Browsing by Author "Bockholt, Megan"

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Social media and the Islamic State : understanding the motivations for jihadi brides : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Defence and Security Studies at Massey University, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2020) Bockholt, Megan
This thesis examines the motivations of women who joined the Islamic State after engaging with the terrorist organisation and their supporters on social media. Public social media posts made by Aqsa Mahmood and Hoda Muthana, two western women who joined the Islamic State in 2013 and 2014, are analysed through the theoretical framework of social identity theory to determine the factors that drove them to depart for Syria to become wives and mothers for the Islamic State. From here, these common trends are considered in terms of contemporary countermeasures designed to counter terrorist recruitment on social media, to consider how effective these might have been in preventing the Islamic State's recruitment of women online.