ABSTRACT
The identity maintenance is the fundamental motivation of terrorism that is supported by several facts revealed by research and analysis. The facts are: most terrorists have significant vulnerabilities in their personal and/or collective identity; most terrorists have few alternative ways of establishing and maintaining a substantial sense of self; and many terrorists are heavily invested in identity contents that entail violence. The facts also include: being terrorist and engaging in terrorist activities provides numerous opportunities for enacting and being recognized for key identity contents in all three registers are masculinity, toughness, and domination; and terrorists’ ideation and actions embody numerous identity-supporting defences. War-entailing identity factors include: threats to the integrity of certain identity contents, especially threats seen as coming from another nation; the embodiment of malignant identity contents—contents entailing war, violence, conflict, or competition; and recognition through engaging in war.
