Homegrown Terrorism - Participants

Participants

There is no one path toward violence. Homegrown terrorists have been high school dropouts, college graduates, members of the military, and cover the range of financial situations. Recent research by Matt Qvortrup in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations has suggested that domestic terrorism is a result of lack of opportunities for meaningful political engagement, and that domestic terrorism could be reduced by introducing constitutional changes such as changes in the electoral system that increase the chances that minority groups can become represented. This remains controversial. Some domestic terrorists studied overseas and were exposed to radical Islamist thought while others took their inspiration from the internet. Marc Sageman reveals in his book, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century, that contrary to popular belief, radicalization into terrorism is not the product of poverty, various forms of brainwashing, youth, ignorance, lack of education, lack of employment, lack of social responsibility, criminality, or mental illness. Intermediaries and English-speaking imams, like Anwar al-Awlaki, who are often found through the internet on forums, provide key roles in the radicalization process. Social networks provided in forums support and build upon an individual’s radical beliefs. Prison systems are also a concern as a place of radicalization and jihadist recruiting as nearly three dozen ex-convicts who attended training camps in Yemen were believed to have been radicalized in prison. The only constant appears to be "a newfound hatred for their native or adopted country, a degree of dangerous malleability, and a religious fervor justifying or legitimizing violence that impels these very impressionable and perhaps easily influenced individuals toward potentially lethal acts of violence," according to Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman's September 2010 Bipartisan Policy Center paper.