State-Sponsored Social Control of Illegitimate Social Movements: Strategies Used to Financially Damage Radical Islamic,Terrorist-Labeled Organizations

This article documents strategies and tactics of social control used by the U.S. government to detect and deter financing of radical Islamic, terrorist-labeled organizations. Through grounded theory, social control strategies were identified based on data from congressional committee hearings from 1999 to 2011. Findings revealed the presence of nine such strategies: (1) discover sources of funding, (2) deny or restrict access to money, (3) establish information networks and communication norms, (4) create derogatory labels, (5) influence the media, (6) impose legal sanctions, (7) offer financial incentives, (8) construct a shared collective identity, and (9) force terrorist-labeled organizations on the defensive.