chapter summarizes the goals of research and presents its findings. Overall, the analysis of empirical data suggests that a strong connection exists between the category of (ex)militants and their disengagement pathways. Broadly speaking, the study demonstrates that disengagement from militant activity occurs more often among avengers and, to a lesser extent, nationalists than among jihadists. More specifically, this chapter points out that distinct types of insurgents are variously resilient to external and internal pressures — group membership and social bonds, (in)discriminativeness of violence and hidden identities, ideology and beyond — to individual disengagement. It also posits that stronger adherence to ideology, higher lethality rates and indiscriminativeness of violence, interrupted social links, and stronger group membership renders jihadists, followed by nationalists, and in contrast to avengers, the less likely category of militants to seek individual disengagement.