The Elephant in the Room: Confronting Ideology and Armed Groups

Abstract

Current U.S. policy in the GWOT is predicated on an implicit assumption-that all societies share a universal preference ordering based on materialist concerns. This thesis examines and contrasts this "rational-materialist" approach to its main rival of "cultural determinism" and finds both to be lacking. By exploring two empirical cases-the U.S. Patriot movement, and Al Qaeda-I develop an alternative approach that highlights the previously neglected impact of ideology on such movements. The results of this inductive analysis are then used to generate specific policy implications for the U.S.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA536314

Entities

People

  • Justin Overbaugh

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Economic Systems
  • Employment
  • Government (Foreign)
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Human Behavior
  • International Organizations
  • Market Economy
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Ideologies
  • Political Systems
  • Sociopolitics
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists

Readers

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