Fighting Extremism: Strategies Used to Combat Extremism and Radicalization

Ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States has been awakened to the threat that extremist organizations pose to our national security. The greatest transnational terrorist threat to the United States right now comes primarily from extremist groups such as Al-Queda, Hamas, and Hezbollah. These extremist groups are fueled by the desire to influence political, religious, and/or ideological causes. The political "end-state" or objective of the extremist is to overthrow "heretic" governments which currently exist and replace them with Islamic governments based on the rule of the Shariah (the first book of the Quran which strongly regulates all aspects of life). (Swanson, Territo, & Taylor, 2007, p. 87-89). The purpose of this thesis is to conduct a qualitative analysis of the sources of extremism from two different perspectives (United States government and local Muslims), determine if The National Intelligence Estimate 2007 properly identifies the sources of extremism, and make recommendations on how to counter the sources of extremism/radicalization and improve security and counterterrorism strategy. The research questions which will guide this study include: What are the primary sources of Islamic Extremism; what do the prominent authors in this field of study identify as sources of extremism; what do the National Intelligence Estimate 2007 and other US government documents identify as the sources of Islamic extremism; and what does the local Muslim population identify as the sources/causes of extremism?

Name thesis:degree_name

M.C.J. in Criminal Justice

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Caldwell, Scott Michel

Contributors dc:contributor

• David McElreath
• Robert Mongue
• Carl Jensen

• Extremism
• Islam
• Muslim
• Radicalization
• Terrorism
• Criminology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/72

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1071