Rational Extremism

Author : Ronald Wintrobe
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139460439
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rational Extremism written by Ronald Wintrobe and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-08-14 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extremists are people whose ideas or tactics are viewed as outside the mainstream. Looked at this way, extremists are not necessarily twisted or evil. But they can be, especially when they are intolerant and violent. What makes extremists turn violent? This 2006 book assumes that extremists are rational: given their ends, they choose the best means to achieve them. The analysis explains why extremist leaders use the tactics they do, and why they are often insensitive to punishment and to loss of life. It also explains how rational people can be motivated to die for the cause. The book covers different aspects of extremism such as revolution, suicide terrorism, and global jihad. The arguments are illustrated with important episodes of extremism, including the French Revolution, the rise of nationalism in Yugoslavia under Milosevic, and the emergence of suicide terror and Al Qaeda today.

Author : Albert Breton
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521804417
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Political Extremism and Rationality written by Albert Breton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-01-07 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political extremism is widely considered to be the product of irrational behavior. The distinguishing feature of this collection by well-known economists and political scientists from North America, Europe and Australia is to propose a variety of explanations which all insist on the rationality of extremism. Contributors use variants of this approach to shed light on subjects such as the conditions under which democratic parties take extremist positions, the relationship between extremism and conformism, the strategies adopted by revolutionary movements, and the reasons why extremism often leads to violence. The authors identify four core issues in the study of the phenomenon: the nature (definition) of extremism and its origins in both democratic and authoritarian settings, the capacity of democratic political systems to accommodate extremist positions, the strategies (civil disobedience, assassination, lynching) chosen by extremist groups, and the circumstances under which extremism becomes a threat to democracy.

Author : Eli Berman
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262258005
Total Pages : 315 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Radical, Religious, and Violent written by Eli Berman and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Applying fresh tools from economics to explain puzzling behaviors of religious radicals: Muslim, Christian, and Jewish; violent and benign. How do radical religious sects run such deadly terrorist organizations? Hezbollah, Hamas, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Taliban all began as religious groups dedicated to piety and charity. Yet once they turned to violence, they became horribly potent, executing campaigns of terrorism deadlier than those of their secular rivals. In Radical, Religious, and Violent, Eli Berman approaches the question using the economics of organizations. He first dispels some myths: radical religious terrorists are not generally motivated by the promise of rewards in the afterlife (including the infamous seventy-two virgins) or even by religious ideas in general. He argues that these terrorists (even suicide terrorists) are best understood as rational altruists seeking to help their own communities. Yet despite the vast pool of potential recruits—young altruists who feel their communities are repressed or endangered—there are less than a dozen highly lethal terrorist organizations in the world capable of sustained and coordinated violence that threatens governments and makes hundreds of millions of civilians hesitate before boarding an airplane. What's special about these organizations, and why are most of their followers religious radicals? Drawing on parallel research on radical religious Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Berman shows that the most lethal terrorist groups have a common characteristic: their leaders have found a way to control defection. Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Taliban, for example, built loyalty and cohesion by means of mutual aid, weeding out “free riders” and producing a cadre of members they could rely on. The secret of their deadly effectiveness lies in their resilience and cohesion when incentives to defect are strong.These insights suggest that provision of basic social services by competent governments adds a critical, nonviolent component to counterterrorism strategies. It undermines the violent potential of radical religious organizations without disturbing free religious practice, being drawn into theological debates with Jihadists, or endangering civilians.

Author : James R. Lewis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108509436
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Terrorism written by James R. Lewis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-25 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is currently much discussion regarding the causes of terrorist acts, as well as the connection between terrorism and religion. Terrorism is attributed either to religious 'fanaticism' or, alternately, to political and economic factors, with religion more or less dismissed as a secondary factor. The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Terrorism examines this complex relationship between religion and terrorism phenomenon through a collection of essays freshly written for this volume. Bringing varying approaches to the topic, from the theoretical to the empirical, the Companion includes an array of subjects, such as radicalization, suicide bombing, and rational choice, as well as specific case studies. The result is a richly textured collection that prompts readers to critically consider the cluster of phenomena that we have come to refer to as 'terrorism,' and terrorism's relationship with the similarly problematic set of phenomena that we call 'religion.'

Author : John P. Moran
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 9780739129852
Total Pages : 154 pages
Book Rating : 4.56/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Solution of the Fist written by John P. Moran and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2009 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first novel ever written about terrorism, Dostoevsky'sThe Demons is also the most instructive, for in it he addresses--better than any writer before or since--the two persistent riddles of terrorism: why are terrorists so new to our civilization, and how is it that they can kill others so easily in the name of a political idea? As a first-generation observer of terrorism, Dostoevsky came to the conclusion that this new political movement was the product ofmodern culture, politics, and psychology. He felt that modernity created a unique shame and humiliation that fueled terrorism. The "demons" that he brings to life in this novel are not fire-breathing monsters, but gracious, subtle, cosmopolitan, rational, and scientific. They are also murderers, rapists, arsonists, and terrorists. For Dostoevsky, these "demons were ultimately the product of cosmopolitan Paris, for it was there that individuals first deified reason and thus abandoned the ancient sources of morality--the ancient Gods. By replacing the ancient with the modern gods of atheism, science, and liberalism, modern societies have abandoned any sort of moral constraint that helped to keep violence and tyranny in check. This created the new, modern, nihilistic world of terrorism. If modern shame and humiliation are truly at the heart of modern terrorism, twenty-first century readers can gain a clearer insight into terrorist motivations through understanding Dostoevsky's work.The Solution of the Fist: Dostoevsky and the Roots of Modern Terrorism aims to aid in this process through an in-depth analysis of his work and a careful explanation of the context in which nineteenth-century readers would understand it.

Author : Jerrold M. Post
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 0230608590
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Mind of the Terrorist written by Jerrold M. Post and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2007-12-10 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contrast to the widely held assumption that terrorists as crazed fanatics, Jerrold Post demonstrates they are psychologically "normal" and that "hatred has been bred in the bone". He reveals the powerful motivations that drive these ordinary people to such extraordinary evil by exploring the different types of terrorists, from national-separatists like the Irish Republican Army to social revolutionary terrorists like the Shining Path, as well as religious extremists like al-Qaeda and Aum Shinrikyo. In The Mind of the Terrorist, Post uses his expertise to explain how the terrorist mind works and how this information can help us to combat terrorism more effectively.

Author : Alex S. Wilner
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812292049
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Deterring Rational Fanatics written by Alex S. Wilner and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2015-01-21 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cold War-era strategic thinking was driven by the belief that individuals, organizations, and foreign states could be deterred from offensive action by the threat of reprisal. That assurance was shaken with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; suddenly, it seemed that no threat was powerful enough to deter individuals or organizations that valued political objectives over their own lives and the lives of their members. More than a decade later, new research and theory are bringing deterrence back into currency as a viable counterterrorism strategy. Alex S. Wilner updates deterrence theory for conflict in the twenty-first century, arguing for its value against challengers such as rogue states, cyber warriors, and transnational terrorist organizations. Deterring Rational Fanatics provides a full-scale discussion of deterrence theory concepts and controversies, assessing the utility of relying on the logic of deterrence and coercion to counter contemporary terrorism. In particular, targeted killings directed against the Taliban of Afghanistan provide a vivid illustration of the impact deterrence can have on militant behavior: precision strikes that eliminate militant leaders represent a significant cost to planning and participating in political violence, a cost that can coerce, manipulate, and alter behavior. Though deterrence theory is not a panacea for terrorism, insurgency, or militancy, it can serve as a strategic guide for state responses; as Wilner shows, terrorist violence can indeed be deterred.

Author : Eric van Um
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3658115394
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evaluating the Political Rationality of Terrorist Groups written by Eric van Um and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book improves our understanding of terrorists’ motivations and rationality and may, ultimately, also indicate how to respond to the phenomenon of terrorism. In his research studies, Eric van Um explores the political rationality of terrorist groups. The political rationality model builds on rational choice theory. It demands that terrorist groups take into account the costs and benefits of their available options and choose the option promising them the highest political utility. Testing the explanatory power of this model is relevant, as rational choice approaches have become very prominent in terrorism research. But, at the same time, their empirical power remains highly contested. Increased knowledge of the political rationality model not only promises added value for terrorism research itself, but also for social sciences more generally.

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Psychology of Terrorism written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In compiling this annotated bibliography on the psychology of terrorism, the author has defined terrorism as "acts of violence intentionally perpetrated on civilian noncombatants with the goal of furthering some ideological, religious or political objective." The principal focus is on nonstate actors. The task was to identify and analyze the scientific and professional social science literature pertaining to the psychological and/or behavioral dimensions of terrorist behavior (not on victimization or effects). The objectives were to explore what questions pertaining to terrorist groups and behavior had been asked by social science researchers; to identify the main findings from that research; and attempt to distill and summarize them within a framework of operationally relevant questions. To identify the relevant social science literature, the author began by searching a series of major academic databases using a systematic, iterative keyword strategy, mapping, where possible, onto existing subject headings. The focus was on locating professional social science literature published in major books or in peer-reviewed journals. Searches were conducted of the following databases October 2003: Sociofile/Sociological Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts (CJ Abstracts), Criminal Justice Periodical Index (CJPI), National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts (NCJRS), PsycInfo, Medline, and Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS). Three types of annotations were provided for works in this bibliography: Author's Abstract -- this is the abstract of the work as provided (and often published) by the author; Editor's Annotation -- this is an annotation written by the editor of this bibliography; and Key Quote Summary -- this is an annotation composed of "key quotes" from the original work, edited to provide a cogent overview of its main points.

Author : Cass R. Sunstein
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199754128
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Going to Extremes written by Cass R. Sunstein and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In Going to Extremes, renowned legal scholar and best-selling author Cass R. Sunstein offers startling insights into why and when people gravitate toward extremism."--Inside jacket.