Lorne Dawson: The Role of Religion in Radicalisation

Talking Terror

Dr. Dawson is a Full Professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies and the Department of Religious Studies. He has served as the Chair of both departments. He has published three books, four edited books, and sixty-nine academic articles and book chapters. Until 2008 most of his research was in the sociology of religion, in particular the study of new religious movements. Since then terrorism has become the primary focus of his research, in particular the process of radicalization leading to violence. In 2012 he co-founded the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS). He is the current Project Director (see www.tsas.ca) of this partnership. TSAS operates with funds competitively awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Public Safety Canada, Defence Research and Development Canada, and other organizations. Dr. Dawson regularly makes invited presentations to a wide variety of government, academic, and public groups about various aspects of terrorism and counter-terrorism, and is frequently interviewed by the media on these topics. He also has been involved in the supervision of over thirty PhD students. Three of Lorne's publications: Lorne L. Dawson, “Discounting Religion in the Explanation of Homegrown Terrorism: A Critique,” in James R. Lewis, ed., Cambridge Companion to Religion and Terrorism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017: 32-45. Lorne L. Dawson, “Sketch of a Social Ecology Model for Explaining Homegrown Terrorist Radicalisation,” The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague 8, no.1 2017. DOI: 10.19165/2017.1.01. Lorne L. Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “Talking to Foreign Fighters: Insights into the Motivations for Hijrah to Syria and Iraq,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Vol. 40, No. 3, 2017: 191-210. DOI 10.1080/1057610X.2016.1274216. Three publications that influenced Lorne: Martha Crenshaw, “The Subjective Reality of the Terrorist: Ideological and Psychological Factors in Terrorism.” In Robert O. Slater and Michael Stohl, eds., Current Perspectives on International Terrorism. London: Macmillan Press, 1988: 12-46. Quinton Wiktorowicz, Radical Islam Rising: Muslim Extremism in the West. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005. Simon Cotteem and Keith Hayward, “Terrorist (E)motives: The Existential Attractions of Terrorism.” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 34 (12), 2011: 963-986.