USING SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS TO INFORM AN EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO COUNTER RADICAL ISLAMIC GROUPS IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (VERLT) by radical Islamic groups is a significant issue in Indonesia: their objective is to change the republic of Indonesia to an Islamic state and to enforce Islamic law as the only law in Indonesia. Their strategy is to build a network to diffuse radical Islamic ideology within Indonesian communities. The Indonesian government works hard to counter VERLT. However, its approach is not maximizing its understanding of its network and should leverage network analysis. This thesis examines how the Indonesian government can better counter VERLT using social network analysis (SNA). This thesis uses case study analysis to assess the effectiveness of the Indonesian government’s effort in countering VERLT. Next, this thesis examines the networks of Indonesian radical Islamic groups and identifies their narrative with SNA and semantic network analysis. It finds that the radical Islamic groups in Indonesia effectively utilized their networks to spread VERLT, especially using social media. This thesis recommends the Indonesian government to develop hybrid kinetic and non-kinetic strategy to disrupt the network of radical Islamic groups and counter VERLT.