Overview

Recent events, including the rise of the Islamic State and its overt recruitment of Western women, have once again brought the issue of women participating in terrorist organizations to the forefront. Yet much remains to be understood about why women join terrorist organizations and why groups choose to incorporate them into their structures and operations. Women in Modern Terrorism, which draws from a unique dataset compiled over a decade, tackles these questions and analyzes women's inclusion in terrorist organizations since the beginning of modern terrorism, covering both religious and ethno-nationalist terrorism and conflict. The text opens with a discussion of the definition of terrorism before examining key issues, such as how and why women join terrorist groups, what women's inclusion in terrorist organizations reveals about the nature and longevity of both the groups and the conflicts, the future of women's role in terrorist organizations and attacks (particularly given the rise of new terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq), and the types of attacks women perpetrate and how they compare across groups. By looking at case studies, including Hizballah, Chechnya, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shaabab, and more, this text shows that women's inclusion in various terrorist organizations is largely a pragmatic choice by the group. It also highlights the cross-pollination of ideas between differently motivated groups. All these issues, along with the role of the media and the Internet in radicalization and recruitment processes, are explored to provide an exhaustive account of the many roles for women in terrorist groups today.

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9781442274976

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This is a well-written, empirically-based account of the role of women in modern terrorism. * Perspectives on Terrorism * Women in Modern Terrorism is a well-structured and well-written book.... The book is accessible enough for readers with a general interest in the topic to benefit from.... The main strength of Women in Modern Terrorism is its comparative approach.... Davis sharply analyses existing literature and common perspectives on women and terrorism and political violence.... Women in Modern Terrorism provides a well-written overview of key debates in the field of terrorism studies and will provide a useful summary to the reader aware of the book's limitations. * The London School of Economics and Political Science Review of Books * Davis follows excellent leads and develops a database of women involved in conflicts involving jihadi movements from Chechnya to Nigeria to Sri Lanka and beyond.... The book has a crisp, clear logical structure and uses a large database of terrorist events (known as the Women in Terrorist Incidents database). One of the other aspects that Davis is successful in highlighting is the way in which ideas filter between these groups providing them with some commonality and enabling them to remain unique within their context. * Politics, Religion & Ideology *

This is a well-written, empirically-based account of the role of women in modern terrorism. Perspectives on Terrorism

Author Information

Jessica Davis is an Ottawa-based writer and researcher who has worked in government for more than fifteen years in various departments, including the Department of National Defence, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.

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