Terrorist Threat in the Euro-Mediterranean Region (original) (raw)
Islamist Radicalisation the Challenge for Euro-Mediterranean Relations Edited by
The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) is an independent policy research institute based in Brussels. Its mission is to produce sound analytical research leading to constructive solutions to the challenges facing Europe today. FRIDE is an independent European think tank based in Madrid that provides innovative thinking on Europe's role on the international stage; its core research interests include democracy, human rights, peace and security. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors writing in a personal capacity and do not necessarily reflect those of CEPS, FRIDE or any other institution with which they are associated.
THE ISLAMIC STATE AND EUROPE: EXAMINING HOW THE ISLAMIC STATE RADICALISES EUROPEAN CITIZENS
The growing numbers of terror attacks in Europe in recent times has made the concept of radicalization a sensitive phenomenon; most especially, Islamic radicalization, which leads to terrorism. Islamic radicalization has become a threat to peace and security of Europe and other hemispheres. The activities of Islamic extremists and terrorists have been identified with a good number of European citizens, who have joined the Islamic State (IS) and engaged in acts of terror against their own citizens and governments. Radicalisation has been used as a weapon by the Islamic State to recruit some European citizens as its members in order to perpetuate its objectives in Europe. The objective of this essay is to examine how the Islamic State has been able to radicalize some European citizens as its members and build its network across the continent. It seeks to critically analyse the influence of the Islamic State ideology on European citizens, which has consequently led and could further lead to the participation of some European citizens in terrorist engagements. This essay seeks to respond to the puzzle: how is it possible for the Islamic State to secure the interest of some Europeans into terrorism, considering the distance between Europe and the Middle East and the high standard of living as well as education that is available in Europe? In this essay, the relevance of the study is pointed in today Europe as far as peace and security development is concerned. This work maximizes secondary sources of data collection to investigate the study and its theoretical analysis is drawn from social network theory in order to shed more light on the discourse of the radicalisation of European citizens as the Islamic State members. Specifically, this essay discusses a brief origin and objectives of the Islamic State, the ideological perspectives of the group as well as channels of radicalizing European citizens.
Middle Eastern Terrorist Activity in Western Europe: A Diagnosis and Prognosis
Journal of Conflict Studies, 1986
Nidal group and those entities responsible for assassinating Libyan and Iranian dissident elements are more active in Western Europe. For example, 68% of the attacks attributed to the Abu Nidal group since 1973 have taken place in Western Europe, 2 while over 95% of the terrorist attacks directed at dissident Libyan exiles since 1980 have taken place in Western Europe. 3 Why this preference for Western Europe? What does this region offer that these groups cannot find in other regions such as Latin America, Africa, the Far East, North America, and, in some cases, even in the Middle East? There are five factors which make Western Europe an attractive operational area for Middle Eastern terrorist groups. 1. Western Europe provides these groups with a potential manpower pool which facilitates the building and maintenance of a logistical infrastructure. There are large communities of Palestinians and Arabs in most West European countries. This also includes the large student populations. Moreover, Middle Eastern businessmen and tourists frequently travel to Western Europe. This makes it easy for Middle Eastern terrorist groups to send in operational elements which can not only blend into the environment but can also receive logistical aid from sympathizers and in-country support elements. 2. Western Europe offers these groups geographic proximity and compactness, excellent transportation facilities, and relatively easy cross-border movement. In other words, it is easy to get to Western Europe and, once there, to move around between countries. 3. Western Europe offers these groups abundant, easy, and attractive targets. Middle East terrorists carry out attacks against three targeting sections: Israeli or Jewish, Western, and Arab or Palestinian. There is a large number of these targets in Western Europe. 4. Western Europe offers these groups immediate worldwide publicity when they carry out an attack in the region. The publicity spotlight is broader and brighter in Western Europe than in most other regions. With regard to the Middle East, attacks carried out by Middle Eastern groups in Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Libya receive little publicity because of the state-controlled press in these countries. In Lebanon, the level of political violence literally buries, from a publicity standpoint, all but the most spectacular and lethal incidents. 5. Western Europe provides these groups with a "substitute battleground" in which to carry out their intra-Palestinian and inter-Arab feuds. The majority of the attacks carried out by Middle Eastern terrorist groups are aimed at other Arab and Palestinian targets. The authoritarian nature of such states as Libya, Iran, Iraq, and Syria makes it difficult for these groups to operate effectively within these states. Israeli security
MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY SUMMER 2014 The Islamist Threat to European Security
Growing Muslim populations in Europe affect European security in a variety of ways from changes in voting patterns and military recruitment; to the proliferation of Islamist groups espousing goals antithetical to Western values and interests; to the development of no-go zones where traditional Islamic law, or Shari‘a, is replacing Western law; to Islamist attempts to influence and exploit European policies toward conflicts in the Muslim world.
European Muslim, Radicalism, Terrorism, and Democracy: A Reflection
2021
This article argues that, in the future, Europe Union (EU) is predicted to continue to confront the expression of Islamization of acts of terror and radicalism by Muslim youth amid the complexity of the problem and amid the fact that government security forces in Belgium and other European countries are often uncomplicated, low-paid secret agents, open to the movement of fundamentalism, and the proliferation of the black market of weapons. All this has made Europe a very vulnerable area against terrorist attacks and militarism in cloak of religion. Indeed, a problem and a challenge to be solved amid issues of potential cracking or collapse of the Europe Union.
Briefing Paper, 2008
The ad hoc briefing paper “Preventing violent radicalisation and terrorist recruitment in the EU - The threat to Europe by radical Islamic terrorist groups” provides an original analysis and evaluation of the different strategies that are meant to deal with such phenomena, as well as their effectiveness. This perspective takes into account the dynamics of actions/reactions between the various parts involved in violence and its repression, thus going beyond recommendations mainly aiming at controlling the networks through which individuals enter the radicalizing dynamics, in a “worst-case scenario” perspective. The core point of the paper is to transgress the different forms of self-censorship that exist in the field of the counterterrorist public policies, by insisting upon the fact that some of the measures taken can contribute to the radicalisation, or more accurately, to the dynamics of escalation. The priority is then to move the focus, while widening the angle of the problem, to highlight the interactions not only between clandestine organisations and reference fields but also public authorities, journalists and others. The question of the radicalisation must be reconsidered and redefined as a subsidiary of the questions on escalation and de-escalation dynamics of the conflicts. The ad hoc briefing paper is thus structured as follows: the first part aims at understanding the radicalisation processes; the second part deals with the questions of clandestineness, radicalisation and recruitment; the third part deals with the dilemma faced by authorities and their policies, that can either lead to an escalation or a de-escalation, depending on whether they tend to mimetic rivalry or distanciation. Finally, the paper provides certain policy recommendations, mainly based on favouring distanciation, taking into account the pernicious effects of intensified measures of control, repression or war on violent radicalisation, and controlling and supervising counter radicalisation.
Political Islam, European Muslim and Terrorism Issues: A Reflection
Konfrontasi: Jurnal Kultural, Ekonomi dan Perubahan Sosial
In the period 2014-2015, the European Union was shaken by the influx of migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans (Eastern Europe) who increasingly flooded the western region of the white continent. In a March 2015 report, UNHCR said the conflicts in Iraq and Syria brought the number of asylum seekers in Western countries in 2014 to the highest level in 22 years. There were an estimated 866,000 asylum seekers in 2014. That number is a 45 percent increase compared to 2013. And, during the 2014-16 refugee crisis from the Middle East and Africa, millions of refugee flows from the Middle East and Africa were rejected. In this regard, Olivier Roy sees that in Europe itself there is a danger of radical Islamism, a Muslim terrorism movement that undermines European peace and undermines Western trust on Muslim communities and political Islam. This paper explains Roy's perspective and Islamic radicalism in Europe which does not benefit the position and image of Muslims...