Internal Defense in Containment Theory in the Context of Teenagers Engagement in Indonesia Terrorism

Abstract

The history of acts of terrorism in Indonesia, which began in 2003-2019, shows several shifting trends in terrorism crimes, terms of action strategies, targets, and characteristics of perpetrators. Based on the action strategy and the features of the perpetrators, the authors found the involvement of children and adolescents. Horgan, Taylor, Bloom, and Winter (2017) state that the involvement of children in acts of terrorism is part of the regeneration of terrorist organizations to continue to exist and survive for a long time. This research aims to illustrate how the internal defense system in the containment theory contributes to the terrorism context. This research is qualitative which uses in-depth interviews for gathering data. Results showed that internal defense could not support teenagers to avoid their engagement with radical or terrorist groups.