| This dissertation analyzes the influence of social factors on participation in terrorist organizations. It draws on the extensive sociological and criminal justice literature on youth gangs to test the applicability of interactional and social facilitation theories as to why individuals join terrorist groups. This dissertation tests the hypothesis that social risk factors for participation in terrorist groups exist along five life domains: the individual, family, school, peers, and community. The hypothesis is tested using the life histories of nineteen terrorists from three terrorist groups (Al-Qaeda, Red Army Faction, and the Irish Republican Army) to determine the prevalence of social risk factors in each of the five life domains. A key finding of the dissertation is the importance of peer-related risk factors in why individuals join terrorist groups. In contrast to the existing literature, which attributes radicalization to monocausal phenomena such as psychology, socioeconomic status, or ideology, this dissertation suggests that the confluence of a variety of pushes and pulls across multiple spheres of life contribute to the radicalization process. Affiliative factors and group processes seem to play a more significant role in the radicalization process than individual proclivities. |
