Radicalization

Research Briefs are short, engaging and accessibly written descriptions of the results of TSAS-funded research projects, focusing on top-level conclusions and policy relevance.

Research Reports are longer, evidence-based, policy-relevant scholarly analyses on topics related to terrorism, security, and society, broadly defined, that touch on Canada, Canadian issues in comparative context, or global issues of interest to a Canadian audience.

Working Papers are scholarly analyses of various lengths that provide analysis based on TSAS-funded research projects. We are no longer accepting submissions for this series.

RESEARCH BRIEF

The Khalistan Movement and Its Impact in Canada

The Sikh separatist movement — Khalistan — peaked in the 1980s and early 1990s in Punjab, India. The idea of Khalistan is complex and multi-layered and rooted in India’s colonial past, specifically in the 1947 partition of India, the political and religious conflicts post-partition, and a variety of incidents in the 1980s, in particular Operation…

RESEARCH BRIEF

The Parallel Threat: Political Framing and Right-Wing Extremism in Canada and the United States

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, drastic measures were taken to secure the US homeland, as well as to curtail what was understood as an imminent and transnational threat: Islamist-inspired terrorism (IIT). Political decision-makers immediately tightened the borders, erected new security agencies, adopted sweeping antiterrorism legislation, and initiated the wars in Afghanistan and…

RESEARCH BRIEF

Weak Personal Ideals Incline Proud People Towards Religious Radicalization in Anxious Circumstances

This research brief describes results of our experimental and correlational studies conducted between 2011 and 2019 on how weak personal ideals, high self-esteem, and uncertain circumstances combine to cause states conducive to aggressive religious radicalization. Despite theoretical speculation about the importance of these variables since the middle of last century, only scattered empirical research has…

WORKING PAPER

“One-man war”: A History of Lone-actor Terrorism in Canada, 1868-2018

Using primary source material obtained through archives and other open sources, this working paper examines, through a series of qualitative case studies, nineteen lone-actor terrorist attacks that occurred in Canada across a 150-year period, specifically between 1868 and 2018. The next section addresses methodological issues, including in connection to definitions. That is followed by an…

Working Paper Title 2020
RESEARCH REPORT

Preparing Professionals to Dialogue about Extremism and Radicalization: A look at the ERC programs at McGill University and University of Quebec in Montreal

Historically, extremist groups from religious and far-right organizations have been active across Canada. In the last few years, the situation in Quebec has been particularly alarming (Amarasingam and Tiflati 2015; Dwivedi 2017; Zine 2019). According to Ministere de la securite publique (2016), between 2013 and 2014, religious-based hate crimes against Jewish people, Muslims, and unspecified…

Working Paper Title 2019
RESEARCH REPORT

Meanwhile in Canada: anti-Muslim ordinary racism and the banalization of far-right ideology

Aurélie Campana (Université Laval) et Samuel Tanner (Université de Montréal) This paper focuses on the public discourse of extra-parliamentary far right groups in Canada. It analyses how these groups shape discourses on Muslims and Islam in an attempt to influence public debates on core far right issues, such as immigration. It argues that more subtle…

Working Paper 2018 Title
WORKING PAPER

Linguistic and Narrative Trends Among Islamic State Videos and Magazines

This study applies the semi-automated method of sentiment analysis to magazines and videos that have been produced by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) in order to determine what thematic narratives are prevalent within this propaganda and how consistent these narratives are between the platforms of magazines and videos. The data for this study included 28…

Working Paper 2018 Title
WORKING PAPER

Duped: Why Gender Stereotypes are Leading to Inadequate Deradicalization and Disengagement Strategies

In narratives around insurgencies, terrorism, and other forms of armed political violence, the media -and policymakers- frequently portray women as victims or unintelligent pawns of men. Occasionally, when a women has a direct role in a violent act, she will receive more in-depth attention, with various often salacious details reported by the media about her…

Working Paper 2018 Title
WORKING PAPER

Trajectories of Radicalized Females in Montreal

In February 2016, it was reported that 10-12 young females– from varied religious and secular families – who lived in Canada and had been educated in Canadian schools had left for Syria. Of these, at least five Canadian women had conceived children in ISIS territory (Cain 2016, Hopper 2016) and were thus contributing to raising…

Working Paper 2016 Title
WORKING PAPER

Talking to Foreign Fighters: Socio-Economic Push versus Existential Pull Factors

The research acquired primary data through interviews with foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, the families and friends of such fighters, and other online supporters of jihadism, to better understand the process by which these fighters radicalized and their motivations for travelling to Syria or Iraq. Between mid-2014 and early 2016 130 interviews were completed…

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