Radicalization and Recruitment: A Systems Approach to Understanding Violent Extremism

Abstract

Recent events such as the terrorist attack in Algeria (January 2013), the Boston Marathon Bombing (April 2013), the apprehension of two suspected al-Qaeda linked terrorists in Toronto, (April 2013), highlight the requirement for greater understanding regarding the radicalization and recruitment of terrorists. As detailed in the US Department of State Report (2011), over 10,000 terrorist attacks occurred in 2011, affecting nearly 45,000 victims in 70 countries and resulting in over 12,500 deaths. With a focus on the outcomes and results of terrorist activities, terrorism itself often becomes a ‘blackbox' concept that does not capture the essence of the radicalization process nor the mechanisms of recruitment. This conceptual paper introduces Actor Network Theory (ANT) as a systems lens to open the ‘blackbox' of terrorism. This systems lens ‘…is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static snapshots' (Senge, 1990:68). The systems view facilitated by ANT is supported and informed by methods of network analysis and conceptual modelling that highlight how dynamic networked actors shape the radicalization process through the actor network process of translation.