Social Network Analysis of German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq

Reynolds, Sean C.; Hafez, Mohammed M.

doi:10.1080/09546553.2016.1272456

Cited by 49 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…This high degree of geographic clustering is mirrored in ISIS mobilizations elsewhere 62 and lends further support to the thesis that the key to understanding radicalization and foreign fighter mobilizations lies in tracing the social networks that bind violent extremists together. At the same time, it also lends further support to skeptical voices which challenge the wisdom of focusing so much research attention on online radicalization and extremist "virtual spaces", not because these spaces are unimportant, but because the relationships that matter most in violent radicalization are conducted in physical spaces in or near to social settings where people live.…”

Section: Place Of Residence and Mosque Affiliationsupporting

confidence: 58%

The calypso caliphate: how Trinidad became a recruiting ground for ISIS

Cottee¹

2019

International Affairs

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Section: Place Of Residence and Mosque Affiliationsupporting

confidence: 58%

The calypso caliphate: how Trinidad became a recruiting ground for ISIS

Cottee¹

2019

International Affairs

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“…If case after case shows that terrorists were networking with co-ideologues online or used the Internet to plan their event, it seems reasonable to assume that it plays a driving role. However, findings here and elsewhere suggest that this is misplaced-actors engage in both online and offline environments (Gill, 2016;Gill et al, 2017;Reynolds & Hafez, 2017;von Behr et al, 2013). Corner, Bouhana, and Gill note that 'public discourse, government bodies, and the media all reinforce the perception of the danger posed by online environments, which are presumed to be ripe for exploitation by radicalizing agents' (Corner et al, 2018, p. 28).…”

Section: Understanding a Multitude Of Environments And The Interplay mentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Gill et al (2017) find that those that used the Internet to learn about their eventual activity were 4.39 times more likely to experience nonvirtual network activity and 3.17 times more likely to have engaged in nonvirtual place interaction. In their study of German foreign fighters, Reynolds and Hafez (2017) reject the hypothesis that online radicalization drives mobilization, instead finding greater support for the notion that offline social networks play a strong role. When discussing the consumption of propaganda, Baugut and Neumann (2019) find that the online and offline domain are inseparably intertwined.…”

Section: Online Replacing Offlinementioning

confidence: 93%

The online behaviors of Islamic state terrorists in the United States

Whittaker

2021

Criminology & Public Policy

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This study offers an empirical insight into terrorists' use of the Internet. Although criminology has previously been quiet on this topic, behavior-based studies can aid in understanding the interactions between terrorists and their environments. Using a database of 231 US-based Islamic State terrorists, four important findings are offered: (1) This cohort utilized the Internet heavily for the purposes of both networking with co-ideologues and learning about their intended activity. (2) There is little reason to believe that these online interactions are replacing offline ones, as has previously been suggested. Rather, terrorists tend to operate in both domains. (3) Online activity seems to be similar across the sample, regardless of the number of co-offenders or the sophistication of attack. (4) There is reason to believe that using the Internet may be an impediment to terrorists' success. Policy Implications: The findings of this study have two important policy implications. First, it is vital to understand the multiplicity of environments in which terrorists inhabit. Policy makers have tended to emphasize the online domain as particularly dangerous and ripe for exploitation. While this is understandable from one perspective, simplistic and monocausal explanations for radicalization must be avoided. Terrorists operate in both the online and offline domain and there is

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“…The importance of social networks has not been lost on terrorism researchers. For example, when investigators analyzed the recruitment patterns of ISIS foreign fighters, they identified peer-to-peer networks, and simply knowing someone who had already joined ISIS, as the most influential factors in radicalization (Holman, 2016; McVeigh, 2014; Reynolds & Hafez, 2017). A similar pattern emerged in interviews conducted with right-wing extremists in Germany (i.e., White supremacists and neo-Nazis; Kruglanski, Webber, & Koehler, 2018).…”

Section: Empirical Evidence For Significance Quest Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Making of Violent Extremists

Kruglanski

Jaśko

Webber

et al. 2018

Review of General Psychology

115

112

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The authors outline a psychological model of extremism and analyze violent extremism as a special case of it. Their significance quest theory identifies 3 general drivers of violent extremism: need, narrative, and network. The theory asserts that the need for personal significance-the desire to matter, to "be someone," and to have meaning in one's life-is the dominant need that underlies violent extremism. A violence-justifying ideological narrative contributes to radicalization by delineating a collective cause that can earn an individual the significance and meaning he or she desires, as well as an appropriate means with which to pursue that cause. Lastly, a network of people who subscribe to that narrative leads individuals to perceive the violence-justifying narrative as cognitively accessible and morally acceptable. The authors describe empirical evidence for the theory, which was tested on a wide variety of samples across different cultures and geopolitical contexts. They go on to offer a general road map to guide efforts to counter and prevent violent extremism in its various forms.

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Social Network Analysis of German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq

Cited by 49 publications

References 16 publications

The calypso caliphate: how Trinidad became a recruiting ground for ISIS

The calypso caliphate: how Trinidad became a recruiting ground for ISIS

The online behaviors of Islamic state terrorists in the United States

The Making of Violent Extremists

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