The Discursive Construction of Terrorist Group Identity

Kurzfassung/Abstract

The media coverage of terrorist acts has been the subject of numer-ous scientific studies. However, the terrorist groups’own communi-cation perspectives have not been thoroughly researched. Thefollowing article deals with terrorist groups and their use of websitesfor identity building. We examine the discursive construction ofterrorist group identity through critical discourse analysis (CDA).The CDA of online texts from websites of terrorist groups is basedon a five macro-strategy scheme. Our sample consists of six terroristgroups, with each group of two sharing different motivations: social-revolutionary, ethno-nationalist, or religious. All the groups analyzedare listed as terrorist organizations by the European Union. The CDAof 27 terrorist websites, purposively sampled, was conducted usingtwo coders per site. Through this analysis, the researchers drawconclusions on strategies employed by terrorist organizations inbuilding identity and how to counter their unregulated propaganda