Motivation to Radicalize: What Drives Radicalization and Extremism

     The causes of radicalization may vary from person to person, but all seem to have a very common ground. Some important parts of radicalization I would like to highlight are not reasons as to why radicalization occurs, but actual reasons as to why people radicalize that may not be true for the majority. I use the information taken from John M. Venhaus's article "Why Youth Join al-Qaeda" and will attempt to expand on some points that he makes that he refers to as the, "Common Myths about al-Qaeda Recruits" (Venhaus pg 4) because I believe, although these points are referring to al-Qaeda radicalization, these points could be applied to many or all forms of radicalization.  Some of the points that I believe could be myths about radicalization would be, "First, he is not crazy." (Venhaus pg 4) I believe that this is something important to keep in mind because not everyone who radicalizes suffer from mental disorders. As I will expand on later, it is my firm belief that those who radicalize are simply trying to find or believe to have found a cause or a new group that accepts them, an acceptance they have not had in a while. It is either that they believe in their cause so much that they will do anything to defend it, such as eco-terrorists, or they have found a welcoming group of people who seem to want to form a kind of family or tight knit group such as some of the al-Qaeda and ISIS tactics seem to be. This surely seems to be one of ISIS's tactics now, by welcoming people, especially those who are Muslim or those who are already part of the Islamic faith, into their caliphate. This transitions into another myth that Venhaus's mentioned stating: "al-Qaeda recruits do not become terrorists because they are Muslim. They actually have an inadequate understanding of their own religion, which makes them vulnerable to misinterpretations of the religious doctrines." (Venhaus pg 5) This is clearly a tactic that ISIS has taken up. ISIS will target those who express their Muslim heritage or their interest to the Islamic faith but have no real education on either. ISIS has used the internet to encourage people wanting to radicalize to first work on getting to one of their compounds in Syria and then teaching them their radical interpretation of Islam.  This allows the groups to maintain much more power. I believe that these points are important to keep in mind because these are major myths that are often tied in with those who radicalize. It is not lunacy or religion that are always the initiating factor of radicalization, but rather it is the possibility that those who radicalize are simply looking for somewhere they belong and, unfortunately, those who contact them are parts of these organizations that direct them down the wrong path.

            Similar to Venhaus, I would like to draw attention to the article "A Jihadist's Course in the Art of Recruitment" written by Abdullahh Warius and Brian Fishman. In Warius and Fishman's article they managed to break down what Jihadists must do in order to recruit new members to their Jihad. By looking at and analyzing these steps I believe that we can gain a better look at what factors recruiters are targeting in people and gain a better understanding of those who are most impacted by the recruitment tactics. There are five steps presented by Warius and Fishman; stage one: acquaintance and selection, step two: building relationship, step three: faith awakening, step four: implanting Jihadist concepts, and step five: formation of a cell.  Extremist and Jihadist groups do not go door to door or have a recruitment station like the U.S. military does where you can just walk in and talk to someone. Much of the recruitment done now-a-days is via online communication. This makes stage one much easier as recruiters are able to scan through many people much more quickly than they previously could. This is one thing that has given ISIS so much power in recruiting. The internet has also made the second step much easier and I believe also helps to add the fact that those who radicalize are looking for a meaning. If someone is lost and feels as though they are living a life without a cause, it makes it so much easier for a member of a radical group to find them online and open up a dialogue and building a relationship from the dialogue making the said lost person feel as if he has found a new meaning or reason to live. This building a relationship may be the biggest part of all of this because once someone feels as though they have found a friend and a cause, they may begin to alter their lifestyle which allows for the next steps to come much more easily. The third step of a faith awakening is again something which I feel important to point out. Most extremists who find a faith based group to radicalize to do not often go in with a profound knowledge of that religion. As I said earlier, many people who radicalize to  Jihad actually do not know much about Islam and all they do know is taught to them by the radical organization that has recruited them and often will tell them not to go to any mosques or read the Qur'an, but rather to allow the group to educate them within the religion. This may not be true to for all of the recruits, but surely seems to be the truth for the majority. The final two steps of implementing Jihadist concepts and the formation of a cell are important, however; I feel that these steps come once someone has already made the commitment to radicalize. The implementing of Jihadist concepts may be the real final step but would require someone to already make the commitment as it requires some major life changes, such as living your life according to the Qur'an and accepting the religious duties of Jihad along with other points made by Warius and Fishman. To circle back around a little bit, if someone who is seeking a life purpose is contacted via the internet or some kind of contact by one of these recruiters who implement these steps, it is easy to see how they might cling to these recruiters and their new cause, making it clear that my belief is that radicalization is not driven by religion or by lunatics but rather that, with the world in the state that it is in right now there are many people still trying to figure out who they are even late into their lives but especially in the late teens and into the twenties which makes these people prime targets for radicalization because once these people believe that they have found a path to follow for possibly the first time in their life, they will not give up because it is the only thing that seems right to them. The glamour of this new family, new religion, new foundation is what drives the lost people to radicalization, not because they are hateful or evil but because they are lost and easily picked up by those giving them a reason to live.

Warius, A., & Fishman, B. (2009). CTC Sentinel. A Jihadist's Course in the Art of Recruitment, 2(2), 1-3. Retrieved October 17, 2015, from https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/a-jihadist's-course-in-the-art-of-recruitment

Venhaus, J. (2010). United States Institute of Peach Special Report. Why Youth Joing Al-Qaeda, 1-20. Retrieved October 17, 2015, from www.usip.org/site/default/files/SR236Venhaus.pdf