Radicalization is an aspect in the development of homegrown terrorists; however, researchers have been unable to establish a path to radicalization, uncover how individual and social factors influence radicalization, and identify how the Internet and social media mediate this process. The purpose of this case study was to explore individual and environmental factors that contribute to the radicalization of U.S. homegrown terrorists and identify interventions. Conversion theory was used to develop an understanding of the radicalization of U.S. homegrown terrorists. Data were derived from interviews of local and state law enforcement, military antiterrorism officers (AT), and security personnel from military installations in Eastern North Carolina. Data were analyzed applying content directed and In Vivo coding. The study results helped formulate recommendations on interventions to stem radicalization, identified the news media as a gateway for radicalization, and suggested the incorporation of perspectives from other radicalization-related theories into the conversion theory radicalization model to examine known cases of homegrown terrorists and test its viability as a model to understand radicalization. The results of this study could bring about positive social change by improving relationships and collaboration between law enforcement and community stakeholders, which might generate strategies that could exert greater influence in dissuading individuals from becoming radicalized.

In 2001, George W. Bush, the former president of the United States, declared war on terrorism after the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Centre in New York. Since then, terrorism and terrorist attacks have perceived to be rather frequent and the problem of radicalization has become a new phenomenon in societies, especially the western societies. Therefore, in 2014, the Swedish government decided to create a National Strategy Against Violent Extremism (NSAVE) which was released in 2016. In this strategy, it is argued that the main responsibility of the preventative-work against radicalization is directed at the local levels in Sweden, which is the municipalities. The research on the implementation of the strategy is however limited to non-existing. Therefore, this study is conducting a review of the national strategy and two case- studies with a qualitative approach to get an understanding of how municipalities are working with prevention of radicalization and violent extremism as well as how the national strategy is implemented at the local levels. The data collection that is used is semi-structured interviews with professionals working within two municipalities in Sweden. The findings show that the two municipalities are working with prevention of radicalization but use different strategies. The result is analyzed with the theoretical approach of inclusion and exclusion. The result shows that both municipalities are using the inclusive and development approach in their strategies. The last part of the thesis argues for recommendations in future work on national, regional and local levels as well as direct recommendations towards the two municipalities.

This Paper presents a case study of one individual’s trajectory through violent national socialist movement in Sweden. Here, do i offer a case study of one person’s trajectory into, through and out of national socialist extremism in Sweden, it is based primarily on a face-toface interview with ”Emil”. Although the reliance on a single case study will limit generalizability, it nevertheless provides an opportunity to deeply explore an important phenomenon. The Research area in this study covers is one under development. The study's contribution in general is with further theory development as well as a further oral narrative story of the individual experience of an individual's path through the national socialist environment in Sweden. What this case study hase presented is how the success of the Sweden Democrats in recent years has facilitated the recruitment process for the Nordic resistance movement, as well as illustrating the staging of the process, and the central mechanisms in entry- and exitprocess and demonstrated the relationship between these.

Syftet med denna komparativa litteraturstudie har varit att jämföra teorier om vilka sociala och psykologiska processer som kan vara bidragande till att unga muslimer i indienstyrda Kashmir dras till radikala och våldsbejakande grupper samt att undersöka vilken påverkan de hindunationalistiska strömningar som vuxit sig starka i Indien under de senaste decennierna har haft på radikaliseringen av denna grupp. Avsikten har varit att bidra med en fördjupad insikt om de processer som bidrar till en polarisering mellan en utgrupp (det hindunationalistiska styret) och en ingrupp (de unga muslimska aktivisterna) och genom jämförelse av olika radikaliseringsteorier utröna vilka eventuella skillnader och svagheter dessa teorier har. Med hjälp av en deduktiv metod och en hermeneutisk ansats har tre förklaringsmodeller jämförts och analyserats. Resultatet visar att radikalisering är en komplex process där både inre psykologiska och yttre sociala faktorer samspelar. Den hindunationalistiska diskurs som vuxit sig allt starkare i Indien under senare år har bidragit till att etnicitet och religion i allt större utsträckning hörs i en debatt som tidigare mest handlat om rätten till självbestämmande. De tre förklaringsmodeller som här analyserats visar att staten har en avgörande roll att spela i radikaliseringsprocessen. Slutsatsen är att det finns ett starkt samband mellan utgruppens användande av statssanktionerat våld och ingruppens radikalisering. I kampen mot terrorism är statsmakten med och skapar det polariserade klimat och de våldsaccepterande radikala grupper som den sedan investerar mycket tid och resurser för att bekämpa. Jag visar nedan hur den indiska staten under decennier besvarat kashmiriernas krav på rätt till självbestämmande med ökad militär närvaro, minskad autonomi och ökat militärt våld. Den intensiva militariseringen av området och förvägran av befolkningens rätt till självbestämmande har haft en stor inverkan på hur unga muslimer i Kashmir organiserar motstånd och en anledning till varför de kommit att se våld som en nödvändig del av detta motstånd. Ingen av de tre valda teorierna förklarar dock varför endast ett litet fåtal av befolkningen i området deltar i våldsamt motstånd mot det upplevda förtrycket. / The purpose of this comparative literature study has been to compare theories about the social and psychological processes that may contribute to young Muslims in Indian-led Kashmir being drawn to radical groups and to examine what impact the Hindu nationalist movement, which have grown strong in India in recent years, have had on the radicalization of this group. The intention has been to contribute with an in-depth insight into the processes that contribute to a polarization between an out-group group (the Hindu nationalist government) and an in-group (the young Muslim activists) and by comparing different radicalization theories to find out what differences and weaknesses these theories have. Using a deductive method and a hermeneutic approach, three explanatory models have been compared and analyzed. The results show that radicalization is a complex process in which both internal psychological and external social factors interact. The Hindu nationalist discourse, which has grown stronger in India in recent years, has contributed to ethnicity and religion being heard to an increasing extent in a debate that in the past was mostly about the right to self-determination. The three explanatory models analyzed here show that the state has a crucial role to play in the radicalization process. The conclusion is that there is a strong connection between the out-group's use of state-sanctioned violence and the in-group’s level of radicalization. In the fight against terrorism, the state is contributing to the polarized climate and the emergence of violence-accepting radical groups, which it then invests a lot of time and resources in combating. I show below how the Indian state for decades has responded to the Kashmiris' demands for the right to self-determination with increased military presence, reduced autonomy and increased military violence. The intense militarization of the area and the denial of the population's right to self-determination have had a major impact on how young Muslims in Kashmir organize resistance and a reason why they have come to see violence as a necessary part of this resistance. However, none of the three chosen theories explains why only a small minority of the population in the area participates in violent resistance against the oppressors.

Since the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda members against the United States, counterterrorism has become a top priority for policymakers and academic researchers. A critical aspect of this mandate is the prevention and intervention of future terrorist attacks by U.S.-based jihadist and Salafist extremists. This study aims to generate a typology of homegrown terrorists who have been prosecuted by the United States federal government for terrorism offenses within the United States since the 9/11 attacks. The current study uses a sample of 115 cases, involving 194 offenders. Three clusters of offenders who share a set of demographic, social, and behavioral characteristics were identified through a two-step cluster analysis. These clusters include: Cyber Attackers, Convert Affiliates, and Trained Allies. Clusters also exhibited variation in the nature of terrorist activity and degree of operational success. The unique characteristics of each cluster suggest possible policy implications for international travel, cyber regulation, and community outreach programs to address the unique threats posed by subgroups of offenders. Efforts to prevent future terrorist plots and attacks may be more effective if the type of offender is considered.

The U.S. Department of State disseminates counter-radicalization information through social media but has been unable to reach users due to an inability to create engaging posts due to a lack of understanding of the interests of the general population. The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the utility of data analytics when administering counter-radicalization social media campaigns. The population for this study were social media posts published on the Quilliam Facebook page between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2018. The nonexperimental quantitative descriptive research design sought to examine the correlation between the independent variables (topic of a post, use of visual aids in the post, and the geopolitical region the post addresses) and the dependent variables (resulting likes and shares). This study relied on the strategic choice theory which argues that individuals perform a cost and benefit analysis when deciding to join a terrorist organization and commit acts of terrorism. Specifically, individuals are often interested in participating in terror-ism in an effort to gain resources and feel a sense of belonging but can be dissuaded upon realization that terrorism can actually degrade their quality of life. The research found that social media can be used as a tool to increase the perceived costs of terrorism and decrease the perceived benefits of terrorism. The study concluded that posts which involved a personal story emphasizing the ramifications of terrorism and included a video resulted in the highest number of likes and shares, respectively. The findings provide a strong argument for utilizing data analytics to improve the dissemination of counter-radicalization information which could prevent individuals from joining terrorist organizations and committing acts of terrorism.

abstract: This thesis examines why young Western Muslim women from the UK are drawn to join and support ISIS in its established territories in Syria and Iraq and identifies their role within these territories. The critical role of technology, specifically social media, in facilitating the recruitment, radicalization, and mobilization of young Muslim women online to join ISIS is also explored. Females emigrating from the UK appear equally drawn to ISIS's ideology and state-building mission as Muslim men. Claims from the media suggest women serve as 'fighters,' however this research finds that women are not permitted by ISIS to participate in fighting. Using Britain as a case study, this study analyzes the social media content of eight young British Muslim women, known as female migrants, for themes motivating them to mobilize. Themes, culled from the literature, include Muslim attitudes and perceptions in the UK regarding Islamophobia or religious discrimination, the erosion of multiculturalism, identity and belonging, and finding purpose in the ummah, and measures whether these variables influence women to mobilize. Excerpts from blog posts and original tweets from their Tumblr, Twitter, and ask.fm accounts provide the actual voices of British female migrants choosing to live within ISIS territory and offers insight on their role as female migrants. Research suggests that, for British Muslim women in the UK, Muslim identity and belonging, both individually and within the ummah, along with attitudes and perceptions of religious discrimination (Islamophobia) and the failing of multiculturalism are influencing them to join ISIS. Additional motives for migration found within the study are based on the following beliefs: that the ummah is under attack, a strong desire to help build a new society, their religious duty as a Muslim, and the opportunity to belong and find purpose in the new "caliphate sisterhood." The role of female migrants residing in ISIS territory is domestic in nature, where they primarily function as wives and mothers of jihadists, as well as serve in online roles as propagandists, proselytizers, and recruiters for ISIS. The strong online presence of women demands an effective counter narrative to deter prospective female migrants from emigrating. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Global Technology and Development 2015

To use fiction as educational material in school is proven to be effective and a good strategy to help students to understand and discuss other perspectives in difficult questions (Löfstedt, 2011). The aim with this essay is to evaluate Saracenens radicalization and the religious influence in Jag är pilgrimen written by Terry Hayes (2016). This was done through James Wallers (2007) theory of radicalization where three aspects of impact where analyzed (Waller, 2007). With a qualitative content analysis on chosen part of Hayes book (2016) three questions were answered. -          How can Saracenens radicalization be described thru James Wallers (2007) radicalization process and what role dose religion play in this process? -          Can we call Saracenens planning against USA as terrorism or religious terrorism? -          How can chose parts of Hayes book (2016) be used in education for Religion 2 in Swedish gymnasium to meet following core content in syllabus: Religions and outlooks on life of importance for people's identity, affiliation, community and view of gender equality (Skolverket, 2017)? The conclusion from the analysis is that Saracenens radicalization is comparable with Wallers theory and that it is also possible to call Saracenens planning religious terrorism (Jones, 2008). As for the third question, the conclusion is that the material meets the core content well and can be used as a ground for discussion in classroom about radicalization and how religion affects individual’s life.

Notre travail s'élaborera autour d’une hypothèse centrale : L’écho inédit trouvé par la trame narrative et scopique proposée par Daech s'explique par son adéquation avec les affres des subjectivités contemporaines. Il s’agit donc d’étudier les conditions de cette rencontre, qui capte le sujet errant dans les eaux troubles de l’archaïque, avec une offre de mort distillée par le dévoiement d’un pseudo-islam de cruauté semblant apporter l’illusion d’une réponse. Car, d’emblée, chez les jeunes sujets que nous recevons, la « greffe » fantasmatique prend, telle une rencontre passionnelle entre un sujet agonique et une solution miracle qui vient lui offrir la possibilité de s’extraire d’une subjectivité faite d’inconsistance, d’abandonner l’effroi et le vide au profit d’un remplissage lénifiant. Leur terrorisme ne naît pas d'un projet idéologique mais tire sa vigueur d'un désastre subjectif auquel il donne forme. En cela, l'imagerie de Daech vient actualiser le collapsus Réel/Imaginaire (imaginaire grandiose mais de mort) chez ces sujets agoniques. L'obscène est alors exhibé, la pulsion scopique déchainée. Demeure l'archaïque pur qui scandera la vie et les actes d'un sujet de la discontinuité, au titre du retour du clivé, répétition à l'identique du mortifère. Nous proposerons un exposé de la clinique des sujets volontaires au martyr à partir de notre expérience de clinicien en prison, dans le cadre d’une mission dédiée à la prise en charge de sujets revenant de Syrie, ayant voulu s’y rendre, ou témoignant d’une bascule mortifère en détention vers des trajectoires de mort au nom de Dieu. Pour ce faire, nous étudierons l’institution carcérale comme un lieu privilégié de la remise en scène des éprouvés précoces d’agonie et d’effroi chez des sujets aux prises avec un véritable chaos subjectif, toile de fond de toute appétence radicale actuelle selon nous. Nous étudierons ensuite les ressorts psychiques d’un tel processus : l’addiction, le préjudice, leur dialectique avec l’Idéal, pour interroger ces formes de mélancolies contemporaines chez des sujets qui ne parviennent au sentiment d’existence que dans le projet de mort divine. Nous tenterons d’illustrer notre hypothèse selon laquelle la dissolution d’un Moi inconsistant en un Moi Idéal nihiliste est la clé de compréhension de ce que l’on nomme actuellement « radicalisation », dans sa forme la plus extrême, celle des demandeurs de martyre, les chahids. / Our work will be built around a central hypothesis : The unheard echo found by the narrative and scopic plot proposed by ISIS, is explained by its adequacy with the pangs of contemporary subjectivities. It is thus a question of studying the conditions of this encounter which captures the subject, wandering in the troubled waters of the archaic with a death offer distilled by the deviation of a pseudo-Islam of cruelty that seems to bring the illusion of ‘answer. Because from the outset in the young subjects that we receive, the « transplant » fantasy takes, such a passionate meeting between an agonistic subject, and a miracle solution that comes to offer the possibility of getting out of a subjectivity made of inconsistency to abandon fright and emptiness in favor of a lenient filling. Their terrorism is not born of an ideological project but draws its force from a subjective disaster to which it gives shape. In this, the imagery of ISIS comes to actualize the collapse Real / Imaginary (imaginary grandiose but death) in these agonic subjects. The obscene is then exhibited, the impulse scopic unleashed. The pure archaic remains that will punctuate the life and the acts of a subject of discontinuity, in the name of the return of the cleave, a repetition identical to the mortifère. In this paper, we are going to do a clinical study of subjects willing become martyrs based on our experience of a clinical psychologist in detention. The framework of this mission is dedicated to treatement of subjects coming back from Syria, or who has wanted to go there, or else showing a sudden morbid bascule, towards death trajectories in the name of god. We will focuse on the psychic incounscious motivations of such process : addiction, prejudice and their dialectic with the Ideal to interrogate these forms of contemporary melancholia for subjects who can only reach feeling of existence in project of divine death. We will try to illustrate our 3ypothèses according to which the dossilution of an inconsistent Ego in an nihilist Ideal Ego is the key to an understanding of what we currently call radicalization, in its most extreme form, that of people aspiring to martyrdom, wandering in the morbid zone of the archaic, the “chahids”.

Terrorism är ett växande samhällsproblem som kräver insatser riktade mot de bakomliggande riskfaktorerna för att ett preventivt arbete ska kunna bedrivas gynnsamt. Säkerhetspolisen har gjort ett utlåtande där de informerar om att hotnivån för terrorangrepp i Sverige har ökat under de senaste åren. Syftet med studien är därför att identifiera riskfaktorer för terrorism. För att uppnå detta genomfördes en systematisk litteraturstudie. Flertalet sökningar genomfördes i tre olika databaser vilka utmynnade i elva studier som kom att ligga till grund för resultatet. Resultatet visade att det finns olika riskfaktorer för terrorism. Övergripande kategorier som identifierats är individegenskaper, mental hälsa, sociala faktorer, politik, religiös tillhörighet och sociala medier. De mest framträdande riskfaktorerna var individegenskaper inklusive mental hälsa och de sociala faktorerna. Resultatet visade tydliga tecken på en logisk följd från en barndom präglad av problematik till ett avvikande högriskbeteende i vuxen ålder. Det är av stor vikt att berörda yrkesgrupper besitter rätt kunskap för att effektivt kunna identifiera en potentiell terrorist i tid. Individer som visar tendenser för våld och sympatier för våldsbejakande extremism kan likaså anses tillhöra en riskgrupp för involvering i terrorism. Att förhindra individer från att ta steget till ett våldsbeteende eller terrorism skulle inte bara på en mikronivå gynna individen och dess omgivning utan även samhället som stort. De emotionella skador och ekonomiska förluster som terrorangrepp medför kan förminskas med ett fungerande preventivt arbete. / Terrorism is a growing problem in our society and needs interventions targeting the underlying causes to enable a favorable work of prevention. Säkerhetspolisen (The Swedish Security Service) regularly informs about the level of threat for terror attacks in Sweden. During the last years the threat level has increased. The purpose of the study is therefore to identify risk factors for terrorism. To achieve this, a systematic literature review has been performed. Multiple searches were made in three different databases which culminated in eleven studies that came to be the foundation for the result. The result showed that terrorism has multiple different explanations. Categories that have been identified are individual characteristics, mental health, social factors, politics, religion and social medias. The most prominent risk factors were individual characteristics including mental health and social factors. The result also showed clear signs of a logic sequence from a childhood marked by problems to a deviant high risk behavior in adulthood. It is essential that concerned professions have the right knowledge to enable efficient identification of potential terrorists in time. Individuals with tendencies for violence and sympathies for violent extremism can be placed in a high risk group for involvement in terrorism. To stop individuals from moving towards violent behavior and terrorism would not just on a micro level be beneficial for the individual itself and it’s surroundings, but also for the society. The emotional damages and economic losses that come with terror attacks can be reduced with a functional work of prevention.