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SOCIETAL DIMENSIONS OF “LONE WOLF” TERRORISM
Barbara Zadravec
orcid.org/0000-0002-5405-8983
Abstract
Lone wolf terrorism is a complex and puzzling phenomenon whose roots date back in 19th century’s revolutionary activities, but whose actuality is still present in today’s society. This type of terrorism involves a single person who acts, plans and executes terrorist attacks alone and is not a member of any terrorist organization. Throughout review of evolution, definition and key features, these paper was meant to develop a critical sociological framework in order to accomplish better understanding of lone wolf terrorism and its correspondence with the society. By giving several examples of theoretical approaches, we tried to provide explanations of lone wolves actions. Special attention must be paid to the radicalization – process in which individuals, through the adoption of extremist beliefs and formation of ideologies, from an inert actors become operational terrorists. In the second part of the paper, by using case study method, four cases of lone wolf terorrists were selected and analyzed on the basis of their diversity in terms of several factors. Analysis included: Theodore Kaczynski, Eric Rudolph, Volkert van der Graaf and Anders Breivik. Through this analysis of lone wolf terrorists were gained empirical insights into the process of radicalization and main influential factors. With the help of Hamm and Spaaij’s lone wolf radicalization model, each case was analyzed individually and finally the results were inerpreted through a comparative review. The results have shown presence of some general, all-embracing patterns of commonality among seemingly differing cases. However, there is no single profile of the lone wolf terrorist. Their radicalization and creation of personalized ideologies are result of several factors – personal experiences and frustrations, (stimulating) social environment, broader social and political context.
Keywords
terrorism; lone wolf; radicalization process; societal factors; individualized ideology; motivational patterns
Hrčak ID:
248086
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2020.
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