Mobilization For and Against Terrorism in the Islamic World

Investigators:

Clark McCauley
Mansoor Moaddel
Mohammed M. Hafez

Project Period:
2005-2009

Primary Findings:
1. At least twelve mechanisms of radicalization move individuals, small groups, and mass publics toward increased support for intergroup conflict and violence. There is no one profile trajectory of radicalization, and blocking any one mechanism is not likely to reduce radicalization significantly.

2. Hizb ut-Tahrir poses a challenge for security services: it wants what Osama bin Laden wants but believes that the time is not right for violence. Is Hizb a conveyor belt or a competitor for al-Qaeda? We predict that banning Hizb, especially in the United Kingdom, will release Hizb cells in Central Asia from inhibition from violence.

3. Suicide terrorists are more than ‘smart bombs’: martyrdom mobilizes terrorist sympathizers as well as disheartening targets.

4. Among self-selected Jerusalem-Day protestors in European cities, interest in martyrdom was not related to interest in using WMD.

5. Since 9/11, growing majorities of Muslims in the United States, UK, and Muslim-majority countries believe that the war on terrorism is a war on Islam.

6. Only about 5% of U.S. and UK Muslims believe that martyrdom attacks are justified in defense of Islam, but these 5% amount to tens of thousands of individuals.


Methodology:
Analyses were conducted using primary and secondary data collected from polls and surveys, interviews, newspaper reports, books and journal articles about terrorism.

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