Islamic radicals in Europe: between religion and politics

Abstract

The article discusses the reasons that prompted the governments and expert of many EU countries to pay increased attention to the activities of the religious and political association of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood (BM) and a number of Shiite groups (primarily Hezbollah) within the EU in recent years. The study indicates that the causes of it are the terrorist attacks in France and Austria in 2020, which gave rise to a wave of retaliatory measures from the authorities, and also a growing influence of this Muslim organizations and groups on social and political life of the countries of the Old World. The article analyses the means, methods and mechanisms characteristic of groups associated with the structures of BM and Hezbollah in Europe, the specifics of their activities. The authority and influence of radical groups are noticeably weakening in the Middle East region. However, in the Old World they manage to fit into the current political-ideological discourse, resorting to the left, “progressist” rhetoric to hide their Islamist identity. They are exploiting the far-fetched feelings of disadvantage and vulnerability that are spreading in Muslim communities in socio-political environment. As inter-civilizational relations in Europe worsen, radical groups publicly claim the status of "defenders of humiliated Muslims", trying to legalize their radical views and strategies. Further aggravation of the confrontation between political elites in the EU and Islamic radicals seems inevitable. Islamist radicalism becomes a factor in political life in the European Union.