The era of network terrorism. The evolution of the organisational structure of the global Salafi Jihad movement at the beginning of the twenty-first century

• Authors: Artur Wejkszner
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article is an attempt to draw attention to the issue of the network nature of terrorist structures in the early twenty-first century. It analyses the essence of the so-called network terrorism from an Islamic perspective. The example of the global Salafi jihad movement (GSJM) is recognised as key. It is a social movement established at the turn of the century, referring to the Salafi ideology and promoting the so-called holy war with its enemies in theWest. One of the principal manifestations of its activity is terrorism. The evolution of the movement has occurred on several levels, one of the more important of these being organisational. The proliferation of the terrorist threat posed by the GSJM is closely associated with the construction of the network structure of the organisation. Analysis of the available sources indicates that the current organisation of the GSJM has the form of the so-called second-level structured network.

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Przegląd Strategiczny
• Year: 2012
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 55-68

Dates

published

2012-12-15

Contributors

author

Artur Wejkszner

References

• Azzam A., Al-Qa’idah al-Sulbah, “Al-Jihad” 1988, No. 41.
• Barabasi A. L., Linked, Penguin Books, New York 2003.
• Caroll W. K., Ratner R. S., Master framing and cross-movement networking in the contemporary social movements, “Sociological Quarterly” 1996.
• Cooley J. K., Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism, London 1999.
• Curtis R. L., Zurcher L. A., Stable resources of protest movements: The multi-organizational field, “Social Forces” 1973.
• Gunaratna R., Inside al Qaeda. Global Network of Terror, New York 2003.
• Holmes S., Al-Qaeda, September 11, 2001, in: Making Sense of Suicide Missions, (ed.) D. Gambetta, Oxford–New York 2005.
• Moghadam A., The Salafi-Jihad as a Religious Ideology, “CTC Sentinel” 2008, Vol. 1, Issue 3,
• Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime and Militancy, (eds.) J. Arquilla, D. Ronfeldt, RAND’s National Defense Research Institute Report, 2001.
• Rashid A., Taliban. Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, New Haven–London 2001.
• Rashid A., Talibowie: wojujący islam, ropa naftowa i fundamentalizm w środkowej Azji, Kraków 2002).
• Sageman M., Understanding Terror Networks, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2004.
• Shavit Uriya, Al-Qaeda’s Saudi Origins. Islamist Ideology, “The Middle East Quarterly” 2006, Vol. XIII, No. 4.
• Strippling M., Embodying Terror Networks: How Direction Creates Structure, http://www.cri-sisville.com/files/Terrorism-DirectedNetworks.pdf, November 2012.
• Zald M. N., McCarthy J., Social Movements in an Organizational Society, New Brunswick 1987.

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/ps.2012.2.5