Why children may be coveted by terrorist groups and what to do about it.

Reviews the book, Small Arms: Children and Terrorism by Mia Bloom and John Horgan (2019). In this book, Bloom and Horgan examine how children come to be involved in terrorist organizations, adopting a social-ecological model. They specifically attempt to expand collective understanding of terrorist groups’ motivations for targeting children, the social conditions leading children to become mobilized, and their roles within these organizations. One of the most compelling claims in Small Arms is that children are not merely instruments of these groups. Rather, they are conscious agents who respond to organizational recruitment based on their circumstances. While the book lacks a single, cohesive methodological strategy, this organizational decision has nevertheless allowed the authors to extrapolate an interesting and nuanced analysis of this multifaceted topic (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Source: Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research