Foreign Fighters Research Articles

Self-managing terror: Resolving agency problems with diverse teams

I examine a principal-agents model of subversion with externalities to illustrate a novel mechanism for why diversity can be valuable to organizations: teams of diverse agents can self-manage and discourage their teammates from subversion through compromise. In contrast to standard “ally-principle” type results, I find that integrating more extreme agents can result in better-behaved teams. The model describes, among other cases, radical Islamist terror groups that use foreign fighters. Because foreign and domestic fighters have conflicting preferences over how they want to subvert, integrated teams may self-manage with efficiency gains for the principal. This model explains variation in agency problems and foreign fighter usage in major insurgent groups, including al Qaeda in Iraq, the Haqqani Network, and the Islamic State. Additionally, the theory here can explain management practices in a wide range of alternate settings, for example, where a busy or constrained principal cannot easily implement auditing or incentive contracts.

Nobody More Terrible than the Desperate: Conflict Conditions and Rebel Demand for Foreign Fighters

This article argues that the structural conflict conditions surrounding insurgencies produce rebel demand for external participation. Drawing on a data set of 140 militant organizations between 1998 and 2012, we find robust evidence that violence between insurgent groups is most likely to cause one or more of them to recruit externally. The effect is especially pronounced when regimes also employ punitive “stick” measures against opponents. Rather than a particular ideology being the best predictor of foreign fighters, it is desperate conflict conditions that lead insurgents to invest in the costs and uncertainties of outside assistance.

How to Stop Jihadist Foreign Fighters

How to Stop Jihadist Foreign Fighters

Emotional Trials in Terrorism Research: Running Risks When Accessing Salafi-Jihadist Foreign Fighter Returnees and Their Social Milieu

Islamist radicalization and terrorism studies, besides lacking in methodological transparency, have long suffered from immense access problems. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Sweden and Denmark—two countries with significant populations of Salafi-jihadist Western foreign fighter returnees—this article focuses on challenges to gaining initial access to a field described as emotionally demanding, hard-to-reach and high-risk. Addressing emotional trials that emerge when experiencing risks of physical dangers, emotional stressors and ethical issues, we demonstrate how emotions shape and influence decisions made in the field, such as whether to continue or to give up attempting to gain initial access. Thus, we provide the transparency that is so crucial to unraveling and understanding the methodological obstacles to accessing Salafi-jihadist environments.

‘The Surest of All Morale Barometers’: Transnational Encounters in the XV International Brigade

Despite considerable scholarly and popular interest in the International Brigades, which fought on the side of the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–9, traditional approaches centred on ‘national’ contingents of foreign volunteers have left significant gaps in historical knowledge. In particular, relations between the foreign volunteers and their Spanish hosts have received little attention, even though these relationships were fundamental to the everyday experience of volunteering, as well as affecting the International Brigades’ cohesion during their time in Spain. This account introduces a range of new archival material relating to the English-speaking XV International Brigade, arguing that pervasive structural and cultural factors led to a complex and variable set of outcomes that defy binary categorisation. In doing so, this study contributes to an emerging new literature on transnational approaches to the Spanish Civil War and interwar anti-fascisms, as well as comparative approaches to foreign fighter mobilisations.

DERADIKALIZACIJA BORACA POVRATNIKA I DOMAĆIH TERORISTA

In the last couple of years, with the prolification of the Migrant Crisis and the defeat of the Islamic State, the return of the foreign fighters, who went form Europe to the Caliphate and joined the local conflict, as well as the problem of the homegrown terrorism have become the focal point of almost all national security strategies of European countries. The situation that followed drove the authors to set the possible approaches to solving this challenge to European security as a goal for their research. The subject of this article encompasses the process of deradicalization, as the only humane way to deal with the problem at hand, as well as the process of radicalization, as necessary for understanding the formation of the individuals that pose a threat to the security of Europe. The article also tackles the preventive work directed at those social groups that are deemed susceptible to radicalization, as well as the use of individualized and holistic approach to the radicalized individuals. Special consideration is given to the programs of deradicalization as a form of institutionalized way of dealing with this type of a security risk. In the conclusion the authors give their own view of what is the most adeqaute approach when working with radicalized individuals and the role of certain elements of society in it.

تسویق الخطاب الدینی المتطرف لتنظیم الدولة الإسلامیة داعش: مجلة دابق نموذجاً

مستخلص البحث باللغة العربية تؤکد دراسات الفکر المتطرف أن الذهنية المتطرفة هي ذهنية تنحرف عن الإطار الطبيعي للحياة، وهي غير قادرة على التکيف مع محيطها الاجتماعي، ولا أن تتنافس داخله على أسس عادلة، ومن ثم فإنها لا تقبل النقد ولا تتسع للحوار، وتميل إلى رفض الآخر، ونفيه وعدم الاعتراف به، وتميل إلى رفض العقل، وتتحصن بالغريزة، وترتب على هذا الفکر المتطرف مواجهة العالم العربي بعد ثورات عام 2011 موجه من الحوادث الإرهابية المتطرفة، والتي قد أثرت بالسلب على الأوضاع الاجتماعية والوجود الإنساني، وکان الخطاب الديني المتطرف جزءا لا يتجزأ من الأسباب الأساسية لهذه الأحداث الإرهابية، فهو يمثل من وجهة نظر أصحابه الإقناع والحجة والمنطق في تناول القضايا، فساعد الخطاب الديني المتطرف في التأليف والجمع بين الأفکار الدينية المتطرفة لتمثل الجذور الفکرية لشکل دولة الإسلام في العراق والشام والتي عرفت باسم داعش، والتي جذبت ما بين 20 إلى30 ألف من المقاتلين الأجانب إليها حيث سافروا إلى سوريا والعراق بين 2011 و 2014. مقابل ما بين 10 آلاف و20 ألف مقاتل أجنبي قد انتقلوا إلى الأراضي الإسلامية بين عامي1980 و2010، لذا فالموجة الحالية من المقاتلين والجهاديين العرب والأجانب المتوجهين إلى سوريا والعراق تمثل أکبر تعبئة للمقاتلين في الدول ذات الأغلبية المسلمة منذ 1945. وکان السبب الأساسي وراء هذا الجذب هو براعة تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية في تسويق خطابه الديني المتطرف للعديد من دول العالم؛ مما جعلنا نتساءل کيف سوقت داعش لخطابه الديني المتطرف وما هي معايير تطرفه وما هي الاستراتيجيات التي لجأت إليها لإقناع الأخر به، ولذلک جاء الدراسة الحالية لتجيب على هذه التساؤلات مستندة إلى منهج التحليل النقدي وأسلوب تحليل الخطاب لإجراء الدراسة. Abstract Studies of extremist thought confirm that an extremist mentality is a mentality that deviates from the natural framework of life, and is unable to adapt to its social environment, nor to compete within it on fair grounds, and therefore it does not accept criticism and does not accommodate dialogue, and tends to reject the other, deny it and not recognize With it, it tends to reject reason and is fortified with instinct, and this extremist ideology resulted in confronting the Arab world after the revolutions of 2011, directed by extremist terrorist incidents, which negatively affected social conditions and human existence, and extremist religious discourse was an integral part of the basic causes of these events. From the point of view of his companions, he represents persuasion, argument and logic in dealing with the issues. The extremist religious discourse helped to compose and combine extremist religious ideas to represent the intellectual roots of the form of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which was known as ISIS, which attracted between 20 to 30 thousand of Foreign fighters to it, as they traveled to Syria and Iraq between 2011 and 2014. In exchange for between 10 thousand and 20 thousand foreign fighters who moved to Islamic lands between 1980 and 2010, so the current wave of fighters Lynn, Arab and foreign jihadists heading to Syria and Iraq represent “the largest mobilization of fighters in Muslim-majority countries since 1945. The main reason behind this attraction is the prowess of ISIS in marketing its extremist religious rhetoric to many countries of the world; Which made us wonder how ISIS has marketed its extremist religious rhetoric, what are the criteria for its extremism, and what are the strategies it used to convince the other of it, and therefore the current study came to answer these questions based on the method of critical analysis and the method of discourse analysis to conduct the study.

Foreign Terrorist Fighters and the UN Investigative Team to Support Domestic Efforts to Hold ISIS Accountable for War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide Committed in Iraq: Building a Bridge that Should Be Used

After examining the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions referred to the foreign fighters who joined the ranks of ISIS in Iraq and Syria andthe UN Investigative Team to support domestic efforts to hold ISIS accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Iraq (UNITAD or the Investigative Team) this article brings both contents together in order to ascertain whether there may be gaps or problems which should be addressed, since both developments were prompted by the UNSC. It is explored whether there may be certain inconsistencies, such as the one relating to the emphasis placed on different crimes, depending on the resolutions in question. Thus, those related to FTFs focus on terrorism crimes, while those related to UNITAD refer to atrocity crimes. Hereinafter the action and evolution of UNITAD is examined, in order to determine whether it might be helpful to overcome some existing barriers and avoid impunity for atrocity crimes. It will be concluded that UNITAD may provide substantial support, not only in relation to trials in Iraq, but also in third States, by providing useful tools or evidence to prosecute FTFs. Seizing this opportunity will require further action, which will be crucial to promote accountability and justice.

Why jihadist foreign fighter leave local battlefields: Evidence from Chechnya

ABSTRACT Why do jihadi foreign fighters leave local insurgencies? While the literature on jihadi foreign fighters has mushroomed over the last decade, it has largely covered the perspective of individual motivations to join jihadi foreign fighter groups. The critical question of why individual jihadi foreign fighters leave local insurgencies, de facto recognizing the failure of their initial motives to join a distant armed conflict, has remained understudied. Drawing on the case study of Russo-Chechen wars, this article shows that a combination of popular hostility, loss of status, and poor living conditions urged jihadi foreign fighters to abandon local armed conflict.

Threat of ISIS-Affiliated Foreign Terrorist Fighters Towards Canadian National Security

Since the loss of approximately 98% of their territory, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has become a shadow of its former self. Foreign recruits must now decide whether to leave the region and return home or stay and possibly continue the fight. Those that return constitute a threat to their home environments because of their maintained allegiances to ISIS, state of radicalization, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and improved lethality, and operational effectiveness in conducting acts of domestic terrorism. As a result, this article calls for the development and application of a prosecutorial-reintegrative model that is based off prior research on Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs). The model should also be informed by up-to-date research in the field of deradicalization and disengagement and should consider the different classes of FTFs. Following an understanding of the qualitative differences of ISIS FTFs compared to past foreign fighters, the article concludes that directed counter violent extremist messaging and components of Saudi Arabia’s successful Prevention, Rehabilitation, and After Care (PRAC) program must be factored into any framework for rehabilitation and reintegration while Criminal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act provisions, complemented by evidence gathering strategies, are primarily used to hold FTFs accountable for serious offences.

Foreign Terrorist Fighters from Russia in and after Syria and Iraq: (Trans) National Trends and Threats

Despite the large number of foreign terrorist fighters from Russia in Syria and Iraq, the specifics of this phenomenon are often reduced to the Northern Caucasian connection. The article suggests a differentiated assessment of types and scale of threat posed by ISIS-linked FTFs in the Russian, Eurasian and broader international contexts, relying on data-based analysis of the main trends in the dynamic process of their circulation. They include changing composition of the FTF outflow, by type of domestic radicalization, low return rate, and high potential for relocation to third countries. The article challenges conventional views on correlation of threats posed by returnees and relocated FTFs, the main domestic challenge linked to Russian FTFs, the intra-Eurasian circulation of the FTFs, the risk of their concentration in northern Afghanistan, and potential for their cross-regional circulation between Eurasia, Middle East and Europe.

Social Welfare and ISIS Foreign Fighters

Social Welfare and ISIS Foreign Fighters

Criminal or Terrorist?: Fear, Bias, and Public Support for Prisoner Reentry Programs

ABSTRACT The potential threat posed by returning and repatriated foreign fighters and the upcoming release of homegrown violent extremists from prisons in developed democracies has raised interest in terrorist rehabilitation programs. Few studies, however, systematically examine how the public views such programs. Drawing on research on public attitudes toward prisoner reentry in criminology and social psychological theory, this study offers a series of hypotheses about support for rehabilitation programming for terrorist offenders. These hypotheses are then tested through a survey experiment on a nationally representative sample of 1,021 adult citizens in the United States. The results show that the public is less supportive of postrelease rehabilitation programming for terrorists than other criminal offenders. Support is also lower when an Islamist, rather than a white nationalist, offender is referenced. Support increases when a referenced Islamist is described as a juvenile convicted of a less serious offense. Men, younger individuals, those with some college education, and self-identified liberals are more likely to support terrorist rehabilitation programming. Finally, irrespective of treatment, respondents are most likely to cite evidence of effectiveness as the factor that would increase their support for rehabilitation programming.

Is governmental and societal discrimination against Muslim minorities behind foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq?

This study asks whether governmental and societal discrimination against Muslim minorities explains the outflow of foreign fighters from non-Muslim-majority countries to Syria and Iraq. We use data from the ICSR, Soufan Group, Pokalova (2018), and RASM datasets to examine the connection between discrimination directed at Muslim minorities and the number of foreign fighters originating in a country. We apply grievance-based theory to examine whether minority-specific objective discrimination is behind the phenomenon. We find little evidence that discrimination increases the outflow of foreign fighters, but this outflow is higher from wealthier countries. The findings indicate that if grievances are a motivation for individuals to become foreign fighters, they are not connected to objective discrimination. This implies that at least some of the grievances relate to personal circumstances or that immigrant minorities are more likely to perceive inequality in wealthier countries.

Foreign fighters and the tension between counterterrorism and international humanitarian law: A case for cumulative prosecution where possible

AbstractContemporary foreign fighters (FFs) often join so-called dual-nature groups, i.e. groups that can at the same time be qualified as a non-State armed group involved in a non-international armed conflict and a terrorist organization. Both international humanitarian law and counterterrorism (CT) legislation may hence be of relevance when assessing the legality of FF conduct. The CT perspective tends to remain predominant, however. This paper argues that, especially in terms of prosecution, due regard must be paid to both legal frameworks where possible. It also argues that national prosecution in the country of origin seems to offer the best prospects for realizing such cumulative prosecution.

Stripping foreign fighters of their citizenship: International human rights and humanitarian law considerations

AbstractThis article will briefly present a number of international human rights law considerations related to the topic of citizenship stripping of foreign fighters, that is: “individuals, driven mainly by ideology, religion and/or kinship, who leave their country of origin or their country of habitual residence to join a party engaged in an armed conflict”, most notably the conflict in Syria and Iraq. After that, the article will focus on considerations in the context of international humanitarian law, which have been less frequently the subject of academic debate. This contribution concludes that citizenship stripping is not only highly problematic under international human rights law, but also from the perspective of international humanitarian law. The measure – which is likely to constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment – violates Article 3 Common to the four Geneva Conventions, but it also undermines accountability for international humanitarian law violations already committed and can engender new violations through the non-removal of the suspect from the conflict zone. One of the few positive sides of the connection between the measure and international humanitarian law is that even if nationality is deprived, this will not have an effect on the international humanitarian law obligation to treat that deprived person humanely. In that sense, international humanitarian law provides a welcome – albeit temporary – safety net of decent treatment for people who have become victims of countries’ refusal to take responsibility for their own citizens.

Unfolding the case of returnees: How the European Union and its member States are addressing the return of foreign fighters and their families

AbstractThe return of foreign fighters and their families to the European Union has mostly been considered a security threat by member States, which consequently adopt repressive measures aimed at providing an immediate, short-term response to this perceived threat. In addition to this strong-arm approach, reintegration strategies have also been used to prevent returnees from falling back into terrorism and to break down barriers of hostility between citizens in the long term. Amidst these different strategies, this paper seeks to identify which methods are most desirable for handling returnees.

Radicalisation, Foreign Fighters and the Ukraine Conflict: A Playground for the Far-Right?

Ukraine has been viewed by some as having become a training ground, networking opportunity, and general hub for the far-right due to the conflict in the east of the country, which began in 2014. With this type of terrorism on the rise in the West and events like the storming of the US Capitol Building in January 2021 fresh in the memory, it should come as no surprise that any such possibilities will generate concern. To investigate the types and extent of the threats posed by participants in the Ukraine conflict, we scrutinise the activities of a few alumni that we know of to date, as well as highlighting neglected historical episodes of right-wing fighters. We make three arguments here based on occurrences so far. Firstly, we know little about far-right foreign fighters and more attention needs to be paid to historical instances of the phenomenon. Secondly, some limited but diverse threats have already arisen from the Ukraine conflict and others may emerge in the future, but it would be unwise to overplay and homogenise the problem. Finally, it is Ukraine itself that probably faces the greatest challenges from its domestic far-right, although, if left unchecked, it may affect others in providing a space for, and permitting the growth of, connections with like-minded individuals and groups based elsewhere. Despite our warning about exaggerating the problem, Western security services should be taking the far-right very seriously at present, such as in relation to potential infiltration of them by such elements.

Combating International Terrorism: Modern Challenges and Threats.

Modern counter-terrorist international universal and regional treaties are aimed directly at criminalization and penalization of terrorism, not international terrorism. Their main objective is unification of the term “terrorism” in domestic law. At least it refers to the most common specific types of acts of terrorism and terrorist offences. However this seems to be palliative as terrorism is constantly progressing, keeps modifying in its forms and includes not only acts of terrorism, but also terrorist doctrines and terrorist organizations, new ways of the committing (for example, cyber terrorism), and new ways of finding new recruits (recently – attracting foreign terrorist fighters). International terrorism has become a threat of planetary dimensions. Nowadays there is a constantly evolving system of international counterterrorism cooperation - regulated by norms of international and domestic law joint activities of subjects of international relations and domestic legal relations aimed at securing legal protection of individual, society, state and international community from terrorist crimes.

ANALYSIS OF THE BOMBERS’ TACTICS AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF A SERIES OF TERRORIST ATTACKS IN BRUSSELS (22 MARCH 2016)

The purpose of the article is to analyse the modus operandi of the terrorists who on 22 March 2016 organised the bomb attacks in Brussels. The article characterises the targets of the attackers, analyses their operational tactics and the aftermath of their attacks. In addition, the consequences of the attacks are discussed – both economic and legal. Another issue analysed in the article is the perpetrators of the assassinations – their origin, path of radicalisation and network of contacts. The summary shows why returning foreign terrorist fighters are a threat to security in the EU countries, including Poland.