Islamist Terrorism and Militancy in Indonesia
The Power of the Manichean Mindset
Authors: Ramakrishna, Kumar
- Approaches the study of Indonesian terrorism and militancy from a bold and fresh inter-disciplinary perspective
- Provides a provocative new framework for understanding the stubborn resilience and adaptive capacity of violent Islamist terrorism and militancy in Indonesia
- Suggests how violent Islamist terrorism and militancy in Indonesia could be effectively neutralized through targeted policy interventions in the counter-narrative space
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- About this book
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Drawing upon insights from the natural and social sciences, this book puts forth a provocative new argument that the violent Islamist threat in Indonesia today derives its stubborn resilience from being in essence a complex, adaptive and self-organizing system – or what some specialists might even call a super-organism. The book challenges the popular assumption that ideology is the root cause that explains why Indonesian Islamists radicalize into violent extremism. In addition it addresses why despite years of intense security force pressure, seemingly disparate militant cells keep ‘popping up’ like the proverbial hydra - and in the apparent absence of a centralized coordinating body, nevertheless appear to display an organic interconnectivity with one another. Going beyond standard ideological mantras the book argues that fresh inter-disciplinary thinking is needed to cope with the constantly mutating violent Islamist challenge in Indonesia, and puts forth a comprehensive strategy for doing so. It will be of interest to academics and students of terrorism, religion and violence in the Southeast Asian region.
- About the authors
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Kumar Ramakrishna is Associate Professor and Head of the Centre of Excellence for National Security at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has been a frequent speaker on counter-terrorism before local and international audiences, a regular media commentator on the issue and published in numerous internationally refereed journals. He has co-edited two well-received books on counter-terrorism, The New Terrorism: Anatomy, Trends and Counter-Strategies (2002) as well as After Bali: The Threat of Terrorism in Southeast Asia (2004). His first major book, Emergency Propaganda: The Winning of Malayan Hearts and Minds, 1948-1958, (2002) was described by The International History Review as “required reading for historians of Malaya, and for those whose task is to counter insurgents, guerrillas, and-terrorists”. In May 2012, his most recent book, Radical Pathways: Understanding Muslim Radicalization in Indonesia (2009), was identified by Perspectives on Terrorism as one of the top 150 books on terrorism and counter-terrorism as well as “an important and insightful case study on the pathways to extremism and violent jihad in Indonesia”.
- Reviews
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"A few books are a „must-read“ for everyone who specializes in Islamism and militancy, but also looks for broader explanations of human behaviour. Kumar Ramakrishna's „Islamist Terrorism and Militancy in Indonesia – The Power of the Manichean Mindset“ is one of these books. ... The book is excellently written and opens up new thought-venues on the emergence of political violence. ... It is highly interesting to read, not only for experts, but also for a broader audience who are looking for a well explained overview of the social mechanisms that lead to the formation of groups and socio-collective identities, and from this vantage point to group-violence." (Dr. Philipp Holtmann, historian, author, scholar of Middle-East-Studies, April 2015)
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Islamist Terrorism and Militancy in Indonesia
- Book Subtitle
- The Power of the Manichean Mindset
- Authors
-
- Kumar Ramakrishna
- Copyright
- 2015
- Publisher
- Springer Singapore
- Copyright Holder
- Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
- eBook ISBN
- 978-981-287-194-7
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-981-287-194-7
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-981-287-193-0
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-981-10-1256-3
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- X, 269
- Topics
