Lorne L. Dawson by Lorne Dawson
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2022
This article provides a comparative analysis of Jihadist foreign fighters
who traveled from Austr... more This article provides a comparative analysis of Jihadist foreign fighters
who traveled from Australia and Canada to engage in the conflict in
Syria and Iraq. Data are provided on the demographics of those who
traveled, group affiliations, when and how they traveled, and their
social connections. Despite the strong similarities between these
societies, significant differences are detected across levels of educational
attainment, immediate familial status, and the degree of connection
to existing Jihadist networks. The Australian and Canadian
foreign fighters also differ, in key respects, from their European counterparts, and even those from the United States. Consideration is
given to the possible significance of these differences, as well as the
possible return of those currently detained in the region.
The Manitoba Law Journal, 2021
Canadian concern with the domestic threat of religious terrorism came of age with the arrest of t... more Canadian concern with the domestic threat of religious terrorism came of age with the arrest of the members of the Toronto 18 in 2006. This chapter seeks to increase our understanding of this case by placing it in comparative perspective in three ways. First, by arguing that the Toronto 18 represents one of the purest instances of so-called "homegrown terrorism." Second, by comparing the data available on the ten adults convicted with the data available on similar terrorists in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Findings are examined for age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, occupations, criminality, mental health, and family and religious background. Third, insights from two recent and comprehensive theories of the process of radicalization, Lorne Dawson's "social ecology model" and Arie Kruglanski et al.'s "3 N model" are used to make better sense of what happened and why. In the end, however, much remains unclear because we still lack the appropriate data.
Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 2021
Evidence from multiple sources suggests converts to Islam are significantly overrepresented in th... more Evidence from multiple sources suggests converts to Islam are significantly overrepresented in the ranks of Salafi-jihadist terrorists. Researchers have been speculating for some time why this might be the case. This paper identifies, and critically examines, four hypothetical explanations commonly found in the literature: (1) some explanations focus on the significance of prior personal characteristics of the converts; (2) some explanations emphasize the rapidity of the movement from conversion to radicalization; (3) some explanations highlight the lack of religious knowledge on the part of radicalized converts; and (4) some explanations point to the role of the zealotry of converts. Examining each explanation, we find the causal mechanisms hypothesized are inadequate and the hypotheses are incongruent with the data we have collected on radicalized Canadian converts. In the end, we offer an alternative hypothesis, based on the analysis of the response of radicalized converts to an experience of disappointment that is common in the postconversion period.
Perspectives on Terrorism, 2020
This article traces the evolution of the jihadist threat to Australia and Canada across the first... more This article traces the evolution of the jihadist threat to Australia and Canada across the first 20 years of this century. First, this study examines and compares the incidents of jihadist terrorist violence that have occurred. Second, it analyses disrupted and failed terrorist plots that occurred during this period, documenting the full scale of the threat to each country. Finally, it examines and compares the characteristics of all jihadists arrested for, or killed committing, domestic terrorism offenses. Findings reveal a marked similarity in the numbers of incidents, disrupted plots, and characteristics of the individuals arrested across Canada and Australia, but also some key differences with important implications for understanding the diverse local manifestations of the global threat, even in highly similar societal contexts. The identification of these patterns has implications for theorizing about the factors influencing the process of radicalization leading to violence in each national context and generally, as well as the local adaptation of strategies for countering violent extremism.
Perspectives on Terrorism, 2021
An unusual feature of the social scientific study of religious terrorism is the erasure of religi... more An unusual feature of the social scientific study of religious terrorism is the erasure of religiosity as a significant motivational factor. This article delineates and criticizes the presence of this peculiar interpretive preference, demonstrating that it is methodologically unsound and theoretically and empirically unhelpful. In Part I of the article, published by the same author under the same title in the February 2021 issue of Perspectives on Terrorism, the foundations of the critique were established. In this article, Part II, three types of arguments commonly used to minimize the role of religiosity in motivating religious terrorism are examined. These arguments are identified by the primary interpretive errors they rely on. Some arguments (1) mistakenly treat the religious background and knowledge of homegrown jihadists as a sound indicator of their religiosity; others (2) inappropriately apply a modern Western normative conception of religion to homegrown jihadists; and some arguments (3) rely on an overly dichotomized conception of the relationship of social processes and ideology in the process of radicalization. The critique argues the need to develop a more refined conception of the role of ideology, and more specifically religiosity, in the determination of the actions of religious terrorists.
Perspectives on Terrorism, 2021
An unusual feature of the social scientific study of religious terrorism is the erasure of religi... more An unusual feature of the social scientific study of religious terrorism is the erasure of religiosity as a significant motivational factor. This article systematically delineates and criticizes the presence of this peculiar interpretive preference, demonstrating that it is methodologically suspect and theoretically and empirically unhelpful. There are two parts to the critique. Part I (this article), discusses three foundational aspects of the argument: (1) it delineates ten conditions of the critique, to avoid predictable misunderstandings; (2) it specifies three methodological reasons for considering the motivational claims of religious terrorists as potentially important and valid data; and (3) it surveys the history of the study of religious terrorism to identify some extra-methodological influences that may have truncated the analysis of the religious motivations for religious terrorism. Part II (the next article), examines three types of arguments commonly used to minimize the role of religiosity in motivating religious terrorism. Identifying the arguments by the primary interpretive errors they rely on, some arguments (1) mistakenly treat the religious background and knowledge of homegrown jihadists as a sound indicator of their religiosity; others (2) inappropriately apply a modern Western normative conception of religion to homegrown jihadists; and some arguments (3) rely on an overly dichotomized conception of the relationship of social processes and ideology in the process of radicalization. The critique ends with consideration of alternative perspectives, offering a more refined conception of the role of ideology, and more specifically religiosity, in the determination of the actions of religious terrorists.
A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?, 2021
This report offers a concise, comprehensive, and critical overview of the empirical findings avai... more This report offers a concise, comprehensive, and critical overview of the empirical findings available on the background and possible motivations of the young Western men and women who became jihadist foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. The findings were gathered from thirty-four reports and academic articles published between 2014 and 2019. The analysis addresses the data on demographic factors, economic and social marginalization, past criminality, mental health issues, and the role of ideology and religion. The report summarizes the findings, delineates the methodological limitations, and identifies some of the interpretive biases present in much the research.
Perspectives on Terrorism, 2019
The field of terrorism has long suffered from a data deficit, particularly when it comes to prima... more The field of terrorism has long suffered from a data deficit, particularly when it comes to primary data derived from interviews with violent extremists. This deficit reflects more than the difficulties of securing such data. For a variety of more subtle and complex reasons, researchers have been reluctant to interview terrorists and suspicious of the information derived from such interviews. As part of a larger study, this article explores the nature and foundations of this situation by systematically examining the limited discussion of the problem in terrorism studies and delineating three underlying interpretive concerns that appear to have interfered with securing more such interviews and trusting the data acquired through them.
Journal of Deradicalization Vol. 18, 2019
We know a great deal more about the process of radicalization leading to violence than when the t... more We know a great deal more about the process of radicalization leading to violence than when the term entered the popular lexicon a few years after 9/11. Yet fundamentally, it remains difficult to specify who will turn to political violence, how, or why. Progress on this key issue depends on many developments. This article reviews and analyses five basic meta-methodological insights, on which there is growing consensus, which set the parameters for the ongoing study and modeling of radicalization: (1) the specificity problem; (2) the shift from profiles to process; (3) the necessity of a multi-factorial approach; (4) the heterogeneity problem; and (5) the primary data problem. The objective is to create a stronger understanding of the nature and collective relevance of these accepted insights, and point to two related emergent issues on which more systematic research still needs to be done in the context of combatting terrorism: the relationship of attitudes and behavior, and the problem of accounts (i.e., the critical and contextual study of how people justify or excuse socially undesirable or problematic behavior and occurrences).
Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, 2018
Contrary to what might be expected, there is no scholarly consensus on the role religion plays in... more Contrary to what might be expected, there is no scholarly consensus on the role religion plays in motivating religious terrorism. This article is one of a series that explores why this is the case, examining the relevant conceptual and substantive issues. After introducing the fundamental explanatory challenges that frame the debate, the article sketches a typology of the prevailing interpretive options, and then critically examines one influential option: the claim that social relationships, small group dynamics, and social identity processes are far more important than religious or political ideologies in explaining why people engage in terroristic violence. The article then argues that the findings of a set of interviews with Western foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, and the friends and families of such fighters, alternatively indicates that religiosity plays a more consequential motivational role, at least for jihadists, than the research literature tends to recognize.
Terrorism and Political Violence, 2010
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2014
Recent scholarship has called for additional research into the role of charismatic authority in t... more Recent scholarship has called for additional research into the role of charismatic authority in terrorist groups and the process of radicalization. However, the sociological concepts of charisma and charismatic authority are being widely misused in terrorism studies. Current radicalization research often indirectly flirts with core concepts of charismatic authority, but fails to properly tap into its analytical utility. This article proposes to begin addressing this gap in knowledge in three ways, with: (1) a synthesis of social scientific research on charismatic authority, (2) a critical analysis of how charismatic authority is being misused and overlooked in the terrorist radicalization literature, and (3) an exploration of challenges and opportunities for future research concerning charismatic authority and terrorist radicalization.
Cambridge Companion to Religion and Terrorism, 2017
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2017
Little of the discussion of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq is informed by primary data derive... more Little of the discussion of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq is informed by primary data derived from talking with the foreign fighters. This article reports some initial findings from interviews with twenty foreign fighters in Syria. The findings are compared with three other recent studies of European foreign fighters, and aspiring fighters, based on some primary data. While those studies emphasize the role of low social and economic prospects in motivating the choice to go, this study found little evidence of such factors, and alternatively argues more attention should be given to existential concerns and the role of religiosity. Consideration is also given to the methodological challenges posed by using of terrorists' accounts of their motivations.
International Centre for Counter Terrorism, 2017
The study of homegrown jihadi terrorist radicalisation has veered from early efforts to theorise ... more The study of homegrown jihadi terrorist radicalisation has veered from early efforts to theorise what was happening, which were often insufficiently grounded in empirical evidence, to a reticence to theorise much at all, given the perceived complexity of the phenomenon. Yet knowledge acquisition and mobilisation in this relatively new field remains acutely dependent on how we conceptualise what is happening and integrate our findings. This Research Note provides an initial argument for the merits of adopting a fairly straightforward ecological approach to organising and extending our grasp of the social and social psychological factors influencing the career of potential jihadists. ). He is currently preparing a book (with Dr. Amarasingam) on foreign jihadi fighters for Hurst/Oxford University Press. He makes numerous invited presentations to academic and government groups, and is frequently interviewed in the media in Canada about terrorism.
Numen, 2018
The role that religion plays in the motivation of "religious terrorism" is the subject of much on... more The role that religion plays in the motivation of "religious terrorism" is the subject of much ongoing dispute, even in the case of jihadist groups. Some scholars, for differing reasons, deny that it has any role; others acknowledge the religious character of jihadism in particular, but subtlety discount the role of religion, while favoring other explanations for this form of terrorism. Extending an argument begun elsewhere , this article delineates and criticizes the influence of a normative religious bias, on the one hand, and a normative secular bias, on the other hand, on scholarship addressing the relationship between religiosity and terrorism. I examine two illustrative studies to demonstrate the complexity of the conceptual issues at stake: Karen Armstrong's best-selling book Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence (2014) and a recent article by Bart Schuurman and John G. Horgan on the rationales for terrorist violence in homegrown jihadist groups (2016).
Papers by Lorne Dawson
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Mar 1, 1997
... 421 21 Phillip Hammond Cultural Consequences of Cults 443 Appendix: Cults and the Internet 45... more ... 421 21 Phillip Hammond Cultural Consequences of Cults 443 Appendix: Cults and the Internet 457 22 Tim Cottee, Nicky Yateman, and Lorne Dawson NRMs, the ACM, and the WWW: A Guide for Beginners 459 Page 8. Page 9. ...
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Jun 1, 1995
1. Introduction 2. Character and intention 3. Boundaries 4. Dreams 5. Miracles 6. Roles 7. Agains... more 1. Introduction 2. Character and intention 3. Boundaries 4. Dreams 5. Miracles 6. Roles 7. Against a theory of volition Appendix.
Oxford University Press eBooks, Sep 2, 2009
Journal of Contemporary Religion, Sep 1, 2020
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Lorne L. Dawson by Lorne Dawson
who traveled from Australia and Canada to engage in the conflict in
Syria and Iraq. Data are provided on the demographics of those who
traveled, group affiliations, when and how they traveled, and their
social connections. Despite the strong similarities between these
societies, significant differences are detected across levels of educational
attainment, immediate familial status, and the degree of connection
to existing Jihadist networks. The Australian and Canadian
foreign fighters also differ, in key respects, from their European counterparts, and even those from the United States. Consideration is
given to the possible significance of these differences, as well as the
possible return of those currently detained in the region.
Papers by Lorne Dawson
who traveled from Australia and Canada to engage in the conflict in
Syria and Iraq. Data are provided on the demographics of those who
traveled, group affiliations, when and how they traveled, and their
social connections. Despite the strong similarities between these
societies, significant differences are detected across levels of educational
attainment, immediate familial status, and the degree of connection
to existing Jihadist networks. The Australian and Canadian
foreign fighters also differ, in key respects, from their European counterparts, and even those from the United States. Consideration is
given to the possible significance of these differences, as well as the
possible return of those currently detained in the region.