Through Critical Discourse analysis, this thesis examined the discursive construction of terrorism related events and finds out the common definiens of terrorism in the editorials of two Bangladeshi English-medium newspaper. The Daily Star & Dhaka Tribune, both the newspapers covered terrorism related events in their editorials throughout the year of 2015. This thesis finds out the discrepancies in the produced expression and in the use of other common definiens of terrorism in the editorials. The newspapers were different in producing expressions against terrorism while sympathetic in portraying the victims and usually supported the victims. Both the newspapers represented perpetrators from ideological perspective, while distancing the ideologies from religious teachings. The newspapers identify terrorism as a serious threat both to security, social stability and perceives terrorist attacks as a threat to many crucial democratic values. In light of the problem, the newspapers suggested various policy recommendation, criticized the law enforcement for failures and emphasized on the engagement of religious clerics to curb terrorism from a Bangladeshi perspective, while stressing on the promotion of secular values of the country and its society.

With religious extremism being a destructive force in many parts of the world, the mission to understand and mitigate it is always actual. The current thesis tries to contribute to the knowledge of this phenomenon by investigating it through a very particular lens – its relation to subjective happiness. This is done through finding the answer to the research question “Does subjective (un)happiness predict religious extremism?”, using various quantitative gamma and chi-squared tests of association, as well as data from the World Values Survey, wave 7. Although it is hypothesised, based on previous research, that subjective happiness should have either a positive or negative relation with holding religiously extreme views, none of this is proven correct. Instead, a conclusion entirely new to the field of psycho-emotional well-being and political views emerges, namely that religious extremists tend to evaluate their happiness and sense of well-being just as extremely as they do societal and religious matters. This not only disproves the conclusions drawn by certain previous studies, it also provides a whole new perspective as to how to understand the inner worlds of individuals drawn to the ideas of religious extremism, something crucial for successful mitigation of this harmful phenomenon.

his thesis analyses whether a legislative ban on wearing a headscarf breaches the right to freedom of religion, as such right is universally understood. It describes the ambit of the right to freedom of religion by examining the theoretical justification and importance of the right and thereafter analysing how the right is recognised in international and regional treaties and domestic constitutions. It demonstrates that religious freedom comprises of the right to hold a religion and the right to manifest a religion in the form of worship, observance, practice and teaching. Religious freedom, however, is not absolute and the thesis explains in the light of international and comparative case-law that the right to freedom of religion may be limited by a law that pursues a legitimate state interest and is reasonable. In light of this theoretical framework the thesis examines the practice of Muslim women wearing a headscarf and argues that the practice constitutes a manifestation of Islamic belief protected by the right to freedom of religion. Thereafter this thesis examines French, Turkish and German prohibitions on wearing a headscarf, the effect of these laws on Muslim women and the justifications furnished for such laws. It is argued that the state interest of preserving secularism relied upon to justify a headscarf ban is not legitimate and does not justify a headscarf ban. Furthermore, even where the state has a legitimate interest in preventing the coercion of young girls, promoting the equality rights of women and maintaining safety and order, a headscarf ban does not constitute a reasonable limitation of religious freedom. Ultimately, this thesis argues that a headscarf ban exacerbates the problems it is meant to solve and constitutes an unjustifiable infringement of religious freedom.

This thesis intends to revise and update devoted actor theory (DAT) by introducing a neglected dataset—female suicide bombers. DAT provides one such theoretical framework for understanding extremist group behavior and, to a lesser extent, suicidal bombing. DAT is largely satisfying: its claims and conclusions address relevant issues and provide compelling answers to critical questions. However, it is not without its analytical and empirical gaps. Crucially, DAT does not explicitly account for the narratives and characteristic motives of female suicide bombers—which often differ in logic, content, and tone from those of their male counterparts. In addition, DAT assumes that people who are fused with extreme groups are willing to self-sacrifice for their group, but the theory does not account for how this fusion process transpires. Therefore, I propose two amendments to DAT that not only address theoretical issues, which arise partially from the lack of female terrorist accounts, but also creates a narrative that bridges the gap that would explain how an individual progresses from bonding to a group to making the decision to die for it. Accordingly, I also propose to theorize a psychosocial process that links the way in which individuals, specifically females, become fused to a group and edge closer to the most extreme of extremist decisions: to annihilate their bodies and selves, while at the same time annihilating or wreaking havoc upon the lives of others whom they have deemed enemies of themselves or their group.

This study examined the "Catch Them Young" approach as a game-changer in the fight against religious extremism in Nigeria with the aim of fashioning a Virtue Ethics-based framework for tackling and erasing religious extremism from Nigeria, especially in its violent forms. The study utilized the qualitative methodology, designed with the Almajiri Islamic system of education practiced in Northern Nigeria as case study. In data collection, the study utilized archival research and secondary data collection, using existing datasets from paperback and electronic books, academic journals, other academic works, newspapers, websites, electronic magazines, and other available media sources. The method of analysis was thematic. The study explored the theoretical frameworks through which the question of religious extremism has been studied. The study probed the approaches which the Nigerian goverenment has applied in its response to violent religious extremism and terrorism in Nigeria. The key findings of the study showed that political interest, unemployment, poverty, deprivation, ignorance and inadequate education are the major factors contributing to religious extremism in Nigeria. The existing approaches of military means (hard power) in combating religious extremism have not worked, and a feasible, proactive, non-military (soft power) means is needed. Results equally showed the Almajiri system in it's present state as counterproductive. Based on the success of youth programs with nearly the same goals as the catch them young strategy in other fields and/or in other places, the success of the "Catch Them Young" approach in virtue or character education of the Nigerian child is a feasible game-changing stratey to pursue in fighting religious exteremism in Nigeria. One limitation of the study is the small sample size, the Almajiri of norther Nigeria, which may not be representative of the entire population of Nigeria. This study serves as a reference for creating virtue ethics-based frameworks in the fight against religious extremism in Nigeria. More research is needed to give traction to the formulation and utilization of virtue ethics-based frameworks in the fight against religious extremism, and in every other field of human endeavor in Nigeria. This makes available more material to researchers, professionals and policymakers. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Al-Wasatiyya - The Middle Path as theological program in Southern European (Bosnian) and Southeast Asian (Malaysian) contexts. This study examines the neglected phenomenon of al-wasitiyyah and how it relates to an Islamic theological context. This study focuses on the religious aspect of al-wasatiyyah, specifically in beliefs, actions, rituals and ethics perspective, social and interpersonal relationships. The main purpose of this study is to describe, clarify and critically examine the phenomenon of al-wasatiyya as a theological program, and practices in Europe, namely in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Southeast Asia, Malaysia. The material for the investigation consists of some relevant literature, scientific articles, and open-ended interviews with prominent researchers in al-wasatiyya from the chosen countries of research. The methodology used in the study is a qualitative textual analysis of the open individual interviews. The analysis and its results provide us with specific answers to the following question: how the concept of al-wasatiyya can be understood in an Islamic theological context, and then displays its scale, interpretations and practices. There are similarities as well as differences between the Southern European and Southeast Asian perspectives on the field of al-wasatiyya. Lastly, the critical objections against al-wasatiyya are examined, and ultimately the results of the study are compared to previous research on the field.  The results show that the neglected phenomenon of al-wasatiyya returned back to the Islamic discourse in the early 2000s, especially after the tragic events of 9/11 in the US. Thus, the result of the study indicates that al-wasatiyya occurs as a reaction to extremism and radicalism in Islam. Finally, the results of the study demonstrate that the concept of al-wasatiyya, except for religious purposes, can be used as well in other areas and socio-political systems in the contemporary world.

The position of the Roman Catholic Church to Islamic extremism Abstract The present thesis deals with the attitude of the Pope, those spiritual state performing the function in individual institutions of the Holy See, theologians and a selected group of people from the Czech general public Roman Catholic Church to religious extremism, focusing on the ultimate form of extremism - terrorism - of individuals or groups espousing to Islam. Since religious extremism often associated with fundamentalism, radicalism and fanaticism, is the first chapter to analyze the basic characteristics of these concepts, with the emphasis on analyzing the meaning and essence of their grasp. A comparison of them found what they have in common and what they are different. Following the above leads to analysis of how extremism reflect the religious and intellectual personalities of islam, with attached description and comparison of the attitudes of these figures, and militant-minded muslims to the jihad by the sword "al-džihád bi̕ s-sajf". In connection with this armed form of jihad work briefly compares the concept of martyrdom in islam and the roman catholic church and the result in the summary analyses. It is also a brief look into the history of religious extremism, as an integral part of the development of Christianity and...

In recent years Europe experienced several terrorist attacks on its soil. Some of these were committed by Jihadists radicalised in prisons. An issue already identified by scholars has thus become publicly known and attracted attention of policy makers. The combination of Islamic propaganda with jails imprisoning substantial amount of vulnerable inmates and incarceration of returning foreign fighters create a mixture threatening to produce more violent extremists. The aim of this thesis is to describe how Germany approaches the issue and connect its solution with existing radicalisation models and prison regime concepts. Because of the federal structure of Germany, this description is based on analysis of three levels: institutional analysis of the German framework (macro); comparison of state projects tackling the issue (meso); and a case study of practitioners of one federal state (micro). The thesis comes to a conclusion, that the German strategy is strongly decentralised, still not in its final form, applies the concept of dynamic security as its prison regime and approaches the issue from a holistic perspective, involving also non-state actors and other areas of radicalisation.

Данная диссертация анализирует текущую ситуацию в области экстремистских проявлений на религиозной и националистической почве в Кыргызской Республике, и предлагает, разработанные в ходе исследования, рекомендации и предложения по их профилактике. / This dissertation analyzes the current situation in the field of extremist manifestations on religious and nationalistic grounds in the Kyrgyz Republic, and offers recommendations and suggestions for their prevention developed in the course of the research.

В работе рассматривается становление исламской системы образования в Киргизской Республике, анализируются нынешнее состояние исламского образования и существующие в этой области проблемы и противоречия. Формулируются практические рекомендации по повышению эффективности исламского образования в республике. Основное внимание сосредоточено на проблемах и противоречиях системы исламского образования и государственной политике по отношению к нему. Кроме того рассмотрены понятия радикализма, экстремизма и молодежи, а также использование основных исламских ценностей как средства борьбы с экстремизмом и терроризмом в молодёжной среде. / The work examines the formation of the Islamic education system in the Kyrgyz Republic, analyzes the current state of Islamic education and the problems and contradictions in this area. Practical recommendations are formulated to improve the effectiveness of Islamic education in the republic. The main attention is focused on the problems and contradictions of the Islamic education system and state policy in relation to it. In addition, the concepts of radicalism, extremism and youth, as well as the use of basic Islamic values as a means of combating extremism and terrorism in the youth environment are considered.