Members of the Boogaloo movement carry their weapons near the state Capitol on January 18, 2021 in Richmond, Virginia.

Growth of Extremist Groups Follows Mathematical Pattern: Study

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2021-05-27 07:30:02

Members of the Boogaloo movement carry their weapons near the state Capitol on January 18, 2021 in Richmond, Virginia. Photo by Eze Amos/Getty Images

Two distinct extremist groups, ISIS and the Boogaloo movement, would seem at first glance to share little in common other than a willingness to commit violence. Yet these groups emerge and grow online following a similar mathematical pattern, according to a new paper from researchers at George Washington University.

The paper proposes a “shockwave equation” that can be applied to a wide number of online groups to predict the point at which they experience sudden growth. The groups include ISIS, which comprises Islamic jihadists, and the Boogaloo movement, a loose collective of right-wing extremists advocating for a new civil war.

“You might think that because of their very different ideologies etc., and the fact that ISIS support was very focused while Boogaloos are diverse, the two movements, ISIS and Boogaloos, would behave very differently. But what we found is that, in fact, they follow the same mathematical blueprint in terms of their growth patterns,” Neil Johnson, a physics professor at George Washington University, told Defense One.