Domestic Terrorism and Behavioral Change

Whereas domestic terrorism has been highly associated with The behavioral change approach is also used to explain the spread of religious terrorism, and it can be addressed. The United States, like Europe, has witnessed a growing number of domestic terrorism resulting from religious beliefs. According to the perpetrators, killing other people to defend one’s religion is (Wilner & Dubouloz, 2010). Subsequently, any religious terrorism is done to protect or expand religious beliefs. The perpetrators are emotionally and mentally motivated with a set of beliefs to orchestrate violence against those they believe oppose their faith. Many varied issues of Islamic violence can prompt them to kill other individuals (Wilner & Dubouloz, 2010). A lack of political homogeneity also catalyzes the radicalization process leading to terrorism. People unwilling to fit into the broader political society align themselves with smaller social groups and form a network that grows into homegrown terror groups in the United States (Wilner & Dubouloz, 2010).

Current studies have explored numerous issues explaining domestic violence’s emergence, spread, and occurrence resulting from religious radicalization. Psychosocial trauma and complicated interpersonal relations are some reasons that lead to religious radicalization and violence (Rink & Sharma, 2016). Another cause of violence based on the literature review is extreme interpretations of the Quran that ‘push” believers to become extremists. Also, the existing social media platforms act as a ground for religious radicalization and extremist influence (Venkatraman, 2007). The authors use various theories to explain the occurrence and spread of domestic violence and religious radicalization. The ideas discussed include social relations theory, social learning theory, behavioral change theory, and rational choice theory. Most of the studies are qualitative and quantitative, and thus, there is a need for policy evaluation studies to understand how they relate to terrorism. Again, none of the studies focuses on the strain theory, which can explain why terrorism occurs and the reasons for religious radicalization among various groups (Venkatraman, 2007). Therefore, the focus of the study will be to explore the influence of strain theory on domestic terrorist radicalization.