Assignment: Terroristic Behavior

Assignment: Terroristic Behavior

Permalink: https://collepals.com/assignment-terroristic-behavior/

Assignment 1: Discussion Question: Terroristic Behavior

By the due date assigned, respond to the discussion question. Submit your responses to the appropriate Discussion Area. Start reviewing and responding to your classmates as early in the week as possible.

Discussion Question: Terroristic Behavior

Search for the “Right Wing Authoritarianism Scale”. Given what you have learned about terroristic behavior from the assigned weekly readings, is information gathered using this type of tool useful in determining motivations of terrorists. Why or why not

A terrorist group is fundamentally a social system. The group is formed as a unified whole by fanatics determined to inflict civilian and economic damage on specific targets in pursuit of their extremist goals [1]. Currently, as terrorist groups are becoming more international, allied, and networked, the social systems are transforming into complex sociotechnical systems. For a continuous active terrorist group, the behavior is influenced by both the interactional environment and the organizational mechanism and thus is a continuously evolving phenomenon [2]. The structure and efficiency of the group will fluctuate and finally reach a relatively stable state because of its covert nature and self-defense mechanism [3]. Even though it is as a complex system, the terrorist group is also dynamic. The dynamics result from multiple change processes, such as natural evolutionary processes including learning, birth, and aging, as well as intervention processes, such as altering the set of individuals who lead a group [4]. The relationships and interactions between terrorists at the microlevel leads to continuous development of the group behavior at the macrolevel [5]. The process in which terrorists look for and cooperate with other terrorists, which has a multitude of purposes, such as propaganda, training, defending, or sanctuary, also drives the system to change dynamically. Thus, studies on terrorist group behavior are becoming complex dynamic system problems, which require new methods for understanding the system behavior and dynamics.