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The Epistemology of Terrorism and Radicalisation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2018

Quassim Cassam
Quassim Cassam*
Affiliation:
The University of Warwick
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

This paper outlines and criticises two models of terrorism, the Rational Agent Model (RAM) and the Radicalisation Model (RAD). A different and more plausible conception of the turn to violence is proposed. The proposed account is Moderate Epistemic Particularism (MEP), an approach partly inspired by Karl Jaspers’ distinction between explanation and understanding. On this account there are multiple idiosyncratic pathways to cognitive and behavioural radicalisation, and the actions and motivations of terrorists can only be understood (rather than explained) by engaging with their subjectivity in a way that depends on a degree of empathy. Scepticism is expressed about attempts to model radicalisation and predict political violence. This scepticism is based on reflections concerning the nature of complex particulars. The implications of MEP for counterterrorism are briefly discussed.

Type
Papers
Information
Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements , Volume 84: Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice , November 2018 , pp. 187 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy and the contributors 2018 

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References

1 ‘London bomber: Text in Full’, BBC News (1 Sep 2005), <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4206800.stm>. There is more about Khan and his background in: Shiv Malik, ‘My Brother the Bomber’, Prospect Magazine (30 June 2007), <https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/my-brother-the-bomber-mohammad-sidique-khan>.

2 This is the question with which Sageman, Marc begins his seminal paper ‘The Stagnation in Terrorism Research’, Terrorism and Political Violence 26 (2014), 565–580CrossRefGoogle Scholar. According to Sageman, we still don't know the answer to his question.

3 The idea that the motives and objectives of people like Khan are primarily political rather than theological is made much of by Kundnani, Arun in chapter 4 of his book The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror (London: Verso, 2014)Google Scholar.

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7 It isn't just governments that focus on radicalisation. There is also an extensive scholarly literature that subscribes to this approach. For an overview see Kundnani, Arun, ‘Radicalisation: The Journey of a Concept,’ Race and Class 54 (2012), 3–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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10 See Hoerl, Christoph, ‘Jaspers on Explaining and Understanding in Psychiatry’, in Stenghellini, Giovanni and Fuchs, Thomas (eds.), One Century of Karl Jaspers’ General Psychopathology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 107–120Google Scholar. ‘Epistemic particularism’ is Hoerl's label.

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20 The assumption that there is such a thing as the radicalisation process also informs counterterrorism strategy elsewhere in Europe. For example, the European Commission describes itself as supporting research and studies ‘in order to better understand the radicalisation process’ (‘Radicalisation’, European Commission, <https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/crisis-and-terrorism/radicalisation_en>). For further discussion see Neumann, Peter R., ‘The Trouble with Radicalization’, International Affairs 89 (2013), 873–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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34 Gorovitz and MacIntyre, ‘Toward a Theory of Medical Fallibility’, 15.

35 Gorovitz and MacIntyre, ‘Toward a Theory of Medical Fallibility’, 16.

36 Gorovitz and MacIntyre, ‘Toward a Theory of Medical Fallibility’, 16.

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44 Hoerl, ‘Jaspers on Explaining and Understanding in Psychiatry’, 108.

45 Hoerl, ‘Jaspers on Explaining and Understanding in Psychiatry’, 108.

46 Olivia Bailey, ‘Empathy and Testimonial Trust’, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 84, 139.

47 Bailey, ‘Empathy and Testimonial Trust’, 143.

48 ‘Empathy and Testimonial Trust’, 148.

49 Kendall, Elisabeth, ‘Jihadist Propaganda and its Exploitation of the Arab Poetic Tradition’, in Kendall, Elisabeth and Khan, Ahmad (eds.), Reclaiming Islamic Tradition: Modern Interpretations of the Classical Heritage (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016), 224–5Google Scholar.

50 I thank the editors, an anonymous referee, Olivia Bailey, Charlotte Heath-Kelly, Anna Lockley-Scott and Daniel Thornton for helpful comments. I am grateful to John Campbell for the initial suggestion that Jaspers’ work might be helpful for an understanding of terrorism. Earlier drafts of this paper were presented in 2017 at a workshop at the University of Warwick on the Epistemology of Counterterrorism, a conference at Sheffield University on Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice and the Oriel Colloquium on Education, Security and Intelligence Studies. Work on this paper was supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Leadership Fellowship. I thank the AHRC for its generous support.