How identity crisis, relative deprivation, personal characteristics, and empathy contribute to the engagement of Western individuals in Islamist terrorist behavior

Authors

  • Khouwaga Yusoufzai Maastricht University
  • Franziska Emmerling University of Oxford

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15664/jtr.1292

Keywords:

home-grown, terrorism, behavior, Islamism, factors, radicalization

Abstract

The growing sense of insecurity in the Western world due to home-grown Islamist terrorism prompts further research on the topic. Based on previous literature, the current paper attempts to determine whether factors can be identified which contribute to Western individuals joining Islamic extremist organizations and engaging in terrorist behavior in the West. Four factors are discussed: While extensive scientific literature supports the view that identity crises and relative deprivation play a crucial role in turning Western individuals to terrorism, evidence on the role of personal characteristics and empathy, on the other hand, is still too scarce to allow any clear scientific judgment.

Author Biographies

Khouwaga Yusoufzai, Maastricht University

Khouwaga Yusoufzai is currently a graduate student with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, obtained at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Having fled the war in her native country Afghanistan at the age of two with only part of her family, the phenomenon of political violence and Islamist terrorism has continued to impact her throughout her life, sparking an interest in the dissection and explanation of terrorist behavior.

Franziska Emmerling, University of Oxford

Franziska Emmerling (née Dambacher) is currently a Niels Stensen postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology and the Oxford Center for the Study of Intergroup Conflict at the University of Oxford, UK. After finishing her studies in psychology and theology at the University of Trier, Germany, and Sophia University Tokyo, Japan, she worked at the German Institut for Psychology of Religion investigating, among other things, New Religious Movements. In 2014, she completed her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at Maastricht University, where she explored the neural correlates of inhibitory processing and aggression. Ever since her work in the field of social neuroscience focuses on the biological, neural, and social factors underlying the development, establishment, and behavioral consequences of conflict.

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Published

2017-02-08

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2017 The Author(s)

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