Project Details
This project is a follow-up to previous START-supported work by McLeod. See The Role of the Media in the Recruitment of Terrorists: Mass Communication and the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Muslims in Indonesia.
The Hizbut Tahrir radical organization does not appear to have the capability of accomplishing its transnational goal of reestablishing a caliphate; thus, its membership tends to be somewhat transient. The Muslim Brotherhood appears more capable and its influence is more stealthy. More investigation is needed on this transnational organization.
Qualitative, comparative case studies of small groups associated with radical Muslim groups in three national contexts—Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and Hizb ut-Tirir (HT) in Indonesia, MB and HT in the United Kingdom, and the American Muslim Council in the United States (considered by many to be the “U.S. Muslim Brotherhood”). Data for the case studies will be collected through field work involving interviews with group leaders, group members, and journalists in each context. In addition, the research team will analyze the communication of groups in each context, looking at websites, pamphlets, books, and public discourse at rallies.