Large impoverished youth bulges supply recruits for civil wars and terrorism

Evidence

The age structure, intense competition for limited resources, and widespread social discontent makes young men ripe for recruitment for civil wars and terrorist activities. Large youth populations living under repressive, poverty-ridden conditions will continue to be a growing threat to international security. … Worsening this problem, water sources are shrinking as the demand by soaring human numbers outstrips the supply. The depletion of aquifers and of river flows from shrinking glaciers will spawn growing regional conflicts over the allocation of water from sources crossing national borders (Brown, 2007). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2570 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

If terrorism is to be defeated worldwide, societies must address the life conditions that drive people to take up deadly terroristic missions. This is a daunting challenge not amenable to quick fixes. More advantaged individuals who have been alienated and radicalized by embittering experiences in their efforts to promote the social changes they desire usually spearhead militant activism (Bandura, 1973; Sprinzak, 1990). In cultural milieus that hail suicide bombers as gaining blessed martyrdom, this mode of terrorism is institutionally embraced and socially applauded as divine retribution for the humiliation and suffering inflicted by the enemy (Lelyveld, 2001). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2502 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Massive Arab youth job-market entry will strain political systems; Youth bulges above 20 percent of a group’s population trigger nationalist insurgencies.; Large repressed impoverished youth populations fuel civil war and terrorism recruitment — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2570 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Large repressed impoverished youth populations fuel civil war and terrorism recruitment #corroborates (0.97) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2570
• Terrorism recruits advantaged, radicalized idealists, not just the impoverished #complicates (0.85) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2502