The over-arching theme of this Fellowship is ‘The role of ideology, belief and commitment in motivations, justifications and catalysts for action in the face of uncertainty’. It aims to provide coherence for the Global Uncertainties programme (GU), enable research to be consolidated across several core areas, make interdisciplinary links between researchers, and draw in a range of external stakeholders. Whilst being central to the GU core area of ‘Ideologies and Beliefs‘, this theme is also relevant to the core areas of ‘Terrorism’, ‘Transnational Organised Crime’ and ‘Cybersecurity’, and to other areas of uncertainty and instability in relation to globalisation, financial markets and climate change.

Although sometimes overlooked or marginalised in scientific research, ideologies and beliefs often feature prominently in personal and group accounts of decision-making either as causal drivers or as explanations for the actions that follow.  Examples include the role of Islamist beliefs in radicalisation and terrorism, and the culture war being fought in the US courts on evolution versus creationism. Even in cases where actions seem to be motivated by expediency, power or financial and/or territorial gain, ideologies and beliefs may underpin material interests, may be offered as justifications or may contribute to a broad canvas of different influences. Ethnic commitments and loyalties, for example, may partly explain participation in organised crime. Nationalist political beliefs may be part of a suite of causes behind gun-running, computer hacking or money laundering.

This 30-month Fellowship brings together researchers and non-academic stakeholders in a programme of activities and events to showcase and identify new applications for research contributing to this theme. It also encompasses a more focused research project, on ‘Ideological commitment, boundary making and sacralisation in radical views and threats of violence’. It starts in February 2013 and runs until July 2015.

Objectives

The Fellowship addresses the following broad research questions:

How are ideologies, beliefs and commitments employed in decision-making and subsequent public actions, both violent and non-violent, in the face of risk and uncertainty?  In particular, what role do they play in people’s motivations and the justifications they give for the choices they make? What are the relationships between various types and levels of ideology, belief and commitment and the move to such actions?

In addition, in reviewing existing research and bringing together academic and non-academic stakeholders, it focuses on two practical challenges:

• In what ways can the role of ideologies, beliefs and commitments best be represented, conceptualised and modelled such that it is able to contribute to more rounded and reliable research on global uncertainties?
• What needs to done to ensure that ensuing concepts, models and resources make a contribution to policy and practice on issues relating to global uncertainty, such as terrorism, cybersecurity, financial risk, regional instability etc?