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La caída del califato proclamado en junio de 2014 por parte de Abu Bakr al Baghdadi desde la Gran Mezquita de Mosul ha traído consigo el regreso a Europa de miles de combatientes terroristas extranjeros, muchos de ellos acompañados de mujeres y niños. Y, en este sentido, España no ha sido una excepción. No cabe duda de que, dentro de los sujetos retornados a España y a otros países de Europa y Occidente, existe un número importante de ellos que lo hace considerando su experiencia vivida en términos de trauma y pesadilla. Sin embargo, existen también aquellos otros que regresan por conveniencia, tratando de ocultar a las autoridades de su país crímenes horrendos cometidos durante su estancia en zonas de conflicto. Con respecto a España, los combatientes retornados han podido ser hasta ahora únicamente condenados por delitos de integración en organización terrorista, o bien traslado a un país extranjero con finalidades terroristas. Al contrario que en otros países, en el caso de España todavía no se ha producido ninguna condena de un sujeto retornado por delitos de carácter grave (asesinatos, torturas, lesiones, etc.) cometidos en territorio sirio o iraquí. Por ello, el objetivo de este trabajo es exponer cómo otros países del entorno cultural europeo han podido recabar las pertinentes pruebas para enjuiciar y condenar a sus súbditos desplazados a zonas de conflicto por la comisión de delitos de carácter grave., The fall of the caliphate proclaimed in June 2014 by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi from the Great Mosque of Mosul has brought with it the return to Europe of thousands of foreign terrorist fighters, many of them accompanied by women and children. And, in this sense, Spain has not been an exception. There is no doubt that, within the subjects who have returned to Spain and to other countries in Europe and the West, there is a significant number of them who do so considering their experience in the caliphate in terms of trauma and nightmare. However, there are also those who return for convenience, trying to hide from the police forces of their country horrendous crimes committed during their stay in conflict zones. With regard to Spain, the returned foreign fighters have so far only been sentenced for crimes of integration into a terrorist organization, or transfer to a foreign country for terrorist purposes. Contrary to other countries, in the case of Spain there has not yet been any conviction of a subject returned for serious crimes (murder, torture, injury, etc.) committed in Syrian or Iraqi territory. Therefore, the aim of this article is to expose how other countries of the European cultural environment have been able to collect the relevant evidence to prosecute and sentence their subjects displaced to conflict zones for committing serious crimes.

About 700 European children are stranded with their mothers in the detention camps in northeast Syria. They are children of European departees who travelled to the Levant after 2012 to join one of the fighting forces against the Syrian regime. Most European countries refuse to repatriate these children because of their parents, who are considered terrorists. This paper investigates the status of these children through the analysis of the political and media-debates and ongoing collaborative ethnographic research in Belgium. We argue that these children reside in a condition of virtual innocence, which is characterized by a continuous interrogation of their social, political, and ontological status as well as their right to life. This condition of virtual innocence also sheds a different light on the state of exception: rather than being expressed through a permanent ban, it becomes manifested through an undecided and pending inclusion into the bios.

Polish citizens and people of Polish descent played a considerably significant role in the Spanish Civil War. They fought on both sides of the conflict, however, most of them in the Republican Army (4,500-5,000 among ca. 35,000 soldiers of the International Brigades). Approximately 75% of them comprised of immigrants, mainly from France, who were predominantly either activists or supporters of the French Communist Party. Only 600-800, or according to some sources 1200 individuals, the majority of whom were communists (80% or more), were believed to come directly from Poland. The highest number of volunteers fought within the ranks of 13th Brigade “Jarosław Dąbrowski”, which took part in the major key operations and suffered huge losses amounting to 30-40%. A few dozens of Poles fought in the Gen. F. Franco’s National Army. Most of them were professional soldiers of the Spanish Foreign Legion, who had joined it before the war broke out, so their participation in the war was not dictated by ideological reasons. The author adopts synthesizing approach to portray the Polish soldiers fighting for each side of the conflict, including their background and involvement in the most important military operations. The article pays an attention to the fates of Polish veterans of the International Brigades referred to as “Dąbrowszczacy” during the World War II and, following this, an attempt to demonstrate the specific role and changes “Dąbrowszczacy” were undergoing within the political system of the Polish People’s Republic (PRL). Los ciudadanos polacos y las personas de ascendencia polaca desempeñaron un papel considerablemente importante en la Guerra Civil española. Lucharon en ambos lados del conflicto, aunque la gran mayoría de ellos en el Ejército Republicano (4.500-5.000 entre aproximadamente 35.000 soldados de las Brigadas Internacionales). El 75% de ellos eran inmigrantes, que habitaban principalmente en Francia, que eran predominantemente activistas o partidarios del Partido Comunista Francés. Se creía que solo 600-800, o según algunas fuentes 1200 individuos, la mayoría de los cuales eran comunistas (80% o más), procedían directamente de Polonia. El mayor número de voluntarios luchó dentro de las filas de la 13ª Brigada "Jarosław Dąbrowski", que participó en las principales operaciones clave y sufrió enormes pérdidas que ascienden al 30-40%. Algunas decenas de polacos combatieron en el ejército franquista. La mayoría de ellos eran soldados profesionales de la Legión Extranjera Española, que se habían incorporado a ella antes de que estallara la guerra, por lo que su participación en la guerra no estuvo dictada por motivos ideológicos. El autor adopta un enfoque sintetizado para retratar a los soldados polacos que luchan por cada lado del conflicto, incluidos sus antecedentes y participación en las operaciones militares más importantes. El artículo presta atención a los destinos de los veteranos polacos de las Brigadas Internacionales a los que se hizo referencia como "Dąbrowszczacy" durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial y, a continuación, un intento de demostrar el papel específico y los cambios que estaban experimentando los "Dąbrowszczacy" dentro del sistema político de la República Popular de Polonia (PRL).).

This article analyses the decisions of Belgian and Dutch courts concerning the repatriation of the family members of foreign fighters who are now detained in dire conditions in North-East Syria. The article shows that, under international law, these women and children have no individual right to be repatriated by their State of nationality, based on either consular assistance, the extraterritorial applicability of human rights treaties, or the right of return to one's own country. Nonetheless there are good reasons why States should exercise their prerogative to repatriate.

This is an introduction to a special issue on the role played by veterans of the Spanish Civil War’s International Brigades during the Second World War. It argues that the study of these veterans is worthwhile for three reasons: the extraordinary mobility that the antifascist struggle of the years 1936–45 enabled; the microcosm it provides for the assessment of what happens when ideologically fuelled concerns meet pragmatic wartime needs; and the relevance of how governments and military organizations have dealt with suspect returnees in the past for present-day dilemmas that several governments face.

From 2011, Europe is facing a problem of a large number of its citizens who were leaving to go on foreign battlefields and are joining terrorist groups who have appeared in the conflict in Syria. Foreign fighters were not something new that occurred but it was new to see that many people from different countries, all wanting to join and participate in foreign conflict. People were starting to join different terrorist groups the most notorious and most famous one was a group called the Islamic state. This organization has attracted a large number of people in a short amount of time. Here roots were in al-Qaida, one of the most famous terrorist organization of all time. Not long after the conflict started, first foreign fighters started coming back to their home countries. And even though politicians were happy when foreign fighters started leaving to join IS, because they expected decrease of small crimes, they were not that happy when those same foreign fighters started coming back. The largest wave of returns started in 2013 and continued for next couple of years. When it become known fact that foreign fighters are returning, all eyes were on the politicians who did not have many solutions for this kind of a problem. What to do with returning foreign fighters became main question. This question was not being asked just for the sake of it, but because people started to be scared of returning fighters. And not only that, it became clear that everyone is asking, are returning foreign fighters someone that we should be afraid of? Many more questions emerged. Are foreign fighters more willing to do a terrorist attack of some sort when they return home? Do they represent a security risk for their homeland? These questions are among the ones who will be researched in this paper.

The literature on foreign fighters devotes considerable attention to the questions of why individuals join armed groups outside of their nation-states and their propensity for engaging in political violence after they return to their home countries. But what happens to those who do not return but go on to join new groups or even new wars?This paper examines career foreign fighters who have traversed from one insurgency to another. We present an original dataset of over 50 individuals who served as foreign fighters in multiple insurgencies. More than half of those who could be identified as having served with more than one armed group achieved leadership positions, which is historically atypical for foreign fighters. Some become top leadership while a significant percentage also facilitate terror attacks.The Syrian conflict has produced a policy debate about whether it is more dangerous to allow foreign fighters to return or to leave them unaccounted. This study provides the first evidence that foreign fighters who survive their first tours accumulate resources, develop skills, and transfer their abilities to new violent actors. Our findings indicate that career foreign fighters pose a greater and broader security threat than returning, one-off foreign fighters.

The UK Home Secretary who took up office in May 2018 announced that the country has been facing a severe terrorist threat during the last years and protecting the British people will be his top priority. On the 4th of June, 2018 the Home Office updated its counter-terrorism strategy. New counter-radicalisation approaches featured in the document were designed to respond to current security threats and diminish their leve

Gradually, since the terror attacks in New York and London in the early 2000s, deprivation of nationality has come to the fore as a counter-terrorism measure (CT measure). At the same time, the instrumentalised use of nationality deprivation in pursuit of national security goals is a policy that has cropped up in other, arguably very different contexts. This chapter offers a critical exploration of nationality deprivation as a CT measure. It reflects on how citizenship deprivation is distinct as compared to other CT measures, using three different lenses to do so: the far-reaching consequences denationalisation has for the persons concerned, the specific international norms constraining the use of deprivation of nationality, and the inequality inherent in the implementation of citizenship stripping in practice. This will elucidate the impact of deprivation of nationality on human dignity and human security. Finally, this chapter also touches on a number of important and under-explored questions relating to the extent to which deprivation of nationality can be considered an effective instrument in protecting national security and countering terrorism.

This paper analyses the phenomenon of a group of Portuguese citizens and Portuguese-descendants who went to fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) organisation and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq. The article provides a new contribution to radicalisation by using a new dataset and an understudied case study: Portugal. It hosts a small Muslim community, which has not found itself under the spotlight of being a major concern, as regards the terrorist threat. Is it possible to find common underlying motivations driving young men and women to volunteer for jihad? Do young Muslims face different constraints that explain their involvement in militant activity, particularly being more vulnerable to factors such as socioeconomic marginalisation? Does socialisation in peer-to-peer ideological networks, and small-group recruitment within pre-existing radical milieus play a decisive role? By identifying biographical factors that stand out in two radicalisation theories – social network analysis, and the relative deprivation hypothesis –, it is possible to elicit what factors hold when applied specifically to the Portuguese case. The data provide support to socioeconomic explanations and group-level factors as the main mechanisms that lead converts to involvement in extremism and terrorism., This work was supported by Research Center in Political Science – CICP [Grant Number UID/CPO/00758/2013]

This study explores the constructions of gender in social media narratives regarding Shamima Begum, a British born woman who travelled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Using the Twitter hashtag #ShamimaBegum – developed in response to Begum’s expressed interest in returning to the United Kingdom to give birth to her third child – we employ critical discourse analysis to examine social media users’ responses to Begum’s case across a 3-week period. We portray how the vernacular narratives constructing femininity, gender, and their relation to terrorist activity are built on the expectation that the female actor should express remorse for her actions and is judged according to certain perceptions of maternalism, religion, and victimhood. We also explore the absence of considered agency in the narratives about women engaging in and disengaging from violent activities, demonstrating the weight of race, religion, and gender in shaping narratives surrounding perceived violent women. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

This article deals with the phenomenon of Czech foreign fighters in the Ukrainian conflict, mostly from the point of view of the propagandist use and from the point of view of the Czech penal law. Both issues are interconnected, because according to the Czech law, service in foreign armies or in terrorist entities can be penalised. On the other hand, foreign fighters can be assessed as an important propagandist element and their participation in the conflict can strengthen the political position of the warring party. This tension between these legal impacts and the propagandist use creates the main theme of this article. The concept of hybrid warfare frames the current development. The author comes to the conclusion that the legal consequences pose only a limited obstacle for the propagandist use.

Since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, approximately 660 ethnic Albanians from Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia have joined Islamic jihadist groups, including ISIS. In 2014, these governments began conducting counterterrorism operations to disrupt recruitment networks. These efforts, however, devoted fewer resources to addressing the underlying social and religious aspects of the foreign fighter phenomena. This thesis studies the factors that have contributed to radicalization of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia. It applies a radicalization model to study three groups of variables: socio-economic conditions, Islamic charities and non-governmental organizations, social connections, and online propaganda as potential sources of radicalization of Albanian foreign fighters. The thesis finds that no single overarching factor can fully account for the ideological and violent radicalization of ethnic Albanians in the region. The role of Persian Gulf State charities and foreign-trained Salafi clerics are two particularly strong variables that have led to the foreign fighter problem in the three countries studied. Given these findings, the thesis concludes by recommending a greater partnership between governments, official religious associations, and civil society by focusing counter-radicalization efforts at the community level and prioritizing communities that are at risk for radicalization and violent behavior. http://archive.org/details/causesofislamicr1094562769 First Lieutenant, Albanian Land Force Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

The flow of foreign fighters leaving for Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic has slowed, but they often still pose a serious threat, either by encouraging others toward violence or by directly assisting themselves in a terrorist attack after their return. This article studies the effect of a country’s active involvement in a conflict zone on the flow of foreign fighters. Specifically, we test whether a nation’s participation in the international coalition against Daesh influences its number of foreign fighters. Despite the small sample size resulting from limited official data on foreign fighters, we report several interesting insights for cautious interpretation and only regarding the countries included. Findings from a negative binomial model suggest that a country’s active international role against Daesh also increases the foreign fighters coming from that country. Hence, it is important to keep in mind that the cost of a military intervention can be higher than the cost of the operation itself. Policymakers should also account for the cost of the increased number of foreign fighters and the resulting threat.

Trabajo de fin de Grado. Grado en Criminología. Curso académico 2018-2019, [ES]El presente trabajo pretende recopilar, organizar y analizar la bibliografía escrita acerca de la incidencia relacional entre terrorismo yihadista desde el “11 – M” y la aportación de las Policías Locales y/o Municipales en la prevención y lucha contra dicho terrorismo cuya mediatización le otorga relevancia global, hasta el primer semestre del año 2019. A la luz de los resultados se determina, en la medida de lo posible, cuáles son los aspectos objeto de estudio así como carencias y oportunidades, diferenciando el papel que desempeñan los Ayuntamientos y sus Policías Locales en la prevención y lucha y proponiendo las líneas de investigación que asienten bases para futuros proyectos prácticos o de estudio al respecto, [EN]This work aims to collect, organize and analyze the written literature about the relational incidence between jihadist terrorism from the "11 - M" and the contribution of local and / or municipal police in the prevention and fight against terrorism whose mediatization gives global relevance, until the first semester of the year 2019. In light of the results is determined, as far as possible, which are the aspects under study as well as gaps and opportunities, differentiating the role played by municipalities and their local police in the prevention and fight and proposing the lines of research that establish bases for future practical projects or study in this regard.

Miscategorization of perceived enemies has plagued the United States since September 11, 2001. With the rise and decline of the Islamic State, this thesis seeks to determine how preparations to handle those suspected of terrorism have changed. Since the Islamic State entered the Western psyche, American foreign fighters have left home only to return from the battlefield disillusioned. Informed by needs theories, this thesis explores idiosyncratic radicalization trajectories of American foreign fighters between 2011 and 2017. Eight foreign fighter cases are examined to determine the individual causes of radicalization and defection. It is evident that the U.S. may be miscategorizing returnees. Through empathetic inquiry, this research found that many Americans traveled to Syria and Iraq to fulfill moral needs, rather than out of bloodthirst. Despite moral reasoning and eventual moral objection to acts witnessed in the self-proclaimed caliphate, misadventures have continually been met with prosecution. Hard power remains the U.S. defacto returnee policy. Consideration of the benefits of soft power in counterterrorism strategies has been largely neglected by U.S. authorities. It is recommended that categorization and treatment of returning American foreign fighters be reevaluated. Soft power may prove an indispensable tool in curtailing the threat of long-term, generational terrorism on U.S. soil. http://archive.org/details/unconvincedtokil1094560436 Civilian, West Virginia Intelligence / Fusion Center Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

As this study establishes, the influence of Islamist extremists has expanded into the United States. The terrorist organization known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has attracted many U.S. citizens to support its radical perspective of Islam. The ultimate goal of ISIS is to rule the Muslim world. Although establishing a caliphate or unleashing holy war on U.S. soil is clearly not in ISIS’s immediate plans, its current goal is to recruit as many American supporters as possible. Since ISIS’s declaration of its caliphate, American citizens have supported ISIS by attempting to become foreign fighters, soliciting jihadist material online, or plotting attacks in the United States. Homegrown jihadi terrorist ideology thus poses a threat, due to its inherently violent Islamic extremism. This threat needs to be defeated by a comprehensive approach that ensures the safety and security of the United States. http://archive.org/details/thehomegrownjiha1094560369 Major, United States Army Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Includes supplementary material Why do Americans travel abroad to fight in civil conflicts? Since proclaiming the caliphate in 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) has been recruiting men and women to the battlefields of Syria and Iraq from countries around the world. This study explores why American men and women volunteered to join ISIS and leave behind their families, their friends, and the comforts of American society. The profiles reviewed in the thesis were built from open-source documents. Three drivers were explored to explain this phenomenon: integration deficit, social media, and network connections. This study concluded that bidirectional social media use and social network connections were present in most of the cases surveyed. http://archive.org/details/whydoamericansgo1094559679 Lieutenant Junior Grade, United States Navy Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

The debates dealing with ISIS address the questions of how ISIS is conceptualized, what its aim is, and how it has successfully retained a core sovereignty zone. This study attempts to answer these questions by proposing that ISIS is a de facto state and uses jihadism as a survival strategy. The term 'competitive jihadism' is used to argue that ISIS competes with its metropole states, Syria and Iraq, on the basis of jihadism. This is a deliberate strategy, which aims to attract Muslims inclined to radicalization as well as to recruit foreign fighters by showing the jihadist deficits of the metropole states. As the research shows, ISIS is successful at this game and has become a magnet for foreign fighters. Thus, it is able to increase its military capabilities and continue to survive.

"Yabancı Savaşçıların Evrimi: Suriye Savaşında Kafkasya Kökenli Yabancı Savaşçılar Örneği" başlıklı tezde, tarihsel süreç içinde en fazla yabancı savaşçı akınlarından birine neden olan Suriye iç savaşında, yabancı savaşçı grupları içinden Kafkasya Kökenli Yabancı Savaşçılar (KKYS) ele alınmıştır. Tezde araştırma sorusu olarak "Kafkasya kökenli yabancı savaşçıların (KKYS) neden Suriye iç savaşına katıldıklarının" cevabı aranmaktadır. Bu cevaba ulaşmak için Suriye iç savaşına katılan 125 Kafkasya kökenli yabancı savaşçı ile nicel araştırma yöntemleri kullanılarak anket çalışması yapılmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda KKYS'ın Suriye iç savaşına katılmasında beş ana sebebin etkili olduğu ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu etkenler şunladır: Devlet kontrolünden dolayı Kuzey Kafkasya'da savaşma imkânının azalması, Selefi ideolojinin etkisi, Kafkasya Emirliğinin dağılması, cihat anlayışı ve Suriye'de Rusya'ya karşı savaşmak. Bu etkenlerin içinde en önemlisinin ise Suriye'de Rusya'ya karşı savaşma arzusu olduğu tespit edilmiştir., In the thesis "The Evolution of Foreign Fighters: The Case of Foreign Fighters of Caucasus Origin in the Syrian War," Foreign Fighters of Caucasus Origin (FFCO) are dealt with among different groups of foreign fighters in the Syrian civil war, which caused one of the largest flow of foreign fighters in history. The thesis seeks to answer the research question: "Why do Foreign Fighters of Caucasus Origin (FFCO) participate in the Syrian civil war?" Surveys were conducted with 125 FFCO who had fought in Syria using quantitative research methods to attain a response. As a result of the study, it was revealed that five main reasons are influential in the participation of FFCO in the Syrian civil war. These factors are: reduced possibility of fighting in North Caucasus due to state control, the influence of Salafi ideology, the disintegration of the Caucasus Emirate, the understanding of jihad, and the desire to fight against Russia in Syria. It has been observed that the most important factor among these is the desire to fight against Russia in Syria.

The Islamic State's strategic resources are dissolving as fast as they once appeared. The fear is that, as the Islamic State deteriorates, it will expand its operations outside the region through the use of returning foreign fighters. Evidence suggests that Islamic State children are subject to indoctrination and training that give them the tools to plan, organize, and execute terrorist attacks. These children also have the motive, means, and opportunity to attack the West while in the West. This thesis contains both quantitative and qualitative analyses that help assess the dangers that Islamic State returning foreign fighter youths pose to the domestic security of the United States. Three significant findings emerged out of this work. First, avenues exist for youth fighters indoctrinated and socialized by the Islamic State to plan, conduct, and execute terrorist operations in the United States. Second, youth fighters of the Islamic State share similarities with the child soldiers of other armed groups that influence whether they will have the propensity to engage in future terrorist attacks. Lastly, U.S. policies are geared toward addressing the humanitarian crisis that emerges out of the use of child soldiers, yet we treat the child soldiers of terrorist organizations like criminals. These findings have long-lasting implications for U.S. domestic security. http://archive.org/details/blackflagsofirfa1094556820 Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

In light of Islamic State’s decreasing military power and growing emphasis on a decentralised operational strategy, the threat posed by foreign fighters is shifting, with some aspects becoming less threatening as others become more salient. This Policy Brief provides a concise outline of four main threats related to the issue of foreign fighters with the aim of clarifying the parameters of the phenomenon in its current manifestation: the travel of foreign fighters, their return to their countries of residence, the threat posed by lone actors and sympathisers who carry out attacks at home, and finally, an increasing polarisation of society. It is argued that policymakers need to take into account the second and third order effects that targeting one of these aspects may have on the others in order to effectively counter a multi-dimensional phenomenon.

The so called ���Islamic State,��� an Islamic extremist organization which currently controls large swaths of territory in the Middle East, has attracted foreign fighters to its insurgency in tens of thousands. Until just recently, foreign fighters were not well researched or understood separately from local fighters. David Malet (2013) argues that insurgencies recruit foreign fighters by persuading them to defend a ���common group��� against a threatening enemy. This ���defensive mobilization,��� he believed, was critical to recruiting foreign fighters throughout history. After preliminary analysis, the Islamic State presented evidence contrary to this theory, and it seemed dubious that they would use defensive mobilization to recruit foreign fighters. By analyzing at Islamic State���s recruitment propaganda, this research found that the Islamic State did indeed break with Malet���s understanding of foreign fighters. Interestingly, the Islamic State instead invoked the religious duty to conquer on behalf of a legitimate religious state and restore Islamic dominion over the world. These findings may serve to increase our understanding of the Islamic State in general and will likely cause us to make adjustments in how we understand foreign fighter recruitment to other civil conflicts.

The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2016.1272456 Why do Westerners become foreign fighters in civil conflicts? We explore this question through original data collection on German foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, and test three sets of hypotheses that revolve around socioeconomic integration, online radicalization, and social network mobilization. We conduct link analysis to map the network of German foreign fighters prior to their mobilization, and marshal evidence to assess the validity of competing explanations. We find only modest support for the integration deficit hypothesis, and meager support for the social media radicalization theory. Instead, the preponderance of evidence suggests that interpersonal ties largely drive the German foreign fighter phenomenon. Recruitment featured clustered mobilization and bloc recruitment within interconnected radical milieus, leading us to conclude that peer-to-peer networks are the most important mobilization factor for German foreign fighters. Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) at the Naval Postgraduate School

This thesis studies the evolution of the Indonesian government's response to the threat of transnational jihadism and addresses the debate over the effectiveness of its counterterrorism policy. It poses the question: has Indonesian policy on transnational terrorism been effective in combating the mobilization of radical Islamic groups? By examining the three periods since Indonesia's transition to democracy--1998- 2001, 2002-2008, and 2009-present--the prominent political and social issues considered by politicians and counterterrorist specialists can be seen through the lenses of the threats facing Indonesia and the state's response. Through these means, the evolution and effectiveness of Indonesian counterterrorism may be further measured against the context and interplay of three factors: counterterrorism policies chosen, changing nature and evolution of the jihadist groups, and public opinion. These factors enabled state capacity and the implementation of a criminal justice counterterrorism approach effectively implementing "hard" and "soft" methods. With continued implementation of this approach, Indonesia may be positioned to combat the re-emergent transnationally influenced jihadist threats. The findings and lessons learned identified in this thesis may assist countries like Indonesia in their CT strategy development, capacity building, and application. http://archive.org/details/thelonguedureein1094549499 Major, United States Marine Corps Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

This thesis examines why approximately 700 German foreign fighters traveled to Syria and Iraq between early 2012 and late 2015. It presents the author’s original research on 99 German foreign fighter profiles, examining their preexisting network connections in Germany as well as their biographical availability and integration into German society. The study finds that German foreign fighters are primarily mobilized through traditional social network connections and that the mobilizing network in Germany consists of a nationwide, interconnected, and politically active Salafist scene. The project also finds that while Western governments often worry about the looming threat of online radicalization, verifiable examples of purely Internet-based radicalization remain rare. http://archive.org/details/germforeignfight1094548583 Outstanding Thesis Major, United States Air Force Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Syria has become a beacon for foreign fighters. Estimates in 2015 indicate that over 20,000 men and women have gone there to fight for various insurgent groups. This conflict is unique due to the unprecedented number of Westerners fighting. The central purpose of this study is to better understand recruitment and mobilization mechanisms as they pertain to fighters from Western nations. Why are these men and women leaving the relative safety of the West to enter a violent internecine conflict? What will happen if they decide to return home? To answer these questions, this thesis constructs 20 Western foreign fighter profiles from open source demographic, biographical, and motivational information, and then presents the findings. In particular, three variables—networks, anchoring, and group dynamics—are evaluated as critical drivers of recruitment and mobilization. The findings of this research show that traditional social networks, such as kinship, occupational, and religious groups, are most effective at recruiting and mobilizing prospective foreign fighters. Also, the data shows anchored individuals rarely mobilize. Furthermore, group dynamics appear critical to the mobilization of foreign fighters into Syria. Finally, the findings do not support social media efficacy in recruitment or mobilization. http://archive.org/details/westernforeignfi1094545842 Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Trabajo de fin de Grado. Grado en Derecho. Curso académico 2014-2015, [ES]En respuesta al fenómeno de los combatientes extranjeros, personas que parten desde distintos Estados del mundo hacia Siria a luchar o a recibir entrenamiento de organizaciones terroristas y la amenaza que supone su regreso a sus países de origen, el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU ha emitido la Resolución 2178. En ella se adopta el término combatientes terroristas extranjeros y se establece que el contenido del texto será de aplicación “incluso en relación con conflictos armados” y por tanto, rompe las barreras entre el derecho aplicable al terrorismo y el Derecho Internacional Humanitario. Esta resolución ha servido de amparo legal a los Estados miembros de la UE para endurecer sus códigos penales llegando incluso a tipificar comportamientos no incluidos en la Decisión Marco 2008. Además, la UE está llevando a cabo iniciativas que pueden restringir derechos fundamentales como el derecho a la privacidad, a la libertad de movimiento y a la no discriminación. Ejemplos de tales propuestas son la creación del registro de pasajeros (PNR) o el control sistemático de las fronteras. El trabajo sostiene que estas medidas, además, dificultan las labores de prevención de los agentes locales para integrar a la población en riesgo y frenar la radicalización y propone mejorar la cooperación y los sistemas de intercambio de información entre países., [EN] In response to the phenomenon of foreign fighters, people who goes from different states to Syria in order to fight or to receive terrorist training and the threat of their return, the Security Council of UN has adopted Resolution 2178. The resolution uses the term foreign terrorist fighters and states that it applies “including in connection with armed conflict”. Therefore, it blurs the line between law enforcement against terrorism and International Humanitarian Law. This resolution has provided legal protection to EU member states to tighten their criminal codes. In this context, goverments have criminalized conducts which are not covered by the Framework Decision 2008. Furthermore, the EU is pursuing initiatives that could restrict such fundamental rights as the right to privacy, freedom of movement and nondiscrimination. Creating a record of passengers (PNR) or systematic border controls are examples of such proposals. The paper argues that these measures also hamper prevention efforts of local players to integrate the population at risk and to stop radicalization and prevent new recruitments. And, finally, the paper proposes to improve cooperation and the use of information exchange systems between countries as the best way to counterterrorism.

At the international, national and local level, authorities seek to prevent citizens from travelling to the Middle East to join fighting parties or settle in the ISIS caliphate (also referred to as IS, ISIS or its Arab language acronym, Daesh). As some travellers have not reached the age of majority, the authorities should take the best interests of the child (Article 3 Convention on the Rights of the Child) into account while addressing this so-called foreign fighter phenomenon. This article explores to what extent the best interests of the child are considered at the international (United Nations, Council of Europe, European Union), national (the Netherlands) and local (The Hague) level when preventing minors from travelling to Syria and Iraq. In general, it finds that little distinction is made between the position of children and young adults. The position of children is explicitly addressed when measures are taken to prevent radicalization. Attention for the position of children is often lacking when repressive measures such as criminal and administrative measures are taken.

Foreign fighters have been on battlefields as devoted fighting volunteers since the emergence of nation states, but their nature has changed with ISIS. The article suggests that foreign fighters, defined as illegal by the United Nations with the designation of "foreign terrorist fighters", spread violence to other geographies when they return from conflict zones. In this respect, the article discusses conceptual approaches for foreign fighters and examines the hypothesis by analyzing a dataset encompassing ISIS-linked terrorist attacks in Turkey between 2014 and 2016. The findings related to the Turkish case are accepted as the first indicator that ISIS's foreign fighters cause violence to start spreading., IŞİD ile niteliği değişen yabancı savaşçılar ulus devletlerin ortaya çıkışından itibaren fedakarca savaşan gönüllüler şeklinde savaş alanlarında görülmekteydi. Bu makalede günümüzde Birleşmiş Milletlerce yabancı terörist savaşçı şeklinde tanımlanarak yasa dışı ilan edilen yabancı savaşçıların çatışma alanından geri döndüklerinde şiddeti başka coğrafyalara bulaştırdığı öne sürülmektedir. Bu kapsamda makalede yabancı savaşçılara dair kavramsal yaklaşımlar ele alınmış ve makalenin hipotezini sınamak için 2014-2016 arasında Türkiye’de IŞİD bağlantılı terörist eylemlerden oluşan veri seti incelenmiştir. Türkiye örneğine dair bulgular IŞİD’in yabancı savaşçılarının şiddeti yaymaya başladığının ilk göstergesini teşkil etmektedir.

The article deals with some aspects of migration to areas occupied by so-called Islamic State (ISIS). The organization conducted a very diverse information and propaganda campaign aimed at encouraging potential fighters to fight under its banner. An important element were ebooks issued in 2013 and 2014, telling about the heroism and beautiful death of foreign ISIS fighters. As part of the research described in the article, these publications have been given a multi-aspect analysis that allowed to identify the most common motifs in the biography and features of the ISIS fighter. The research metod used here is the analysis of the content, the methodological framework determined the concepts of sociology – in particular the sociology of religion and symbolic interactionism.

This article’s objective is to categorize potential jihadists in Europe and pro- vide an overview of contemporary methods for their recruitment. Taking into account the ubiquity of the Internet and social networking platforms, and the fact that younger generations are spending an ever increasing amount of time using contemporary communication technology, this article focuses on those recruitment methods that make use of social networking platforms and mobile applications for the spread of extremist propaganda, as well as for communi- cation with potential adherents. An analysis of the age structure of individu- als involved in the planning and carrying out of terrorist acts in Europe from November of 2015 to September of 2017 supports a hypothesis that contem- porary recruitment methods are especially effective in targeting a younger demographic. In addition, this article negates the importance of traditional physical exposure to radical behavior, which serves to explain the increasing number of terrorist attacks in Europe conducted by radicalized citizens of Eu- ropean countries.