American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism by Arie Perliger

Author:Arie Perliger [Perliger, Arie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B082FP14G8
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Why Do People Join Terrorist Groups?

The efforts to develop a sociological or psychological profile of members of militant groups are directly related to the question of motivating factors. In other words, by identifying common characteristics among perpetrators of political violence, we also hope to gain better insight into the motivations that drive their militant behavior. Studies that aimed to identify such motivating factors usually focused on one of several theoretical paradigms. A common perception is that people join violent political groups, especially in developing countries, because they want access to material or financial resources. In other words, for poor people, joining a terrorist or insurgency group represents a path to improve their economic status or that of their families.12 For example, some Chechen organizations used the difficult economic situation of widows of Chechen fighters to convince the widows to engage in suicide attacks. In return, the organizations would provide the widows’ families and remaining offspring with significant financial assistance.13

Another way to explain the linkage between low economic status and motivation to join violent groups was provided by the political scientist Ted Gurr and other scholars who focused on the concept of “relative deprivation.” They argue that political violence is an expression of frustration resulting from the gap between reality and peoples’ or community expectations. Simply put, people have some expectations from their government and leaders (for example, that they will provide public goods such as security, employment, or education). When these expectations are not met for a long time, the people will become frustrated and eventually willing to use violence to coerce the government to respond to their demands and needs.14 Hence, individuals with limited human capital and material resources will be more vulnerable to such frustrations (since they are more likely to feel that the government does not provide them with the expected material or social goods) and therefore more inclined to support violent means to improve their situation. It is important to note that some scholars, such as Charles Tilly, argue for a positive correlation between socioeconomic status and the tendency to join violent groups. He and others assert that financial wealth provides individual resources (such as free time or education) that facilitate better understanding and internalization of political issues and public policies, which motivate people to become involved in political struggles.15

A different paradigm asserts that ideology and identity play a crucial role in an individual’s tendency to become engaged in political violence. The violent act helps them solidify their values and beliefs and fosters their sense of belonging to a specific ideological collective. Thus, for example, according to this approach the young Muslims who traveled to Syria and Iraq from Western countries in order to join ISIS are doing so because they feel stronger attachment and commitment to their Muslim religious identity and community than to their national identity (whether British, American, French, etc.). The jihadi groups are able to convince these young people that their national identity is meaningless, that they are truly part of a

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