The secret society and the social dynamics of terrorist behavior

Abstract The article argues that individualist accounts cannot adequately explain the social dynamics of terrorist behavior as they turn analyses of terrorism into analyses of terrorists. A relational approach that concentrates on the social relations between terrorist organizations and their member...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Revue de synthèse. - Lavoisier, 1931. - 135(2014), 4 vom: Dez., Seite 331-359
1. Verfasser: Mackert, Jürgen (VerfasserIn)
Format: Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2014
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Revue de synthèse
Schlagworte:terrorism suicide terrorism secret society relational sociology Georg Simmel
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Abstract The article argues that individualist accounts cannot adequately explain the social dynamics of terrorist behavior as they turn analyses of terrorism into analyses of terrorists. A relational approach that concentrates on the social relations between terrorist organizations and their members would be able to do this, however. Therefore, the article presents a formal analysis that makes the “secret society” of terrorists the lynchpin of an explanation of how terrorist organizations shape the behavioral conditions of volunteers and suicide terrorists in a manner that triggers a type of behavior we might call terrorism.
Beschreibung:© Springer-Verlag France 2014
ISSN:0035-1776
DOI:10.1007/s11873-014-0261-z