This grant is a continuation of N00014-13-1-0054 Motivational, Ideological and Social Processes in Political Violence
Abstract
The Phase Two Expansion proposed research effort will expand upon the current research in Morrocco to add data collection from community surveys in Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Northern Ireland. The core effort will consist of three individual thrusts: 1) conducting field studies in five world regions, 2) carrying out computational modeling of processes of radicalization and deradicalization, and 3) creating effective counter and de-radicalization strategies for regions at risk. The performer will systematically study the important questions (1) why some radicals turn to violence while others do not, and (2) under what conditions they turn to violence we will perform systematic scientific studies via interviews, surveys, field experiments, social network analyses, and other data collection vehicles (e.g., content analysis of propaganda videos). The researchers will develop a conceptual framework to provide valuable understanding for validatinghypotheses an models of radicalizations that could be created to account forworldwide variations and commonalities. Once developed the framework will be tested in different sites around the world. For each study, the performer will implement the following strategy:(a) Establish field research groups in each of the target areas that will carry out data collection for all research projects under the program.(b) Using cultural ethnographic methods, design survey research to allow them to tease out belief systems that define the core ideological commitments of the violent social networks and the communities in which they are embedded. (c) Develop and utilize procedures for coding social networks that are generalizable across settings. These will allow tracking of the formation of social networks over time, and relate them to the diffusion of ideologies within and across networks. These methods will enable us to study the dynamic relationships between the statistically regular distributions of people and core, violence-related, beliefs.(d) In the various field locations use experimental methods (e.g., through priming of historical events (e.g., the death of Bin Laden, the Arab Spring, the events of 9/11) or ideological themes related to sacred values to observe their impact on members of communities that support terrorism and are vulnerable to terrorists? recruitment.(e) Build culturally sensitive models that can?t be used across the different communities so that they do not lose specificity while allowing us to compare the different cultures on the same general parameters.(f) Using social network analysis, trace out the complete social networks where violent groups are embedded and use the non violent embers of these larger networks as matched controls (on basic demographics) to the violent perpetrators. Additional techniques for analysis and validation will also be used to complement the social network vehicle (e.g., cultural consensus models). Based on analyses and validation of data collected, perform Comparative Cross Cultural analyses to investigate the generalizability of research hypotheses and theories.(g) Drawing on semi-structured interview data, analyze the reintegration of former political prisoners into their communities to determine which personal, social and cultural characteristics facilitate successful reintegration and which characteristics hamper reintegration and invite recidivism.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612517
Entities
People
- Arie W. Kruglanski
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Maryland