The Individual Risk Assessment of Terrorism: Recent Developments

This chapter synthesizes the existing evidence base on the individual risk assessment of terrorism, focusing critical attention on recent developments in the identification of valid risk factors. The most promising candidates for such risk factors identified here include ideologies, affiliations, grievances, moral emotions, and identities. Risk factors for lone-actor terrorism may diverge significantly from those for group-based terrorism. The chapter also reflects on what must happen if research on the risk assessment of terrorism is to yield knowledge that is actionable in the context of national security, i.e., the use of case-control, known-groups research designs.

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