Identifying Terrorist Narrative and Counter-Narratives: Embedding Story Analysts in Expeditionary Units

This project sought to understand how terrorist organizations like al Qaeda used narratives to influence contested populations — people who were not for them but not against them — in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia to support their cause. CSC collected an analyzed thousands of extremist texts an identified a number of narratives themes from history and Islamic scriptures that they would use to frame present day events and legitimize their actions. The project won the HSCB Program's Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievements and Contributions in 2011. 

Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism

Lundry, C., Corman, S.R., Furlow, R. B., & Errickson, K. W. (2012). Cooking the books: Strategic inflation of casualty reports by extremists in the Afghanistan conflict. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 35 (5), 368-381.