Anger From Within: The Role of Emotions in Disengagement From Violent Extremism

The Kids Are Alt-Right: How Media and the Law Enable White Supremacist Groups to Recruit and Radicalize Emotionally Vulnerable Individuals

As climate change intensifies in many parts of the world, more and more policymakers are concerned with its effects on human security and violence. From Lake Chad to the Philippines, including Afghanistan and Syria, some violent extremist (VE) groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State exploit crises and conflicts resulting from environmental stress to recruit more followers, expand their influence and even gain territorial control. In such cases, climate change may be described as a “risk multiplier” that exacerbates a number of conflict drivers. Against this backdrop, this case study looks at the relationship between climate change and violent extremism in North Africa, and more specifically the Maghreb countries Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, which are all affected by climate change and violent extremism. There are three justifications for this thematic and geographical focus. Firstly, these countries are affected by climate change in multiple ways: water scarcity, temperature variations and desertification are only a few examples of the numerous cross- border impacts of climate change in this region. Secondly, these three countries have been and remain affected by the activity of violent extremist groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Islamic State organisation (IS) and their respective affiliated groups. Algeria endured a civil war from 1991 to 2002 in which Islamist groups opposed the government, while Morocco and Tunisia have been the targets of multiple terrorist attacks by jihadist individuals and organisations. Thirdly, the connection between climate change and violent extremism has received much less attention in the literature than other climate-related security risks. Although empirical research has not evidenced a direct relationship between climate change and violent extremism, there is a need to examine the ways they may feed each other or least intersect in the context of North African countries. Hence, this study concentrates on the ways violent extremism can reinforce vulnerability to the effects of climate change and on the potential effects of climate change on vulnerability to violent extremism. While most of the existing research on the interplay between climate change and violent extremism concentrates on terrorist organisations (Asaka, 2021; Nett and Rüttinger, 2016; Renard, 2008), this case study focuses on the conditions, drivers and patterns that can lead individuals to join such groups in North Africa. In other words, it looks at the way climate change can exacerbate a series of factors that are believed to lead to violent radicalisation – “a personal process in which individuals adopt extreme political, social, and/or religious ideals and aspirations, and where the attainment of particular goals justifies the use of indiscriminate violence” (Wilner and Dubouloz, 2010: 38). This approach is needed not only to anticipate how climate change could possibly affect violent extremism in the medium and long run but also to determine whether and how the policy responses to both phenomena should intersect in the near future. Does climate change affect the patterns of violent extremism in North Africa? If so, how do these phenomena interact in this region? To answer these questions, the case study paper first gives an overview of the threat posed by violent extremism in the countries of study and examines the drivers and factors that are believed to lead to violent extremism in North Africa. Secondly, it discusses how these drivers could be affected by the effects of climate change on resources, livelihoods, mobility and other factors. Finally, an attempt is made to understand the possible interactions between climate change and violent extremism in the future and the implications for policymaking.

This report presents research findings on gender and violent extremism in the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Indonesia for a project led by Monash Gender, Peace and Security Centre for UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (2018-2019). The aim of the research is to examine women’s roles in supporting, countering, and preventing violent extremism and how gender identities and relations may be used to garner support for intolerant social attitudes and groups as well as recruitment to violent extremist groups. The research has generated novel findings – possibly the first such robust findings to date – on the relationship between support for misogyny, violence against women, and extremist violence: • There is a positive and significant correlation in survey responses in all three countries and for both genders between support for violent extremism and their support for violence against women; • Attitudes about violence against women explain more of the variation in support for violent extremism than other factors (such as age/youth, education level) commonly theorised to explain individual support of violent extremism. The results of an ordered logit regression model reveal that support for violence against women and the prevalence of hostile sexist attitudes are both better predictors of support for violent extremism than religiosity; • Misogynistic attitudes among women are also strongly correlated with support for violent extremism; • Where a male relative – a partner, son or brother supports or is a member of a violent extremist group - women are more likely to support violent extremism. • Most survey respondents and qualitative research participants in all three countries reported having come across online media supporting violent extremism or jihad; • Baseline attitudes can be sexist, especially among men; anti-women’s rights “backlash” is politicised by extremist groups on platforms aimed at men and women members;

15.1 ANGRY YOUNG MEN, COMMON THREADS IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF EXTREMIST GROUPS

Previous research shows that product design affects consumer emotions and behavior, and thus, generates competitive advantage. To date, however, most of the studies on product design focus on positive emotions and neglect the influence of product design on negative emotions (e.g., Fokkinga & Desmet, 2012). Negative emotions and the coexistence of positive and negative emotions as well as their effects on consumer behavior have been largely neglected (Chitturi, 2009). Similarly, little research in industrial design and marketing has explored the role of single emotions (e.g., joy, boredom). Results of an online experiment (n = 179, Mage = 33.00 years, 53.10% male) reveal that the influence of the three product design dimensions aesthetics, functionality, and symbolism on consumer purchase intention and word-of-mouth behavior (WOM) is mediated by positive consumer emotions. Negative consumer emotions also mediate the relationship between product design and purchase intention, while they are of little relevance for WOM. To gain deeper insights into the mediating effect of single emotions, a disaggregated perspective with 14 single emotions is applied. It becomes apparent that desire, hope, pride, and satisfaction, induced by product design, impact consumer behavior, while joy has the strongest influence. Regarding negative emotions, particularly boredom, in addition to shame and contempt, inhibits purchase intention and WOM for all three dimensions of product design. This paper examines the entire chain of effects from product design over consumer emotions to relevant success metrics (i.e., purchase intention and WOM) and shows that in addition to positive emotions, negative emotions evoked by product design also shape consumer behavior. While WOM is almost exclusively driven by positive emotions, both positive and negative emotions affect purchase intention. Results further reveal joy as a driver and boredom as an inhibitor of purchase intention and WOM. To create joy in consumers, product design should be innovative in aesthetics and functionality to meet consumers’ aim for novelty and change. Marketers should also ensure that the product design generates interest and excitement through aesthetic and functional design features and provides consumers with the opportunity to express themselves through product design, to particularly counteract the negative emotion of boredom. This research crosses the bridge between product design research, emotions, and consumer behavior to generate novel knowledge for academia and management.

Far-right extremism is rapidly becoming a primary security threat in both the UK and Australia. By adopting a comparative case-study approach, this article examines how misogyny and gendered narratives espoused through online channels can serve as motivators towards violent extremism through transnational networks. We argue that gendered narratives specifically play a key role in influencing motivations for joining and participating in extremist groups and can frame the parameters of involvement for both women and men. We further found that misogyny is a shared expression amongst different actors in the far-right spectrum despite distinct local contexts, and in the case of the UK and Australia these narratives served as a shared vocabulary that facilitated the communication of these ideas transnationally. This influences our current understanding of the nexus between misogyny and violent extremism, in that misogyny creates a linking identity factor and a common line of communication across different geopolitical environments, facilitating both narrative connections and common understanding. Our findings have implications for P/CVE stakeholders and practitioners in risk assessment and management in that it will improve understanding of how misogyny and gender narratives serve as motivators towards violent extremism across three key layers, and the type of discourse used to sustain and legitimise involvement.

This study proposes a service recovery model to describe how cumulative satisfaction, loyalty and word-of-mouth are affected by complaints. The model is based on the role of positive and negative emotions in satisfaction with service recovery processes, with trust acting as a mediator of the relationship between satisfaction with service recovery and cumulative satisfaction, and between positive and negative emotions, satisfaction with service recovery and loyalty. The sample for this study consists of 303 business-to-consumer e-commerce users who made a complaint after an electronic transaction. The results show that positive emotions are a key factor in satisfaction with service recovery processes; this is in contrast to the major role that negative emotions have traditionally played in these models. Furthermore, trust mediates the relationship between satisfaction with service recovery and cumulative satisfaction, and between positive emotions and loyalty. Trust has an important influence on loyalty, and cumulative satisfaction is a strong predictor of word-of-mouth. While prior satisfaction with service recovery studies usually investigated only negative emotions and satisfaction with a specific transaction, this research considers both positive and negative emotions, as well as the mediating effect of trust on the relationship between satisfaction with a specific transaction and cumulative satisfaction.

<p><strong>This research explores violent extremism during the COVID-19 pandemic within Aotearoa New Zealand’s conspiracy community. Previous academic research has identified the conspiracy community on Telegram as an emerging locus for extremism. However, there has been no Telegram-specific research focusing on violent extremism within the conspiracy subculture in New Zealand. To address this literature gap, I conducted digital ethnographic research, collecting and analysing content (n = 12,000) from a major conspiracy channel within New Zealand’s Telegram ecosystem. My research focused on the prevalent conspiracy narratives, the push and pull factors driving community involvement, and how the community’s subcultural dynamics and rhetoric foster violent extremism. This research found anti-authority narratives to be a central feature of New Zealand’s conspiracy community. Furthermore, I identified the nuanced interplay between the push drivers: existential fear, identity strain, negative emotions, status frustration, socio-economic precarity, and the pull drivers: community, existential meaning, and hope that drove continuous engagement with the conspiracy community. The group’s subcultural dynamics encouraged the adoption of various norms and beliefs, including the rejection of traditional sources of knowledge, immersion in conspiracy narratives, adopting a conspiratorial worldview, anti-authority beliefs, and a zero-sum us-versus-them mindset. Founded on these beliefs, many members of the conspiracy community tacitly accepted, encouraged, and engaged in extremist and violent extremist rhetoric. Furthermore, a small subset of the conspiracy community is evidenced to have adopted a violent extremist worldview, coming to view coercive violence against the government as urgent and necessary. This thesis concludes that the normalisation of violent rhetoric within the conspiracy community fostered an online environment highly conducive to anti-authority politically motivated violent extremism. This research provides an understanding of why individuals engage in conspiracy communities and how their involvement can foster violent extremism, contributing to an understanding of emerging extremist threats within New Zealand to inform policy responses and future academic research.</strong></p>

Research and theory on the role of emotion and regulation in morality have received considerable attention in the last decade. Much relevant work has concerned the role of moral emotions in moral behavior. Research on differences between embarrassment, guilt, and shame and their relations to moral behavior is reviewed, as is research on the association of these emotions with negative emotionality and regulation. Recent issues concerning the role of such empathy-related responses as sympathy and personal distress to prosocial and antisocial behavior are discussed, as is the relation of empathy-related responding to situational and dispositional emotionality and regulation. The development and socialization of guilt, shame, and empathy also are discussed briefly. In addition, the role of nonmoral emotions (e.g. anger and sadness), including moods and dispositional differences in negative emotionality and its regulation, in morally relevant behavior, is reviewed.

Recently, internet gaming addiction and suicide have been global public health issues among adolescents. This study used convenience sampling and surveyed 1906 Chinese adolescents to investigate the relationship between internet gaming addiction and suicidal ideation and the role of negative emotion and hope in the relationship between the two. The results showed that the detection rate of internet gaming addiction among adolescents was 17.16% and the detection rate of suicidal ideation was 16.37%. Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between internet gaming addiction and suicidal ideation. Negative emotion partially mediated the relationship between internet gaming addiction and suicidal ideation. In addition, hope moderated the relationship between negative emotion and suicidal ideation. The effect of negative emotion on suicidal ideation decreased as hope increased. These findings suggest that the role of emotion and hope in coping with adolescent internet gaming addiction and suicidal ideation should be emphasized.

Although there is an ongoing need for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to identify and assess the online activities of violent extremists prior to their engagement in violence offline, little is empirically known about their online posting patterns generally or differences in their online patterns compared to non-violent extremists who share similar ideological beliefs particularly. Even less is empirically known about how their online patterns compare to those who post in extremist spaces in general. This study addresses this gap through a content analysis of postings from a unique sample of violent and non-violent right-wing extremists as well as from a sample of postings within a sub-forum of the largest white supremacy web-forum, Stormfront. Here the existence of extremist ideologies, personal grievances, and violent extremist mobilization efforts were quantified within each of the three sample groups. Several notable differences in posting patterns were observed across samples, many of which may inform future risk factor frameworks used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to identify credible threats online. This study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the analysis, its limitations, and avenues for future research.

Currently, threats to societal security from extremist groups are high on the political agenda in many countries. Politicians, policymakers at various levels and communities are searching for methods to counteract recruitment to violent organizations. These efforts are often referred to as Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE-programmes). One of the earliest PVE programmes in Europe was the British PREVENT programme, and it has to some extent served as a model for other countries, including Sweden. In this article, we scrutinize a particular method, inspired by the PREVENT, and developed by the Swedish National Coordinator against violent extremism, called The Conversation Compass (CC) intended for so-called front-line workers. This article reports an analysis of this method in order to provide a broader understanding of how the discourse on preventing violent extremism meanders from political and policy discourses into claims about how to organize educational practices and social work and the regulations under which these institutions operate. The results show that the CC contributes to a securitization of the educational system in ways that are not in line with educational traditions of schools in Sweden, or with the laws and policies that regulate the educational system.

On January 21, 2021, the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) Vancouver hosted its first digital roundtable event of the year, Radicalization and Violent Extremism in the Era of COVID-19. The presentation was conducted by guest speaker, Dr. Garth Davies, an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. He is also currently involved in developing data for evaluating programs for countering violent extremism. Dr. Davies’ presentation provided an overview of the changes that society has had to make in adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic and shared some of his research findings on radicalization and violent extremism online during the pandemic. The increase in working remotely and being on the Internet has possibly contributed to a larger dissemination of misinformation leading people to certain extremist sites and forums that may contribute to radicalization. Additionally, Dr. Davies answered questions submitted by the audience, which focused on online radicalization, online platforms used for recruiting by extremist groups, misinformation, and the Incel movement.

The Role of Emotion in Cancer Surgery Decisions: Applying Concepts From Decision Psychology.

Resettlement programmes are considered one solution to displacement following the so-called refugee crisis. Private or community-based sponsorship models enable volunteer groups to take responsibility resettling refugees. The UK Community Sponsorship scheme (CS) allows volunteer groups to support refugee families in their community. This paper explores the role of emotions in CS using Jaspers three-stage social action life cycle (1998) drawing upon Doidge and Sandri’s (Br J Sociol 70: 463–480, 2018) positive and negative emotions, Jaspers (Sociol Forum 13: 397–424, 1998) reactive and affective continuum and Hoggett and Miller’s (Community Dev J 35: 352–364, 2000) individual/group features to explore the role of emotions in CS work. Using interview data collected from 123 interviews with 22 sponsorship groups, we find across the life cycle that there is a shift from negative reactive emotions during group initiation to positive affective emotions during consolidation and finally a mix of negative and positive affective emotions as groups become sustained. Understanding the role of emotions in motivating and sustaining volunteers is essential to the success of the CS, to encourage group formation and reduce burnout.