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Radicalization as a reaction to failure: An economic model of Islamic extremism

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  • Mario Ferrero

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Abstract

This paper views Islamist radicals as self-interested political revolutionaries and builds on a general model of political extremism developed in a previous paper (Ferrero, 2002). Extremism is modelled as a production factor whose effect on expected revenue is initially positive and then turns negative, and whose level is optimally chosen by a revolutionary organization. The organization is bound by a free-access constraint and hence uses the degree of extremism as a means of indirectly controlling its level of membership with the aim of maximizing expected per capita income of its members, like a producer co-operative. The gist of the argument is that radicalization may be an optimal reaction to perceived failure (a widespread perception in the Muslim world) when political activists are, at the margin, relatively strongly averse to effort but not so averse to extremism. This configuration is at odds with secular, Western-style revolutionary politics but seems to capture well the essence of Islamic revolutionary politics, embedded as it is in a doctrinal framework. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11127-005-5792-2
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Springer in its journal Public Choice.

Volume (Year): 122 (2005)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 199-220

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Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:122:y:2005:i:1:p:199-220

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Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=100332

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References

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  1. Grossman, Herschel I, 1999. "Kleptocracy and Revolutions," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 267-83, April.
  2. Mario Ferrero, 2004. "Revolution or Reform? Socialism’s Dilemma as Rational Choice Problem," Homo Oeconomicus, Institute of SocioEconomics, vol. 21, pages 251-282.
  3. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1997. "Toward an Economic Theory of "Fundamentalism"," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 153(1), pages 100-, March.
  4. Iannaccone, Laurence R, 1992. "Sacrifice and Stigma: Reducing Free-Riding in Cults, Communes, and Other Collectives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 271-91, April.
  5. Ferrero, Mario, 1999. "A model of political enterprise," POLIS Working Papers 9, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
  6. Grossman, Herschel I, 1991. "A General Equilibrium Model of Insurrections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(4), pages 912-21, September.
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Cited by:
  1. Elie Appelbaum, 2008. "Extremism: Root Causes and Strategic Use in Conflicts," Working Papers 2008_02, York University, Department of Economics.
  2. Elie Appelbaum & Eliakim Katz, 2005. "Political extremism in the presence of a free rider problem," Working Papers 2005_3, York University, Department of Economics.
  3. Ottone, Stefania & Ponzano, Ferruccio & Ricciuti, Roberto, 2007. "Simulating voting rule reforms for the Italian parliament. An economic perspective," POLIS Working Papers 88, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
  4. Ferrero, Mario, 2008. "The triumph of Christianity in the Roman empire: An economic interpretation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 73-87, March.
  5. Addison, T. & Murshed, S.M., 2002. "Transnational terrorism as a spillover of domestic disputes in other countries," ISS Working Papers - General Series 1765019130, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University (ISS), The Hague.
  6. Panu Poutvaara & Andreas Wagener, 2010. "The invisible hand plays dice: multiple equilibria in sects markets," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 483-502, December.
  7. Elie Appelbaum, 2006. "Strategic extremism," Working Papers 2006_12, York University, Department of Economics.
  8. Addison, Tony & Murshed, S. Mansoob, 2002. "Transnational Terrorism as a Spillover of Domestic Disputes in Other Countries," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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  1. Radicalisation in Wikipedia (French)

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