Open AccessThe identity of the jihadist and the psychosocial mechanisms of adhesion to the terrorist cause
Author(s) -
Lorenzo Ortenzi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
rivista di psicopatologia forense, medicina legale, criminologia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2610-9018
DOI - 10.4081/psyco.2020.549
Subject(s) - radicalization , terrorism , criminology , existentialism , cyberspace , resocialization , jihadism , politics , political science , social psychology , psychosocial , sociology , psychology , psychotherapist , law , the internet , ideology , world wide web , computer science
The elaboration of effective strategies to fight terrorism, such as the Islamist one, must be based on a careful analysis of the phenomenon and of the main actor, the jihadist. Scientific research has given discordant and not fully favorable results towards the acceptance of the hypothesis of a psychopathological component as a cause of radicalization. Rather, the cause must be sought in a multiplicity of factors such as individual, social, political and religious ones. Radicalization, also favored by the wide use of cyberspace by terrorist organizations, therefore plays a role of "resocialization" for all those vulnerable subjects, affected by a deep existential crisis.