Radical Extremism
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Added on 2021-04-24
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Radical Extremism 2 Radical Extremism By (Student’s Name) Name of the course Instructor’s Name Institutional Affiliation Department Date Radical Extremism Extremism is a term that refers to religious or political fanaticism. The definition that seems to attract most acceptance is on Crenshaw in 1992 who defined terrorism as unlawful attack of small groups of individuals in order to have a wider influence. Their techniques have become so advanced that one can no longer be able to tell what the nature of terrorism is like.
Radical Extremism
Added on 2021-04-24
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Radical Extremism 1Radical ExtremismBy (Student’s Name)Name of the courseInstructor’s NameInstitutional AffiliationDepartment Date
Radical Extremism 2Radical ExtremismExtremism is a term that refers to religious or political fanaticism. Extremists hold radical views when it comes to politics or religion. Terrorism is a term that lacks a universal definition. It could be generally referred as the unlawful use of violence or threats especially to the civilians. Terrorists usually target and harm the civilians in pursuit of certain political or religious ideologies. In the contemporary world, terrorism has become a matter of concern in all areas of the globe. Countries are working together to end terrorism. Although there are several measures that put to end terrorism, it has become a challenge to eliminate it completely. This is because of the very nature of terrorism and the new characteristics that it tends to gain with time. It would be simple to end terrorism if it followed similar patterns. Terrorists of the modern day have devised ways of ensuring that they succeed. They seem to have devised very advanced method of carrying out attacks such that it becomes difficult for the police and other law enforcement forces to thwart their plans before it is too late. To understand and deal with the problem of terrorism, it is important to understand the meaning of terrorism. As noted above, there is no single definition of terrorism that has been universally accepted. Most scholars doubt that one will ever be developed. The definition thatseems to attract most acceptance is on Crenshaw in 1992 who defined terrorism as unlawful attack of small groups of individuals in order to have a wider influence. Looking terrorism at practical terms, we realize that it involves small organizations who are determined to use unlawful force so that they can bring about political or social change. Terrorist tend to live a life that is not only stressful but isolated. An example of an extremist group is the Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups that are affiliated to it. One may askthemselves what motivates individuals to become terrorists. Most terrorists, especially the jihadists are not afraid to die in the process (Silke 2008). In fact, they may aim to die by being suicide bombers. It appears that these individuals are ready to do almost anything for the ideology the group that they are affiliated to be achieved. The modern nature of terrorism is not only advanced but also complicated. One can never determine who is likely to be a terrorist and who is not. Terrorist groups are recruiting people from almost any nationality of the world. Their techniques have become so advanced that one can no longer be able to tell what the nature of terrorism is like. In a nutshell, terrorism is dynamic. Radical extremism refers to the process through which one is ‘programmed’ to be a terrorist. The process of radicalisation us almost like that of programming. Just like a device will behave like it is programmed, terrorist devote themselves to whatever the will of the terrorists’ group is. The
Radical Extremism 3reasons why people are involved in radical extremism is going to be the principle focus of this paper. Various researches will be critiqued to help understand this. Psychological Reasons for ExtremismWhen we look at the nature of terrorism, it is hard to consider individuals who carry out search acts as rational. Most people would be tempted to think that the terrorists are not functioning well mentally. The society teaches us that harming or killing others both wrong and immoral. Social norms call for peaceful coexistence among human beings. Therefore, individuals who seem to be gaining joy from the suffering of others may be considered to be mentally unwell. Some of the terrorists, especially the jihadists believe that they are doing theright thing by killing innocent people. This may add to the question of the wellbeing of the mind. It is not only the general members of the public who feel this way. Extensive research has been carried out to determine the mental wellbeing of radical extremists. Most of this research has found out that these persons suffer from certain psychological conditions. These are mainly psychopathic and paranoid personality disorders. Most of the research that has been carried out concerning the mental wellbeing of radical extremists has been borrowed from the activities of the past. Acts of aggression terrorist characteristic were observed even in the previous centuries. Let us take an example of an activity of the past that modern psychologists borrow from in an attempt to understand the nature of terrorism. After the second world war, some members of the Nazi regime were arrested. While awaiting to be charged, they were assessed by a professional psychologist. The assessment revealed that most of these convicts were power hungry individuals who did not have any human feeling. When analysing radical extremist, one may ask themselves what happens until a person no longer has any human feeling. It is only such a person who would comfortably butter people who have not wronged him/her in any way. It is only the discipline of psychology that can best answer this question. Attribution theory helps understand the changes that occur in a person for them to become radical extremists. The theory argues that human beings have a tendency of viewing their behaviour as arising from environmental and societal influences while they tend to view the behaviour of others as stemming from internal forces (Jamieson and Flint 2015). Internal forces include personality. When trying to understand the process of terrorism and radical extremism, it is good to start by appreciating that terrorists are psychologically different from the normal population. Although they are psychologically different, there exists numerous researches to show that most terrorists do not
Radical Extremism 4have any psychological abnormality. An act of violence or radical extremism cannot be used to conclude that an individual is psychologically abnormal. On the centrally, psychologist argue that most of individuals who are terrorists are stable psychologically (Ragazzi 2017). Ifthey were not stable, then it would be challenging for them to coordinate terrorist activities.There are several instances where psychologists have interacted with terrorists on a face to face accounts. Most of these psychologists have concluded that they found no psychological abnormalities in these individuals. Although this is the case, this is not to meanthat every radical extremist enjoys good mental health. There are some terrorists who have various psychological abnormalities. Even in cases where these are found in a terrorist group,they are outliers. In other words, these are just an exception rather than the norm/ rule. It is worth noting that people who engage in terrorism come from very different racial, economic and cultural backgrounds. Due to this, there are different reasons that may influence a person to become a terrorist. This means that the factors that made an individual join a radical extremist group may or may not influence the reasons why another person joins. Despite the different background and nature of terrorists, research carried out in the last four decades have shown some common relativity in the background of radical extremists. It is worth noting that becoming a terrorist is a gradual process. In addition, going through the different stages of radical extremism occurs over a long duration of time. However, considering the common factors found by research in the last four decades would help to better understand the nature of terrorism and radical extremism. It is not all of the factors that would be necessary conspicuous in the journey of every radical extremist. However, most these factors will appear in every terrorist in varying degrees. The next section will focus on these factors. They will help understand the why some people become involved in radical extremism. Gender and AgeThere exists no scientific evidence to show that genetics may predispose someone to becoming a radical extremist. The biological approaches that have attempted to explain why some individuals and not others become radical extremists appears to be very flawed. The most significant factors to consider when analysing why some people and not others become radical extremists are age and gender. There exist some important relationships between thesetwo factors and radical extremist recruits of many terrorist groups. When considering these two factors, there is a very important finding that has been made. This is that most of the members who are involved in radical extremist are young. The term young is here to refer to
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