Violent Jihadism
The Internet in Indonesia: Development and Impact of Radical Websites
September 18, 2023The Internet has become a crucial part of modern society’s life due to its ability to facilitate communication and structure contemporary society. Indonesia has not been left out of this global phenomenon. The Internet came to Indonesia in 1983 and its usage has continued to expand ever since, especially within institutions of learning and in ...
The Janus Face of New Media Propaganda: The Case of Patani Neojihadist YouTube Warfare and Its Islamophobic Effect on Cyber-Actors
September 18, 2023Surfing on the Internet 2.0 revolution, Patani 2.0 has allowed Patani neojihadist militants to access new competitive spaces and create their own imagined online community by penetrating new realms of the Internet. This article discusses the use of new media militant propaganda by Patani militants and how it is Janus faced. It further examines how ...
An Exploratory, Dynamic Application of Social Network Analysis for Modelling the Development of Islamist Terror‐Cells in the West
September 18, 2023The present paper represents an exploratory, dynamic and qualitative application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) for modelling the development of Islamist terror cells in the West. Two well‐known case studies are systematically re‐examined using this methodology as a supporting framework for interpreting the sequence of group development from a social psychological perspective. By drawing attention ...
Al-Qa‘ida’s Editor: Abu Jandal al-Azdi’s Online Jihadi Activism
September 18, 2023This article deals with the online activism of Abu Jandal al-Azdi, one of the main ideologues of the now-defunct Saudi version of Al-Qa‘ida on the Arabian Peninsula (QAP), whose writings have been all but neglected in publications on this organisation. While rightly seen as only a mediocre religious scholar, I contend that al-Azdi is nevertheless ...
Daesh and the Terrorist Threat: from the Middle East to Europe
September 18, 2023It is an undeniable fact that the issue of terrorism, both as a theoretical area of analysis and as a practical phenomenon, has grown exponentially in significance over the past few decades. Indeed, terrorism has for some time stopped being a term solely discussed in academic settings and in strategic documents, but has recently been ...
Tweeting the Jihad: Social Media Networks of Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq
September 18, 2023Social media have played an essential role in the jihadists’ operational strategy in Syria and Iraq, and beyond. Twitter in particular has been used to drive communications over other social media platforms. Twitter streams from the insurgency may give the illusion of authenticity, as a spontaneous activity of a generation accustomed to using their cell ...
Analyzing Terror Campaigns on the Internet: Technical Sophistication, Content Richness, and Web Interactivity
September 18, 2023Terrorists and extremists are increasingly utilizing Internet technology to enhance their ability to influence the outside world. Due to the lack of multi-lingual and multimedia terrorist/extremist collections and advanced analytical methodologies, our empirical understanding of their Internet usage is still very limited. To address this research gap, we explore an integrated approach for identifying and ...
Neo-Jihadist Prosumers and Al Qaeda Single Narrative: The Case Study of Giuliano Delnevo
September 18, 2023Scholars in the field of terrorism and violent extremism often refer to the so-called Al Qaeda single narrative. This article suggests that the Internet challenges the existence of a “single narrative,” by arguing that neo-jihadist prosumers may reinterpret Al Qaeda’s narrative and create hybrid symbols and identities. The article discusses the case study of an ...
Differentiating Al Qaeda and the Islamic State Through Strategies Publicized in Jihadist Magazines
September 18, 2023As Al Qaeda and the Islamic State vie for ascendancy in the jihad movement, policymakers grapple with distinguishing the threat posed by these groups. Proceeding from the terrorists’ view of media as a critical arena of jihad, this study applies content analysis to Al Qaeda- and Islamic State-produced magazines in order to empirically differentiate the ...
“Electronic Jihad”: The Internet as Al Qaeda’s Catalyst for Global Terror
September 18, 2023The Internet has emerged as a key technology for Al Qaeda and other jihadist movements waging their so-called electronic jihad across the Middle East and globally, with digital multiplier effects. This study will examine the evolving doctrine of “electronic jihad” and its impact on the radicalization of Muslims in Western diaspora communities The study describes ...