Friction

Description: BOOK REVIEW FRICTION: HOW RADICALIZATION HAPPENS TO THEM AND US By Clark McCauley, and Sophia Moskalenko Oxford University Press ISBN: 978-0-19-974743-6 www.oup.com TERRORISTS: WHY DO THEY DO IT? WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers What sets ordinary people, mild mannered students, for example, on the path to radicalization and ultimately to terrorism? How does one find an answer? Or is there an answer? As the authors Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko have rather challengingly put it: ‘Focusing on them (the terrorists and their motivations) is not enough. Focusing on us is not enough…. focusing on the dynamics of conflict over time is essential’ -- which is exactly what this book and the authors set out to do with this intellectually sparkling statement of modern radicalism. Both psychologists and consultants to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the authors are acknowledged experts in this field. Extrapolating from their extensive research, they identify 12 mechanisms of radicalisation through which, they assert, unexceptional people are moved to perpetrate exceptional violence. Ideology, they claim, is not necessarily a prime factor in this process. It emerges as more of an excuse for violence, rather than its root cause. The wealth of specific case material provided in the book touches on a number of terrorist outrages and some obscure ones as well, from the 9/11 atrocities in New York to the Bali bombings, to the July 7 bombings in London. The authors’ wide ranging analysis of terrorism goes back to imperial Russia in the late 1800s illustrated by some rather fascinating case histories of individual terrorists. An interesting aspect of the book is that personal experiences of individuals are examined alongside the dynamics of groups, from which most terrorism seems to emanate. ’Lone wolf’ terrorism -- from the alienated individual -- is the exception here, although individual terrorists apparently acting alone present a growing problem. There’s a detailed chapter on the late Osama Bin Laden which traces his ‘trajectory’ into terrorism from shy gangly youth from a privileged background, to the most sought after international public enemy of our time. Published by the OUP in 2011, the book is certainly topical, but reflecting on how sudden events can suddenly change situations (and perhaps theories), Bin Laden is, as we write, no more. Now that his many thousands of victims and their grieving survivors have achieved the grim satisfaction of ‘closure’ and the landscape of international terrorism has been shifted, a revised and updated edition of this thoughtful and analytical study would be welcomed. In all, ‘Friction’ is a riveting read, especially for social scientists and criminologists, not to mention lawyers -- as well as the general reader. Those wishing to do more research into this vexed subject will appreciate the useful bibliographies in the ‘Looking Further’ sections at the end of each chapter: probably a good investment on why they do it and what we can do about it!