Five steps in the evolution of terrorism

Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of violence or the threat of violence initiated by a state or non- state actors against objects, events, or either unarmed or unsuspecting groups or individuals with the intent to achieve a political goal through coercion or efforts to instill fear within a target population. While this definition is not exhaustive, it offers sociological approaches to understanding terrorism. Politically and religiosity are the main differences between persons and states that hinder the international community from devising a universal definition. There is no single answer to where, when, why of terrorism but the history of terrorism in waves offered by David Rapoport gives sociological macro indulgent of four periods including the Anarchist (1870s-1920), Nationalist/Liberation (1920-1960), New Left Internationalism (1960s-1980s), and Religious/Nationalist (1979-present) as waves. Considering terrorism at the forth front of producing terrorist in a circular continuum provides social reasoning to a chaotic phenomenon or as Austin Turk states, “terrorism is not a given in the real world but is instead an interpretation of events and their presumed causes” (2004).
Socializing Agents
The social environment influences potential terrorists by the friendships, kinships, and other relationships with the world. These socializing agents create, in a sense, a culture favorable to the radical ideal. Family, friends, and other social institutions have a lot of influence on an individual and often shape his or her views on life. They create and also drive the social and political environment in which an individual lives and thrives. Often an idea or concept is placed in the thoughts of an individual by a conversation or other social interaction with a friend or family member. “[… the act the act of joining a jihadist organisation such as al-Qaeda stems from the individual making an unintentional friendship with a person who has radical jihadists' views”. De la Corte explains that sometimes a person incidentally becomes friends with a person who has influential radical views that spear the individual’s social process into becoming a terrorist. As we are now seeing in recent history, religion is beginning to play a part in the socialization of a terrorist. Radical extreme views of one group or individual from a religious institution can lead to the same views being held by the individual creating a pathway to terrorism.
Recruitment
Social movements and groups are ways for an individual to connect with others that have the same views. Together with such things as demonstrations or protests, the individual along with the movement prepare to act and spread their views. Recruitment into a group or movement gives the individual a larger social network along with materials to further strengthen his or her ability to act and demonstrate. Looking at Afghanistan as an example, many people who went there did not go to be a part of Al- Qaeda but instead went for religious, political, or personal reasons. Politically, many people who went to Afghanistan between 1999 and 2001, wanted to fight in Chechnya, but were sent to Afghanistan instead. This was just one example of many of how people ended up in Afghanistan and were placed in an area where they could be recruited and entered into a terroristic system. Terrorist Recruitment and Radicalization in Saudi Arabia. Retrieved from ). The main point of the example is to show that an individual is entered into a movement or group because of an ideal or worldview, but can later be coordinated into other activities. All that is needed is recruitment into a certain group.
Radicalization
A majority of the description of these five steps in an evolution of terrorism can be explained sociologically. Radicalization however is the exception to the rule being strictly psychological. “The conversion of socialized people into dedicated combatants is not achieved by altering their personality structures, aggressive drives, or moral standards. Rather, it is accomplished by cognitively restructuring the moral value of killings, so that the killing can be done free from self censuring restraints”
Bandura explains that the terrorist, generally speaking, is a logical being measuring cost-benefit analysis of terrorism. An individual joins or belong to a group or an activist organization. It is not until the individual is inside the group that a faction, already established and radicalized inside the activist group, attempts to radicalize the individual. The individual’s passion for the movement is excited and exploited which lead to his radicalization. They are radicalized by dehumanizing the perceived enemy and through cognitive message reconstruction they are made to believe they are acting for the greater good, rather than committing evil.
Reproduction and Socialization
Reproduction and socialization comes after radicalization because it is radicalism's enforcer. Reproduction refers to the continuation of terrorism as a strategy, while socialization refers to establishing an environment accepting of terrorism. Essentially, reproduction and socialization serve two purposes; one, maintain the radical extremism currently embraced by active members, and secondly, create a social habitus conducive and sympathetic to terrorists. This is an important step because without it, motivation decay and the terrorists groups would be forced to fight a simultaneous war against attrition as they dwindled to numbers more easily handled by counter-terrorism agencies. Subsequently, without a general support of the population, terrorist organizations find themselves despised rather than praised.

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