‘TERRORISM’ AND ‘CIVILISATION’: JIHADISM AS A ‘DECIVILISING’ PROCESS Cover Image

„Terrorizmus” és „civilizáció”: a dzsihádizmus mint „decivilizációs” folyamat
‘TERRORISM’ AND ‘CIVILISATION’: JIHADISM AS A ‘DECIVILISING’ PROCESS

Author(s): Michael Dunning
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Presa Universitara Clujeana
Keywords: Terrorism, Jihadists, Civilising, Decivilising, Established-Outsider Relations, Brutalisation, Norbert Elias

Summary/Abstract: The growth and relative success of the ‘jihadist’ group calling itself ‘Islamic State’ (IS) has, at the time of writing, contributed to an escalation of conflicts in Iraq and Syria. An estimated 2000 of its fighters are Westerners who have travelled to those countries to undertake jihad. Media reports, including social media, suggest that at least some of them have been involved in a variety of brutal acts of violence, including rapes, videoed beheadings, crucifixions and mass executions. How and why people from the West, who have grown up in relative security and relatively violence-free societies come to undertake such acts, and actively seek to become involved in violent conflicts is a hugely complex problem. By examining some of the figurational conditions under which Westerners become involved in global jihad and, in some cases, acts of extreme violence some light can be shed on the issue. There are some specific processes and relationships that play important roles in the Westerners becoming ‘jihadists’. These include ‘civilising’ and ‘decivilising’ processes and associated established-outsider relations.

  • Issue Year: 12/2014
  • Issue No: 02
  • Page Range: 19-33
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Hungarian