Leveraging upon cyberspace has been a seemingly effortless and integral part of Islamic State’s (IS) tactics since its inception to extend their war far beyond the actual territorial arena, as well as broadcast their messages online. The group has been successful in recruiting fighters from outside its territory. There has also been a lot of encouragement on lone-wolf attacks, which is called a leaderless jihad or individual contribution to the war against the perceived enemies.
Academics across a range of disciplines attempted to provide explanations for IS’s recruitment methods, the role of the Internet and the factors that led to the flow of foreign fighters. In explaining the motivation behind the act of terror, adopting a deterministic view that violence is simply derived from ideology (i.e., sacred texts or cultural experience provide rationale for the individual or collective acts of terror) simplifies a complex web of determinants of terrorist behaviour. Instead, there is a range of other possible factors (besides ideology) that tie events and practices and are equally important.
Read more at Global Network on Extremism and Technology
