Final key point I want to make, is that when you have radicalization to violence, if you go all the way up the radicalization chain, the role of opportunity and chance does play a big role. There are many people who might have these ideas. There are many people who might be angry, who might have experienced some of these grievances at the the individual or group level. But actually all of them don't engage in violence because they don't get the chance to do so. Sometimes we think of terrorist organizations as being like the army where there's an obvious recruiting office where you can line up, sign up for your papers, and join and it's really not like that. There aren't recruiters wandering the streets, infiltrating institutions and organizations where they might find individuals. If there were they'd be caught and we'd find them much more frequently, but we don't. Indeed the wannabe radical often has to seek these places out. One way they do so is through family, kins. So here is an example, of course, of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whose nephew was Ramzi Yousef. So two close relations being involved in some of the most extraordinary terrorist activity of the last 20 years. There have also been studies, for example, of suicide bombers who left their countries and went to Iraq. And sometimes you would see four, five, six suicide bombers coming from one small town. But the town next to them, or many of the towns next to them who experience the same political activities. They're exposed pretty much the same medium might have the same socioeconomic background, you get no suicide bombers. So the way they made their selves to Iraq is because they know a friend or a family member who went and they made this pathway for them. So they have the opportunity and chance where maybe people had the exact same experiences a town five miles over did not. A strong figure recruiter is definitely possible. And you would have to have that instance where by happenstance you were picked by the recruiter. This individual was an American who made its way to Al-Shabaab and joined. He was not necessarily influenced by one recruiter, but the other Somalis, who about 20 young men in 2007 and 2008 left Minneapolis, these were Somali Americans, went to join Al-Shabaab. Many of them have died there and one of them was probably the first American suicide bomber. So there was, in this instance, a network of individuals who were helping and encouraging these young men to go. They were helping them purchase plane tickets, to seek out adventure, and to defend the Somali people and join Al-Shabaab. So sometimes a recruitment network is present. But again it's the chance of actually having one in that community and you being exposed to it that leads you to your radicalization. It's also possibly exposure to a highly charismatic individual. This is David Koresh, of course, the Branch Davidian, whose activities lead to the Waco conflagration. He was a cultish kind of leader who inspired his followers to extraordinary acts and who radicalized them very deeply. Again, if you are exposed to this kind of individual, of course, you're more likely to radicalize. You might have these same ideas, you might have the same experiences in life. You might have begun to radicalize, but if you didn't have that opportunity to meet the charismatic individual, perhaps you lost enthusiasm and went to a peaceful way. So exposure to a charismatic leader can make a big difference. Well, nowadays one of the things, of course, we're worried about and we're going to talk about this in our lectures from later this week, is that the internet can serve as this opportunity and chance. Individuals might go through these different psychological processes, but then they're able to find like-minded people. Or they're able to find a charismatic individual in internet chat rooms or by listening to taped sermons. So the fear is that because of the internet and the very skillful use of these radical organizations of the internet, that they, in some ways, increase this notion of opportunity and chance. And this is, as I said, we're going to turn to this with some of our discussions with Peter Newman in subsequent videos. So these are the key points that I want to make. First of all, that radicalization, especially to violence, is generally a rare phenomenon. Second, and there are many multiple pathways, there is no terrorism profile or no one rigid path to radicalization. It can happen to different individuals in different ways. And there are multiple pathways to radicalization. And that opportunity and chance may play a role in radicalization. And that this opportunity and chance might be increased, the likelihood of it, by the internet in modern times.
