| Description |
1 online resource (52 pages) |
| Series |
Egmont paper ; 81 |
|
Egmont paper ; 81.
|
| Contents |
Executive summary. -- Introduction. -- The origins of a contested concept. -- (Not) a new phenomenon. -- The fourth wave of jihadi terrorism. -- Push factors: a conducive environment, a youth subculture and many personal motives. -- Pull factors: shy Syria -- and why IS? -- Linking push and pull factors: the role of Sharia4Belgium and allies. -- Gauging the threat. -- Looking beyond radicalisation -- policy recommendations |
| Summary |
This paper proposes, firstly, a more systematic attempt at understanding why people with different social backgrounds feel attracted by Islamic State (IS). Two categories of Syria travellers (a more general term than 'foreign fighters') can be identified. The first group comprises pre-existing kinship and friendship gangs. For them, joining IS is merely a shift to another form of deviant behaviour, next to membership of street gangs, rioting, drug trafficking and juvenile delinquency. But it adds a thrilling, larger-than-life dimension to their way of life -- transforming them from delinquents without a future into mujahedeen with a cause. Whereas most individuals of the first group are known to the police, this is not necessarily the case for the second group. Before suddenly deciding to leave for Syria, the youngsters in this group showed no sign of deviant behaviour and nothing seemed to distinguish them from their peers. But frequently they refer to the absence of a future, to personal difficulties they faced in their everyday life, to feelings of exclu- sion and an absence of belonging, as if they didn't have a stake in society. They are often solitary, isolated adolescents, frequently at odds with family and friends, in search of belonging and a cause to embrace. At a certain point, the accumulation of such estrangements resulted in anger |
| Notes |
"March 2016." |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from PDF title page (Egmont, viewed September 11, 2016) |
| Subject |
IS (Organization) -- Recruiting
|
| SUBJECT |
IS (Organization) fast (OCoLC)fst01914325 |
| Subject |
Terrorists -- Recruiting.
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Radicalism -- Psychological aspects
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Radicalism -- Psychological aspects.
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Terrorists -- Recruiting.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Egmont - Royal Institute for International Relations, publisher.
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