Brief

<p>The World Government Summit welcomed the Director of Anthropology at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris Scott Atran in the last session of the tetralogy named The Psychology of Extremism. The session tackled the Islamic State movement specifically as a reflection of people&rsquo;s problems and as a reinforcement of the idea of whom and what they are.</p> <p>The great French polymath Andre Malraux said: &ldquo;The next century has to be religious or it will not be&rdquo;. People are sacrificing their lives and families for the sense of community and spirituality. The motive behind the willingness to fight is the sacred values which are reinforced in beliefs and transcended ideologies whether secular or religious. Over the years, religions were the driving force of around 7% of wars; however, they are intractable and lasted for a long time. Studies suggest that beliefs are empirically and logically inscrutable; they deepen trust, solidarity and binding of similar segments. They push people to act in a devoted framework rather than a rational framework. They push people to be immune to tradeoffs. Atran presented brain scans used to measure the physiological effect of these beliefs on people and their brains.</p> <p>Atran refered to the Islamic State revolution as a classic revolution that puts willingness to sacrifice for a belief in the hearts and minds of the people. It is founded by leaders who are highly educated, often scientists, and then directed to masses of people and later to communities. Later, he mentioned George Orwell&rsquo;s review of Mein Kampf and explains Hitler&rsquo;s understandings of human nature and human&rsquo;s need of sacrifice. This is what makes movements like the Islamic one succeed; their ability to offer what is missing however in a misguided form.</p> <p>How can we solve this problem? Success stories around the world have made it possible to create ideal examples on combating radicalization. Models like that of Amina Hoti&rsquo;s should be followed and the world should aim to do the same in order to combat such movements.</p>

Speakers

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