Seeds of Destruction, Seeds of Success: The Survival or Failure of Violent Extremist Organizations

Abstract

This thesis discusses the connection between an extremist groups survival and its membership. This study analyzes three separate case studies to determine the validity of using a people oriented framework to target extremist groups, entitled the conversion process. Using the concepts of member recruitment, indoctrination, and radicalization, the author tries to determine if the way an extremist group member is developed can lead to the overall survival or failure of the organization to which he or she belongs. To accomplish this task, the author applies the conversion process framework to two extremist organizationsAum Shinrikyo and al-Qaeda.First, the author uses Aum Shinrikyo to show that an organization built upon faith in an individual is susceptible to collapse should that individual fall for his elevated status.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2010
Accession Number
AD1019204

Entities

People

  • Brian R. Montgomery

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Counterterrorism
  • Employment
  • Ethnic Groups
  • International Relations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Recreation
  • Societies
  • Sociopolitics
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Systems Analysis and Design