Additional information
by Ajit Maan (Author)
Understanding and harnessing the persuasive powers of narrative is central to U.S. and international counter-terrorism efforts. There is an urgent need to understand the narrative tactics of terrorist recruitment and an equal if not greater need to destabilize and exploit the weaknesses of those narratives.
Maan makes a connection, unique to terrorism studies, between the mechanisms of colonizing narratives and psychological warfare aimed at the recruit. The power of both relies on misidentification, both types of narratives encourage individuals to take actions contrary to their best interests, and both are insidious: they are continued internally without the implementation of external physical force.
While these narrative strategies have been powerful, Maan makes the argument, also unique to terrorism studies, that certain types of compositional structures lend themselves to manipulation and the weakness of those structures can be exploited from a security standpoint.
Author Biography
Ajit Maan, Ph.D. is a security and defense policy analyst and a specialist in narrative strategies in radicalization processes. She is faculty at Union Institute and University's Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program as well as George Mason University's Center for Narrative Conflict Resolution, and is member of The Brain Trust of the Weaponized Narrative Initiative at Arizona State University. She is the author of Internarrative Identity: Placing the Self, Counter-Terrorism: Narrative Strategies, and Co-Editor of Soft Power on Hard Problems: Strategic Influence in Irregular Warfare. Her articles have appeared in Foreign Policy, The Strategy Bridge, Small Wars Journal, Real Clear Defense, Stars and Stripes, The Indian Defense Review, Indian Military Review, Defense and Intelligence Norway, and other policy and military strategy journals.
