This summer, START will be launching a new project designed to examine the characteristics of counties in the United States that experience the highest (and lowest) levels of extremist violence, including terrorism. A multidisciplinary research team comprised of faculty from the University of Maryland, as well as Bryn Mawr College, Dartmouth College, John Jay College (CUNY), Michigan State University, University at Albany (SUNY), University of Arkansas, and University of Oklahoma, will work together to specify the degree to which extremist violence has occurred in each of the 3143 counties in the United States.
The project will also identify the geographic areas from which perpetrators of extremist violence have come and where terrorist groups have based their operations. Building on past theoretical and empirical research, the Terrorism and Extremist Violence in U.S. Counties (TEVUS-C) project will explore how levels of extremist violence relate to other characteristics, including non-violent activities and rhetoric associated with extremist ideologies, the presence and integration of ethnic minorities, hate-crime activity, and general quality-of-life, as measured by consideration of economic well-being, community health, public trust, and robustness of civil society.
This research effort will generate new understandings about which types of geographic areas have experienced and given rise to violent extremism in the past, how those trends have shifted over time, and which counties might be vulnerable to violent radicalization in the future. The project is designed to be a three-year study, and is being supported by the Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division, Science and Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Research Team:
- Kathleen Smarick, University of Maryland, Co-Principal Investigator
- Victor Asal, University at Albany, SUNY
- Steven Chermak, Michigan State University
- Kathleen Deloughery, University at Albany, SUNY
- Kevin Fitzpatrick, University of Arkansas
- Ryan King, University at Albany, SUNY
- Sophia Moskalenko, Bryn Mawr College
- R. Karl Rethemeyer, University at Albany, SUNY
- Paxton Roberts, University of Arkansas
- Kathleen Sherrieb, Dartmouth College
- Brent Smith, University of Arkansas