Abstract
This study aims to broaden and refine our knowledge on radicalisation by applying a different lens derived from communication sciences, it also aims to minimise the bias resulting from the several studies focusing on one movement—the Islamic State. The research utilises a qualitative thematic analysis triangulated with a quantitative content analysis to compare 30 documents: 15 belonged to an old radical movement—the Red Brigades and 15 to a new radical movement—the Islamic State, to explore possible strategic communication patterns used by both organizations to establish their legitimacy among their target audiences. The findings revealed a similar division in the construction of the documents of both movements under four main themes, high and equivalent proportions in the representations of ‘violence’, and an extensive concentration of ideological terms in the Islamic State documents compared to a large focus on organizational aspects in the Red Brigades documents. The principal and wide gap existing between both movements is related to the organisational tactics. Likely to be one of the main distinctions contributed by modernisation in the world today.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alarid, M.: Recruitment and radicalization: the role of social media and new technology. In: Impunity: Countering Illicit Power in War and Transition, pp. 313–330. National Defense University, Washington, DC (2016)
Arango, T., Gordon, M.: Iraqi insurgents secure control of border posts. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/world/middleeast/sunni-militants-seize-crossing-on-iraq-jordan-border.html (2014)
Archetti, C.: Terrorism, communication and new media: explaining radicalization in the digital age. Perspect. Terror. 9(1) (2015)
Archivio ’900: I comunicati delle Brigate Rosse durante il sequestro Moro. archivio900.it (2003)
Boyd-Barrett, O., Newbold, C.: Approaches to media: a reader. St Martin’s Press, New York (1995)
Braun, V., Clarke, V.: Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual. Res. Psychol. 3(2), 77–101 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brisard, J.-C., Martinez, D.: Islamic State: the economy-based terrorist funding. Thomson Reuters, Canada (2014)
Bunzel, C.: From paper state to caliphate: the ideology of the Islamic State. In: The Brookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, US (2015)
Collier, D.: The comparative method. In: Political Science: The State of the Discipline II, pp. 105–119. American Political Science Association, Washington, DC (1993)
Cook, J., Vale, G.: From Daesh to ‘Diaspora’: tracing the women and minors of Islamic State. In: International Center for the Study of Radicalization, Department of War Studies, p. 76. The University of King’s College London. http://icsr.info (2018)
Denzin, N.: Triangulation 2.0. J. Mix. Methods Res. 6(2), 80–88 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689812437186
Europol: TE-SAT: European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2017. https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/a4fe72c9-b541-11e7-837e-01aa75ed71a1/language-en (2017)
Farwell, J.: Persuasion and power: the art of strategic communication. Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC (2012)
Ferguson, K.: Countering violent extremism through media and communication strategies. In: The Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research. Research Councils. UK (2016)
Grbich, C.: Qualitative data analysis. SAGE Publications Ltd, California (2012)
Heath, R., Waymer, D.: Terrorism: social capital, social construction, and constructive society? Public Relat. Inq. 3(2), 227–244 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X14529683
Heck, A.: Images, visions and narrative identity formation of ISIS. Glob. Discourse 7(2–3), 244–259 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2017.1342490
Holbrook, D.: Approaching terrorist public relations initiatives. Public Relat. Inq. 3(2), 141–161 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X14536179
Hsieh, H.-F., Shannon, S.: Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qual. Health Res. 15(9), 1277–1288 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276687
IEP: Global Terrorism Index 2019: Measuring the Impact of Terrorism. Institute for Economics and Peace. https://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2019/11/GTI-2019web.pdf (2019)
Khosrokhavar, F.: Terrorism in Europe and the Middle East. In: The Centre for Studies in Islamism and Radicalisation at the Department of Political Science. University of Aarhus, Denmark (2008)
Khosrokhavar, F.: Islamic radicalism in Europe. In: Muslims in the West After 9/11: Religion, Politics and Law, 1st edn, pp. 229–244. Routledge, London (2010)
Khosrokhavar, F.: Radicalization: Why Some People Choose the Path of Violence. The New Press, New York (2017)
Kundnani, A.: Radicalisation: the journey of a concept. Race Class 54(2), 3–25 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1177/0306396812454984
Lancia, F.: Word co-occurrence and similarity in meaning. In: Some Methodological Issues (2007)
Laub, Z.: The Islamic State. In: Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/islamic-state (2016)
Layton, P.: Bringing the transnational into ‘new wars’: the case of Islamic State. Int. Rev. Soc. Res. 5(3), 191–201 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1515/irsr-2015-0018
Martin, G.: Understanding terrorism: challenges, perspectives, and issues. SAGE Publications Ltd, California (2006)
Norwitz, J.: Armed Groups: Studies in National Security, Counterterrorism, and Counterinsurgency. Department of the Navy, Washington, DC (2008)
Peçanha, S., Watkins, D.: ISIS’ territory shrank in Syria and Iraq this year. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/18/world/middleeast/Where-ISIS-Gained-and-Lost-Territory-Islamic-State.html (2015)
Raufer, X.: The red brigades: farewell to arms. Stud. Confl. Terror. 16(4), 315–325 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1080/10576109308435937
Sandelowski, M.: What’s in a name? Qualitative description revisited. Res. Nurs. Health 33(1), 77–84 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.20362
Seawright J., Gerring J. (2014) Case selection techniques in case study research: a menu of qualitative and quantitative options. In: Tight, M. (Eds.), Case Studies. SAGE Publications Ltd, California, pp. 213. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473915480.n31
Simons, G.: Brand ISIS: interactions of the tangible and intangible environments. J. Polit. Mark. 17(4), 322–353 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2018.1501928
Stanford University: The Mapping Militants Organizations Project. https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/ (2012)
Sundquist, V.: Political terrorism: an historical case study of the Italian Red Brigades. J. Strateg. Secur. 3(3), 53–68 (2010). https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.3.3.5
UN-CTITF: Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (UN-CTITF) Working Group on Protecting Human Rights While Countering Terrorism. United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Al-Khoury, D. Radicalisation: old and new a comparative analysis of the Red Brigades and the Islamic State. Qual Quant 54, 867–885 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-020-00963-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-020-00963-1