The Makings of a Terrorist: Continuity and Change Across Left-, Right- and Jihadist Extremists and Terrorists in Europe and North-America, 1960s-Present

Schuurman, Bart; Carthy, Sarah L.

doi:10.1080/01639625.2022.2118088

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…This brief overview illustrates the main analytical perspectives that we used to study (non-) involvement in terrorist violence (the NITV dataset itself can be found online [31], see also S3 File). From these insights, we created a 159-variable codebook to systematically collect data on individuals who had radicalized to extremism in Europe and North America.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extremist groups and movements also offer a variety of benefits important for understanding why individuals become and then stay involved in such entities, despite the considerable risks of prosecution or death that they face for doing so [61,64,65]. These benefits are partly instrumental; groups simply have more resources to effectively organize for violence than most individuals [50,51], making them attractive as means for redressing the grievances of individual participants [66].…”

Section: Researching Involvement In Terrorist Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This manuscript utilizes the "(Non-) Involvement in Terrorist Violence" (NITV) dataset [31]. This dataset was constructed to ascertain the differences between radicalized individuals who engage in terrorist attacks, and radicalized individuals who do not.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contextualizing involvement in terrorist violence by considering non-significant findings: Using null results and temporal perspectives to better understand radicalization outcomes

Schuurman,

Carthy

2023

PLoS ONE

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Irrespective of discipline, the publication of null or non-significant findings is rare in the social sciences. For burgeoning fields like terrorism research, this is particularly problematic. As well as increasing the likelihood of Type II errors, the selective reporting of significant findings ultimately impedes progression, hindering comprehensive syntheses of evidence and enabling ill-supported lines of scientific enquiry to persist. This manuscript discusses several structural and individual-level variables which failed to produce significant, linear associations with involvement in terrorist violence in a dataset (N = 206) of right-wing and jihadist extremists active in Europe and North America. After considering methodological factors such as non-random distributions of missing data, we illustrate how certain variables are significantly associated with involvement in terrorist violence at particular periods in a radicalizing individual’s lifespan, but not others (i.e., pre- or post-radicalization onset). Moreover, we demonstrate that while some static, binary constructs (such as whether or not a radicalizing individual was exposed to diverse viewpoints) are not associated with terrorist violence, their influence over time produces different associations. We conclude that radicalization may be less about individuals having pre-disposing risk factors, such as biographical stressors, and more about cognitive changes that allow individuals to re-evaluate their lives through the lens of an extremist ideology. We also underline the importance of taking a temporal, rather than static, perspective to better understand the variables associated with the outcomes of radicalization trajectories.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Researching Involvement In Terrorist Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Contextualizing involvement in terrorist violence by considering non-significant findings: Using null results and temporal perspectives to better understand radicalization outcomes

Schuurman,

Carthy

2023

PLoS ONE

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“…Structural‐level accounts of involvement in terrorism take a “big picture” perspective on the issue, highlighting how elements of the broader social, cultural, political, and economic context can influence the likelihood that elements within society will turn to this form of political violence (Crenshaw, 1981; Schuurman & Carthy, 2022). As our study's geographical scope was limited to established democracies and highly industrialized states in Europe and North America, theories related to the potentially disruptive effects of modernization (Krieger & Meierrieks, 2011) and democratization (Bapat, 2011) were not considered.…”

Section: Theoretical Foundationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding (non)involvement in terrorist violence: What sets extremists who use terrorist violence apart from those who do not?

Schuurman

Carthy

2023

Criminology & Public Policy

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Research summaryWe compare European and North American radicalization trajectories that led to involvement in terrorist violence (n = 103) with those for which this outcome did not occur (n = 103). Regression analyses illustrate how involvement in terrorist violence is determined not only by the presence of risk, but also the absence of protective factors. Bivariate analyses highlight the importance of considering the temporality of these factors; i.e., whether they are present before or after radicalization onset. The most salient risk factors identified were alignment with a group or movement with an exclusively violent strategic logic, and access to weapons. In terms of protective factors, parenting children during radicalization, self‐control, and participation in extremist groups with a strategic logic that was not exclusively focused on violent means were all associated with noninvolvement in terrorist violence.Policy implicationsDifferent patterns of risk and protective factors influence whether radicalization will, or will not, lead to involvement in terrorist violence. One‐size‐fits‐all radicalization‐prevention efforts may therefore be less effective than programs tailored to address a particular outcome. Even when terrorist violence is prevented, the targeted individual is likely to remain radicalized. Preventative efforts must carefully assess whether the measures used to avert terrorist violence in the short‐term risk contributing to a longer term societal threat. The efficacy of preventative efforts depends in part on when they are deployed, that is, before or after radicalization onset.

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Researching Extremists and Terrorists: Reflections on Interviewing Hard-to-Reach Populations

Carthy,

Schuurman

2023

Fieldwork Experiences in Criminology and Security Studies

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The Makings of a Terrorist: Continuity and Change Across Left-, Right- and Jihadist Extremists and Terrorists in Europe and North-America, 1960s-Present

Cited by 5 publications

References 45 publications

Contextualizing involvement in terrorist violence by considering non-significant findings: Using null results and temporal perspectives to better understand radicalization outcomes

Contextualizing involvement in terrorist violence by considering non-significant findings: Using null results and temporal perspectives to better understand radicalization outcomes

Understanding (non)involvement in terrorist violence: What sets extremists who use terrorist violence apart from those who do not?

Researching Extremists and Terrorists: Reflections on Interviewing Hard-to-Reach Populations

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