The Idea of Terror: National Discourse and the Radicalization-Recruitment Nexus

• In Event: Engagement in Terrorism: Causes and Consequences

Abstract

How do policymakers think about terrorism, and what are the effects of these differing conceptualizations on cross-national patterns of radicalization and recruitment? States vary widely not only in their legal definitions of terrorism, but also in how terrorism is discussed in the media, in legislative chambers, and among members of the public. I argue that prominent national-level ideas about what terrorism is and whence it comes—what I call schemas—affect militant organizations’ recruitment strategies and potential members’ perceptions of what types of violence are possible and (im)permissible. I develop a macro-level theory that links schemas to variation in recruitment and radicalization through two mechanisms: affinity with identities that were not previously salient, and availability of cognitive scripts for violent behavior. I test the observable implications of my theory using a novel text corpus of media narratives and data on foreign fighter flows and domestic recruitment in the U.S. and Europe.

Author

• Anna Meier, University of Wisconsin, Madison