{"title":"A Witch’s Brew of Grievances: The Potential Effects of COVID-19 on Radicalization to Violent Extremism","authors":"Garth Davies, Edith Wu, Richard Frank","doi":"10.1080/1057610X.2021.1923188","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Historically, pandemics had inevitably produced demonization and scapegoating, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been no exception. Some individuals and groups have attempted to weaponize and exploit the pandemic, to use it as a means of spreading their extremist ideologies and to radicalize others to their causes. Segmented regression analyses of seven online extremist forums revealed that posting behavior on violent right-wing extremist and incel forums increased significantly following the declaration of the pandemic. The same was not true of left-wing or jihadist forums. These unequal effects likely reflect the particular grievance-based and online nature of right-wing and incel extremism.","PeriodicalId":38834,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Conflict & Terrorism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"14","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Studies in Conflict & Terrorism","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2021.1923188","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 14
Abstract
Abstract Historically, pandemics had inevitably produced demonization and scapegoating, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been no exception. Some individuals and groups have attempted to weaponize and exploit the pandemic, to use it as a means of spreading their extremist ideologies and to radicalize others to their causes. Segmented regression analyses of seven online extremist forums revealed that posting behavior on violent right-wing extremist and incel forums increased significantly following the declaration of the pandemic. The same was not true of left-wing or jihadist forums. These unequal effects likely reflect the particular grievance-based and online nature of right-wing and incel extremism.
期刊介绍:
Terrorism and insurgency are now the dominant forms of conflict in the world today. Fuelled by moribund peace processes, ethnic and religious strife, disputes over natural resources, and transnational organized crime, these longstanding security challenges have become even more violent and intractable: posing new threats to international peace and stability. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism aims to cast new light on the origins and implications of conflict in the 21st Century and to illuminate new approaches and solutions to countering the growth and escalation of contemporary sub-state violence.