The role of ideology, belief and commitment in motivations, justifications and catalysts for action in the face of uncertainty

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The over-arching theme of this Leadership Fellowship is 'The role of ideology, belief and commitment in motivations, justifications and catalysts for action in the face of uncertainty'. It will provide coherence for the Global Uncertainties Programme (GU), enable research to be consolidated across several core areas, make interdisciplinary links between researchers, and draw in a range of external stakeholders. Whilst being central to the GU core area of 'Ideologies and Beliefs', this theme is also relevant to the core areas of 'Terrorism', 'Transnational Organised Crime' and 'Cybersecurity', and to other areas of uncertainty and instability in relation to globalisation, financial markets and climate change. Although sometimes overlooked or marginalised in scientific research, ideologies and beliefs often feature prominently in personal and group accounts of decision-making either as causal drivers or as explanations for the actions that follow. Examples include the role of Islamist beliefs in radicalisation and terrorism, and the culture war being fought in the US courts on evolution v. creationism. Even in cases where actions seem to be motivated by expediency, power or financial and/or territorial gain, ideologies and beliefs may underpin material interests, may be offered as justifications or may contribute to a broad canvas of different influences. Ethnic commitments and loyalties, for example, may partly explain participation in organised crime. Nationalist political beliefs may be part of a suite of causes behind gun-running, computer hacking or money laundering. This 30-month Fellowship brings together researchers and non-academic stakeholders in a programme of activities and events to showcase and identify new applications for research contributing to this theme. It also encompasses a more focused research project, on 'Ideological commitment, boundary making and sacralisation in radical views and threats of violence'. The Leadership Fellow (50%) will be joined by a full-time research assistant, and an administrative officer who will work one day a week helping to organise programme activities.A series of events - aimed to present research projects and to build relationships between researchers and stakeholders - will be organised, including a showcase and networking meeting, two joint UK/North America seminars, schools workshops, a Question Time event, a project symposium, and conference sessions. Collaborating with researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and other stakeholders, the Fellowship team will prepare an interdisciplinary review (on the research theme), policy briefings and forward scans, and resumés and learning resources for a wider public including teachers and young people. In their own research project, in case studies of ideological movements, the team will analyse the connections between 'sacred' claims, boundary-making, strategies of othering, and threats of violence and violent action. They will examine how these are expressed and enacted in the discourses and spatial practices of both religious and non-religious groups (including Islamist and far right movements). They will build on their earlier work, which produced a matrix of markers of extremism. This matrix will now be developed further and applied in an examination of different ideologies and their potential for violence. A key aim of the project is to work with stakeholders to translate the matrix into a resource that can be applied by policy makers, think tanks and other public and private sector bodies researching and assessing issues of risk, security and global instability.The team will contribute resources to the Global Uncertainties website, and will maintain and further develop two other relevant websites that they currently edit, www.radicalisationresearch.org and www.movingpeoplechangingplaces.org, using these as vehicles to disseminate GU research to policy makers, journalists and a wider public.