NCJ Number
220528
Journal
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: November 2007 Pages: 985-1011
Date Published
November 2007
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This article suggests that a single interpretative framework explains militant Islamist rhetoric and can be used to compare it to more traditional campaigns such as Irish Republican militancy and differences of culture, scale, and lethality.
Abstract
The article proposes a common framework for a revolutionary message that promotes violence. The message is based in four "P's": Persecution, Precedent, Piety, and Perseverance. This framework applies equally to militant Republic and Islamist calls to violence. "Persecution" refers to abusive/oppressive treatment by a dominant and powerful entity. "Precedent" refers to historic revolutions that have used violence to achieve change and remedy victimization. "Piety" pertains to an authoritative ideology that supports the call to arms; and "Perseverance" refers to the will and persistence required to achieve change in conflict with a powerful enemy. Although the geographic scale and unorthodox behavior of the campaigns and theaters associated with Islamist militancy makes them difficult for Western decisionmakers to grasp intellectually, it is important to understand that the essential elements of the Islamist militant's message are common to Western European historic ethno-nationalist campaigns. The author concludes that it is unlikely that European lawmakers' efforts to censor radical Islamists' Internet communications and other recruitment material will succeed in reducing terrorism, since so much of the call to violence is interwoven with historical narratives that underlie legitimate group identities. 162 notes