The Jihadist Threat to Europe: From Al Qaeda to the Islamic State (original) (raw)

Ideologies of Jihad in Europe

Terrorism and Political Violence, 2011

The article explores ideological fault lines among Sunni Muslim militants (jihadists) in Europe since the mid-1990s. It argues there have been disputes among the militants about whether to prioritize local struggles or Al Qaeda's global war, and about the legitimacy of launching terrorist attacks in European states offering political asylum to Muslims. It concludes that Europe's militants have become more ideologically unified in conjunction with the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Mohammed drawings, seeing European countries as legitimate and prioritized targets, and identifying with Al Qaeda.

POLITICAL SUBVERSION OR RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE: THE THREAT OF AL -QAEDA IDEOLOGY IN EUROPE

This paper is about Al -Qaeda’s doctrinal motivations. And, as expected, the threat these doctrinal motivations are assuming in Europe. The combat against this growing phenomenon is done, primarily, by understanding its matrix. Hence, we assume that the religious irrationalism lies upstream, and that downstream lies a pretentiously political narrative that looks for some streaks of religiousness to justify their profoundly revolutionary and modern way of action. In the river bed, which means the action, we have terror and violence as a way to undermine confidence. Consequently, the approach ground has been set: violence and terror which serve as a mean of gaining power of a movement whose inconsistent narrative merges modern revolutionary doctrines and religious faith (which, in part, helps to justify the initial violence). In other words, one either performs a rational analysis around the goals or goes forward into the deeply emotional motivations.

Jihadi Terrorism in Europe: The IS-Effect

The article examines the extent to which Islamic State (IS) has affected jihadi terrorism in Europe. We look at the scope of attack activity, perpetrators and their networks, modus operandi and funding. For all the talk of a new threat we argue that, apart from scope, less is new than most assume. IS wants largely the same as al-Qaida did by attacking Europe. Their tactics are similar and their networks overlap in time and space. The core dynamics of the threat endure. It is premature to talk of a new paradigm in recruitment, but more terrorists are instructed online than before. Patterns in funding remain relatively stable, but there is an increase in plots financed from abroad. Despite military setbacks, IS remains a formidable terrorist actor, with territorial control, economic muscle and thousands of Europeans in its ranks. These things, combined with the group's skillful social media usage, are exhausting European security services' capacities. So is the refugee situation, which is exploited by IS to transfer personnel. If IS's territorial control persists, we foresee attempts at large-scale operations, including attempts at using improvised chemical or radiological devices. If IS continues to lose ground, small-scale attacks by single actors will become even more frequent.

The Modus Operandi of Jihadi Terrorists in Europe

Perspectives on Terrorism, 2014

This article provides the most thorough overview yet of how jihadis have plotted terrorist attacks in Europe. Drawing on a database of 122 incidents, we review trends in weapon types, attack types and target types in the period 1994-2013. The overall finding is that jihadi terrorism in Europe is becoming more discriminate in its targeting while attack types and weapons are becoming progressively more diverse. The most likely scenarios in the coming three to five years are bomb attacks and armed assaults against sub-national entities, communities and individuals. A majority of the terrorist attacks will be limited in scope, but mass-casualty terrorism cannot be excluded. Foreign fighters from Syria are likely to influence the threat level in Europe, but we do not expect them to alter patterns in modus operandi dramatically.

Jihadism in Western Europe After the Invasion of Iraq: Tracing Motivational Influences from the Iraq War on Jihadist Terrorism in Western Europe

Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2006

Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist network. The first case has been assumed to be mainly motivated by the Iraq war, whereas the other case has been perceived as an act by an individual, motivated by domestic factors in Holland. The article situates these acts of terrorism within the theory of so-called spillover effects from armed conflicts to international terrorism. It argues that the Iraq war was a significant motivational factor for the terrorists in both cases, but that the terrorists linked the Iraq issue with perceived injustices against Muslims in Europe and globally.

The new European Jihadism and its avatars

Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society – J-RaT, 2016

The newEuropean Jihadism and its avatars FarhadKhosrokhavar European Jihadism has evolvedsince it first appeared in the 1990s.Inmany European countries,atthe outset, it tended to be restricted to the disaffected youth from the poor suburbs (France) or poor inner city areas (in the UK),but it rapidly spread to the middle classes,whether Muslims or converts.In2013, with the civil war in Syria, Jihadismunderwentmajor changes.Before that it was restrictedtoafew hundred people,but it has now risen to severalthousand (around 5000 young people have left Europe for Syria and their number would have been much higher had the governments not established controls preventing the departure of adolescents via Tu rkey to Syria). At the same time,adolescents have become numerous and the number of girlsa nd converts has sharply increased. Theaim of the article is to propose an understanding of the mindsetofthese new social actors in the lightofthe internal conditions of European societies.

The modus operandi of jihadi terrorism in Europe by Nesser& Stenersen

This article provides the most thorough overview yet of how jihadis have plotted terrorist attacks in Europe. Drawing on a database of 122 incidents, we review trends in weapon types, attack types and target types in the period 1994-2013. The overall finding is that jihadi terrorism in Europe is becoming more discriminate in its targeting while attack types and weapons are becoming progressively more diverse. The most likely scenarios in the coming three to five years are bomb attacks and armed assaults against sub-national entities, communities and individuals. A majority of the terrorist attacks will be limited in scope, but mass-casualty terrorism cannot be excluded. Foreign fighters from Syria are likely to influence the threat level in Europe, but we do not expect them to alter patterns in modus operandi dramatically.