The phenomenon of lone-wolf terrorism is an interesting one because it challenges one to attempt to understand the motivation of a person to commit a violent criminal act knowing of the severe consequences. The main trait of every lone-wolf terrorist is the ability to sacrifice themselves for a greater cause in order to advance their position. These causes are often political, as demonstrated by the example of Vera Zazulich, a Russian woman who attempted to assassinate a local governor who engaged in a harsh treatment of student activists (Moskalenko & McCauley, 2011).
Taking into consideration the fact that lone terrorists always act in the name of a certain idea or movement, it is also reasonable to assume that they possess a certain group identification. When they feel that their group is in danger or being unfairly treated, they can sacrifice themselves in order to retaliate. Finally, there is also a factor of strong reciprocity, which entails the desire to punish those who do not comply with the group’s rules (Moskalenko & McCauley, 2011). Thus, lone-wolf terrorism is always driven by the wish of an individual to punish or retaliate.
Lone-wolf terrorist attacks occur every year, one of the recent ones is the Christchurch Mosque shooting in 2019. The shooter named Brenton Tarrant live-streamed his attack on the mosque, where he killed more than forty people (Gelineau, 2019). In his manifesto, Tarrant stated that in his act, he was motivated by the desire to revenge white victims of Islamist terrorist attacks in Europe (Gelineau, 2019). Additionally, as a white supremacist, he opposed mass immigration and decided to carry out an attack as a way to show to Muslims that it was not safe for them to live in historically white-majority countries. The example of Tarrant shows his strong group identification with white supremacists and the subsequent willingness to sacrifice himself to punish and retaliate.
References
Gelineau, K. (2019). Mosque shooter a white nationalist seeking revenge. AP News. Web.
Moskalenko, S., & McCauley, C. (2011). The psychology of lone-wolf terrorism. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 24(2), 115–126. Web.