Call for Conference Proposals: Moral Psychology of Terrorism: Implications for Security (At ECU, April 2012)

Call for Conference Proposals
Moral Psychology of Terrorism: Implications for Security
April 19-20, 2012
East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina, USA

The terrorism of the past decade has been driven by the interface of psychology,
morality, faith, religion, and politics. This modern terrorism reflects terrorists’ pursuit of
their beliefs and even aggressive promotion of the exclusivity of their world-views at the
expense of the lives of those who do not share them. In this sense, the act of terrorism
is fueled by arguments of morality and views that are rooted in the psyches and beliefs
of terrorists.

Recent terrorism, wherever it spreads, under the banner of major monotheistic religious
traditions or Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism,  brings into the forefront the need to
better understand the moral psychology of terrorism. This need is more critical in the
areas where youths might be recruited and socialized or ‘brain-washed’ by terrorist
leaders. The heinous events committed by terrorists and sympathizers against the
citizens of New York,  London, Madrid, Bombay, and various cities of Pakistan and
Afghanistan further emphasize the need to understand terrorists’ moral psychology.
Examination of the moral psychology of terrorism opens up new insights into security
issues. Indeed, a link between the psychology of terrorism and security analysis must be
made. That is to say, terrorism and anti-terrorism measures must not be restricted to
political and military plans. Rather, identifying and addressing terrorism and its
implications for security requires that scholars and politicians delve deeper into the
psyches of terrorists to avoid further insecurity.

This is the fourth conference in a series on morality and terrorism. The Organizing
Committee invites scholars of psychology, political science, security studies, philosophy,
theology and all other relevant disciplines to participate. If finances are available, a
selection of the conference contributions will be published in a volume with the working
title: Moral Psychology of Terrorism: Implications for Security Issues. Otherwise the
accepted papers will be published on the conference website as conference
proceedings.