Dr. Bélanger’s work focuses primarily on political violence, self-sacrifice, and deradicalization, to understand the circumstances motivating individuals to sacrifice their lives for a cause. His research addresses how to constructively redirect these motivational forces: paving the way for conciliation, conflict resolution, and harmony in inter-group relations.
In 2015, he was appointed by the City of Montreal to create the first deradicalization center in North America to tackle homegrown terrorism, and he is co-author of “The Three Pillars of Radicalization: Needs, Narratives, and Network.”
