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The Role Of Ideology In Terrorism

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In order to understand homegrown extremism and foreign fighters within the context if ISIS we have to first look at terrorism and political violence. When looking at political violence, it is seen as the threat or use of violence in order to maintain or change a status quo. The term terror terrorism and terrorist do not identify casually coherent and distinct social phenomena but strategies that recur across a wide variety of actors and political situations. (Tilly 2004) A key aspect of terrorism is that it is asymmetrical warfare that is unique and falls outside of the context of traditional warfare. Terrorism is the irregular use of violence by non-state groups against nonmilitary targets and personnel for political ends. (Lake 2002) The …show more content…
Ideology plays a crucial role in terrorist target selection, it supplies terrorist with an initial motive for action and creates a moral framework that is considered to be legitimate that allow terrorist to feel justified in attacking. (Drake 1998) An ideology that has a clear target, that is accessible allows for different tactics when it comes to attacking those targets. ISIL’s anti-Western ideology coupled with jihadist reasoning allows for a large target and a religious justification making homegrown extremist and foreign fighters a tangible option. Ideology can touch and direct those that a leader within the organization cannot, making ISIL a less hierarchical organization that allows for cells throughout the world to engage in political violence in their name. Leaderless resistance is a strategy of opposition that allows for and encourages individuals or small cells to engage in acts of political violence entirely independent of any hierarchy of leadership or network of supports, it allows for the avoidance of detection, infiltration and prosecution by the state. (Joose 2007) In a sense, a strong ideology couple with the ability to successfully deploy leaderless resistance acts as a recruiting tool and helps further explain the phenomenon of homegrown extremist and foreign

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