Friction

How Conflict Radicalizes Them and Us

Revised and Expanded Edition

Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko

Outlines the 12 mechanisms of political radicalization that can move individuals, groups, and the masses to increased sympathy and support for political violence
Explores the effects of government action on radicalization
Draws from a wide range of case material from 21st century jihadist terrorism, Russia in the late 19th century, the US in the 1970s, and Afghanistan after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s
Argues provocatively that the same mechanisms are at work in radicalizing terrorists and the radicalization of states targeted by terrorists

New to this Edition:

Includes new chapters that address 'lone wolf' terrorism as well as radicalization of opinion and action, using the Paris attacks as a case study
Features up-to-date research on radicalization since the 9/11 attacks

Friction

How Conflict Radicalizes Them and Us

Revised and Expanded Edition

Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko

Description

Terrorism is an extreme form of radicalization. In this ground-breaking and important book, Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko identify and outline twelve mechanisms of political radicalization that can move individuals, groups, and the masses to increased sympathy and support for political violence.

Co-authored by two psychologists both acknowledged in their field as experts in radicalization and consultants to the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies, Friction draws on wide-ranging case histories to show striking parallels between 1800s anti-czarist terrorism, 1970s anti-war terrorism, and 21st century jihadist terrorism. Altogether, the twelve mechanisms of political radicalization demonstrate how unexceptional people are moved to exceptional violence in the conflict between states and non-state challengers.

In this revised and expanded edition, McCauley and Moskalenko use the twelve mechanisms to analyze recent cases of lone-wolf terrorists and illustrate how individuals can become radicalized to jihadist violence with group influence or organizational support. Additionally, in the context of the Islamic State's worldwide efforts to radicalize moderate Muslims for jihad, they advance a model that differentiates radicalization in opinion from radicalization in action, and suggest different strategies for countering these diverse forms of radicalization. As a result, the authors conclude that the same mechanisms are at work in radicalizing both terrorists and states targeted by terrorists, implying that these conclusions are as relevant for policy-makers and security officers as they are for citizens facing the threat of terror today.

Friction

How Conflict Radicalizes Them and Us

Revised and Expanded Edition

Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko

Chapter 1: Introduction

Section 1: Mechanisms of Individual Radicalization
Chapter 2: Personal Grievance
Chapter 3: Group Grievance
Chapter 4: Slippery Slope
Chapter 5: Love
Chapter 6: Risk and Status
Chapter 7: Unfreezing

Section 2: Mechanisms of Group Radicalization
Chapter 8: Group Polarization
Chapter 9: Group Competition
Chapter 10: Group Isolation

Section 3: Mechanisms of Mass Radicalization
Chapter 11: Jujitsu
Chapter 12: Hate
Chapter 13: Martyrdom

Section 4: Wrapping Up
Chapter 14: Osama bin Laden
Chapter 15: The Challenge of Lone Wolf Terrorists
Chapter 16: Radicalization of Opinion and Action: The Two-Pyramids Model
Chapter 17: Them and Us

Friction

How Conflict Radicalizes Them and Us

Revised and Expanded Edition

Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko

Author Information

Clark McCauley is the Rachel C. Hale Professor of Sciences and Mathematics and Co-Director of the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at Bryn Mawr College. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. With Dan Chirot, he co-authored Why Not Kill Them All? The Logic and Prevention of Mass Political Murder, published by Princeton University Press in 2006. He is the founding editor of the journal Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict: Pathways toward Terrorism and Genocide.

Sophia Moskalenko is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (NC-START) and a consultant with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She received her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. Her research and publications have focused on group identification, political activism, radicalization, and terrorism.