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Home > Open Access Journals > JSS > Vol. 12 > No. 4 (2019)

 

Author Biography

Mohammadmoein Khazaeli Jah is a law-graduated journalist from the University of Science and Culture in Tehran, Iran. He also holds a master’s degree in Criminology as well as Political Science from Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden, with focus on terrorism.

moeinkhazaeli@gmail.com

https://twitter.com/moein_kh

Ardavan Khoshnood is an MD and PhD in Emergency Medicine at Lund University in Lund, Sweden, from which he also holds a bachelor’s degree in Intelligence Analysis. He is a Criminology lecturer at Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden, from which he also holds a master’s degree in Political Science.

ardavan.khoshnood@med.lu.se

https://twitter.com/ardavank

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.12.4.1736

Subject Area Keywords

Counterterrorism, Europe and EU, Fundamentalism, Ideology, Law enforcement, National security, Radicalization, Religious violence, Terrorism / counterterrorism, Violent extremism

Abstract

Lone-actor terrorism is a growing threat in Western European countries as the numbers of lone-actor terrorist attacks have multiplied over the last 15 years. However, knowledge on this type of terrorism is insufficient. This current study evaluates whether there are any common personal, social, psychological, and operational characteristics among lone-actor terrorists (LATs) and whether any profile can be drawn in regard to a lone-actor terrorist. The authors identified 36 LATs between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2016, in Western European countries through the Global Terrorism Database. The study profiled these LATs regarding their sociodemographic characteristics, attack characteristics, method of radicalization, ideology, modus operandi, and typology. Findings of this study show that lone-actor terrorism in Western Europe has undergone new changes, and although there is no single unique profile for LATs, there are common characteristics that warrant further studies.

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