John Horgan (political psychologist)

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John G. Horgan
Johnhorgan.jpg
Born1974 (age 4546)
Known forExpert on the psychology of terrorism
Academic background
Alma mater University College Cork
Academic work
Discipline Psychology
Sub-discipline
Institutions
Main interests
Website terroristbehavior.com

John G. Horgan (born 1974) is a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. He studies involvement and engagement with terrorism, with a focus on disengagement and deradicalisation from terrorist movements. He has been described by the European Eye on Radicalization research group as the "world’s most distinguished expert in the psychology of terrorism". [2] Since 2019, Horgan has been leading a team of researchers funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to research the incel subculture. [3] [4]

Contents

Life and education

Horgan is a native of Castleisland, County Kerry, in the Republic of Ireland. [5] Horgan was awarded his Ph.D. in applied psychology in 2000 by University College Cork. [1] While in Ireland, he spent several years conducting detailed research on Irish Republican movements, and published several articles on the fundraising activities of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.[ citation needed ]

Research and teaching

Horgan is a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University, where he leads the Violent Extremism Research Group. [3] He has previously held positions at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, [6] Pennsylvania State University, [7] and the University of St Andrews. [8] While at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell he directed their Center for Terrorism & Security Studies; [9] while at Pennsylvania State University, he directed for their International Center for the Study of Terrorism. [7]

In 2006, Horgan became a recipient of an Airey Neave Trust Fellowship Award, [10] and he has since been awarded multiple grants for his research on terrorist behaviour. In 2010, following his consultancy work with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), he was appointed to the Research Advisory Board of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) until its official disbandment in 2012. [7] In August 2012 he became a member of the new NCAVC Research Working Group. [1]

In 2019, Horgan and a group of researchers at Georgia State University were awarded $250,000 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to research the growth and spread of the incel subculture, a group that Horgan described as "one of the purest hotbeds of Internet radicalisation I’ve ever seen". [3] [4]

Writing and editing

Horgan has extensively researched involvement and engagement in terrorism. [1] Some of his research on this subject was published in the journals Terrorism and Political Violence , Studies in Conflict & Terrorism , The Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict. [11] Horgan has written several books on terrorism, including The Psychology of Terrorism (2005 and 2014), Divided We Stand: The Strategy and Psychology of Ireland's Dissident Terrorists (2012), and The Future of Terrorism (1999, with Max Taylor). [11] Horgan is editor of the journal Terrorism and Political Violence. [1] He serves on the editorial boards of several journals including Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, [12] Journal of Strategic Security , [13] and Legal and Criminological Psychology . [14]

Books

Related Research Articles

Terrorism intentional violence for political purposes

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Counter-terrorism Activity to defend against or prevent terrorist actions

Counter-terrorism, also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practice, military tactics, techniques, and strategy that government, military, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or prevent terrorism. Counter-terrorism strategy is a government's plan to use the instruments of national power to neutralize terrorists, their organizations, and their networks in order to render them incapable of using violence to instill fear and to coerce the government or its citizens to react in accordance with the terrorists' goals.

Roger Griffin British historian

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Christian terrorism comprises terrorist acts which are committed by groups or individuals who profess Christian motivations or goals. Christian terrorists justify their violent tactics through their interpretation of the Bible, in accordance with their own objectives and worldview. These interpretations are typically different from those of established Christian denominations.

A lone actor, lone-actor terrorist, or lone wolf is someone who prepares and commits violent acts alone, outside of any command structure and without material assistance from any group. They may be influenced or motivated by the ideology and beliefs of an external group and may act in support of such a group. In its original sense, a "lone wolf" is an animal or person that generally lives or spends time alone instead of with a group.

Terrorism in Canada is a list of terrorist acts committed in Canada. Some acts of terrorism are related to external events and nationalities. Others, such as the FLQ crisis in the 1960s, are related to internal tensions within the country.

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Radicalization is a process by which an individual or group comes to adopt increasingly radical political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that reject or undermine the status quo or contemporary ideas and expressions of the nation. The outcomes of radicalization are shaped by the ideas of the society at large; for example, radicalism can originate from a broad social consensus against progressive changes in society or from a broad desire for change in society. Radicalization can be both violent and nonviolent, although most academic literature focuses on radicalization into violent extremism (RVE). There are multiple pathways that constitute the process of radicalization, which can be independent but are usually mutually reinforcing.

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The Norwegian Front was a neo-fascist extraparliamentary political party in Norway founded in 1975, led by Erik Blücher as fører. Following a bomb attack by an activist from the party, the NF was dissolved in 1979 and succeeded by the National People's Party, which itself was dissolved in 1991 after several leading members had received long prison sentences. The NF had around 1,400 members at its peak.

Incels, a portmanteau of "involuntary celibates", are members of an online subculture who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one. Discussions in incel forums are often characterized by resentment, misogyny, misanthropy, self-pity and self-loathing, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex, and the endorsement of violence against sexually active people. The American nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center described the subculture as "part of the online male supremacist ecosystem" that is included in their list of hate groups. Incels are mostly male and heterosexual. Many sources report that incels are predominantly white, although a group of researchers have argued that there is no definitive proof to support this claim. Estimates of the overall size of the subculture vary greatly, ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "John Horgan". College of Arts & Sciences. Georgia State University. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  2. Horgan, John (20 November 2018). "An Interview with Dr. John Horgan – Terrorism, Psychology, and Major Issues in the Field" (Interview).
  3. 1 2 3 Reetz, Noelle Toumey (26 June 2019). "Grant Will Fund Research Into Growing Male Supremacist Subculture Online". Georgia State University News. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  4. 1 2 Culver, Jordan (21 May 2020). "A Canadian teenager has been charged with terrorism inspired by the online 'incel' movement. What is an 'incel?'". USA Today . Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  5. "John Horgan on Islamic Terrorism on TV3 Tonight at 10pm". The Maine Valley Post. 12 October 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  6. Shane, Scott (25 June 2015). "Homegrown Extremists Tied to Deadlier Toll Than Jihadists in U.S. Since 9/11". New York Times . Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 "Director of Penn State's ICST appointed member of FBI board". Penn State News. 3 June 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  8. "Terrorism expert to head Intl. Center for the Study of Terrorism". Penn State News. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  9. Horgan, John G. (2 March 2015). "Can Science Solve Terrorism? Q&A with Psychologist John Horgan" (Interview). Interviewed by John Horgan. Scientific American.
  10. "Walking Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical and Extremist Movements". Airey Neave Trust. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  11. 1 2 "John Horgan". Google Scholar Citations. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  12. "Studies in Conflict & Terrorism Editorial Board". Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  13. "Editorial Board". Journal of Strategic Security. University of South Florida Tampa Library. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  14. "Legal and Criminological Psychology Editorial Board". Wiley Online Library. Retrieved 25 May 2020.