Other nations have borne the brunt of the latest terrorist threats more than Canada. With the notable exception of the bombing of Air India flight #182 in 1985, we have yet to experience a mass casualty attack. Yet many have been prosecuted for terrorism offenses in Canada and about 180 (2016) Canadians have travelled abroad to participate in various terrorist activities. For Canadians, as well as elsewhere, the burning question is why would our own citizens turn against us with such deadly intent and force? These symbolic and real attacks on the core values and institutions of our society, by our own citizens, are strange and unsettling.
Since the tragic events of 9/11 research into terrorism, and the process of radicalization by which people become terrorists, has expanded exponentially. Much has been learned and diverse models of the process of radicalization have been framed. Yet as is widely recognized , the acquisition of reliable knowledge has been handicapped by a number of interrelated problems, including:
- the lack of appropriate primary data
- difficulty coping with the heterogeneity of types of terrorism
- difficulty explaining why so few people revert to terrorism when many people share the experiences associated with its onset, and
- disagreements over the nature, relative significance, and implications of the political, religious, socio-economic, and other motivations for terrorism
TSAS seeks to encourage, guide, and support original Canadian research into extremism and terrorist activity, and even more the process of radicalization leading to violence, in ways that will address and help to overcome these limitations and lay the foundations for a more sound and effective Canadian response to terrorism and its consequences. To this end we advocate taking a more sophisticated, comprehensive, multidisciplinary, and comparative approach, one which better utilizes, develops, and integrates the findings of political science, sociology, criminology, social-psychology, psychology, history and religious studies. But also research that takes into consideration the policy needs and objectives of the Canadian government.