Why People Join Terrorist Groups in Kuwait: A Qualitative Examination

Abstract

Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al‐Qaeda currently incarcerated in Kuwait's Central Prison. The semistructured interviews attempted to understand psychosocial factors in Kuwait that contributed to their decision to join extremist organizations. Interviews were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and the emergent themes identified the following core themes explaining their involvement: (1) religious identity development; (2) personal connections; (3) propaganda; (4) defense of Islam; and (5) social marginalization. Participants described a process whereby their religion became a central part of their personal identity. As their religious identity developed, they became involved in Islamic organizations where they met people involved with ISIS or Al‐Qaeda. These social connections exposed them to jihadi propaganda which, in addition to increased military conflict in the Middle East, crystallized their beliefs that Islam is under attack, and they were religiously obligated to defend it. The results also identified societal factors that increased the probability of engaging in terrorism including relatively low levels of education, coming from low socioeconomic groups in Kuwait, and feeling socially marginalized by broader Kuwaiti society.

Why People Enter and Embrace Violent Groups

“…Although persuasion and propaganda are also important for understanding Islamist radicalization (e.g., Gendron, 2017 ; Kruglova, 2020 ), people do not become Islamist radicals through mere coercion or brainwashing ( Sageman, 2004 , 2008 ). Islamist terrorists typically go through a process involving active and selective engagement with groups that fit their idiosyncratic characteristics, thus suggesting internalization ( Chernov-Hwang and Schulze, 2018 ; Scull et al, 2020 ). Other examples of internalization might be the research by Scull et al (2020) , indicating that participants in their study experienced a process in which religion became a central part of their personal identity.…”

“…Islamist terrorists typically go through a process involving active and selective engagement with groups that fit their idiosyncratic characteristics, thus suggesting internalization ( Chernov-Hwang and Schulze, 2018 ; Scull et al, 2020 ). Other examples of internalization might be the research by Scull et al (2020) , indicating that participants in their study experienced a process in which religion became a central part of their personal identity. As their religious identity developed, they met people involved with Al-Qaeda or ISIS who, in turn, exposed them to propaganda in support for the radical ideology (see also Dawson and Amarasingam, 2017 who suggest existential concerns and religiosity).…”

“…Previous studies have devoted considerable attention to the question of why people join violent groups (e.g., Horgan, 2005 ; Moghaddam, 2005 ; Wiktorowicz, 2005 ; Newman, 2006 ; McCauley and Moskalenko, 2008 ; Sánchez-Cuenca and de la Calle, 2009 ; Borum, 2011 ; Campana and Lapointe, 2012 ; Horowitz, 2015 ; Scull et al, 2020 ). Intuitively, one might believe that alignment with terrorist groups is explained by radical ideology.…”

“…Although there is an impressive number of theoretical models on the causes of violent extremism (e.g., Neumann and Kleinmann, 2013 ; Hafez and Mullins, 2015 ; Pisoui and Ahmed, 2016 ; Vergani et al, 2018 ), less common are investigations including empirical data about this issue. A recent qualitative examination of the themes explaining why people join terrorist groups (i.e., ISIS and Al-Qaeda) in Kuwait through interviews with prison inmates identified five reasons for involvement: religious identity development (progression of the religious identity), personal connections (development of close social bonds with individuals and religious organizations), propaganda (influence by social media), defense of Islam (perception that Islam and specifically the Sunni sect of Islam is under threat), and social marginalization (social risk factors) ( Scull et al, 2020 ). Although this model is promising, one of its limitations is that it is based on the analyses of interviews with members of terrorist groups that are focused on ideological factors.…”

“…While the previous models have contributed enormously to the identification and systematization of the reasons leading to involvement in violent groups, they have stopped short of providing an overarching scheme that explains how the various factors relate to one another. Another important limitation is that most of these classifications have not been supported by empirical data (see Scull et al, 2020 for an exception). In other words, previous research has not tested whether the classification is valid for groups with diverse organizational structures and whether the reasons for joining specific types of terrorist groups differ.…”