Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Interpreting 9/11: Religious Or Political Event?, Fadime Apaydin Mar 2022

Interpreting 9/11: Religious Or Political Event?, Fadime Apaydin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrorism or violence can be triggered by a variety of circumstances, including the religious, cultural, political, or economic conditions of the social environment, as well as the perpetrator’s personal characteristics. However, studies conducted in the aftermath of 9/11 have largely described the attacks as religious events, arguing that religion inherently causes violence or that religion is the main motivation for violence. The primary argument for the approach adopted by such studies is that secular institutions are inclined to be less violent than religious ones. A second approach, on the other hand, fundamentally opposes the arguments that led to describing the …


Nonreligious Explanations Of Boko Haram’S Resilience In Nigeria, Jimmy Imo Jan 2022

Nonreligious Explanations Of Boko Haram’S Resilience In Nigeria, Jimmy Imo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the past decade, Boko Haram has become one of the world’s deadliest terror organizations. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore nonreligious explanations for the problem of resilience of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Rational choice theory provided the primary framework for the study. Data were collected through in-person and telephone interviews with 14 religious and government subject matter experts. Other sources of data included media publications, documents, audio-visual materials, and the internet. Data were inductively coded and subjected to thematic analysis. Findings showed that instead of religious ideology, Boko Haram’s resilience was due to poor policy …


Piety And Mayhem: How Extremist Groups Misuse Religious Doctrine To Condone Violence And Achieve Political Goals, Noah Garber May 2020

Piety And Mayhem: How Extremist Groups Misuse Religious Doctrine To Condone Violence And Achieve Political Goals, Noah Garber

Religious Studies Honors Papers

This thesis examines the way in which various groups have used religion as a justification for violent action towards political ends. From the Irgun, which carried out terrorist acts in Palestine, to the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, which has waged war on Israel, to the Buddhist leadership of Myanmar, which has waged a genocidal campaign against Rohingya Muslims living in the country, these groups have employed a narrow interpretation of their religious texts as a means to justify the actions they take. It is explained that it is not the compulsion of religious doctrine itself that is to blame, rather, …


Repercussions Of The Mechanistic Dehumanization Of Muslim Americans, Resilience, And Sustainable Communities, Melvin Walters Jan 2019

Repercussions Of The Mechanistic Dehumanization Of Muslim Americans, Resilience, And Sustainable Communities, Melvin Walters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a lack of research on the relationship between dehumanization of minority religious groups and affiliation with terrorism, which suggests a need to consider the consequences of dehumanization perceptions beyond promoting aggression. This qualitative case study addresses whether dehumanization embedded in public policies influences Muslim Americans 18 to 25 years of age, native and nonnative, to engage in homegrown terrorism. Using Schneider and Ingram’s social constructions of target populations as the foundation, research questions focused on how perceptions of mechanistic dehumanization in policy design influence homegrown terrorism among Muslim- American adults. Data were acquired through archival data that included …


Ideological Infection In Dostoevsky's "Demons", Sam Joshua Reed Jan 2017

Ideological Infection In Dostoevsky's "Demons", Sam Joshua Reed

Senior Projects Spring 2017

This project is an exploration of ideology in Dostoevsky's 1871 novel "Demons." In this work, Dostoevsky portrays the connection between utopianism and extremism. This project explores how romantic and political idealism becomes the foundation for violence and terrorism, through the relationship of the 1840's liberal Stepan Trofimovich Verhovensky and his nihilistic sons.


The Franchising Effect On The Al-Qaeda Enterprise And Related Transnational Terror Groups: Patterns Of Evolution Of Al-Qaeda Affiliates In The 21st Century, Nicholas Benjamin Law Jul 2016

The Franchising Effect On The Al-Qaeda Enterprise And Related Transnational Terror Groups: Patterns Of Evolution Of Al-Qaeda Affiliates In The 21st Century, Nicholas Benjamin Law

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The attacks of September 11, 2001 by Al-Qaeda-sponsored militants represented a high- water mark for the terrorist organization in its self-styled journey to become the inspirational Islamic vanguard for disenchanted Muslims across the globe. In the years that followed these attacks, the Al-Qaeda enterprise underwent a constant rate of evolution and mutation, resulting in a phenomenon of parallel and like-minded Islamist groups pledging allegiance to Usama bin Laden and his ideological vision of a global jihad. Instead of strengthening the overall organization, this expansion diluted the command and control of Al-Qaeda senior leaders in their ability to shape the overall …


Bystander Effect And Religious Group Affiliation: Terrorism And The Diffusion Of Responsibility, Thomas Schillinger Jan 2014

Bystander Effect And Religious Group Affiliation: Terrorism And The Diffusion Of Responsibility, Thomas Schillinger

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The collective nature of group affiliation may inhibit an individual from exhibiting prosocial behavior regarding acts of religiously-motivated terror. This study's purpose was to investigate the nature of bystander intervention as it relates to religious group affiliation. Darley and Latane's bystander effect theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. The research questions examined the impact of religious group affiliation and group size on the dependent variables of civic moral disengagement (CMD) and commitment to the war on terror (CWT). Three validated survey instruments were administered to a random participant pool of 206 respondents. An ANCOVA and Spearman's rho correlation …


Banlieues FrançAises Et Jeunes Issus De L'Immigration Religion Et Violence, Abeer I. Aloush Jan 2013

Banlieues FrançAises Et Jeunes Issus De L'Immigration Religion Et Violence, Abeer I. Aloush

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In France, 1995 marked the year of a series of bombs exploded in public areas including but not limited to crowded subway stations in both Paris and Lyon. The series of bombings testifies to France’s lack of immunity in the postcolonial struggle over the future of its former colonies. Moreover, they renewed widespread fears that France’s large Algerian immigrant population represented a fifth column of a global Islamist insurgency that stretched from Kabul to Peshawar to Algeria to the United States to France’s own working-class suburbs called les banlieues. Moreover, Second generation immigrants in France have experienced cumulative negative social …


Al-Shabaab's American Recruits: A Comparative Analysis Of Two Radicalization Pathways, Matthew Wade Richardson Jan 2012

Al-Shabaab's American Recruits: A Comparative Analysis Of Two Radicalization Pathways, Matthew Wade Richardson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

From 2005 to 2011, at least 41 Americans joined, or attempted to join, al-Shabaab, Somalia's preeminent terrorist organization. This thesis examines the radicalization process for al-Shabaab's American recruits by dividing the sample into two groups: non-Somali and Somali. The author employs causal flow diagramming as a means of visualizing each group's unique radicalization pathway. While most of the non-Somali recruits were motivated by political grievances and Salafism, most of the Somali recruits were motivated by identity conflict and nationalism. Considering al-Shabaab is both a religious and an ethno-nationalist terrorist organization, these results make sense. Radicalization within diaspora communities is a …