Biographies of Radicalization
Biographies of Radicalization

Author: Mirjam de Bruijn

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2019-04-01

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 3110623625

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The term ‘radicalization’ immediately evokes images of extremism, Muslim fundamentalism, and violence. The phenomenon is considered one of the evil forces triggering acts of terrorism and confl icts around the world. These notions also colour the way we view Sub-Saharan Africa since the Boko Haram uprising in Nigeria in 2009 and the spillover consequences of the Libyan civil war in 2012. This book aims to broaden our understanding of radicalization. It searches for the deeper wellsprings of radicalization as a force not only negative in outcome, but also pregnant with opportunities and vital to social and political change. The book argues that radical ideas and persons appear primarily with a call for change. Certainly, these cries can turn extremely violent and lead to open confl ict, but could this violence have been avoided if the radicalization and people involved had initially been interpreted differently? Following an opening refl ection by a slam artist on the phenomenon of radicalization, the book presents four case studies from the past and six from the present day. The studies are drawn mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa, with one from the Netherlands. By focusing on ‘biographies of radicalization’ the book investigates the history of the phenomenon, the forms it takes, and the pathways that lead a person to become radicalized. Rather than focus on chronological accounts of events, the emphasis is on exploring personal trajectories and inside stories. What can we learn from these individual itineraries and forms of radicalization? Were violent outcomes inevitable, and how might the calls for change have been turned in a different direction? The last three chapters examine pathways out of radicalization, ending with a report on youth in Dakar who directly engage with problematic issues in society and creatively harness the energy for change without becoming violent radicals.

Radical
Radical

Author: Maajid Nawaz

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2016-03-01

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1493025724

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Maajid Nawaz spent his teenage years listening to American hip-hop and learning about the radical Islamist movement spreading throughout Europe and Asia in the 1980s and 90s. At 16, he was already a ranking member in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a London-based Islamist group. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a top recruiter, a charismatic spokesman for the cause of uniting Islam’s political power across the world. Nawaz was setting up satellite groups in Pakistan, Denmark, and Egypt when he was rounded up in the aftermath of 9/11 along with many other radical Muslims. He was sent to an Egyptian prison where he was, fortuitously, jailed along with the assassins of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The 20 years in prison had changed the assassins’ views on Islam and violence; Maajid went into prison preaching to them about the Islamist cause, but the lessons ended up going the other way. He came out of prison four years later completely changed, convinced that his entire belief system had been wrong, and determined to do something about it. He met with activists and heads of state, built a network, and started a foundation, Quilliam, funded by the British government, to combat the rising Islamist tide in Europe and elsewhere, using his intimate knowledge of recruitment tactics in order to reverse extremism and persuade Muslims that the ‘narrative’ used to recruit them (that the West is evil and the cause of all of Muslim suffering), is false. Radical, first published in the UK, is a fascinating and important look into one man's journey out of extremism and into something else entirely. This U.S. edition contains a "Preface for US readers" and a new, updated epilogue.

The Psychology of Radicalization and Terrorism
The Psychology of Radicalization and Terrorism

Author: Willem Koomen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-11-19

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 131767703X

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Terrorism and radicalization have a long history, but in recent years their prominence has been a particularly conspicuous and influential feature of the global political landscape. This important book presents an overview of the processes involved in radicalization and terrorism, and introduces a systematic framework which captures the most crucial individual and social factors involved in determining these processes. The authors begin by considering the possible role of prejudice, economic deprivation, and discrimination, and the cognitive responses and emotions they can trigger. Such responses tend in turn to increase the importance of group membership, and promote intergroup differentiation and polarization, a process which is often accompanied by more pronounced and more extreme religious and ideological beliefs. The book also describes the role of cultural values and social climate in processes of radicalization, as well as the role of personality factors and demographics such as age and marital status. As for violent terrorist action itself, this final most radical stage is elicited by a number of group factors such as groupthink, isolation, and leadership. Certain cognitive mechanisms – for example, dehumanizing the target and attributing responsibility elsewhere – can also provide excuses for violence. The book explores why some groups turn to violence and others don’t, and it addresses processes of disengagement, deradicalization programs, and other methods used to inhibit the spread of radicalization and terrorism. The Psychology of Radicalization and Terrorism takes a unique and systematic approach to a vital topic, integrating knowledge from diverse literatures, and using social psychology as a basis for comprehending human behaviour. It will be essential reading for students and researchers from all disciplines seeking a greater understanding of terrorism and violent political conflict in all its forms.

Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism
Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism

Author: John Calvert

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-11-22

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 0199365261

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Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) was an influential Egyptian ideologue credited with establishing the theoretical basis for radical Islamism in the post colonial Sunni Muslim world. Lacking a pure understanding of the leader's life and work, the popular media has conflated Qutb's moral purpose with the aims of bin Laden and al-Qaeda. He is often portrayed as a terrorist, Islamo-Fascist, and advocate of murder. This book rescues Qutb from misrepresentation, tracing the evolution of his thought within the context of his time. An expert on social protest and political resistance in the modern Middle East, as well as Egyptian nationalism, John Calvert recounts Qutb's life from the small village in which he was raised to his execution at the behest of Abd al-Nasser's regime. His study remains sensitive to the cultural, political, social, and economic circumstances that shaped Qutb's thought-major developments that composed one of the most eventful periods in Egyptian history. These years witnessed the full flush of Britain's tutelary regime, the advent of Egyptian nationalism, and the political hegemony of the Free Officers. Qutb rubbed shoulders with Taha Husayn, Naguib Mahfouz, and Abd al-Nasser himself, though his Islamism originally had little to do with religion. Only in response to his harrowing experience in prison did Qutb come to regard Islam and kufr (infidelity) as oppositional, antithetical, and therefore mutually exclusive. Calvert shows how Qutb repackaged and reformulated the Islamic heritage to pose a challenge to authority, including those who claimed (falsely, he believed) to be Muslim.

Violent Extremism Online
Violent Extremism Online

Author: Anne Aly

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-05-05

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 131743188X

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This book explores the interface between terrorism and the internet and presents contemporary approaches to understanding violent extremism online. The volume focuses on four issues in particular: terrorist propaganda on the internet; radicalisation and the internet; counter campaigns and approaches to disrupting internet radicalisation; and approaches to researching and understanding the role of the internet in radicalisation. The book brings together expertise from a wide range of disciplines and geographical regions including Europe, the US, Canada and Australia. These contributions explore the various roles played by the Internet in radicalisation; the reasons why terroristic propaganda may or may not influence others to engage in violence; the role of political conflict in online radicalisation; and the future of research into terrorism and the internet. By covering this broad range of topics, the volume will make an important and timely addition to the current collections on a growing and international subject. This book will be of much interest to students and researchers of cyber-security, internet politics, terrorism studies, media and communications studies, and International Relations.

The Three Pillars of Radicalization
The Three Pillars of Radicalization

Author: Arie W. Kruglanski

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0190851120

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Based on rare field research with terrorists, this ground breaking book delineates the drivers of radicalization and develops a deradicalization model to mitigate contemporary terrorism. Radicalization arises from individuals' needs, ideological narratives, and support networks. Individuals' need for significance and mattering, when conjoined to a narrative that advocates violence as a path to significance and a network that socially validates the narrative, creates a combustible psychological mixture that threatens social stability and global peace.

Pakistan Under Siege
Pakistan Under Siege

Author: Madiha Afzal

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2018-01-02

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 0815729464

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Over the last fifteen years, Pakistan has come to be defined exclusively in terms of its struggle with terror. But are ordinary Pakistanis extremists? And what explains how Pakistanis think? Much of the current work on extremism in Pakistan tends to study extremist trends in the country from a detached position—a top-down security perspective, that renders a one-dimensional picture of what is at its heart a complex, richly textured country of 200 million people. In this book, using rigorous analysis of survey data, in-depth interviews in schools and universities in Pakistan, historical narrative reporting, and her own intuitive understanding of the country, Madiha Afzal gives the full picture of Pakistan’s relationship with extremism. The author lays out Pakistanis’ own views on terrorist groups, on jihad, on religious minorities and non-Muslims, on America, and on their place in the world. The views are not radical at first glance, but are riddled with conspiracy theories. Afzal explains how the two pillars that define the Pakistani state—Islam and a paranoia about India—have led to a regressive form of Islamization in Pakistan’s narratives, laws, and curricula. These, in turn, have shaped its citizens’ attitudes. Afzal traces this outlook to Pakistan’s unique and tortured birth. She examines the rhetoric and the strategic actions of three actors in Pakistani politics—the military, the civilian governments, and the Islamist parties—and their relationships with militant groups. She shows how regressive Pakistani laws instituted in the 1980s worsened citizen attitudes and led to vigilante and mob violence. The author also explains that the educational regime has become a vital element in shaping citizens’ thinking. How many years one attends school, whether the school is public, private, or a madrassa, and what curricula is followed all affect Pakistanis’ attitudes about terrorism and the rest of the world. In the end, Afzal suggests how this beleaguered nation—one with seemingly insurmountable problems in governance and education—can change course.

Radicalization
Radicalization

Author: Melissa Dearey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-12-04

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1135193363

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Expanding the influence of auto/biography studies into cultural criminology, this book addresses the origins, processes and cultures of terrorist criminality and political resistance in a globalized world.

Extremism
Extremism

Author: J. M. Berger

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2018-08-28

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0262535874

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What extremism is, how extremist ideologies are constructed, and why extremism can escalate into violence. A rising tide of extremist movements threaten to destabilize civil societies around the globe. It has never been more important to understand extremism, yet the dictionary definition—a logical starting point in a search for understanding—tells us only that extremism is “the quality or state of being extreme.” In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, J. M. Berger offers a nuanced introduction to extremist movements, explaining what extremism is, how extremist ideologies are constructed, and why extremism can escalate into violence. Berger shows that although the ideological content of extremist movements varies widely, there are common structural elements. Berger, an expert on extremist movements and terrorism, explains that extremism arises from a perception of “us versus them,” intensified by the conviction that the success of “us” is inseparable from hostile acts against “them.” Extremism differs from ordinary unpleasantness—run-of-the-mill hatred and racism—by its sweeping rationalization of an insistence on violence. Berger illustrates his argument with case studies and examples from around the world and throughout history, from the destruction of Carthage by the Romans—often called “the first genocide”—to the apocalyptic jihadism of Al Qaeda, America's new “alt-right,” and the anti-Semitic conspiracy tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He describes the evolution of identity movements, individual and group radicalization, and more. If we understand the causes of extremism, and the common elements of extremist movements, Berger says, we will be more effective in countering it.

Understanding Terror Networks
Understanding Terror Networks

Author: Marc Sageman

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2011-09-21

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0812206797

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For decades, a new type of terrorism has been quietly gathering ranks in the world. America's ability to remain oblivious to these new movements ended on September 11, 2001. The Islamist fanatics in the global Salafi jihad (the violent, revivalist social movement of which al Qaeda is a part) target the West, but their operations mercilessly slaughter thousands of people of all races and religions throughout the world. Marc Sageman challenges conventional wisdom about terrorism, observing that the key to mounting an effective defense against future attacks is a thorough understanding of the networks that allow these new terrorists to proliferate. Based on intensive study of biographical data on 172 participants in the jihad, Understanding Terror Networks gives us the first social explanation of the global wave of activity. Sageman traces its roots in Egypt, gestation in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war, exile in the Sudan, and growth of branches worldwide, including detailed accounts of life within the Hamburg and Montreal cells that planned attacks on the United States. U.S. government strategies to combat the jihad are based on the traditional reasons an individual was thought to turn to terrorism: poverty, trauma, madness, and ignorance. Sageman refutes all these notions, showing that, for the vast majority of the mujahedin, social bonds predated ideological commitment, and it was these social networks that inspired alienated young Muslims to join the jihad. These men, isolated from the rest of society, were transformed into fanatics yearning for martyrdom and eager to kill. The tight bonds of family and friendship, paradoxically enhanced by the tenuous links between the cell groups (making it difficult for authorities to trace connections), contributed to the jihad movement's flexibility and longevity. And although Sageman's systematic analysis highlights the crucial role the networks played in the terrorists' success, he states unequivocally that the level of commitment and choice to embrace violence were entirely their own. Understanding Terror Networks combines Sageman's scrutiny of sources, personal acquaintance with Islamic fundamentalists, deep appreciation of history, and effective application of network theory, modeling, and forensic psychology. Sageman's unique research allows him to go beyond available academic studies, which are light on facts, and journalistic narratives, which are devoid of theory. The result is a profound contribution to our understanding of the perpetrators of 9/11 that has practical implications for the war on terror.