Report: Forging Effective Counterterrorism Enterprise between Muslim Americans and Law Enforcement
Printer-friendly versionThe December 2009 report Building Bridges to Strengthen America: Forging Effective Counterterrorism Enterprise between Muslim Americans and Law Enforcement written by Alejandro J. Beutel of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), provides a well researched and thoughtful analysis of theories of radicalization. It proposes a hybrid theory that forms the basis of MPAC's "blueprint for how Muslim American communities can be an asset in securing our nation and preserving the rights of all Americans, as defined from a Muslim American perspective." The report is a condensed version of a larger report to be released later.
Theories of Radicalization
Although the report says, "Ultimately, radicalization is a complex and multi-faceted process that cannot be explained or dealt with through either simplistic analyses or uni-dimensional policy responses." The report outlines five theories of radicalization, drawn from a review of research on the topic and then explains an alternative, hybrid framework developed by expert Quinton Wiktorowicz. The five theories are:
1. Socio-Economic Deprivation
Under this theory "socio-economic frustration and a lack of self-fulfillment – the likely result of various forms of economic/ethnic/religious discrimination – can drive someone toward terrorism."
2. Identity Politics
This theory says second and third generation Muslim youth in Western countries feel unconnected to their parents' heritage, yet "may feel they are the object of hostility and humiliation by the host majority Western cultures due to local discrimination and discontent over foreign policies toward Muslim countries."
3. Social Afflictions
Ties from social networks such as family and friends are used for terrorist recruitment. For example, a study by expert Marc Sagemen "found at least 80% of this 500-person dataset was recruited into terrorism by friendship and family ties." [p. 7]
4. Political Marginalization
This occurs when Muslim youth feel both alienation from mainstream politics and marginalized by their own communities. The result is that "youth that does not become politically apathetic, may alternatively seek to have their grievances represented and addressed by more radical organizations."
5. Presence of Radical Ideology
This theory blames radical clerics for preaching violence, infiltrating mosques and using non-violent organizations as "conveyor belts" to channel recruits into terrorist organizations.
Critique and the Hybrid Model
The report identifies shortcomings for each theory, but notes that "each has important strengths and contributions." The deprivation, identity politics and marginalization theories "fail to explain why radicalism and terrorism is not more widespread." The social afflictions theory denies "the power and rule of a person's moral agency." In fact, the report cites a RAND finding that "a person with stronger connections to mainstream social networks is much less likely to adopt extremist views…" [p. 8] The radical ideology theory is criticized for exaggerating the extremist takeover of mosques and ignoring the ideological conflicts and bad feelings between radical and conservative groups. In fact, the report cites studies that show "most terrorists largely lack religious knowledge and were secular individuals until just before joining an extremist group." [p. 11]
The hybrid model offered by Wiktoriwicz identifies the first step toward radicalization as a "cognitive opening" that may be brought on by social, economic or political factors, but is also heavily influenced by personal crises. This can lead to an identity crisis that involves "religious seeking." This is where a shift occurs, with terrorist recruiters using "policy grievances (rather than the Islamic faith) to justify terrorism when addressing Muslim audiences." Once a person has bought into the violent ideology, a socialization process occurs, where "[T]he recruit moves from being a movement's student, to a committed member, by internalizing the group ideology and in the process having his/her identity reconstructed. This process is reinforced by radical social networks." [p. 9-11]
MPAC's Proposed Solution
Buetel analogizes terrorist groups to a business which is in "stiff competition in the 'market for martyrs' from various mainstream mosques, imams(clerics), and faith-based civil society institutions. The mainstream's presence pushes out terrorists from their labor market." [p. 12] To strengthen the role of mainstream civil society in this competition, Beutel offers the idea of community policing, where law enforcement and Muslim-American communities collaborate to decrease the avenues towards radical actions.
Under the community policing model "Law enforcement focuses on criminal behavior while Muslim communities deal with ideological and social components to radicalization." This keeps law enforcement from creating an atmosphere in the communities that can lead to radicalization and from being viewed negatively. In conclusion, the report says "Unlike intelligence-led policing, community policing's heavier reliance on community partnerships reduces negative impact on both community-police relations and democratic values. It also gathers and contextualizes various bits of information better to construct a fuller intelligence assessment." [p. 3-4]
