Who is a terrorist? Exploring the utility of interdisciplinary fields

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss the dilemma of terrorism as a political phenomenon that many political scientists care about; however, they find themselves incapable of explaining some of its aspects and they resort to other disciplines. The second part of the dilemma is related to the incapabilit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of economics & political science : REPS 2020-03, Vol.5 (2), p.149-161
Main Author: Zahra, Heba Mohamed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aggression
interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary aspects
Narcissism
Psychologists
psychology
Self esteem
social identity
Social psychology
Society
Suicide bombings
Terrorism
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Summary:PurposeThis paper aims to discuss the dilemma of terrorism as a political phenomenon that many political scientists care about; however, they find themselves incapable of explaining some of its aspects and they resort to other disciplines. The second part of the dilemma is related to the incapability of well-established disciplines to provide political scientists with much help. This raises the following question: Will political scientists be able to enhance their knowledge of terrorism with the help of scholars from consolidated and well-established disciplines or with the help of scholars from interdisciplinary fields?Design/methodology/approachThis research depends on the main theories of psychology and of social psychology and adopts a comparative approach to assess the effectiveness of both disciplines in providing political scientists with the knowledge they lack.FindingsIn spite of being a well-established and consolidated discipline, psychology is not the perfect discipline that can help political scientists know who a terrorist is. Social psychological theories of aggression provide political scientists with greater ability to understand what psychological and sociological factors motivate a person to turn to aggression and terrorism. Moreover, social psychology developed the “terror management theory” which clarifies various aspects of the phenomenon.Originality/valueThis research paper calls the attention of scholars of terrorism to the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach to understand the various aspects of a complex phenomenon such as terrorism. The interdisciplinary field adopted will differ according to the research question that a researcher needs to answer.
ISSN:2356-9980
2631-3561
DOI:10.1108/REPS-07-2019-0100