Breaking the Waves: How the Phenomenon of European Jihadism Militates Against the Wave Theory of Terrorism

Denys Proshyn

doi:10.1515/ipcj-2015-0007

Authors

Denys Proshyn Department of Political Science, Dnipropetrovsk Alfred Nobel University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1515/ipcj-2015-0007

Keywords:

the Wave theory of terrorism, the Fourth Wave terrorism, European homegrown jihadists, critique

Abstract

David Rapoport’s Wave theory of terrorism is one of the most oftencited theories in the literature on terrorist violence. Rapoport is praised for having provided researchers with a universal instrument which allows them to explain the origin and transformation of various historical types of terrorism by applying to them the concept of global waves of terrorist violence driven by universal political impulses. This article, testing the Wave theory against the recent phenomenon of homegrown jihadism in Europe, uncovers this theory’s fundamental weaknesses and questions its real academic and practical value.

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Author Biography

Denys Proshyn, Department of Political Science, Dnipropetrovsk Alfred Nobel University

Denys Proshyn, Ph.=D., is a historian by training but currently his interests lie in the fields of political science and sociology. He received a Candidate of Sciences degree from Dnipropetrovsk National University in 2001. His dissertation was devoted to the space policy of the Reagan administration (1981-89). From 2002 till present he works as Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science of Dnipropetrovsk Alfred Nobel University (DANU). He participated in the joint educational programme of DANU and University of Wales in 2011-13 and also took part in Cambridge Colleges Hospitality Scheme in 2013. Since 2012, he has been working on his Doctor of Sciences dissertation on democratic regimes’ responses to terrorism. Denys Proshyn is author of over 40 articles dealing with political violence, terrorism, counter-terrorism, mass culture and mass communication.

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