Suchergebnisse

This essay challenges assumptions about the root causes of jihadist terrorism that prioritize political, religious, or economic factors. Drawing on the author's anecdotal experience interviewing hundreds of accused jihadist terrorists, along with survey data collected from subject matter experts in countering violent extremism (CVE), the essay offers an interpretation for terrorism's causes and cures that emphasizes social factors. Contrary to narratives popular in the U.S. – both in media and government circles – the lure of terrorism is not a result of political marginalization, economic disadvantage, or even religious indoctrination. It is foremost a sociological phenomenon, created by individuals who seek the insulating security of group identity and affiliation. The real reason why people are drawn to join terrorist groups is the innate need for camaraderie, identity, and a sense of belonging – the pursuit of social satisfaction, not the expression of political or economic frustration, much less the fulfilment of a religious imperative. CVE research that exclusively focuses on the political, economic, or religious causes of terrorism will, at best, over-appraise their significance, and, at worst, distract policymakers from understanding more influential motivators and responding to them accordingly. New directions for research lie in further exploring the sociological underpinnings of jihadist terrorism, as well as validating the effectiveness of social-centred CVE policies already in place.

Examines factors in the relative popularity of neocommunist forces in Central Europe, 1992-94; view that return of the "old guard" is due mainly to inability of the people to grasp the "1989 revolution" and to influence of former communist elites in the post-communist years. Summaries in English and Spanish p. 418-19 and 432-3.

Compares the strategies employed and resources drawn upon by Communist elites of Central Europe to enable them to participate in the multi-party governments and market economies that emerged following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Summary in English. Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.

To act or to endure : the Polish and Czech nomenklaturas faced with major economic change (1988-1993).
The communist nomenklatura took the opportunity offered by the circumstances and their positions to profit by the change of regime - which, paradoxically, benefited them more than any other social group, even more than those on behalf of whom (workers, intellectuals) and by whom (human rights activists, democratic opposition, partisans of economic liberalism) the soviet-type social system was overthrown.
The authors conducted an empirical study (interviews with members of the former nomenklatura, converted to the private entreprise) in order to test the hypothesis of the existence of two different models of conversion, the first consisting in anticipation strategies (Hungary, Poland), the second in strategies of mere survival (Czech republic).