International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 1, No. 1, 2010 53
Another very important factor to take into
account in the bonding to terrorist groups, but
not to cults, is the feelings of rejection, hate, and
even revenge, which can be harboured by
individuals toward the enemy through blaming it
for the injustices, privations, or traumatic
experiences that they have suffered, seen, or
they assume to have been suffered by their
people or friends and family (Merari, 2007 Post,
2006). An ex-member of the terrorist group
GRAPO explains some of factors that
encouraged him to join the group in the
following terms: “ideologizing, immaturity, lack
of understanding, fanaticism, the messianism,
and the hate that can lead twenty-year-old youth
on the road toward terrorism” (Novales, 1989, p.
238).
The diversity of cults and terrorist groups means
that we must take with caution any
generalization of their traits. When each group is
analysed independently, it is more possible that
there are some other common traits in the
members that define them in terms of, for
example, level of studies, socioeconomic level,
or where they are from. When we look at a
specific terrorist group, we find many
ideological prior coincidences in its members,
which in the case of a cult are not so evident,
where there is usually more diversity in terms of
ideological background. Herein lies an important
difference between cults and terrorist groups.
While the people who join a terrorist group
share beforehand an ideology or doctrine (to
some extent), those joining a cult usually have a
greater ideological diversity of origin. This
means that entering a cult involves an important
and often radical ideological resocialization and
change of habits and lifestyles, to the extent that
we can talk of a process of conversion.
However, the resocialization that entails joining
a terrorist group especially affects habits and
lifestyles, and represents a lower level of
ideological transformation. If the terrorist group
needs to some degree to guide, re-adapt, or
indoctrinate ideologically the new member
before he/she can form part of the group, this
information will be a good indicator of the use
of the mechanisms of recruitment and
submission that is typical of cults.
Methods of Influence and Abuse Used by
Groups
As has just been noted, both joining a terrorist
group and a cult involve a process of
resocialization, which usually has more
importance in the case of cults because what is
entailed is a full conversion to a new doctrine
and way of life. It is also assumed that this
phenomenon of conversion, which takes place in
the cults we are looking at here, is a
phenomenon that to a great extent is induced
from the outside by the members of the cult
itself, through the decisive influence they can
have on the new member. Among terrorist
groups, however, there are groups that are
supplied by a reserve of possible candidates who
have already been socialized in terms of
ideology and militancy of a similar nature. This
is the case of ETA, where the people who join
up, in addition to having created their own
corpus of ideals, have usually already passed
through different prior stages that have brought
them closer to the group, including probably the
practice of psychological terrorism or violence
of persecution toward those considered as
enemies, along with involvement in street
violence. That is, those who join a terrorist
group usually undergo prior socialization, at
least of an ideological and doctrinal type, in the
social environment of the group, in what could
be considered as the social base of the group,
through social movements or doctrinal groups
close to the thesis of the group itself. A question
to be considered here is to what extent do these
movements or doctrinal groups who are situated
in the social or ideological base of the terrorist
group act as agents of proselytism and
recruitment for the group itself, which are more
or less controlled and directed by this? In order
to answer this question, it is necessary to
investigate how these communicating vessels are
formed in each case.
We shall now look at the role of terrorist groups
in terms of their internal dynamics, rather than
their acts of barbarity toward the exterior. We
shall study whether to any extent terrorist groups
employ strategies of psychological influence or
abuse toward their members to encourage their
recruitment and/or submission to the group, as is
postulated in the case of cults. To this end, we
Another very important factor to take into
account in the bonding to terrorist groups, but
not to cults, is the feelings of rejection, hate, and
even revenge, which can be harboured by
individuals toward the enemy through blaming it
for the injustices, privations, or traumatic
experiences that they have suffered, seen, or
they assume to have been suffered by their
people or friends and family (Merari, 2007 Post,
2006). An ex-member of the terrorist group
GRAPO explains some of factors that
encouraged him to join the group in the
following terms: “ideologizing, immaturity, lack
of understanding, fanaticism, the messianism,
and the hate that can lead twenty-year-old youth
on the road toward terrorism” (Novales, 1989, p.
238).
The diversity of cults and terrorist groups means
that we must take with caution any
generalization of their traits. When each group is
analysed independently, it is more possible that
there are some other common traits in the
members that define them in terms of, for
example, level of studies, socioeconomic level,
or where they are from. When we look at a
specific terrorist group, we find many
ideological prior coincidences in its members,
which in the case of a cult are not so evident,
where there is usually more diversity in terms of
ideological background. Herein lies an important
difference between cults and terrorist groups.
While the people who join a terrorist group
share beforehand an ideology or doctrine (to
some extent), those joining a cult usually have a
greater ideological diversity of origin. This
means that entering a cult involves an important
and often radical ideological resocialization and
change of habits and lifestyles, to the extent that
we can talk of a process of conversion.
However, the resocialization that entails joining
a terrorist group especially affects habits and
lifestyles, and represents a lower level of
ideological transformation. If the terrorist group
needs to some degree to guide, re-adapt, or
indoctrinate ideologically the new member
before he/she can form part of the group, this
information will be a good indicator of the use
of the mechanisms of recruitment and
submission that is typical of cults.
Methods of Influence and Abuse Used by
Groups
As has just been noted, both joining a terrorist
group and a cult involve a process of
resocialization, which usually has more
importance in the case of cults because what is
entailed is a full conversion to a new doctrine
and way of life. It is also assumed that this
phenomenon of conversion, which takes place in
the cults we are looking at here, is a
phenomenon that to a great extent is induced
from the outside by the members of the cult
itself, through the decisive influence they can
have on the new member. Among terrorist
groups, however, there are groups that are
supplied by a reserve of possible candidates who
have already been socialized in terms of
ideology and militancy of a similar nature. This
is the case of ETA, where the people who join
up, in addition to having created their own
corpus of ideals, have usually already passed
through different prior stages that have brought
them closer to the group, including probably the
practice of psychological terrorism or violence
of persecution toward those considered as
enemies, along with involvement in street
violence. That is, those who join a terrorist
group usually undergo prior socialization, at
least of an ideological and doctrinal type, in the
social environment of the group, in what could
be considered as the social base of the group,
through social movements or doctrinal groups
close to the thesis of the group itself. A question
to be considered here is to what extent do these
movements or doctrinal groups who are situated
in the social or ideological base of the terrorist
group act as agents of proselytism and
recruitment for the group itself, which are more
or less controlled and directed by this? In order
to answer this question, it is necessary to
investigate how these communicating vessels are
formed in each case.
We shall now look at the role of terrorist groups
in terms of their internal dynamics, rather than
their acts of barbarity toward the exterior. We
shall study whether to any extent terrorist groups
employ strategies of psychological influence or
abuse toward their members to encourage their
recruitment and/or submission to the group, as is
postulated in the case of cults. To this end, we
