Decoding Terrorism - An Interdisciplinary Approach to a Lone-Actor Case

"This Element is an interdisciplinary analysis of the language evidence produced before, during and following a lone-actor terrorism attack in Halle, Germany, on October 9, 2019, resulting in two casualties. During his final preparations, the perpetrator, twenty-seven-year-old Stephan Balliet, announced his attack online and disseminated a targeted violence manifesto shortly before live-streaming his premeditated act. This post-hoc investigation introduces a multi-method approach that synchronizes well-established qualitative methodologies for forensic text analysis - genre, text linguistics, appraisal and uptake - to elucidate these data types. Furthermore, a retroactive threat assessment based on language data from the trial transcripts provides a holistic review of the assailant's background, red flags, triggering events and warning behaviors that could have signaled his movements along the pathway to violence. The results are considered in an organizational context to highlight current challenges faced by security agencies when mitigating the risk of lone-actors who radicalize in online environments"--

List of contents

Prologue: online radicalization; 1. Introduction; 2. Methodology; 3. Rhetorical genre analysis; 4. Text linguistic analysis; 5. Stance analysis; 6. Retrospective threat assessment; 7. Lone-actor investigative challenges; 8. Contagion and copycat uptakes; Discussion; References.

Summary

This Element is an interdisciplinary analysis of language evidence from a lone-actor terrorism attack in Halle, Germany, involving Stephan Balliet. It uses a multi-method approach, including genre, text linguistics, appraisal, and uptake, to elucidate data and provide a review of the assailant's background, warning behaviors, and red flags.

Foreword

This Element analyses the Halle terrorism attack, text analyses, threat assessments, and organizational reviews for security authorities.

Product details

• Authors: Marie Bojsen-Møller, Tanya Karoli Christensen, Julia Kupper, Julia (Independent Researcher) Bojsen-Mlle Kupper, Marcus Papadopulos, Sharon Smith, Dakota Wing
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2024
• EAN: 9781009495721
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0949572-1
• No. of pages: 94
• Series: Elements in Forensic Linguistics
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General, Fascism & Nazism, Terrorism, armed struggle, Forensic Science, Psycholinguistics, Criminal or forensic psychology, Far-right political ideologies and movements, Psycholinguistics and cognitive linguistics