 From Profiles to Pathways and Roots to Routes: Perspectives from Psychology on Radicalization into TerrorismJohn Horgan The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008, vol. 618, issue 1, 80-94 Abstract: Attempts to profile terrorists have failed resoundingly, leaving behind a poor (and unfair) impression of the potential for a sound psychological contribution to understanding the terrorist. However, recent work in the area has delivered promising and exciting starting points for a conceptual development in understanding the psychological process across all levels of terrorist involvement. Involvement in terrorism is a complex psychosocial process that comprises at least three seemingly distinct phases: becoming involved, being involved—synonymous with engaging in unambiguous terrorist activity—and disengaging (which may or may not result in subsequent de-radicalization). A critical implication of these distinctions is the recognition that each of them may contain unique, or phase-specific, implications for counterterrorism. An argument is made for greater consideration of the disengagement phase with a clearer role for psychological research to inform and enhance practical counterterrorism operations. Keywords: psychology; terrorism; radicalization; process; disengagement (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:618:y:2008:i:1:p:80-94 Access Statistics for this article More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |
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