Understanding the Development of a Terrorist Propensity in Lone Actors

• In Event: Lone-Actor Terrorist Attacks: Empirical Findings and Policy Implications

Abstract

Despite a noticeable uptake in data-driven research, the study of the causes of radicalisation remains theoretically fragmented. Criminologists have contributed chiefly to our understanding of the characteristics, causes and distribution of terrorist events, while, by comparison, efforts to apply major criminological frameworks to our understanding of the development of terrorist criminality and individual involvement in terrorist action have been relatively few. This paper presents preliminary findings of a 3-year, EU-funded project on lone actor terrorism, guided by a model of terrorist propensity development (IVEE), which builds upon the social emergence component of Situational Action Theory (SAT). Our early analysis of a large dataset of lone-actor terrorist events and in-depth qualitative assessment of a subset of lone-actor cases suggests notably that so-called "lone wolves" are not as socially isolated as is commonly portrayed, and that a social ecological approach to the explanation of propensity development can contribute to the study of rare crimes, such as lone actor terrorist attacks.

Authors

• Noemie Bouhana, University College London

• Paul Gill, University College London

• Lasse Lindelkilde, Aarhus University

• Stefan Malthaner, Aarhus University

• Emily Corner, University College London

• Amy Thornton, University College London, UK