Engineers of Jihad

[oblong]

Abstract. We find that graduates from subjects such as science, engineering,
and medicine are strongly overrepresented among Islamist movements in the
Muslim world, though not among the extremist Islamic groups which have
emerged in Western countries more recently. We also find that engineers alone
are strongly over-represented among graduates in violent groups in both
realms. This is all the more puzzling for engineers are virtually absent from
left-wing violent extremists and only present rather than over-represented
among right-wing extremists. We consider four hypotheses that could explain
this pattern. Is the engineers’ prominence among violent Islamists an accident
of history amplified through network links, or do their technical skills make
them attractive recruits? Do engineers have a ‘mindset’ that makes them a
particularly good match for Islamism, or is their vigorous radicalization
explained by the social conditions they endured in Islamic countries? We
argue that the interaction between the last two causes is the most plausible
explanation of our findings, casting a new light on the sources of Islamic
extremism and grounding macro theories of radicalization in a micro-level
perspective.

http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambe...of%20Jihad.pdf

[Schmedlap]

For what it's worth, every interpreter or upper-middle class individual or former/current government official whom I encountered, if they had a college degree, had one in science, engineering, or medicine. If this is representative of the population at large, then it does not seem a stretch that a subset of that population will share some characteristics.

Noticing this trend early on, I asked an interpreter why it is that engineering was such a common degree. He offered two explanations. First, it is useful. You can get employment in many different areas of government - both military and general bureaucrat. Second, it is more familiar. Iraqis generally do their own electrical work, build their own homes, install their own plumbing. An education in engineering seems familiar and a logical extension of this existing knowledge.

[Tom Odom]

The title "engineer" holds more weight culturally in the Middle East than does "Doctor" as in medical doctor. I fould that to be true across the region from Egypt tp Lebanon and south into Sudan. It was especially true in Egypt as part of the "Pyramid Complex". So in looking at the number of engineers invloved in extremism it is likley that you would find a larger if not the largest number of particpants to hold some sort of engineer background. That does not establish a causal relationship.

Best

Tom

[kehenry1]

One of the factors in why so many Islamists have a higher education, to go along with how "engineers" are viewed and their possible desirability for recruiting, in countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, religious education is mandatory in order to complete the curriculum and receive a diploma.

These are not "electives" where people "self select" for this education. It is a requirement, much as math and science are. I have not studied the Egyptian universities, yet, but I do wonder if religious indoctrination is either mandated or considered necessary through peer pressure.

Since engineering is almost a quarter of all students in these universities, it stands to reason that engineers would be the most representative of the educated Islamists.

[wondertk]

The distinguished Islamic scholar Khalid Duran notes of this phenomenon in the the engieering profession that there is a saying in Egypt, "The Muslim Brotherhood is really the Engineering Brotherhood." Duran states that the phenomenon is the result of engineers, being schooled in the hard sciences, having been trained to not exercise their fantasy or imagination. So they graviate toward less than poetic forms of religious belief--Islamic fundamentalism. I could go on at length about all the radicalized engineers at my university. We have had multiple arrests in Tampa Bay, and the majority of the indicted and/or convicted have been either professors or students of engineering.

[SteveMetz]

The distinguished Islamic scholar Khalid Duran notes of this phenomenon in the the engieering profession that there is a saying in Egypt, "The Muslim Brotherhood is really the Engineering Brotherhood." Duran states that the phenomenon is the result of engineers, being schooled in the hard sciences, having been trained to not exercise their fantasy or imagination. So they graviate toward less than poetic forms of religious belief--Islamic fundamentalism. I could go on at length about all the radicalized engineers at my university. We have had multiple arrests in Tampa Bay, and the majority of the indicted and/or convicted have been either professors or students of engineering.

My theory is just that engineers as a rule are crazy. That's what I keep telling my younger brother who are one.

In the Algerian insurgency, pharmacists were over represented. I do think there is something about being torn between the culture of science and the culture of religion that causes personal turmoil which, for a tiny portion of people, manifests itself in violence. The violent are punishing the world for their own internal turmoil.

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to: http://www.schneier.com/blog/

From the UK a starkly contrasting editorial: http://www.newscientist.com/article/...of-terror.html and the article itself, which cover other issues e.g. data mining: http://www.newscientist.com/article/...he-making.html

A good summary of the issues in profiling potential terrorists IMHO, although the stats are not readily followed.

One comment on the blogsite I liked: I expect that there is something which makes prospective terrorists become engineers, rather than something which makes engineers become terrorists.

davidbfpo

[Surferbeetle]

The original paper from the Oxford Sociology Department, Paper Number 2007-10 , by Diego Gambetta and Steffon Hertog, Engineers of Jihad

David,

Thanks for the link, while it's certainly something to consider, my biased take on things would be to try and run the ratio of troublemakers to those who have who have been of help to society.

The Oxford study identified 78 individuals who studied 'engineering' (their definition is a bit loose) out of a group of 178 members of 'violent islamist groups' whose educational efforts (completed or not) could be identified. US Department of Labor says that in 2006 there were 1.5 million employed engineers in the US alone. In the UK 800,000 individuals are counted as employed engineers. I would further add that the drop out rates in engineering school are not pretty...

As I ponder the merits of this particular study I will continue to enjoy my chilled beverage made with clean water fresh from my electrically powered refrigerator while sheltered inside my structurally sound residence while....



Best,

Steve

[davidbfpo]

Assembling a profile continues to elude academics and practioners. There are some useful hints scattered around in the literature, which is what I would class the 'engineers' articles.

What I did find interesting was the description of a prolonged German data mining investigation to identify potential terrorists - which failed. A marked contrast to hunting down the Baader-Meinhof gang in Hamburg in the 1970's, when a data search identified utilities being paid for in cash and swiftly then their hideout(s).

After London and Glasgow attacks by in the 'Doctors Plot' any profile had to consider medical doctors.

davidbfpo

[William F. Owen]

• Assembling a profile continues to elude academics and practioners.
• After London and Glasgow attacks by in the 'Doctors Plot' any profile had to consider medical doctors.

The assumption that you can assemble a profile would have to reside in the idea that profiles were indicative or political/religious beliefs. How do you find out if someone is a secret communist? Profiles are more a search tool, than indicative of any form of prediction. Profiles cannot tell you who is a terrorist and who is not. Profiles just fine tune the search.

To quote a training manual I saw once, "A profile without a subject is like key without a door."

[slapout9]

How do you find out if someone is a secret communist? Profiles are more a search tool, than indicative of any form of prediction. Profiles cannot tell you who is a terrorist and who is not. Profiles just fine tune the search.

To quote a training manual I saw once, "A profile without a subject is like key without a door."

That is exactly what they are, a search tool. It was designed to be used after a crime(s)to find the person who did it when you had little or nothing else to go on but the suspects behavior.