Perceptions of world politics and support for terrorism among Muslims: Evidence from Muslim countries and Western Europe

Zhirkov, Kirill; Verkuyten, Maykel; Weesie, Jeroen

doi:10.1177/0738894213510121

Cited by 43 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…Again, only in the U.K. path model was religious acculturation negatively associated with violent behavioral intentions and mediated the respective effects of symbolic threat. In line with previous research (Zirkov et al, 2014), this finding suggests that Muslims' religious involvement does not predict a higher willingness to commit violence, but may even have the opposite effect. It is possible that when faced with threats towards their religious culture and belief system, religious British Muslims increased their religious acculturation even more, in turn, showing lower levels of violent behavioral intentions.…”

Section: The Role Of Acculturation Orientations and Strategiessupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Next, research shows mixed results regarding the relationship between commitment to religious belief and violence. While some literature indicates that high religiosity may predict less violence among Muslims living in Muslim majority countries (Zirkov et al, 2014), other suggest that it predicts more violence among European Muslims (Canetti, Hobfoll, Pedahzur & Zaidise, 2010;Zirkov et al, 2014). However, there is, to the best of our knowledge, no literature on the relationship between religious acculturation and violence.…”

Section: The Present Researchmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Thus, we argue that even though threat might function as important predictors of radicalization and political violence (Simon, Reichert, & Grabow, 2013), the acculturation process might mediate this relationship. While evidence suggest that religion may not act as the primary motivator for joining violent extremist organizations or committing acts of terrorism (Pearce, 2014;Zirkov, Verkuyten & Weesie, 2014), many Muslims might be attracted to violent religious groups as a result of disengagement and separation from the host society (Hogg, Adelman, Blagg., 2010;Butler, 2015). That is, for Muslim immigrants who perceive the majority society as threatening their religious culture and norms and therefore dis-identify from the mainstream culture or society, these organizations, with their clear ideology coated with religious teachings, may provide group certainty, a sense of belonging and significance.…”

Section: The Potential Mediating Role Of Acculturationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These reduced violent behavioral intentions may be seen as an attempt to reduce intergroup tensions, and counter the negative image that many Britons may have of Muslims as intolerant and violent extremists (see e.g., Krueger & Malečková, 2003;Bakker, Paulussen, & Entenmann, 2013). Hence, for British Muslims, an increased involvement in their religious culture may be a negative predictor of violent behavior, and this process may be elicited by perceptions of symbolic threat (Zirkov et al, 2014).…”

Section: The Role Of Acculturation Orientations and Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Threat, Anti-Western Hostility and Violence among European Muslims: The Mediating Role of Acculturation

Tahir¹,

Kunst²,

Sam³

2019

Preprint

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In many Western countries, the public has extensively debated factors potentially leading Muslim minoritygroup members to support violence by foreign extremist states or to commit violence themselves. Here, one central question has been whether their acculturation orientations may play a role. Combining perspectives from integrated threat theory and acculturation psychology, the present study investigated whether one reason for why threat perceptions lead to higher violent behavioral intentions among Muslims, as evidence by previous research, may be that they are related to distinct acculturation orientations. It tested this proposition in two samples comprising of Norwegian (N = 253) and British Muslims (N = 194). The more Norwegian Muslims perceived realistic threat, the more violent behavioral intentions they showed, but this relation was not mediated by acculturation. Among British Muslims, mainstream acculturation orientation was related to more violent intentions, while threat was not. In both samples, symbolic threat was associated with more support for Muslim military violence and this relationship was mediated by religious acculturation in the U.K. In contrast to previous research, symbolic threat was linked with less personal intentions to commit violence in the U.K., mediated by religious acculturation. Complementary analyses calculating acculturation strategies indicated that assimilated, and to some extend integrated, Muslims in both countries tended to show the highest violent behavioral intentions. By contrast, separated individual showed the highest level of support for Muslim military violence.Ways in which these findings can be used to counter violence and improve intergroup relations in Western ethnically diverse societies are discussed.

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Section: The Role Of Acculturation Orientations and Strategiessupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: The Present Researchmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: The Potential Mediating Role Of Acculturationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Role Of Acculturation Orientations and Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Threat, Anti-Western Hostility and Violence among European Muslims: The Mediating Role of Acculturation

Tahir¹,

Kunst²,

Sam³

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…EU governments must manage security and cost-sharing issues arising from free movement in the Schengen zone (Ahrens, Kelly & Liempt, 2014). They must detect which global financial remittances support terrorists abroad (Zhirkov, Verkuyten & Weesie, 2014). The media problematise issues such as gender tolerance (Joly, 2016).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards refugees in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia

DeCoursey¹,

Naimushin²,

Tuncay³

et al. 2017

ASS

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As refugee flows have increased, western attitudes towards them have become conflicted. Attitudes towards refugees in non-western and in Muslim nations are rarely studied, though these nations accept most refugees. This study of attitudes towards refugees among tertiary students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Lebanon, Russia and Kyrgyzstan used Appraisal and content analysis frequencies and co-frequencies. Results showed that the Lebanese realised greater affect, possibly due to their experience of refugees. More generally, nationality shaped attitudes more than religion, tertiary students favour technocratic solutions by government actors despite realistically estimating the challenge, and while students critically analyse the problems created by refugee inflows, they retain a nativist stance and seem unaware of the optics and politics of this stance.

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Cognitive and behavioral radicalization: A systematic review of the putative risk and protective factors

Wolfowicz

Litmanovitz

Weisburd

et al. 2021

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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Background Two of the most central questions in radicalization research are, (1) why do some individuals radicalize when most of those from the same groups or exposed to similar conditions do not? and (2) why do radicalized individuals turn to radical violence while the majority remain inert? It has been suggested that the answer to both questions lie in the cumulative and interactive effects of a range of risk factors. While risk assessment and counter‐radicalization take a risk‐protective factor approach, there is widespread debate as to what these factors are and which are most important. Objectives This review has two primary objectives. 1) To identify what the putative risk and protective factors for different radicalization outcomes are, without any predeterminations. 2) To synthesize the evidence and identify the relative magnitude of the effects of different factors. The review's secondary objectives are to: 1) Identify consistencies in the estimates of factors across different radicalization outcomes. 2) Identify whether any significant heterogeneity exists within factors between (a) geographic regions, and (b) strains of radicalizing ideologies. Search Methods Over 20 databases were searched for both published and gray literature. In order to provide a more comprehensive review, supplementary searches were conducted in two German and one Dutch database. Reference harvesting was conducted from previous reviews and contact was made with leading researchers to identify and acquire missing or unpublished studies. Selection Criteria The review included observational studies assessing the outcomes of radical attitudes, intentions, and/or radical behaviors in OECD countries and which provided sufficient data to calculate effect sizes for individual‐level risk and protective factors. Data Collection and Analysis One‐hundred and twenty‐seven studies, containing 206 samples met the inclusion criteria and provided 1302 effect sizes pertaining to over 100 different factors. Random effects meta‐analyses were carried out for each factor, and meta‐regression and moderator analysis were used to explore differences across studies. Results Studies were primarily cross‐sectional, with samples representing 20 countries OECD countries. Most studies examined no specific radicalizing ideology, while others focussed on specific ideologies (e.g., Islamist, right‐wing, and left‐wing ideologies). The studies generally demonstrated low risk of bias and utilized validated or widely acceptable measures for both indicators and outcomes. With some exceptions, sociodemographic factors tend to have the smallest estimates, with larger estimates for experiential and attitudinal factors, followed by traditional criminogenic and psychological factors. Authors' Conclusions While sociodemographic factors are the most commonly examined factors (selective availability), they also tend to have the smallest estimates. So too, attitudinal and even experiential factors, do not have effect sizes of the magnitude that could lead to significa...

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Perceptions of world politics and support for terrorism among Muslims: Evidence from Muslim countries and Western Europe

Cited by 43 publications

References 55 publications

Threat, Anti-Western Hostility and Violence among European Muslims: The Mediating Role of Acculturation

Threat, Anti-Western Hostility and Violence among European Muslims: The Mediating Role of Acculturation

Attitudes towards refugees in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia

Cognitive and behavioral radicalization: A systematic review of the putative risk and protective factors

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