Author : James Gardner
Publisher : Carol Publishing Corporation
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 18,78 MB
Release : 1997
Category : Political Science
ISBN :
The Age of Extremism, with its combination of exact journalism and lively criticism, is the first book to define the culture and evolution of extremism, from art and science to politics and religion.
Author : Mark S. Hamm
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 35,74 MB
Release : 2017-05-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0231543778
The lethality of lone-wolf terrorism has reached an all-time high in the United States. Isolated individuals using firearms with high-capacity magazines are committing brutally efficient killings with the aim of terrorizing others, yet there is little consensus on what connects these crimes and the motivations behind them. In The Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism, terrorism experts Mark S. Hamm and Ramón Spaaij combine criminological theory with empirical and ethnographic research to map the pathways of lone-wolf radicalization, helping with the identification of suspected behaviors and recognizing patterns of indoctrination. Reviewing comprehensive data on these actors, including more than two hundred terrorist incidents, Hamm and Spaaij find that a combination of personal and political grievances lead lone wolves to befriend online sympathizers—whether jihadists, white supremacists, or other antigovernment extremists—and then announce their intent to commit terror when triggered. Hamm and Spaaij carefully distinguish between lone wolves and individuals radicalized within a group dynamic. This important difference is what makes this book such a significant manual for professionals seeking richer insight into the transformation of alienated individuals into armed warriors. Hamm and Spaaij conclude with an analysis of recent FBI sting operations designed to prevent lone-wolf terrorism in the United States, describing who gets targeted, strategies for luring suspects, and the ethics of arresting and prosecuting citizens.
Author : Manus I. Midlarsky
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 443 pages
File Size : 32,51 MB
Release : 2011-03-17
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1139500775
Political extremism is one of the most pernicious, destructive, and nihilistic forms of human expression. During the twentieth century, in excess of 100 million people had their lives taken from them as the result of extremist violence. In this wide-ranging book Manus I. Midlarsky suggests that ephemeral gains, together with mortality salience, form basic explanations for the origins of political extremism and constitute a theoretical framework that also explains later mass violence. Midlarsky applies his framework to multiple forms of political extremism, including the rise of Italian, Hungarian and Romanian fascism, Nazism, radical Islamism, and Soviet, Chinese and Cambodian communism. Other applications include a rampaging military (Japan, Pakistan, Indonesia) and extreme nationalism in Serbia, Croatia, the Ottoman Empire and Rwanda. Polish anti-Semitism after World War II and the rise of separatist violence in Sri Lanka are also examined.
Author : Alan Dershowitz
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 155 pages
File Size : 35,96 MB
Release : 2020-05-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 151076299X
“Maybe the question isn’t what happened to Alan Dershowitz. Maybe it’s what happened to everyone else.”—Politico In The Case for Liberalism in an Age of Extremism, Alan Dershowitz—New York Times bestselling author and one of America’s most respected legal scholars—makes a classical liberal argument for centrist government in the US, as the Founding Fathers and the Constitution intended. Alan Dershowitz has been called “one of the most prominent and consistent defenders of civil liberties in America” by Politico and “the nation’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights” by Newsweek. Yet he has come under intense criticism for his consistent classical liberalism in the face of a rapidly polarizing political landscape and for his steadfast support of centrist governance over either “progressive” or reactionary radicalism. The Case for Liberalism in an Age of Extremism is a defense of liberalism and its renewed relevance today. It makes the case for classic liberal values and programs over radical-left and reactionary right-wing agendas, and for centrism over extremism in general, showing why the United States has thrived throughout history because of its enduringly centrist base. It seeks to restore contemporary liberalism to its important place in the American political landscape, and attempts to persuade centrists from both the left and right—who may today call themselves progressives or moderate conservatives—that they, too, belong in the big tent of centrist liberalism. As a professor for half a century, Dershowitz never told students what values to accept or which candidates to support, but helped guide them to conclusions based on their own sets of values. He does the same in this book. A guide for all readers, rather than a piece of political advocacy for one party or another, The Case for Liberalism in an Age of Extremism is Alan Dershowitz’s argument for classical liberal values and their role in forming just societies and protecting against the dangers of extremism, just as they must today. It is essential reading for anyone interested in or concerned about political polarization on both the far-right and -left, and for everyone seeking a middle path between the extremes.
Author : Julia Ebner
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 26,86 MB
Release : 2017-09-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1786722895
The early twenty-first century has been defined by a rise in Islamist radicalisation and a concurrent rise in far right extremism. This book explores the interaction between the 'new' far right and Islamist extremists and considers the consequences for the global terror threat. Julia Ebner argues that far right and Islamist extremist narratives - 'The West is at war with Islam' and 'Muslims are at war with the West' - complement each other perfectly, making the two extremes rhetorical allies and building a spiralling torrent of hatred - 'The Rage'. By looking at extremist movements both online and offline, she shows how far right and Islamist extremists have succeeded in penetrating each other's echo chambers as a result of their mutually useful messages. Based on first-hand interviews, this book introduces readers to the world of reciprocal radicalisation and the hotbeds of extremism that have developed - with potentially disastrous consequences - in the UK, Europe and the US.
Author : Pankaj Mishra
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 417 pages
File Size : 12,74 MB
Release : 2017-01-20
Category : History
ISBN : 0374715823
A New York Times Notable Book of 2017 • Named a Best Book of the Year by Slate and NPR • Longlisted for the Orwell Prize One of our most important public intellectuals reveals the hidden history of our current global crisis How can we explain the origins of the great wave of paranoid hatreds that seem inescapable in our close-knit world—from American shooters and ISIS to Donald Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism across the world to racism and misogyny on social media? In Age of Anger, Pankaj Mishra answers our bewilderment by casting his gaze back to the eighteenth century before leading us to the present. He shows that as the world became modern, those who were unable to enjoy its promises—of freedom, stability, and prosperity—were increasingly susceptible to demagogues. The many who came late to this new world—or were left, or pushed, behind—reacted in horrifyingly similar ways: with intense hatred of invented enemies, attempts to re-create an imaginary golden age, and self-empowerment through spectacular violence. It was from among the ranks of the disaffected that the militants of the nineteenth century arose—angry young men who became cultural nationalists in Germany, messianic revolutionaries in Russia, bellicose chauvinists in Italy, and anarchist terrorists internationally. Today, just as then, the wide embrace of mass politics and technology and the pursuit of wealth and individualism have cast many more billions adrift in a demoralized world, uprooted from tradition but still far from modernity—with the same terrible results. Making startling connections and comparisons, Age of Anger is a book of immense urgency and profound argument. It is a history of our present predicament unlike any other.
Author : Diego Gambetta
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 215 pages
File Size : 42,36 MB
Release : 2017-11-28
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1400888123
A groundbreaking investigation into why so many Islamic radicals are engineers The violent actions of a few extremists can alter the course of history, yet there persists a yawning gap between the potential impact of these individuals and what we understand about them. In Engineers of Jihad, Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog uncover two unexpected facts, which they imaginatively leverage to narrow that gap: they find that a disproportionate share of Islamist radicals come from an engineering background, and that Islamist and right-wing extremism have more in common than either does with left-wing extremism, in which engineers are absent while social scientists and humanities students are prominent. Searching for an explanation, they tackle four general questions about extremism: Under which socioeconomic conditions do people join extremist groups? Does the profile of extremists reflect how they self-select into extremism or how groups recruit them? Does ideology matter in sorting who joins which group? Lastly, is there a mindset susceptible to certain types of extremism? Using rigorous methods and several new datasets, they explain the link between educational discipline and type of radicalism by looking at two key factors: the social mobility (or lack thereof) for engineers in the Muslim world, and a particular mindset seeking order and hierarchy that is found more frequently among engineers. Engineers' presence in some extremist groups and not others, the authors argue, is a proxy for individual traits that may account for the much larger question of selective recruitment to radical activism. Opening up markedly new perspectives on the motivations of political violence, Engineers of Jihad yields unexpected answers about the nature and emergence of extremism.
Author : Aurelian Craiutu
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 13,98 MB
Release : 2017-01-12
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0812248767
Examining the writings of twentieth-century thinkers such as Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Norberto Bobbio, Michael Oakeshott, and Adam Michnik, Faces of Moderation argues that moderation remains crucial for today's encounters with new forms of extremism.
Author : Amitai Etzioni
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 181 pages
File Size : 29,2 MB
Release : 2005-06-29
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1135929963
In this short book, Etzioni, the well-known and respected public intellectual and communitarian thinker, charts a middle course, or third way 'between those who are committed to shore up our liberties but blind to the needs of public security, as well as those who never met a right they are not willing to curtail to give authorities an even freer hand.' This book will prove a useful guide for citizens looking for a thought provoking, well-reasoned and sober analysis of one of the hot button issues of our time.
Author : Rita Katz
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 21,57 MB
Release : 2022-10-11
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0231555083
Winner, 2022 Nellie Bly Book Award, Chanticleer International Book Awards More than a decade ago, counterterrorism expert Rita Katz began browsing white supremacist and neo-Nazi forums. The hateful rhetoric and constant threats of violence immediately reminded her of the jihadist militants she spent her days monitoring, but law enforcement and policy makers barely paid attention to the Far Right. Now, years of attacks committed by extremists radicalized online—including mass murders at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, as well as the Capitol siege—have brought home the danger. How has the internet shaped today’s threats, and what do the online origins of these movements reveal about how to stop them? In Saints and Soldiers, Katz reveals a new generation of terrorist movements that don’t just use the internet, but exist almost entirely on it. She provides a vivid view from the trenches, spanning edgy video game chat groups to what ISIS and Far-Right mass-shooters in El Paso, Orlando and elsewhere unwittingly reveal between the lines of their manifestos. Katz shows how the online cultures of these movements—far more than their ideologies and leaders—create today’s terrorists and shape how they commit “real world” violence. From ISIS to QAnon, Saints and Soldiers pinpoints the approaches needed for a new era in which arrests and military campaigns alone cannot stop these never-before-seen threats.
