The Individual Disengagement of Avengers, Nationalists, and Jihadists

Drawing on a range of hitherto unknown first-hand data, this book is the first of its kind to offer an explanation of the motivations of various types of militants -- avengers, nationalists, and jihadists -- to abandon violence. Empirically, this book problematizes the established view of North Caucasian militants as a monolithic category of 'Islamic terrorists.' Theoretically, it points out that distinct types of insurgents are variously resilient to external and internal pressures to disengage. The study posits that stronger adherence to ideology, higher lethality rates, indiscriminate violence, disclosed identities, interrupted social links, and stronger group membership render jihadists, followed by nationalists, and in contrast to avengers, the less likely category of militants to seek individual disengagement. -- Provided by publisher