Study of Iraq fighters reveals what makes people prepared to die for a cause
When Islamic State (ISIS) launched its attack on Mosul in 2014, they were outnumbered by opposition forces by almost 40 to one – yet ISIS took the city. Now a group of scientists working on the frontline in Iraq have analysed what motivates such fighters in research they say could help combat extremists. While predicting the will to […]Nicola Davis writes for The Guardian:
When Islamic State (ISIS) launched its attack on Mosul in 2014, they were outnumbered by opposition forces by almost 40 to one – yet ISIS took the city. Now a group of scientists working on the frontline in Iraq have analysed what motivates such fighters in research they say could help combat extremists.
While predicting the will to fight has been described by the former US director of national intelligence James Clapper as “imponderable”, researchers say they have begun to unpick what leads members of groups including Isis to be prepared to die, let their family suffer or even commit torture, finding that the motivation lies in a very different area to traditional ideas of comradeship.
“We found that there were three factors behind whether people were willing to make these costly sacrifices,” said Scott Atran, co-author of the research from the University of Oxford and the research institution Artis International.
