Religious radicalization as a communication problem

Abstract EN

An integral part of terrorist groups’ recruitment strategies is dependent on the communicative isolation of individuals who are potentially fit to be terrorists.

Terrorists-to-be receive training on how to proceed in society without revealing their terrorist intentions.

This partially accounts for the feelings of shock, disbelief, and surprise with which the parents, relatives, and acquaintances of terrorists often react to the news that the people they think they know have conducted atrocious terrorist acts against innocent victims.

Accordingly, the success of terrorist plans largely counts on uncommunicating the terrorist idea to the surrounding environment.

Taking targeted individuals to this recruitment stage requires time, indoctrination, and expertise from terrorist recruiters.

This proves why terrorist groups prefer to address young people and emerging adults who show signs of communication lack with their own families.

This study attempts to verify the applicability of these findings to the Moroccan context.

In this respect, a survey was administered to 400 respondents in two different social environments measuring Moroccan youths’ predisposition to be drawn by extremist narratives.

The results demonstrate that Moroccan parents involuntarily create communicative and emotional gaps in children making them the most desirable profiles for terrorist groups.