John Horgan
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 550893 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | John Horgan |
| NOMBRES | John |
| APELLIDO | Horgan |
| FIRMA | HORGAN J |
| AFILIACIONES | Georgia State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6948-3907 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 90 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 513 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 81 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 10 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1994 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 12 |
David Rapoport – Terrorism Scholar
Conceptualizing Extreme Beliefs and Behaviors
This book explores challenging conceptual issues in defining, analyzing, conceptualizing, and operationalizing notions such as extremism, radicalization, fanaticism, and terrorism. The focus is theoretical, but the work is empirically embedded. Rather than adding yet further definitions of phenomena like extremism, it seeks to make progress by addressing underlying conceptual issues. Specifically, it explores four crucial questions about extremis…
Revisiting Terrorist Motivation
Understanding and preventing violent extremism in school settings
Violent extremism in the U.S
Violent extremism in the United States has surged over the past 25 years, with attacks on and threats to major governmental and other institutions, infrastructure (e.g., electric grid), and specific segments of the population, including immigrant and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color) communities. Violent extremism can take multiple and diverse forms, such as bombings in public spaces or specific sites (e.g., house of worship, g…
The Politics of Perception
Islamist and extreme right-wing (XRW) terrorism represent about equal levels of risk in terms of casualties in the U.S. over the past decade, yet Islamist terrorists receive far more news coverage, have more serious charges filed against them, are considered more deserving of torture and detainment, and receive harsher prison sentences than XRW terrorists. That Islamist and XRW terrorism elicit such different responses raises the question: Do Ame…
Discovering the local in national cultural heritage collections. How web maps can help the UK public engage with their ‘own places’
Identity is a critical influence on the public’s engagement with cultural heritage. This article emphasises the role of geographical scale in this relationship examining how the presentation of local heritage can foster meaningful engagement with collections. The geographical information embedded in digital collections – such as where objects were made or the locations they depict and describe – can help varied audiences to discover digital herit…
Terrorist Minds
Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, John Horgan traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens
Crisis as Catalyst
In Western democracies, Muslim converts are overrepresented in Islamist terrorism compared to born-and-raised Muslims. Consequently, researchers have begun to consider how the process of conversion to Islam might influence participation in terrorism, yet empirical data are lacking. To explore these connections, the present study measured the conversion experiences of Muslim converts, as well as their intentions to engage in radicalism. 177 U.S. M…
Zeal of the convert? Comparing religiousness between convert and nonconvert Muslims
Dominant predictors of violent versus non-violent terrorist roles among US Muslim converts
Terrorism is a diverse form of violence, and terrorists are also diverse in terms of their characteristics, motivations for participating, and the roles they take within terrorism. Though terrorism studies have mostly focused on developing broad theories of why people participate in terrorism in general, some scholars have advocated for research that tests specific, contextually bound hypotheses and a disaggregation of terrorism by its roles. Thi…
The Attitudes-Behaviors Corrective (ABC) Model of Violent Extremism
Progress in understanding and responding to terrorism and violent extremism has continued to stall in part because we often fail to adequately conceptualize the problem. Perhaps most notably, much of our terminology (for instance, “radicalization”) and many variants of our existing models and analogies (including conveyor belts, staircases and pyramids) conflate sympathy for this violence with involvement in its creation. As its name suggests, th…
The ABC Model
This article responds to Clark McCauley’s commentary on our Attitudes-Behaviors Corrective (ABC) Model of Violent Extremism, in which he contrasts our framework with his own two pyramids model (developed with Sophia Moskalenko). In particular, we focus on further distinguishing between the “core” and “optional extra” elements of our ABC model, elaborating on how our interpretation deals with individuals who seemingly become involved in violence i…
Impact of Perceived Peer Attitudes and Social Network Diversity on Violent Extremist Intentions
Perceived peer attitudes (PPA) often influence young men’s violent attitudes and behaviors, although people with higher social network diversity (SND) are less likely to adopt their close peers’ attitudes. There is currently limited research examining this role of peer networks in the development of violent extremism (VE). Consequently, the current study sought to answer the following questions: (1) How are PPA, personal attitudes, and VE intenti…
Disaggregating Lone-actor Grievance-fuelled Violence
Research suggests that lone-actor terrorists and mass murderers may be better conceptualized as lone-actor grievance-fueled violence (LAGFV) offenders, rather than as distinct types. The present study sought to examine the extent to which these offenders could (or could not) be disaggregated along dimensions relevant to the threat assessment of both. Drawing on a Risk Analysis Framework (RAF), the offending process was theorized as interactions a…
Conversion motifs among Muslim converts in the United States
Although much is now known about religious conversion in general, there is still relatively little known about how and why conversion to Islam takes place in the United States. Expanding on previous research, the current study examines types of conversions among United States Muslim converts. Seventy-three converts to Islam, all United States residents, provided detailed qualitative descriptions of their personal experiences of religious conversi…
Returning to the Fight
Recent interest in terrorist risk assessment and rehabilitation reveals the likelihood and risk factors for terrorist reengagement and recidivism are poorly understood. Informed by advances in criminology, this study develops a series of theoretical starting points and hypotheses. We test our hypotheses using data on 185 terrorist engagement events, drawn from eighty-seven autobiographical accounts, representing over seventy terrorist groups. We …
Primum Non Nocere - First Do No Harm
This medical epithet seems to offer solid guidance for terrorism researchers and counterterrorism practitioners when thinking about the ethical implications of their work—to rephrase it, whatever y
On Re-engagement and Risk Factors
We thank Marc Sageman for his interest in our article and are grateful to Terrorism and Political Violence for the opportunity to respond. Our study was part of a three-year grant-funded project en
Non-Western responses to terrorism
Pressure to prove
Muslim converts are overrepresented in Islamist terrorism compared to non-convert Muslims – Why? To explore possible explanations, we probed aspects of radicalism and Islamic religiousness within relevant populations. Specifically, we surveyed 356 American Muslim adults, of which 177 were self-identified converts, with the Activism and Radicalism Intention Scale (ARIS: Moskalenko & McCauley [2009]. Measuring political mobilization: The distinctio…
Terrorist Transformations
Research pays little attention to the diverse roles individuals hold within terrorism. This limits our understanding of the varied experiences of the terrorist and their implications. This study examines how a terrorist’s role(s) influence the likelihood of and reasons for disengagement. Using data from autobiographies and in-person interviews with former terrorists, we find that role conflict and role strain increase the probability of disengage…
Picking Up and Defending the Faith
Muslim converts tend to be overrepresented in terrorist activity compared to fellow nonconvert Muslims. However, due to the low base rate of terrorism activity, there is a significant risk that this overrepresentation is a “false positive.” We therefore tested the prevalence of far more common, but potentially antecedent, cognitions to terrorism—activism and radicalism––among convert and nonconvert Muslims. We surveyed 356 American Muslim adults,…
Small Arms
Why do terrorist organizations use children to support their cause and carry out their activities? Small Arms uncovers the brutal truth behind the mobilization of children by terrorist groups. Mia Bloom and John Horgan show us the grim underbelly of society that allows and even encourages the use of children to conduct terrorist activities. They provide readers with the who, what, when, why, and how of this increasingly concerning situation, illu…
Steve Tatham. Losing Arab Hearts and Minds
Steve Tatham is an officer in the Royal Navy, serving as the Navy's public spokesman in Iraq in 2002–3. He held similar roles in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, and was the British point of contact w
From Profiles to Pathways and Roots to Routes
Attempts to profile terrorists have failed resoundingly, leaving behind a poor (and unfair) impression of the potential for a sound psychological contribution to understanding the terrorist. However, recent work in the area has delivered promising and exciting starting points for a conceptual development in understanding the psychological process across all levels of terrorist involvement. Involvement in terrorism is a complex psychosocial proces…
Towards a Guide for Constructing and Disseminating Counternarratives to Reduce Support for Terrorism
Despite widespread recognition that the use of counternarratives is an important strategic component of countering violent extremism, to date, there are no comprehensive guidelines on how to develop and distribute counternarratives to effectively reduce support for terrorism. To redress this, we offer communication and psychology theory-based procedures for (1) analyzing terrorist narratives, (2) constructing counternarratives that challenge terr…
Terrorist Use of the Internet by the Numbers
Research Summary Public interest and policy debates surrounding the role of the Internet in terrorist activities is increasing. Criminology has said very little on the matter. By using a unique data set of 223 convicted United Kingdom–based terrorists, this article focuses on how they used the Internet in the commission of their crimes. As most samples of terrorist offenders vary in terms of capabilities (lone‐actor vs. group offenders) and crimi…
Rehabilitating the Terrorists
Renewed interest on how and why terrorism ends has emerged in parallel with increased visibility of some new and innovative approaches to counterterrorism. These are collectively known, whether for good or bad, as “de-radicalization programs.” However, and despite their popularity, data surrounding even the most basic of facts about these programs remains limited. This article presents an overview of the results of a one-year pilot study of selec…
From Cubs to Lions
Using the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) as a case study, we explore the process by which children evolve from novice recruits to fully fledged members of a violent extremist movement. From currently available data, we propose six stages of child socialization to ISIS—Seduction, Schooling, Selection, Subjugation, Specialization, and Stationing. Furthermore, we explore this process in the context of “Community of Practice” (COP) as devel…
Turning away from terrorism
Although research on violent extremism traditionally focuses on why individuals become involved in terrorism, recent efforts have started to tackle the question of why individuals leave terrorist groups. Research on terrorist disengagement, however, remains conceptually and theoretically underdeveloped. In an effort to enhance our understanding of disengagement from terrorism and pave the way for future empirical work, this article provides a mul…
Navigating Isis’s Preferred Platform
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) online recruitment has been the subject of considerable interest by journalists and technology writers, but there has been no scholarly work to date exploring ISIS Telegram channels and chat rooms. Telegram has played an important role in recruitment and coordination in recent ISIS/terror attacks in Europe. Further, Telegram is quickly replacing the group’s online presence on more open platforms such as Face…
A case against ‘Critical Terrorism Studies’
Interviewing the terrorists
In social science research on terrorism, there is a continued lack of individual-level, data-driven evidence to test hypotheses, build reliable case studies, and support the emergence of new theories about the psychological process in the development of the terrorist. To help redress this deficiency, this article calls for explicit discussion of researchers' reluctance either to interview terrorists or share their experiences of having done so, a…
A Conceptual Framework for Addressing Psychological Process in the Development of the Terrorist
A conceptual framework is presented for addressing psychological issues in the development of the terrorist. In particular, the authors suggest that viewing terrorism as a process may lead not only to better conceptual development in analyses of the terrorist, but may also lead to the development of more practical and efficient counterterrorism initiatives. Additionally, viewing terrorism in this way may finally lead to the formation of a clear a…
Here to Stay? The Rising Threat of Violent Dissident Republicanism in Northern Ireland
Since the advent of the Good Friday peace agreement, violence associated with dissident Irish Republican groups continues to present major security challenges. While there has not been a tragedy on the scale of the 1998 Omagh bombing, the level of violent dissident Republican (VDR) activity has risen steadily in frequency since then, and in 2010 reached unprecedented levels. This article presents findings from the VDR Project at the International…
Killing Range
This paper presents an analysis of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (PIRA) brigade level behavior during the Northern Ireland Conflict (1970-1998) and identifies the organizational factors that impact a brigade's lethality as measured via terrorist attacks. Key independent variables include levels of technical expertise, cadre age, counter-terrorism policies experienced, brigade size, and IED components and delivery methods. We find that t…
The Attitudes-Behaviors Corrective (ABC) Model of Violent Extremism
Progress in understanding and responding to terrorism and violent extremism has continued to stall in part because we often fail to adequately conceptualize the problem. Perhaps most notably, much of our terminology (for instance, “radicalization”) and many variants of our existing models and analogies (including conveyor belts, staircases and pyramids) conflate sympathy for this violence with involvement in its creation. As its name suggests, th…
Lethal Connections
Using stochastic methods we illustrate that the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (PIRA) network is clustered along three primary dimensions: (a) brigade affiliation, (b) whether the member participated in violent activities, and (c) task/role within PIRA. While most brigades tended to foster connections within the brigade (that is, “closure”), the tendency to do so varied across the organization. Members who engaged with violent activities wer…
Divided We Stand
Terrorism has returned to Northern Ireland. In the years after the Real IRA bombing of Omagh in 1998, violent Republican groups have re-emerged as a major security threat to a region that has for too long been denied peace, stability, and prosperity. Those responsible have many names. They are dissidents, breakaways, splinter factions, spoilers, "residual" terrorists. The Real IRA, Continuity IRA, and Óglaigh na hÉireann are only some of the grou…
Terrorist Transformations
Research pays little attention to the diverse roles individuals hold within terrorism. This limits our understanding of the varied experiences of the terrorist and their implications. This study examines how a terrorist’s role(s) influence the likelihood of and reasons for disengagement. Using data from autobiographies and in-person interviews with former terrorists, we find that role conflict and role strain increase the probability of disengage…
Psychology of terrorism
Despite the extraordinary social and political consequences often associated with terrorist violence, as well as our responses to it, psychological research on terrorist behavior is conspicuously underdeveloped. This special issue of American Psychologist presents a series of articles that showcase new conceptual, theoretical, and empirical advances in our understanding of terrorism. In doing so, it seeks to not merely summarize recent accomplish…
Who Were the Volunteers?1The Shifting Sociological and Operational Profile of 1240 Provisional Irish Republican Army Members
This article presents an empirical analysis of a unique dataset of 1240 former members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). We highlight the shifting sociological and operational profile of PIRA's cadre, and highlight these dynamics in conjunction with primary PIRA documents and secondary interview sources. The effect of these changes in terms of the scale and intensity of PIRA violence is also considered. Although this is primarily a…
Tiocfaidh ár Mná
This article seeks to answer the question of who were the women of the Provisional IRA and to assess any demographic patterns of PIRA involvement. We use a multi-method approach to describe the many roles and functions of female members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army from 1970 to 1998. Drawing on a sample of 61 convicted or deceased PIRA members, we outline the shifting socio-demographic and operation profile of these women and how stru…
The provisional Irish republican army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) has long been regarded as one of the most highly organised and sophisticated terrorist groups the world has seen. The command and functional structure of this large, hierarchically‐organised movement is outlined here. The adaptability of the PIRA is noteworthy as demonstrated through a major structural and functional reorganisation accentuated by external pressures. While the threat of PIRA terrorism c…
Issues in the Sociology and Psychology of Religious Conversion
Why They Leave
A deeper understanding of terrorist disengagement offers important insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to persuade individuals to leave these groups. Current research highlights the importance of certain “push” and “pull” factors in explaining disengagement. However, such studies tell us very little about the relative frequencies at which these hypothesized factors are associated with leaving in the terrorist population. Using dat…
Walking away
This article presents a case study of one individual's trajectory through violent right-wing extremism in the USA. Drawing on an in-depth in-person interview conducted with ‘Sarah', we trace the influences affecting the nature and extent of her involvement, engagement and disengagement. We focus on delineating the complexity of Sarah's disengagement from violent extremism. Her account supports several claims in the literature. First, there is rar…
Community and family approaches to combating the radicalization and recruitment of Somali-American youth and young adults
Between late 2007 and autumn 2008, an estimated 18 or more Somali-American adolescent boys and young men living in the Minneapolis area secretly left their homes and flew to Somalia to join militant extremist training camps run by the Al Shabaab extremist organization. Political instability in Somalia, the 2006 Ethiopian invasion, social difficulties in US refugee communities, family instability, and local networks, all adeptly exploited by extre…
Picking Up and Defending the Faith
Muslim converts tend to be overrepresented in terrorist activity compared to fellow nonconvert Muslims. However, due to the low base rate of terrorism activity, there is a significant risk that this overrepresentation is a “false positive.” We therefore tested the prevalence of far more common, but potentially antecedent, cognitions to terrorism—activism and radicalism––among convert and nonconvert Muslims. We surveyed 356 American Muslim adults,…
Revisiting Old Battlefields
The Return of the Maverick
The provisional Irish republican army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) has long been regarded as one of the most highly organised and sophisticated terrorist groups the world has seen. The command and functional structure of this large, hierarchically‐organised movement is outlined here. The adaptability of the PIRA is noteworthy as demonstrated through a major structural and functional reorganisation accentuated by external pressures. While the threat of PIRA terrorism c…
Future developments of political terrorism in Europe
(1999). Future developments of political terrorism in Europe. Terrorism and Political Violence: Vol. 11, The Future of Terrorism, pp. 83-93
Playing the 'Green Card' -financing the provisional IRA
In the first of two articles on the fundraising activities of the Provisional IRA (PIRA), the extent and nature of the PIRA's finance operations are described. The areas of kidnapping for ransom, armed robbery, extortion and drug trading, although very specific, serve to illustrate the nature and potential complexity of fundraising activities, the general issues that surround them, as well as specific internal organizational issues and factors in…
Irish Media
Irish Media
Irish Media: A Critical History maps the landscape of media in Ireland from the foundation of the modern state in 1922 to the present. Covering all principal media forms, print and electronic, in the Republic and in Northern Ireland, John Horgan shows how Irish history and politics have shaped the media of Ireland and, in turn, have been shaped by them." "John Horgan demonstrates why, in a country whose political divisions and economic developmen…
Journalists and Censorship
The role of journalists in conflict situations has frequently been the subject of academic study, but this has generally been related to ethical issues. In the Republic of Ireland between 1971 and 1994, government censorship policies created new problems for journalists but--unusually--their efforts to confront this as a freedom of speech issue were hampered by deep political divisions which muffled the anticipated protest. The outcome of this de…
Playing the 'green card' - financing the provisional IRA
This is the second of two articles detailing aspects of the financial operations of the Provisional IRA (PIRA). While the first article highlighted some of the socioorganizational factors both underpinning and limiting the nature and extent of certain fundraising activities by the PIRA, this article presents details of activities traditionally elusive to empirical enquiry. Two case studies conducted between 1996 and 1999 – of domestic money laund…
Psychology of Terrorism
The Psychology of Terrorism
This new edition of John Horgan's critically acclaimed book is fully revised and expanded. The book presents a critical analysis of our existing knowledge and understanding of terrorist psychology. Despite the on-going search for a terrorist pathology, the most insightful and evidence-based research to date not only illustrates the lack of any identifiable psychopathology in terrorists, but demonstrates how frighteningly 'normal' and unremarkable…
A Review of
A Conceptual Framework for Addressing Psychological Process in the Development of the Terrorist
A conceptual framework is presented for addressing psychological issues in the development of the terrorist. In particular, the authors suggest that viewing terrorism as a process may lead not only to better conceptual development in analyses of the terrorist, but may also lead to the development of more practical and efficient counterterrorism initiatives. Additionally, viewing terrorism in this way may finally lead to the formation of a clear a…
Relationship of Initial Level of Distress to Changes in Health-Related Quality of Life During Cardiac Rehabilitation or Usual Care
OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and initial levels of distress in cardiac patients who received multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation (CR) or usual care. High rates of psychological distress have been reported in cardiac patients. METHODS: Cardiac patients completed a questionnaire battery at the start and finish of a CR program (n = 131) or at equivalent times after hospital dis…
Leaving Terrorism Behind
Foreword (TBC) 1. Introduction Tore Bjorgo and John Horgan Part 1: Processes 2. Individual disengagement: A psychological analysis John Horgan 3. Processes of disengagement from violent groups of the extreme right Tore Bjorgo 4. How terrorist campaigns end Audrey Kurth Cronin 5. Leaving left-wing terrorism in Italy: A sociological analysis Donatella della Porta 6. Leaving terrorism behind in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country: reassessing an…
A case against ‘Critical Terrorism Studies’
Against Prediction
From Profiles to Pathways and Roots to Routes
Attempts to profile terrorists have failed resoundingly, leaving behind a poor (and unfair) impression of the potential for a sound psychological contribution to understanding the terrorist. However, recent work in the area has delivered promising and exciting starting points for a conceptual development in understanding the psychological process across all levels of terrorist involvement. Involvement in terrorism is a complex psychosocial proces…
Missing Their Mark
Mia Bloom and John Horgan Missing Their Mark: The IRA’s Proxy Bomb Campaign SU IC ID E CAR BOMBS HAVE BECOM E A COMMONPLACE AND VIRTUALLY daily event in conflicts such as those taking place in Iraq orAfghanistan.* When an attack occurs, we make assumptions about the intent and motivation of the driver and the organization that sent him (and increasingly, her). Often, such attacks in an Islamic context presume that the act is a deliberate Istishha…
Walking Away from Terrorism
This accessible new book looks at how and why individuals leave terrorist movements, and considers the lessons and implications that emerge from this process. Focusing on the tipping points for disengagement from groups such as Al Qaeda, the IRA and the UVF, this volume is informed by the dramatic and sometimes extraordinary accounts that the terrorists themselves offered to the author about why they left terrorism behind. The book examines three…
Community and family approaches to combating the radicalization and recruitment of Somali-American youth and young adults
Between late 2007 and autumn 2008, an estimated 18 or more Somali-American adolescent boys and young men living in the Minneapolis area secretly left their homes and flew to Somalia to join militant extremist training camps run by the Al Shabaab extremist organization. Political instability in Somalia, the 2006 Ethiopian invasion, social difficulties in US refugee communities, family instability, and local networks, all adeptly exploited by extre…
The great war correspondent’
Trotsky of Russia knows Francis McCullagh. So does President Calles of Mexico. Peter, the King of Serbia, was McCullagh’s friend. The headhunters of the upper Amazon list Francis McCullagh as one of their principal deities. The warring tribes of Morocco call him blood brother. A room is always ready for him in the imperial palace of Siam. The latchstrings of hundreds of Siberian peasant huts are out in anticipation of his coming
Practice Review
There are several fundamental reasons why the state should not involve itself in the regulation of the press. However, there are also more practical reasons why self-regulation can be a preferable alternative, benefiting journalists and the public alike. It is flexible, non-bureaucratic and highly effective at delivering practical solutions to problems. Ultimately, self-regulation can raise standards and provide effective redress to those who are…
Rehabilitating the Terrorists
Renewed interest on how and why terrorism ends has emerged in parallel with increased visibility of some new and innovative approaches to counterterrorism. These are collectively known, whether for good or bad, as “de-radicalization programs.” However, and despite their popularity, data surrounding even the most basic of facts about these programs remains limited. This article presents an overview of the results of a one-year pilot study of selec…
Interviewing the terrorists
In social science research on terrorism, there is a continued lack of individual-level, data-driven evidence to test hypotheses, build reliable case studies, and support the emergence of new theories about the psychological process in the development of the terrorist. To help redress this deficiency, this article calls for explicit discussion of researchers' reluctance either to interview terrorists or share their experiences of having done so, a…
Political science (72 obras) · Law (63 obras) · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence (60 obras) · Terrorism (57 obras) · Psychology (55 obras) · Criminology (50 obras) · Sociology (41 obras) · Social Psychology (36 obras) · Law (30 obras) · Computer Science (25 obras)