Psychology for Recruiting Terrorists
Introduction
Global terrorism is extreme both in its lack of realistic goals and in its cynical exploitation of the vulnerability of complex systems. Jurgen Habermas, German Philosopher
Operating within Decentralized Management
As terrorism has evolved over the past several hundred years, terrorist organizations have taken great strides to expand their influence in the West, resulting in Islamic organizations initiating an offensive jihad against the far enemy. One of the key components to the successful expansion of terrorism is the terrorists ability to act within a decentralized management framework. This decentralization affords multiple advantages in the areas of recruiting, planning, and executing guerilla-style operations to varying degrees of success. Recruiting tactics have expanded greatly as Islamic terrorist organizations have found fertile recruiting grounds in the Western hemisphere. According to Jenkins, “Recruiting is not merely meant to fill operational needs. It is an end in itself: It aims at creating a new mindset.”[i] Having the ability to recruit in the United States, France, Germany, and all corners of the globe provides tremendous benefits as terrorist organizations continue to operate and expand in foreign lands recruiting what Mili labeled “Caucasian foot soldiers”[ii].
Photo: Social media has become an increasingly effective recruitment tool for terror organizations. Google Images
For purposes of this chapter and its discussion, we will generically define recruiting as:
… to engage persons for military service; to strengthen or raise an army through enlistment; to supply with new members or employees; to enroll; to replenish; to renew or restore the health, vitality or intensity of; to obtain replacements for something lost, wasted or needed; to regain health or recover; NOUN: a new member of an organization or body[iii].
First Stage of Socialization
The process of recruiting represents the first stage of socialization into any organization, even those whose mission are not related to terrorist activity. The stage is called anticipatory socialization and involves recruitment, selection and placement[iv]. An in-depth analysis of terrorist community network recruiting requires integration of several theoretical frameworks from an interdisciplinary and multi-level perspective: the individual, the social environment and the organizational network. In his book Deviant Behavior, Humphrey briefly applied the major criminological theories to terrorism individually rather than in a more integrated framework[v], as discussed in this chapter.Criminological Context
The rich history of criminological theory informs us as to why an individual would choose one behavior over another (in this case the decision to join or not join a terrorist organization), based upon their moral development, the values and beliefs that comprise their social and learning environment, the culture and the consequences of their actions. Furthermore, Humphry’s theory has enhanced practicality and application as many Muslims in U.S. prisons are increasingly becoming susceptible to these groups and their ideology[vi]. This interdisciplinary approach integrates individual choice, community theory and sociological influence, merging the potential recruit with the terrorist organizations that need these recruits to continue their perpetuation and mission within an environmental context.The first part of this chapter builds the theoretical framework of terrorist organization recruiting from the standpoint of the recruit within his environment, followed by the manners and methods in which these organizations recruit new members and what is being done to counter these efforts.
Social Structure: The Environment is Local
Close-Knit and Traditional Cultural Environments
The social environment is a key factor in theorizing about terrorist organization recruiting in Islamic populations. Many areas of the Middle East more closely resemble the social structural environments described by Tonnies[i] as “gemeinschaft” and “mechanical” by Durkheim[ii]. These environments are close-knit and traditional, with very little deviance among the members. In such social and cultural environments, people become highly bonded to one another and to the community, but lack the bridging capabilities necessary to form positive social capital. Though recruiters often use modern technology as a means to reach and attract recruits, they despise the “gesellschaft” or “organic” world where traditions are lost and faith is loosened. Conformity is the goal, thus deviance from norms is a major focus in gemeinschaft social arrangements. If one uses raw numbers as a measure of deviant activity, then dividing the number of actual operational “terrorists” that belong to terrorist organizations by the total number of Islamic believers’ results in a very low percentage, perhaps qualifying membership in these communities as a deviant behavior, even in places where they are more accepted socially. There are tighter social controls and more profound cultural pushes and pulls toward organizational sympathy. Thus, in these communities, young males are more prone to join but most still do not.Values and Beliefs
Very important to both the individual and the terrorist organization are values and beliefs. Travis Hirschi codified a theoretical framework of social control in which social bonds were central to behavior through four key areas: attachment, commitment, belief and idea[iii], all of which are more developed in gemeinschaft or mechanical communities. Thus, in more tribal areas of the Middle East, a youth who is attached to local values and norms favorable to terrorism, who is not committed or invested in the broader society or world, who does not engage or become involved in conventional social activities, and who holds less of a belief in the broader social bond is more susceptible to terrorist organization recruiting methods. Humphrey[iv] discussed terrorism as a “form of social control”, supporting the application of this perspective.Drifting
As social controls weaken or stronger subcultural bonds develop, a young man would theoretically “drift”[v] toward the decision of joining or rejecting a terrorist group as an active participant. Those that have some elements – attachment and belief, as examples – but are more involved or committed to broader social goals, may be sympathizers of terrorist organizations and have contact with terrorists but they would likely not join as active participants outside some external intervention. This is the theoretical equivalent of those who propose the United States ‘created’ terrorists in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Photo: Young men from Togo play a game of football on a black sand field adjacent a coal works in Lome, Togo 2006. With a poulation of 5.5 million Togo is one of the smallest and poorest countries in Africa. http://www.flickr.com/photos/34639725@N00/167102279/However, there are three separate groups that must be realized to understand this relationship:
- the first is those individuals already susceptible who would have joined absent any foreign intervention;
- the second is those who would never have joined.
- It is the third group of susceptible – or potential joiners – that are key in intervention efforts: those who joined after a change to their commitment and involvement as a result of changes in the social structures of their communities and as resistance to the new social controls placed upon their culture. These are the people that Americans have been trying to “win the hearts and minds” of to varying degrees of success.
Social Structure
Social structure provides the environmental rationale for why some youths and young adults would be susceptible to terrorist organization recruiting. Schwartz has noted that… identity helps one to make sense of, and to find one’s place in, an almost limitless world with a vast set of possibilities. Because it provides an anchor in a sea of possibilities and allows one to define oneself as something in particular, identity would seem to have a great deal of practical value.[vi]
Photo: Young recruits who are being trained as terrorists, many times with the blessings of their parents. Extremist groups in Saudi Arabia and Yemen use religion as the main mechanism for recruiting juveniles. They prefer juveniles who are poor or involved in illegal activities since they make easy targets for recruitment. Photo: Global Security.
Youth and Young Adults
Certain environments impact the social bonds that youth and young adults experience in their developmental stages. They are more heavily bonded to their culture than they have a capacity for responding to others, which reduces their social capacity and makes them vulnerable to organizations offering attachment, commitment, involvement and belief in a way that upholds their traditions, values and norms; thus, reaffirming their social identity. But social processes cannot be ignored either, as recruiting is a social process, not just an organizational structure.Critical Recruitment Platforms
Internet
There are numerous recruiting opportunities presented in today’s society, and these fertile environments have increased terrorist recruitment over the past decade. One such example is the use of the Internet. The “Internet can bring individuals together based on their personal interests and values.”[vii] Additionally,“the result is a relationship that begins development at a less superficial level. This is especially beneficial for individuals whose ideas, experiences, and beliefs are not main stream and that often incite negative judgments from the majority.”[viii]
Geography
Geography is another key variable for terrorist recruitment. Locations such as Kenya and Tanzania, where there are “substantial Muslim populations, widespread poverty, poor policing, inadequate border control, and systemic political and economic corruption,”[ix] provide ideal circumstances for attracting disenfranchised youth.Correctional Facilities
Another critical recruitment platform exists in U.S. correctional facilities. Prisoner radicalization serves as a key venue for inmates who are “primarily searching for meaning and identity” and are “linked to prison gangs.”[x] Gunaratna has opined that “individuals are ideologically driven, not operationally driven.[xi] Social process theories enhance the understanding of when and how this decision occurs once the environment is conducive.Photo: Indonesian terrorists are using their time in jail to recruit and plan new attacks. Google Images
[i] Jenkins, B.M. (2007). Building an Army of Believers: Jihadist Radicalization and Recruitment. Before the Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment United States House of Representatives RAND Corporation.
[ii] Mili, H. (2006, November 2,). Al-Qaeda's Caucasian Foot Soldiers, Terrorism Monitor, Volume 4, Issue 21,
[iii] The American Heritage College Dictionary, 2002, 4th ed., 1164.
[iv] Gibson, J.L., J.M. Ivancevich, J.H. Donnelly & R. Konopaske, (2006). Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes. 12th Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill.
[v] Humphrey, J.A. (2006). Deviant Behavior. Pearson Prentice-Hall.
[vi] Loza, W. (2010). The Prevalence of Middle Eastern Extremist Ideologies Among Some Canadian Offenders. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 25(5): 919-928.
No comments:
Post a Comment