Radical, Religious, and Violent: The New Economics of TerrorismMIT Press, 30 בספט׳ 2011 - 314 עמודים 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. |
מתוך הספר
תוצאות 1-5 מתוך 50
... military is conducting a broad operation against the Taliban in the North-West Frontier Province, generating refugee flows reminis- cent of those from Afghanistan two decades ago, whose consequence is difficult to predict; voters in ...
... military control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. It took them only three days. At this writing they are negotiating a power-sharing agreement to create a unity government in the Palestinian Authority. The experience of these four groups ...
... military experience, poor training, and no particular theological motivation for conquest managed to do what for centuries the strongest military powers in the world had struggled with and mostly failed at. The Taliban con- quered ...
... military experience, and a pool of like-minded potential recruits among Jewish settlers, the Jewish Underground was quickly infiltrated and suppressed by Israeli intelligence. In a very important way the Jewish Underground was typical ...
... military or political. So an inflated view of the importance of one's act must generally be necessary for a terrorist. Yet that would be an easy criterion to satisfy; social scientists know that delusions of self- importance are hardly ...
תוכן
1 | |
2 The Defection Constraint | 29 |
The Organizational Secrets of Religions Radicals | 61 |
4 Sect Subsidy and Sacrifice | 95 |
Why Religious Radicals Are Such Effective Terrorists | 121 |
6 Why Suicide Attacks? | 157 |
7 Constructive Counterterrorism | 183 |
8 Religious Radicals and Violence in the Modern World | 211 |
Analytical Appendix | 241 |
Notes | 251 |
References | 273 |
Index | 285 |
מהדורות אחרות - הצג הכל
Radical, Religious, and Violent: The New Economics of Terrorism <span dir=ltr>Eli Berman</span> תצוגה מקדימה מוגבלת - 2011 |
Radical, Religious, and Violent: The New Economics of Terrorism <span dir=ltr>Eli Berman</span> אין תצוגה מקדימה זמינה - 2011 |
Radical, Religious, and Violent: The New Economics of Terrorism <span dir=ltr>Eli Berman</span> אין תצוגה מקדימה זמינה - 2009 |