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Jihadism as a Subcultural Response to Social Strain: Extending Marc Sageman's “Bunch of Guys” Thesis

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 23; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09546553.2011.611840

1556-1836

Simon Cottee,

Crime, Deviance, and Social Control

Abstract My aim in this article is to extend Marc Sageman's seminal research on Al Qaeda by re-articulating it through the prism of Albert Cohen's theory of delinquent subcultures, an approach which came to prominence in Criminology in the 1960s, but has since then been largely eclipsed by other approaches in that field. Drawing on Sageman's findings and observations, I suggest that Al Qaeda-affiliated or -inspired groups in the West can be best understood as a collective response or "solution" to the strains encountered by the members of these groups, and that these strains are imposed on them by the circumstances in which they find themselves. My broader aim is to show that although Criminology, with a few exceptions, ignores the subject of terrorism, terrorism studies can appreciably benefit from an engagement with Criminology as a source of theoretical inspiration. Keywords: Al Qaedacriminologyjihadi subcultural stylejihadist solutionMarc Sagemansocial strainsubcultureterrorism studies Acknowledgments The author is extremely grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their detailed and instructive comments on earlier drafts of this article. For their essential support and advice, he is especially indebted to Bruce Hoffman and Keith Hayward. Notes Quoted in "Salman Rushdie: His Life, His Work and His Religion," The Independent, Friday 13 October 2006, http://johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1002 (accessed 3 April 2011). Timothy Garton Ash, "Islam in Europe," The New York Review of Books 53, no. 15, 5 October 2006, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2006/oct/05/islam-in-europe/ (accessed 1 April 2011). See Peter Baker, Helene Cooper and Mark Mazzetti, "Bin Laden Is Dead, Obama Says," The New York Times, 1 May 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all (accessed 16 July 2011). See, for example, Lawrence Wright, "Bin Laden: Hey, Hey Goodbye," The New Yorker, 2 May 2011, http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/05/bin-laden-hey-hey-goodbye.html; Steve Coll, "Notes on the Death of Osama bin Laden," The New Yorker, 2 May 2011, http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/05/notes-on-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden.html; Jason Burke, "Osama bin Laden's death: What now for al-Qaida?," The Guardian, 2 May 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/02/osama-bin-laden-future-of-al-qaida; Bruce Hoffman, "Bin Laden's Death Shatters Conventional Wisdom," The National Interest, 2 May 2011, http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/bin-ladens-death-shatters-conventional-wisdom-5249; Daniel Byman, "Al-Qaida After Osama," Slate, 2 May 2011, http://www.slate.com/id/2292700/; Christopher Hitchens, "Death of a Madman," Slate, 2 May 2011, http://www.slate.com/id/2292687/; and Salman Rushdie, "Pakistan's Deadly Game," The Daily Beast, 2 May 2011, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/05/02/salman-rushdie-pakistans-deadly-game.html. (All of the above websites were accessed on 16 July 2011.) For an insight into the activities and interests of the jihadologists, see the excellent website Jihadica: http://www.jihadica.com/ (accessed 16 July 2011). Unlike many other websites which profess to document jihadi activity, Jihadica maintains high standards of scholarly seriousness and rigor and is not tied to any political platform or agenda. Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda's Road to 9/11 (London: Allen Lane, 2006). In his shortlist of essential texts on Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, published in Foreign Affairs in the week after bin Laden's killing, Daniel Byman singles out Wright's book for particular praise (see Daniel Byman, "What to Read on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda," Foreign Affairs, 4 May 2011, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/features/readinglists/what-to-read-on-bin-laden-and-al-qaeda (accessed 16 July 2011)). See Peter L. Bergen, Holy War, Inc: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001), The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al-Qaeda's Leader (New York: Free Press, 2006), and The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda (New York: Free Press, 2011). This is by no means an exhaustive list. Jason Burke, Bruce Hoffman, Brynjar Lia, Brian Jenkins, Daniel Byman, Quintan Wiktorowicz, Scott Atran, Assaf Moghadam, and Thomas Hegghammer, among others, have all written with great understanding and knowledge about Al Qaeda and jihadism. Curiously, Sageman's work does not make it onto Byman's canonical shortlist. For a useful and fair-minded synopsis, see Bergen, The Longest War (note 7 above), 201–206. See also, specifically, "Does Osama Still Call the Shots?: Debating the Containment of al Qaeda's Leadership," Foreign Affairs July/August 2008, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64460/marc-sageman-and-bruce-hoffman/does-osama-still-call-the-shots (accessed 30 March 2011). This exchange was provoked by Hoffman's review of Sageman's 2008 book Leaderless Jihad: see Bruce Hoffman, "The Myth of Grass-Roots Terrorism: Why Osama bin Laden Still Matters," Foreign Affairs May/June 2008, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/63408/bruce-hoffman/the-myth-of-grass-roots-terrorism (accessed 30 March 2011). Osama bin Laden's killing has reignited this debate: see Bruce Hoffman, "The Leaderless Jihad's Leader: Why Osama Bin Laden Mattered," Foreign Affairs, 13 May 2011, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67851/bruce-hoffman/the-leaderless-jihads-leader (accessed 19 May 2011). As of writing, Sageman has yet to reply to Hoffman's most recent challenge. For a helpful overview of the current debate and how bin Laden's death impacts on it, see Mary Habeck, "Bin Laden's death and the al Qaeda debates, part one, two and three," Foreign Policy, 16 May 2011, http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/blog/69526 (accessed 19 May 2011). Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004). Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (see note 10 above), 65. Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (see note 10 above), 70–72. The summary which follows is drawn from chapter 3 of Understanding Terror Networks and an article by Sageman, "Understanding Jihadi Networks," Strategic Insights 4, no. 4 (April 2005), http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/nps/sageman_apr05.pdf (accessed 27 March 2011). Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (see note 10 above), 92. Sageman, "Understanding Jihadi Networks" (see note 12 above). Ibid. Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (see note 10 above), 110, 121–124. Ibid., 96–98. Marc Sageman, "The battle for young Muslims' hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad," National Post, 7 July 2008, http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/07/07/marc-sageman-on-the-battle-for-young-muslims-hearts-and-minds-and-the-future-of-the-leaderless-jihad.aspx (accessed 6 March 2011). See also Marc Sageman, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 48–50. Ibid., 140. Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (see note 10 above), 76. Sageman, Leaderless Jihad (see note 18 above), 109–123. Ibid., 50. Ibid., 58. Ibid., 51. Ibid., 50. Ibid., 71, 133–136. Ibid., 89–108. Ibid., 90. See also Alex P. Schmid, "The Terrorism Threat in Europe," Paper presented at the Standards for Victims of Terrorism Conference, Tilburg University 10–11 March 2008, http://www.euforumrj.org/readingroom/Terrorism/SchmidTilburg2008presentation%208March%20doc.pdf (accessed 1 April 2011), 14–15. According to Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman, 2009 was "a watershed in terrorist attacks and plots in the United States." At least 43 American citizens or residents aligned with Sunni militant groups or their ideology "were charged or convicted of terrorism crimes in the U.S. or elsewhere, the highest number in any year since 9/11" (Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman, "Assessing the Terrorist Threat," A Report of The Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security Preparedness Group, 10 September 2010, http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/library/report/assessing-terrorist-threat (accessed 1 April 2011)). See esp. Edwin Bakker, "Jihadi Terrorists in Europe and Global Salafi Jihadis," in Rik Coolsaet, ed., Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalization Challenge in Europe (Ashgate: Aldershot, 2008), 69–84. The relevant citation is footnote 2 on page 50. See Ibid., 73–74. Ibid., 75. Ibid. Ibid., 78. Ibid., 79. Sageman, "Understanding Jihadi Networks," Strategic Insights 4, no. 4 (April 2005). Ibid. Ibid. Robert K. Merton, "Social Structure and Anomie," American Sociological Review 3, no. 5 (1938), 672, emphasis in original. For an illuminating description of subcultural theory in all its various guises, see Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Martin Robertson, 1980), i-xxxiv. Albert K. Cohen, Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang (New York: The Free Press, 1955), 12. Ibid., 13. Ibid., 18. Ibid., 25. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid., 25–26. Ibid., 26. Ibid. Ibid., 27. Ibid., 27–28. Ibid., 28. Ibid., emphasis in original. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid., 52. Ibid. Ibid., 53, emphasis in original. Ibid., 53–54. Ibid., 54. Ibid., 115. Ibid., 129. Ibid., 168. Ibid., 148. David Downes and Paul Rock, Understanding Deviance: A Guide to the Sociology of Crime and Rule Breaking, Fifth Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 124. See, for example, Jeff Ferrell, Keith Hayward, and Jock Young, Cultural Criminology (London: Sage, 2008). See esp. Keith Hayward, "Situational crime prevention and its discontents: rational choice theory versus the 'culture of now,'" Social Policy and Administration 41, no. 3 (2007): 232–250. See, for example, Willem De Haan Jaco Vos, "A Crying Shame: The Over-rationalized Conception of Man in the Rational Choice Perspective," in Theoretical Criminology 7, no. 1 (2003): 39–43. This article refutes the common assumption that street robbery is an instrument for acquiring material wealth. Far from it, De Haan and Vos argue: robberies are less about gaining material reward and more about creating a "ruthless" or "badass" self. C. A. J. Coady, "Defining Terrorism," in Igor Primoratz, ed., Terrorism: The Philosophical Issues (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 5. This point is brilliantly explored and developed in Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001). See also, more polemically, Max Abrahms, "What Terrorists Really Want: Terrorist Motives and Counterterrorism Strategy," International Security 32, no. 4 (2008): 78–105. See esp. Frances Stewart, "Global Aspects and Implications of Horizontal Inequalities: Inequalities Experienced by Muslims Worldwide," CRISE Working Paper No. 60, November 2008, http://www.crise.ox.ac.uk/pubs/workingpaper60.pdf (accessed 3 April 2011), 7–13; "Muslims in the European Union: Discrimination and Islamophobia," European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, 2006, http://www.fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/Manifestations_EN.pdf (accessed 3 April 2011), 44–59; and S. Mansoob Murshed and Sarah Pavan, "Identity and Islamic Radicalization in Western Europe," MICROCON Research Working Paper 16, August 2009, http://www.microconflict.eu/publications/RWP16_MM_SP.pdf (accessed 3 April 2011), 18–29. See esp. "Muslims in the European Union: Discrimination and Islamophobia" (see note 72 above), 60–89. Hence Timothy Garton Ash calls them "the Inbetween People" (Garton Ash, "Islam in Europe"; see note 2 above). See also Olivier Roy, "Al-Qaeda: A True Global Movement," in Rik Coolsaet, ed., Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalization Challenge in Europe (see note 30 above), 109; Tomas Precht, "Home grown terrorism and Islamist Radicalization in Europe: From Conversion to Terrorism," Report for the Danish Ministry of Justice, December 2007, http://www.justitsministeriet.dk/fileadmin/downloads/Forskning_og_dokumentation/Home_grown_terrorism_and_Islamist_radicalisation_in_Europe_-_an_assessment_of_influencing_factors__2_.pdf (accessed 2 April 2011), 42–43; and "Violent Jihad in the Netherlands: Current Trends in the Islamist Terrorist Threat," AIVD Report, 13 April 2006, http://www.fas.org/irp/world/netherlands/violent.pdf (accessed 2 April 2011), 36. See Rik Coolsaet and Tanguy Struye de Swielande, "Zeitgeist and (De-)Radicalization," in Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalization Challenge in Europe (see note 30 above), 169; and Olivier Roy, "Radical Islam Appeals to the Rootless," Financial Times, 12 October 2004. See Simon Cottee, "Mind Slaughter: The Neutralizations of Jihadi Salafism," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 33, no. 4 (2010): 330–352. Sageman himself uses Bouyeri and the Hofstad Group to which he belonged as an illustrative case-study of the third wave: see Marc Sageman, "The Next Generation of Terror," Foreign Policy, 19 February 2008, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2008/02/19/the_next_generation_of_terror (accessed 3 April 2011). See Ian Buruma, Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance (London: Atlantic Books, 2006), 189. Hannah Arendt, "Thinking and Moral Considerations: A Lecture," Social Research 38, no. 3 (1971). Ibid. Buruma, Murder in Amsterdam (see note 77 above), 200. Ibid. Ibid., 201. Ibid. Ibid., 205–206. Ibid., 208. Ibid., 32. Ibid., 121–122. The following biographical details can also be found in Albert Benschop, "Chronicle of a Political Murder Foretold: Jihad in the Netherlands," http://www.sociosite.org/jihad_nl_en.php (accessed 19 May 2011). Seyla Benhabib, "Unholy Wars," Constellations 9, no. 1 (2002): 43–44. See Robert K. Merton, "Social Structure and Anomie" (see note 40 above), 672–673. John Updike, Terrorist (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2006). James Wood, "Jihad and the Novel," The New Republic, 3 July 2006, http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/jihad-and-the-novel (accessed 3 February 2011). Bergen, The Longest War (see note 7 above), 246. Sageman, Leaderless Jihad (see note 18 above), 100. Sageman, Leaderless Jihad (see note 18 above), 20–23. Marc Sageman, "Hofstad Case Study and The Blob Theory," Theoretical Frames on Pathways to Violent Radicalization, ARTIS Research & Risk Modeling (August 2009), http://www.artisresearch.com/articles/ARTIS_Theoretical_Frames_August_2009.pdf (accessed 26 March 2011), 15. Martha Crenshaw, "The Psychology of Terrorism: An Agenda for the 21st Century," Political Psychology 21, no. 2 (2000): 405–420. I ought to mention, however, that in his most recent work, published online, Sageman has explored in greater and illuminating detail the broader socio-economic conditions behind what he calls the "utopian rejectionist counterculture" of jihadism in Europe (Sageman, "Hofstad Case Study and The Blob Theory.") Sageman, Leaderless Jihad (see note 18 above), 159–160. See Norman K. Denzin, The Research Act, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Aldine, 1978). See, notably, Ned Polsky, Hustlers, Beats and Others (Chicago: Aldine, 1967); Jock Young, The Drugtakers: The Social Meaning of Drug Use (London: MacGibbon and Kee/Paladin, 1971); Elijah Anderson, Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner City (New York: W. W. Norton, 1999); and Bill Buford, Among the Thugs: Face to Face with English Football Violence (London: Arrow, 1991). Jihadi web forums are perhaps less helpful in this respect, given the tendency of anonymous contributors to exaggerate. For this emphasis, see esp. the work of Richard Sparks and his colleagues: Evi Girling, Ian Loader, and Richard Sparks, Crime and Social Change in Middle England (London: Routledge, 2000); Marion Smith, Richard Sparks, and Evi Girling, "Educating Sensibilities: The Image of 'The Lesson' in Children's Talk about Punishment," Punishment and Society 2, no. 4 (2000): 395–415; and Richard Sparks, Evi Girling, and Marion Smith, "Children Talking about Justice and Punishment," International Journal of Children's Rights 8 (2000): 191–209. Wood, "Jihad and the Novel" (see note 92 above). Ibid. See Kareem Fahim, Richard Pérez-Peña and Karen Zraick, "From Wayward Teenagers to Terror Suspects," The New York Times, 11 June 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/nyregion/12suspects.html (accessed 7 February 2011). Alessa is referring here to Major Nidal Malik Hasan: the man accused of the mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas on 5 November 2009 (see Robert D. McFadden, "Army Doctor Held in Ft. Hood Rampage," The New York Times, 5 November 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/us/06forthood.html?ref=nidalmalikhasan (accessed 18 July 2011). Available at http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/06/06/alessa_mohamed_complaint.pdf (accessed 7 February 2011), 7. Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), p. xv. See, for example, Mohammed M. Hafez's perceptive analysis of jihadi martyrdom videos in Mohammed M. Hafez, "Martyrdom Mythology in Iraq: How Jihadists Frame Suicide Terrorism in Videos and Biographies," Terrorism and Political Violence 19, no. 1 (2007): 95–115. Robert F. Worth, "Their Space," The New York Times, June 25, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/books/review/25worth.html (accessed March 17 2011). Lorenzo Vidino, "Current Trends in Jihadi Networks in Europe," Terrorism Monitor 5, no. 20 (25 October 2007), http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4499 (accessed 2 April 2011). Sageman, "Hofstad Case Study and The Blob Theory" (see note 97 above), 18. And perhaps from elsewhere, too: Michael Burleigh fascinatingly—and bravely—points out in passing that jihadi martyrdom videos, with their explosive climaxes (the so-called "money-shot"), closely follow the narrative-structure of Western porn movies: see Michael Burleigh, Blood and Rage: A Cultural History of Terrorism (London: HarperCollins, 2008), 503. See, classically, Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson (eds.), Resistance through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (London: Hutchinson, 1976); Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London: Methuen, 1979); and Geoff Mungham and Geoffrey Pearson (eds.), Working Class Youth Culture (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976). See esp. Stanley Cohen's sympathetic but trenchant critique: Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics (see note 41 above), i-xxxiv. This is not a new line of criticism: see Stephen Schafer, The Political Criminal: The Problem of Morality and Crime (New York: The Free Press, 1974), 7. But alas, and as I shall argue below, it continues to remain a valid one. See Gabe Mythen and Sandra Walklate, "Criminology and Terrorism: Which Thesis? Risk society or Governmentality?," British Journal of Criminology, 46, no. 3 (2006): 379. See esp. the first and second sections of Stanley Cohen's superb collection of essays Against Criminology (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1988). This began, as Jock Young (1988) rightly points out, in 1968 with the creation of the National Deviancy Conference in York, UK (Jock Young, "Radical Criminology in Britain: The Emergence of a Competing Paradigm," in Paul Rock, ed., A History of British Criminology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), 159–183). The collective efforts of Austin Turk, Mark S. Hamm, Gary Lafree and Jeffrey Ian Ross ought to be singled out here. Mythen and Walklate, "Criminology and Terrorism" (see note 117 above). Ibid. For an insightful account of its development in the British context, see David Garland, "Of Crimes and Criminals: The Development of Criminology in Britain," in M. Maguire, R. Morgan, and R. Reiner, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 17–68. Sir Leon Radzinowicz, Adventures in Criminology (London: Routledge, 1999). John Horgan's research on disengagement from terrorism, which draws on the desistance literature in criminology, offers an excellent example of how this can be achieved (see John Horgan, Walking Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical and Extremist Movements (London: Routledge, 2009)). Additional informationNotes on contributorsSimon Cottee Simon Cottee is a lecturer in criminology and criminal justice at Bangor University.