Adolescents Engaged in Radicalisation and Terrorism: A Dimensional and Categorical Assessment

Since 2010 and the founding of the Islamic State, the radicalisation phenomenon in Europe has involved more adolescents and converts to Islam than in previous Islamist terrorist group movements (e.g., Al-Qaeda). In most cases, these adolescents are “homegrown terrorists,” a challenging difference, as they are in confrontation with their home and societal environment. As a new and emerging phenomenon, radicalisation leads to many questions. Are empathic capacities altered? Are they presenting psychiatric pathologies or suicidal tendencies that explain why they put themselves in serious dangers? Are they just young delinquents who simply met a radical ideology? In January 2018, by special Justice Department authorisation, we contacted all minors (N = 31) convicted in France for “criminal association to commit terrorism.” We assessed several sociodemographic, clinical and psychological variables, including empathy and suicidality, in half of them (N = 15) and compared them with 101 teenagers convicted for non-terrorist delinquency who were placed in Closed Educational Centres (CEC). The results show that adolescents engaged in radicalisation and terrorism do not have a significant prevalence of psychiatric disorders, suicidal tendencies or lack of empathy. It also appears that they have different psychological profiles than delinquent adolescents. “Radicalised” adolescents show better intellectual skills, insight capacities and coping strategies. In addition, the manifestation of their difficulties is less externalised than adolescents from the CEC, having committed very few delinquent acts.

The Impact of Terrorism on Trade in Nigeria and Chad

The Boko Haram conflict started in Nigeria from a city in the north-eastern part of the country known as Maiduguri in 2009 during the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. It was a new thing to Nigeria considering the fact that the country was yet to witness terrorism and its activities. Boko Haram later continued after the death of President Yar'Adua, and they became stronger during the President Jonathan's administration. Boko Haram later transformed from an insurgent group into a terrorist group where they spread from Nigeria to other parts of African countries such as Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. This has it effects, impacts, and consequences on trade in Africa. The objective of this chapter is to draw the impact of terrorism on trade with specific attention to Nigeria and Chad.

Social Network Strategy to Counter Acts of Terrorism in Indonesia: A Structural Hole Study

The ISIS terrorist group still poses a serious threat in Indonesia, especially because it operates in a network (net-terrorism) so that the handling of this terrorist group often does not reach its roots. The research is aimed to reveal the social network strategy in resolving terrorist acts in Indonesia using a structural hole theory. The research method is a qualitative research approach with secondary data analysis from four sources: books, journal articles, previous related research, and the Law of the Republic of Indonesia. The data above is then processed with Ucinet-Draw to calculate the linkage score between members in the network and then see the movement map for each ISIS network in Indonesia: Jakarta, Poso, and Surabaya. Thus, this study proves that there is a gap in the structure of the ISIS group's communication network in Indonesia. The research results revealed that many terrorist acts in Indonesia had the same pattern, namely the strong communication network between terrorist actors. Terrorist actors carried out at least three tertius strategies, namely tertius gaudens, tertius inguens, and a combination of the two. Through the tertius strategy, the government will be able to play its most crucial role in taking preventive actions against actors in terrorist networks. Therefore, the government needed to carry out various integration strategies with various institutions to conduct deradicalization appropriately.

Proses Perubahan Diri Seorang Teroris menjadi Aktivis Perdamaian

This qualitative study was aimed at exploring the experience of a former member of a terrorist organization in Indonesia who have left his terrorist group and abandoned the extremist ideology. A life history method which focuses on the process of self-change and life transition of the former member of the terrorist group was employed A participant whose age is 40 years old and was a former active member of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a terrorist group, was recruited. He was captured in 2014 and served a sentence in prison for almost 4 years. He has been involved in counter-terrorism campaign organized by a non-government organization (NGO) since his release from prison until recently. Interviews were conducted to collect data which were then analyzed using a narrative analysis. Some written documents in the forms of articles and a published book produced by the participant as well as online news covering the participant’ stories were also examined. The findings inform how he became involved in the terrorist networks. The need for self-significance and adventurous experience seems to be the main drivers. After his capture, and during his imprisonment, he contemplated his participation in the terrorist networks. His meetings with religious experts and academicians facilitated by prison officers, and his awareness of burden he had inflicted on his family because of his terrorism case had opened his mind. He experienced a turning life moment which made him keeping distance from other terrorist inmates with the risk of receiving negative view from them. After his release, he found passion in writing and eventually reached a NGO and joined it as a credible voice in the campaigns of counter violent extremism through writing and public speaking.

Sectarianization, Identity, and How Terrorism Prevails: The Case of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the Sahel Region of Africa

Various patterns have emerged as a result of globalization when it comes to controlling the kind of threats that a country may face, particularly non-traditional ones. One of them is terrorism, which occurences concentrated in specific places of the world, with North and Sub-Saharan Africa dominating for a variety of reasons. While there are other operational areas contested by various terrorist groups, the Sahel is one of the most well-known, with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) being one of the most infamous terrorist groups. Legacies of weak and corrupt governments and institutions, unenforced border security, historical disadvantages, and crippled economies may serve as catalysts for such groups' growing influence, but this paper would argue that the use of sectarianism as a tool of identity mobilization is one of the reasons for AQIM's prevalence as a terrorist group.

How Islamic Is ISIS?

The emergence of ISIS has again unleashed a debate on how “Islamic” a terrorist group is, with some analysts claiming its ideology is rooted in Islamic sources and history and others denying any connections to Islam. This chapter argues that ISIS should be viewed as a religious cult that has an apparent but slight connection with Islam. Through its ideology and actions, it has placed itself outside the broad mainstream of the Islamic tradition. Analysis of its claims regarding two key concepts, the caliphate and jihad, demonstrates just how extreme its positions are. ISIS claims it is fulfilling a religious mandate by establishing a caliphate, but this institution does not have its origins in the Qur’an or the teachings and practice of the Prophet Muhammad. As for ISIS’s claims on jihad, mainstream Muslim thought rejects ISIS’s expansive list of enemies and the indiscriminate means it uses to fight them.

Sociopathic Aspects of Waging War in “Islamic State” Terrorist Group

In modern publications on the activities of ISIS terrorist group, its ideology is most often viewed as a version of Islam, modified and distorted from the perspective of extremism. However, a perverse human nature, that can be defined as sociopathy, is also revealed in the nature of execu-tions by a number of ISIS fighters. The article presents the results of a medical and psychological analysis of the discourse of official information materials of this group, i. e. videos with graphic vio-lence. Analysis of these messages showed that they promote super-cruelty and revealed that execu-tioners take a delight therein. The materials contain, firstly, a self-presentation of a tendency to-wards sadism, secondly, a focus on attracting people with personal deformities to their ranks, and, thirdly, provoking manifestations of sadistic inclinations in people and changing the moral state of modern society. The article provides a psychological, psychiatric and legal assessment of ISIS execu-tioners.

The Role of Apocalyptic Prophecies in ISIS Terrorism

Purpose: This study aims to reveal how ISIS exploits apocalyptic prophecies stated in the Qur’an and hadiths to find new recruits and legitimize its ideology. The study tries to identify how sensitive issues of Islam are misinterpreted to mislead and terrorize young Muslims. It also elucidates how the misuse of innocent verses and hadiths leads to terrorism in the hands of people with fundamentalist beliefs. Approach: All issues of two ISIS magazines, namely, Dabiq and Rumiyah, were reviewed, and the related articles were selected, examined and compared with traditional Sunni Islam’s eschatology. In addition to the content analysis of the two magazines entitled with the apocalyptic names, previously written literature was also examined for this study. Findings: ISIS used eschatology to persuade Muslim youth to immigrate to its so-called lands and fight for its lofty cause. The terrorist group tried to realize this goal mainly by reinterpreting prophetic promises of Islam for its ends in the media. The analysis shows that ISIS did not serve religion but benefited its radical ideology. However, time has shown that ISIS’s brutal cause was far from the Islamic faith, as none of ISIS’s apocalyptic prophecies came true. Originality: While there are many studies about ISIS, few or none of them analyzed how the movement deceived people with apocalyptic ideas, which need to be considered during an examination of the conflicts in the Middle East, where states (e.g., Israel) or regimes (e.g., Iran) are founded on the basis of apocalyptic prophecies. ISIS was another trial that failed. By not examining the core of ISIS ideology stemming from the distorted interpretation of Islamic prophecies, gray zones would be left in the literature. This study makes that zone clearer.