REPERTOIRES OF OFFICIAL DERADICALIZATION OF NON-VIOLENT RADICAL MUSLIM WOMEN IN KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

Today, Kazakhstan is only beginning to grasp the challenge of non-violent radicalization among Muslim women. By placing Islamization within the framework of securitization, the state is reviving and adjusting the discourse on the role of women in Islam and within a secular state (Heathershaw and Montgomery, 2014). As women return from Syria and Iraq, Kazakh authorities have found themselves looking for answers - how and why do women fall into the trap of “destructive religious currents” and what are the solutions for their successful deradicalization? I explore Kazakhstan’s deradicalization of women through the work of rehabilitation centers across the country. My work aims to compare the policy’s design to its implementation, to reveal the gender bias, and to examine the relationship with the social support in which deradicalization takes place. By analyzing state-activated coercion, cooptation and propaganda, I am motivated to provide an answer to how their design and implementation shape the effectiveness of deradicalization of women.