This study aims to investigate the financial aspects of terrorist groups through a case study consisting of ISIS, Abu Sayyaf Group, Naxalite and the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army- In particular, it seeks to examine whether recruits receive financial compensation for their participation in each case. The theory is based on Jeremy Weinstein’s research on rebel groups, in which he classified recruits as either idealists or opportunists. Weinstein’s research shows that rebel groups with rich natural resources attract opportunists, whose motives for joining are financial rather than ideological. In rebel groups with poor natural resources the recruits are classified as idealists, whose main motive for joining the terrorist group are ideological. With inspiration from collective action theory, the free-rider problem and research on ideologies impact on terrorist recruitment, a further development has been made to Weinstein’s theory in order to make it applicable to terrorist groups. The method of choice in this thesis is structured, focused comparison which provides questions to each and one of the cases. The conclusion and main finding of this study is that each of the observed terrorist groups uses financial compensation as a method of recruiting, and that thus the recruits can be classified as opportunists. Further studies are recommended to primarily ensure the dissertation’s conclusion and increase generalizability.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-476325 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Blomstrand, Henning |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Henning Blomstrand |
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