01581nas a2200229   4500000000100000008004100001260001400042653001400056653001300070653000900083653001900092653002700111653001700138653001400155653001200169100001700181700002100198245007600219300001000295490000700305520103900312       2017                            d  cFall 201710acaliphate10aInternet10aISIS10aradicalization10arelational development10asocial media10aTerrorism10aTwitter1 aSarah Ponder1 aJonathan Matusit00aExamining ISIS Online Recruitment through Relational Development Theory  a35-500 v163 a<p>This paper applies the theory of relational development to exam¬ine how the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) recruits new members. Relational development postulates that individuals follow relationship stages in order to reinforce their interpersonal communication or social bond. The relational development model includes five main stages, called the five stages of relationship escalation, or the “coming together” stages. These consist of initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, and bonding. Overall, the authors of this analysis found that ISIS can success-fully recruit many people – particularly male and female youth – thanks to stage-by-stage relational development through internet chat rooms and social network sites (SNSs) like Twitter. By the same token, the authors also believe that, should ISIS not use internet chat rooms and social network sites (SNSs), and if ISIS were not following those stages of relationship es-calation, their recruitment process would not be as efficient.</p>