Finding Allies for the War of Words: Mapping the Diffusion and Influence of Counter-radical Muslim Discourse
Abstract
Project Summary The rise of ISIS and resurgence of other violent extremist movements (VEM) and their global recruitment efforts is a major security challenge. We address it through an addition to our project Finding Allies for the War of Words: Mapping the Diffusion and Influence of Counter-radical Muslim Discourse (ONR-N00014-09-1-0815, 2009-2014). We build on its findings, theoretical insights, and methodology. The Allies project increased understanding of counter-violent extremist movements (CVE) by developing empirical criteria for identifying and classifying VEM and CVE; describing the local, national, and transnational characteristics of CVE; and constructing an automated system for tracking and analyzing formal and informal networks across time and location. Three key findings from Allies, shape the effort proposed here: 1) neither VEM nor CVE are rooted in a single variant of Islam; 2) intolerance is the variable most strongly associated with violence; and 3) there are two types of Muslim discourse associated with diversity tolerance and resisting VEM—one rooted in local cultures, another in Sufi piety—both of which increase their public engagement in response to VEM. In this project, we propose to utilize these insights to carry out three related studies that leverage data and technology developed in the Allies project to: further knowledge of the semantics of intolerance, its relationship to violence, and the strategies used counter it; further development and refinement of technologies for modeling the dynamics of these movements, including new tools for automated semantic analysis and real-time event analysis; and deeper understanding of the demographic and social factors driving support for VEM agendas. We will continue to use the multi-method, multi-disciplinary approach that we used productively in the Allies project to develop: 1) a scalable, unsupervised and domain-independent system that simultaneously extracts high-level relations and concepts, and learns a semantic network; 2) a set of tools to detect patterns (e.g. communities and anomalies) and visualize their dynamics, shifts and trends intuitively; and 3) further understanding and knowledge of the language, symbols and demographics marking country specific and transnational CVE and VEM, as well as sources of support for sharia. Understanding how Muslim communities are responding to ISIS/VEM messages is central to the challenge of countering ISIS and other evolving VEM. Modeling and predicting the dynamics of radicalization and identifying its resonant markers, is of crucial importance for countering VEMs and advancing society s cohesiveness and security. Taken together, the studies we propose will contribute significantly to the production of such models.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 08, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512821
Entities
People
- Mark Woodward
Organizations
- Arizona State University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy