Annotated Bibliography on Terrorism

1. Jackson, B. A., & Costello, K. (2019). Practical terrorism prevention: Reexamining US national approaches to addressing the threat of ideologically motivated violence. RAND Corporation.

The article examines the practical approaches to preventing terrorism and addressing the threat of ideologically motivated violence. It studies the US tactics utilized in addressing the menace of terrorist-motivated attacks. In order to understand and embark on consistent prevention strategies, it is useful to understand the threat, motives, and persuasion of violent attacks. In this article, the authors critically examine the federal government’s approaches in addressing the threats of violence motivated by propagated false, divisive ideologies. The study identified various actions that may be utilized to enhance the US government’s intervention policies. The main strength of this study is offering recommendations that may be utilized at the federal level to strengthen its prevention. The author identifies that the provided recommendations fortify the existing federal terrorism programs to make them more effective.

2. Adelaja, A., & George, J. (2020). Is youth unemployment related to domestic terrorism? Perspectives on terrorism, 14(5), 41-62.

In this article, the authors try to understand the correlation between youth unemployment and terrorism. Most youths are motivated by various reasons to involve themselves in terrorist acts. As (Adelaja & George, 2020) identify, unemployment is one of the key drivers of youths indulging in domestic terrorism. Due to the biting effects of unemployment, most youths are compelled to join these extremist groups to pursue better economic opportunities. A cross-country panel evaluation of the database found a strong positive correlation between youth unemployment and involvement in domestic terrorism. However, the study identifies that youth unemployment is not a key indicator of transnational terrorism. This research calls for considering youth unemployment as a key driving factor of domestic terrorism.

The study provides a foundation for researching the possible interventions that may be utilized to address youth unemployment and minimize the youth’s motivation to partake in domestic terrorism.

3. Ahmad, H., & Masinda, M. T. (2018). Research Note on Immigrant Youth Radicalization and Terrorism: Pre-and Post-Migration Considerations. Journal for Deradicalization, (17), 295-312.

Immigration has become the norm as people try to seek asylum, escape hardships, and explore better socioeconomic opportunities. However, in pursuing better pastures, some youths may find themselves engulfed in terrorist webs that further capture them in more problems. This is a theoretical paper based on working experience with immigrant youth. The study urges more comprehension of the factors for immigration and post-immigration experiences as key drivers of youth indulgence in violent radicalization. (Ahmad & Masinda, 2018). By understanding this, a more effective global immigrant youth radicalization prevention and resilience-enhancing program may be designed. The paper presents viable propositions subject to further empirical studies to assess their efficacy in preventing the radicalization of immigrant youths.

4. Puigvert, L., Aiello, E., Oliver, E., & Ramis-Salas, M. (2020). Grassroots community actors leading the way in the prevention of violent youth radicalization. PloS one, 15(10), e0239897.

This study identifies and explores the critical role of grassroots community actors in preventing the violent radicalization of youth. According to (Puigvert et al., 2020), attachment to community and violence-free family ties and peers are identified as protective factors against various forms of violent extremism. This article discusses some identified features that organized actors develop at the community level that are working to reduce radical youth extremism. Some of the shared useful features are a firm stance on rejecting violence, promoting trustworthy friendships, and shunning the lure surrounding violent subjects. In this work, the authors present the effective approaches embraced by community members in countering terrorism.

5. Darden, J. T. (2019). Tackling terrorists’ exploitation of youth. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute.

In this study, Darden (2019) researches the aspects that enhance the exploitation and manipulation of youth to join terrorist networks. Youth are the greatest targets of the terrorist groups that seek to manipulate and recruit them to work as cooks, armed personnel, or logistics. The main forces identified in the article are duping coercion and the promise of economic stability and prosperity. The study specifically addresses how these extremist groups use exploiting youths to join their groups. Besides, the article identifies the imminent gap in anti-terrorism prevention for girls compared to their male counterparts. The authors explored the various approaches the United States government uses to account for the nuances that lead to youth vulnerability. Some factors that may lead to youth vulnerability, as identified in the study, include geo-proximity, social marginalization, and exposure to violent extremist propaganda.

6. Achsin, M. Z. (2020, May). The role of youth in preventing violent extremism in Indonesia. A study of Duta Damai. In B-SPACE 2019: Proceedings of the First Brawijaya International Conference on Social and Political Sciences, SPACE, 26-28 November 2019, Malang, East Java, Indonesia(p. 204). European Alliance for Innovation.

The study aims to describe the role of youth in the prevention of violent extremism in the Duta Damai region of Indonesia. It is a relevant study as the model used in this region may be used and applied in other regions of Asia and the world. It utilizes qualitative research whereby data on the role of the youth in violent extremism is collected through interviews and online data extraction (Achsin, 2020). The research identifies peer education, online digital media education, the provision of educational opportunities, and economic empowerment. This study establishes that the above studies effectively prevent violent extremism by ensuring that youth are preoccupied with more valuable and useful self-empowerment activities, such as jobs. Besides, the study highlights the weakness of the prevention projects as they need a clearly defined program and evaluation metrics to show whether the applied tactics are reaching the right audiences.

7. Lacasse, K., & Campbell-Obaid, M. (2022). Investigating factors that alter public support for countering violent extremism intervention programs for at-risk youth. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 1-21.

The study principally investigates the factors that may change the public’s support for countering violent extremism (CVE) for at-risk youth (Laccase & Campbell, 2022) and is specifically aimed at exploring the factors that alter communal support for these (CVE) programs. The authors conducted online vignette studies to study how political orientation, public perspective, and ethnicity may impact public support in combating terrorism. Results showed that participants support approaches to prevent gang violence more than CVE. Thus, the study shows that owing to perspective talking, CVE faces lesser public support, which is a real barrier to any radicalization prevention program. Thus, even among the liberal members of the community, CVE faces barriers, and assisting the public in getting the perspective of the at-risk youth may be one approach to enhance the masses’ support for CVE.

References

Achsin, M. Z. (2020, May). The role of youth in preventing violent extremism in Indonesia. A study of Duta Damai. In B-SPACE 2019: Proceedings of the First Brawijaya International Conference on Social and Political Sciences, SPACE, 26-28 November 2019, Malang, East Java, Indonesia (p. 204). European Alliance for Innovation.

Adelaja, A., & George, J. (2020). Is youth unemployment related to domestic terrorism? Perspectives on terrorism, 14(5), 41-62.

Ahmad, H., & Masinda, M. T. (2018). Research Note on Immigrant Youth Radicalization and Terrorism: Pre-and Post-Migration Considerations. Journal for Deradicalization, (17), 295-312.

Darden, J. T. (2019). Tackling terrorists’ exploitation of youth. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute.

Jackson, B. A., & Costello, K. (2019). Practical terrorism prevention: Reexamining US national approaches to addressing the threat of ideologically motivated violence. RAND Corporation.

Lacasse, K., & Campbell-Obaid, M. (2022). Investigating factors that alter public support for countering violent extremism intervention programs for at-risk youth. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 1-21.

Puigvert, L., Aiello, E., Oliver, E., & Ramis-Salas, M. (2020). Grassroots community actors leading the way in the prevention of violent youth radicalization. PloS one, 15(10), e0239897.