Spear to the West: Thought and Recruitment in Violent Jihadism
Speaker
Stephen Chan
Department of Politics and International Studies Professor in International Relations
SOAS, London
03:32
Stephen Chan
Interview questions
01
00:00
Background
00:44
Your work examines how jihadist doctrine is turned into media-friendly messages for online recruitment. What was the key gap in understanding this "copy game" of the recruiters that your research aimed to address?00:44
02
00:45
Methods
01:15
Your methodology involved probing the dark web with no trace. How did this approach, and your decades-long study of the Quran, allow you to access and analyze the sophisticated doctrine you found there?01:15
03
02:01
Key findings
00:41
A central finding is that these recruiters must be taken seriously, possessing real media savvy. What evidence of their sophisticated "thought" and the scale of their interactions led you to this conclusion, particularly in the case of ISIS?00:41
04
02:43
Conclusion
00:50
You presented user-friendly recommendations to governments, yet found that officials viewed the threat as a "lunatic fringe." Why did this perception prevent your findings from gaining traction and leading to concrete action?00:50
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