Walking Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical and Extremist Movements

ISBN-13: 9780415439435 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 188 str.

John Horgan

Opis

This accessible new book looks at how and why individuals leave terrorist movements, and considers the lessons and implications that emerge from this process. Focusing on the tipping points for disengagement from groups such as Al Qaeda, the IRA and the UVF, this volume is informed by the dramatic and sometimes extraordinary accounts that the terrorists themselves offered to the author about why they left terrorism behind. The book examines three major issues:

• what we currently know about de-radicalisation and disengagement
• how discussions with terrorists about their experiences of disengagement can show how exit routes come about, and how they then fare as 'ex-terrorists' away from the structures that protected them
• what the implications of these findings are for law-enforcement officers, policy-makers and civil society on a global scale.

Concluding with a series of thought-provoking yet controversial suggestions for future efforts at controlling terrorist behaviour, Walking Away From Terrorism provides an comprehensive introduction to disengagement and de-radicalisation and offers policymakers a series of considerations for the development of counter-radicalization and de-radicalisation processes. This book will be essential reading for students of terrorism and political violence, war and conflict studies, security studies and political psychology. John Horgan is Director of the International Center for the Study of Terrorism at the Pennsylvania State University. He is one of the world's leading experts on terrorist psychology, and has authored over 50 publications in this field; recent books include the The Psychology of Terrorism (Routledge 2005) and Leaving Terrorism Behind (co-edited, Routledge 2008)

This book focuses on identifying the tipping points for disengagement from terrorism, and is informed by the detailed, illuminating and sometimes extraordinary accounts that the terrorists themselves offer about the reasons why they left terrorism behind.

The book will be structured along four major issues:

1. What do we currently know about disengagement and de-radicalization from terrorism?
2. What do terrorists themselves say about their experiences of disengagement? (in terms of a. how exit routes became expressed (e.g. pathways, routes, key factors) b. why they felt they wanted to leave c. what happened to them once they found themselves as ex-terrorists, and no longer part of the structures that protected them
3. What lessons and implications can we take from a rigorous analysis of the terrorists’ accounts of disengagement, and related to this?
4. What are the implications for policy, law enforcement, intelligence, civil society and other relevant parties to an effective counterterrorism initiative?

In sum, the book will provide a model of disengagement and de-radicalization; a detailed analysis of the implications of the model for informing responses, and a strategic, systematically presented, point-by-point and multi-level guide for policy makers for facilitating de-radicalization processes at a variety of political, social and legal levels.

This book will be essential reading for all students of terrorism studies and highly recommended for students of international security, international relations and politics.

Spis treści

Foreword  Preface: A Personal Reflection on Fieldwork  1. Qualities Are Not Causes  2. How, When and Why Terrorism Ends  3. "Prison was a good thing"  4. "I volunteered"  5. "There is no conscious decision"  6. "A step too far"  7. "They were once my people"  8. "I don’t believe in integration"  9. Conclusions  Bibliography

O autorze

Dr. John Horgan is Director of the International Center for the Study of Terrorism at Penn State University