Ideology is a powerful message that motivates and propels ordinary human beings into action. Ideology, a dynamic and an evolving brief system, is created by the interpretation of events by ideologues.
Ideology, not poverty or illiteracy, is the key driver of politically motivated violence.2 Ideology frames organizational structure, leadership and membership motivation, recruitment and support, and shapes the strategies and tactics adopted by the group.
Jihadi ideologues and group leaders craft their ideology by interpreting, reinterpreting or misinterpreting religion and politics. Ideology is used to attract and retain recruits as members, supporters and sympathizers.
The personal history and worldview of an individual may make him or her more or less susceptible to a particular terrorist or extremist ideology.
Using ideology, contemporary Jihad groups recruit followers from a cross- section of society – the rich, the poor, the educated and the less educated.
To generate both recruits and support, they indoctrinate their potential and existing support base. Ideology is inculcated by disseminating it in the form of information or propaganda using lectures, speeches, pronouncements, writings, etc.
To counter the threat posed by a group, its operational infrastructure must be dismantled and its conceptual infrastructure eroded. As terrorism is a vicious by-product of ideological extremism, government and society must develop an ideological response to make it difficult for terrorist groups to replenish their human losses and material wastage.
