Is Ideology the “Root” of Islamist Terrorism in Indonesia?

Abstract

This chapter sets the scene for the study by arguing that current analyses of religiously motivated terrorism in general – and Islamist terrorism in Indonesia in particular – that identify ideology as the “root” of terrorism are incorrect. It identifies two broad questions about religiously motivated terrorism that the book seeks to address through an Indonesian case study: first, do Indonesian Islamists radicalize into violent extremism because of ideology – or do they do so because of some deeper cause? Second, why is it that after all these years violent Islamist terrorism in Indonesia continues to regenerate in the face of intense security force pressure? Moreover, why, despite the apparent absence of a central coordinating body, do these separate cells appear to display an intrinsic interconnectivity with one another? Again, is ideology the root – or is a deeper explanation in order? The chapter contends that the root of religiously motivated terrorism in general and Islamist terrorism in Indonesia in particular in fact runs much deeper, in our shared biological natures. The chapter to this end sets out the notion of the Human Nature Triad – binarity, religiosity, and complexity. Based on this, it theorizes that the combination of a highly tuned dualistic, Manichean Mindset and an embattled religiosity results in religious fundamentalism. When the latter interacts with six intervening factors of a “tight” counterculture, an enabling ideology, a “protean” charismatic group, intragroup psychic dynamics, in-group (social) humiliation, and an enabling environment of poor governance, religiously motivated terrorism may well result.