Download or read book Foreign Fighters and International Peace written by Cholpon Orozobekova and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-09-19 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book sheds light on the emergence, roots and gradual change of jihadism and exposes its detrimental impact on human lives. The author collected insightful interviews with ISIS fighters and also with women who joined ISIS. The book analyzes root causes and motivations of people based on the firsthand information and proposes the non-enigma cycles radicalization theory, and argues that two main cycles- grievances and resentment, and the radical ideology are the most significant. The book addresses the current situation with 70,000 women and children, who were family members of ISIS fighters, trapped in the desert following the defeat of the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq. The work also analyzes incentives of those who joined ISIS, nature of the jihadist ideology, emergence of a family jihad, roles of women and children within a so-called caliphate, and state policies to deal with captured ISIS fighters and their family members. The author gives detailed information on post-ISIS lives of women and children, who were family members of ISIS fighters who currently held in the desert in Northeast Syria. Detailed and vivid depiction of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in these camps presents the readers a clear understanding of the extent, intensity, and importance of the issue at hand and is what makes this book such a compelling and eye-catching one. The book also gives compelling accounts of state policies toward ISIS fighters that being discussed by international community such as establishing ad hoc tribunal, stripping citizenship, transferring to Iraqi prisons etc. It also gives detailed insights into rehabilitation and reintegration programs in several countries that repatriated their citizens from Syria and Iraq. The author`s research is unique due to her direct access to repatriated foreign fighters in several countries, which brought back their citizens from Iraq and Syria. “We will depart to Jihad if the God calls us,” such are the imprints that are left on the minds of young children born and raised in ISIS-controlled territories. The book contains many human stories which makes the book interesting not only to scholars and policy makers but to general audience too.

Download or read book Not Only Syria The Phenomenon of Foreign Fighters in a Comparative Perspective written by K. Rekawek and published by IOS Press. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term ‘foreign fighters’ describes nationals of one state who – for whatever variety of reasons and motives – travel abroad to take part in a conflict in another state without the promise of financial reward. The majority of attention has so far been focused on the nationals of Western European states who have gone to fight for the so-called Islamic State in Syria. There exist, however, other examples of contemporary European foreign fighters whose travails, motivations and returns have been largely unnoticed and underappreciated. This books attempts to balance this state of affairs by bringing to the fore some lesser known cases of non-terrorist but foreign fighters related to the conflict in Ukraine, and situating them against the backdrop of the larger mobilization for the war in Syria. This book presents edited versions of the 12 papers presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) ‘Not Only Syria? Foreign Fighters: A Threat to NATO Allies and Their Neighbours’. The workshop was held in Chisinau, Moldova, in May 2016, and brought together researchers and experts in the field to discuss the differences, similarities and parallels between different groups of foreign fighters engaged in the conflicts in Syria and the Ukraine. The papers include contributions from the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Poland among others, and examine cases of foreign fighters from these and other countries. The book will provide an interesting context to researchers who have, up to now, looked only at a single set of such fighters, and will lead to tangible recommendations on how to develop policies to address the threat posed by returnees from any conflict.

Download or read book Returning Islamist Foreign Fighters written by Elena Pokalova and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-10-24 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the challenges foreign fighter returnees from Syria and Iraq pose to Western countries. A number of returnees have demonstrated that they are willing to use violence against their home countries, and some have already staged terrorist attacks on Western soil on apparent orders from ISIS. Through the historical context of previous waves of mobilizations of Islamist foreign fighters, the author tracks the experiences of returnees from previous conflicts and discusses the major security challenges associated with them. The book analyzes the major approaches implemented by Western countries in response to foreign fighter returnees, discusses the prosecution of returnees, and evaluates the corresponding challenges of prison radicalization.

Download or read book Road Warriors written by Daniel Byman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, fighters from abroad have journeyed in ever-greater numbers to conflict zones in the Muslim world to defend Islam from-in their view-infidels and apostates. The phenomenon recently reached its apogee in Syria, where the foreign fighter population quickly became larger and more diverse than in any previous conflict. In Road Warriors, Daniel Byman provides a sweeping history of the jihadist foreign fighter movement. He begins by chronicling the movement's birth in Afghanistan, its growing pains in Bosnia and Chechnya, and its emergence as a major source of terrorism in the West in the 1990s, culminating in the 9/11 attacks. Since that bloody day, the foreign fighter movement has seen major ups and downs. It rode high after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, when the ultra-violent Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) attracted thousands of foreign fighters. AQI overreached, however, and suffered a crushing defeat. Demonstrating the resilience of the movement, however, AQI reemerged anew during the Syrian civil war as the Islamic State, attracting tens of thousands of fighters from around the world and spawning the bloody 2015 attacks in Paris among hundreds of other strikes. Although casualty rates are usually high, the survivors of Afghanistan, Syria, and other fields of jihad often became skilled professional warriors, going from one war to the next. Still others returned to their home countries, some to peaceful retirement but a deadly few to conduct terrorist attacks. Over time, both the United States and Europe have learned to adapt. Before 9/11, volunteers went to and fro to Afghanistan and other hotspots with little interference. Today, the United States and its allies have developed a global program to identify, arrest, and kill foreign fighters. Much remains to be done, however-jihadist ideas and networks are by now deeply embedded, even as groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State rise and fall. And as Byman makes abundantly clear, the problem is not likely to go away any time soon.

Download or read book Western Foreign Fighters written by Phil Gurski and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A number of recent terrorist attacks were committed by young men and women who had radicalized, went to train with IS in the Middle East, then returned to their home country to commit acts of violence. In this text, Phil Gurski examines why some people decide to abandon their homeland to join terrorist groups, and whether they pose a significant threat to their societies if they survive and return. The focus is on Canadians and other Westerners who see violent Jihad as divine obligation, with the intention to challenge the view that foreign fighters are all brainwashed. The book first looks at state motivation for resorting to conflict and the nature of war, including Jihad. It then discusses why Westerners volunteered to join the military in past wars to offer points of comparison before focusing on why some are now going to Iraq and Syria to fight along groups such as Islamic State. This includes a thorough discussion of the increasing participation of women and the debates among extremists on whether they can engage in warfare. Lastly, the threat posed by radicalized fighters when they return home after either training or waging war abroad is examined in detail along with what is done to prevent and counter it. Written in an accessible manner by a reputed expert on terrorism and radicalization, the text will appeal to anyone seeking to understand why people join terrorist groups and the threats they represent to their homeland.

Download or read book The Return of Foreign Fighters to Central Asia written by Thomas Lynch and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-02-03 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central Asia is the third largest point of origin for Salafi jihadist foreign fighters in the conflagration in Syria and Iraq, with more than 4,000 total fighters joining the conflict since 2012 and 2,500 reportedly arriving in the 2014-2015 timeframe alone. As the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) continues to lose territory under duress from U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition activities, some predict that many may return home bent on jihad and generating terror and instability across Central Asia. Yet several factors indicate that such an ominous foreign fighter return may not materialize. Among these factors are that a majority of Central Asians fighting for ISIL and the al-Nusra Front in Syria and Iraq are recruited while working abroad in Russia, often from low-wage jobs under poor conditions making the recruits ripe for radicalization. In addition, many of those heading for jihad in Syria and the Levant expect that they are on a "one way journey," some to martyrdom but most for a completely new life, and do not plan a return. Most Central Asian states face their greatest risk of domestic instability and violent extremism as a reaction to political repression and counterterrorism (CT) policies that counterproductively conflate political opposition and the open practice of Islam with a domestic jihadist threat. If improperly calibrated, greater U.S. CT assistance to address foreign fighter returns may strengthen illiberal regime short-term focus on political power consolidation, overplay the limited risks of foreign fighter returns, and increase the risks of domestic unrest and future instability. The United States has few means to pressure Central Asian regimes into policies that address the main drivers of domestic radicalization, such as political inclusion and religious freedom. Although an imperfect instrument, U.S. security assistance-and the specific subset of CT assistance-is a significant lever. U.S. CT assistance for Central Asia should eschew additional general lethal assistance and instead scope security attention toward border security intelligence and physical capacity enhancements. This CT aid should be paired with important, complementary socioeconomic programs that help with countering violent extremism, including greater religious and political openness along with support for the Central Asian diaspora.

Download or read book Foreign Fighters written by David Malet and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In conflict zones around the world, the phenomenon of foreign insurgents fighting on behalf of local rebel groups is a common occurrence. They have been an increasing source of concern because they engage in deadlier attacks than local fighters do. They also violate international laws and norms of citizenship. And because of their zeal, their adversaries - often the most powerful countries in the world - are frequently incapable of deterring them. Foreign fighters have made headlines in recent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia, and the term is widely equated with militant Islamists. However, foreign fighters are not a new phenomenon. Throughout modern history, outside combatants have fought on behalf of causes ranging from international communism to aggrieved ethnic groups. Analyzing the long history of foreign fighters in the modern era helps us understand why they join insurgencies, what drives their behavior, and what policymakers can do in response. In Foreign Fighters, David Malet examines how insurgencies recruit individuals from abroad who would seem to have no direct connection to a distant war. Remarkably, the same recruiting strategies have been employed successfully in all foreign fighter cases, regardless of the particular circumstances of a conflict. Malet also catalogues foreign fighters in civil wars over the past two centuries, providing data indicating that they are disproportionately successful and growing in number. Detailed case histories constructed from archival material and original interviews demonstrate the same recruitment patterns in highly diverse conflicts including the Texas Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, the Israeli War of Independence, and the Afghanistan War. The results show that foreign fighters from Davy Crockett to George Orwell to Osama bin Laden create and respond to strategically crafted appeals to defend transnational communities under dire threat.

Download or read book Foreign Fighters in Ukraine written by Kacper Rękawek and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-30 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreign Fighters in Ukraine is the first comprehensive academic study taking an in-depth look at foreigners who have chosen to fight in the conflict in Ukraine. While there has been considerable focus in policy, security and academic circles on the threat from returning jihadists – so-called returnee foreign terrorist fighters – the same danger from right-wing, but not essentially terrorist, extremists and others has been largely overlooked. As Westerners rushed to join the nascent Caliphate in Syria/Iraq, others simultaneously traveled to another foreign war on what many would call Europe’s doorstep: the Russo-Ukrainian war. This book unmasks this largely unknown group of fighters as the author dives into the fighters’ ideological and social backgrounds, their motivations for joining the conflict, their travails on the way there and their battle record in Eastern Ukraine. To a large extent based on interviews with the fighters themselves, it is a study on how and why men risk their lives while fighting a foreign war – and attract the attention of security services at home upon their return. Particularly, given the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the growing interest in far-right violence worldwide, the book evaluates whether these returnees constitute another security threat to the West. This volume will be of interest to all those researching small wars, terrorism, peace and conflict studies and right-wing extremism.

Download or read book Transnational Actors in War and Peace written by David Malet and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transnational Actors in War and Peace provides a comparative examination of a range of transnational actors who have been key to the conduct of war and peace promotion, and of how they interact with states and each other. It explores the identities, organization, strategies and influence of transnational actors involved in contentious politics, armed conflict, and peacemaking. While the study of transnational politics has been a rapidly growing field, to date, the disparate actors have not been analyzed alongside each other, making it difficult to develop a common theoretical framework or determine their influence on international security. This book brings together a diverse set of scholars focused on a range of transnational actors, such as: foreign fighters, terrorists, private military security companies, religious groups, diasporas, NGOs, and women’s peace groups. Malet and Anderson provide the standard for future study of transnational actors in this work intended for those interested in security studies, international relations, conflict resolution, and global governance.

Download or read book Prosecuting Foreign Terrorist Fighters written by Bibi Tabeia Ginkel and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreign terrorist fighters undermine international peace and security by joining terrorist organisations and by contributing to the conflict and to the execution of terrorist acts, both in the conflict theatres and their home countries. This policy brief (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism - The Hague) focusses on the legal measures, specifically the prosecutorial approach, and the difficulties that prosecutions of those who have travelled to the countries where the conflict takes place bring along. Given those difficulties, the main question this policy brief seeks to answer is whether there is a role for the military to play in assisting prosecutors in collecting evidence and arresting suspects in countries of destination in order to try them in a criminal court under a civilian jurisdiction. After elaborating on potential future scenarios in Syria and Iraq, the policy brief concludes by giving recommendations for cooperation between the military and civilian prosecutors.

Download or read book Networked Insurgencies and Foreign Fighters in Eurasia written by Jean-Francois Ratelle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-19 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent wars in Eurasia have foregrounded the flows of foreign fighters between distinct insurgent battlefronts. Since 2011 thousands of individuals have travelled from the Caucasus and Central Asia to fight in Syria and Iraq. Caucasians have also appeared in the fighting that followed Ukraine’s Euromaidan Revolution in 2014. Resolutions of these conflicts promise further movements as foreign fighters return home. This collection of articles presents for the first time in one volume a cross-regional comparative perspective on the trajectories of foreign fighters between the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and Ukraine. Drawing on extensive primary sources, contributors theorize the life cycles of foreign fighter waves and the respective roles played by pre-existing insurgent networks, transnational ideologies such as "global jihad" and "Eurasianism", and propaganda framing by insurgent groups such as the Islamic State. They examine regional state responses to the security threat posed by foreign fighters, showing how current security governance regimes can reinforce insurgent ideologies attracting violent militants. Finally they investigate the motivations for foreign fighters to return to their home states in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Arguing for the networked character of insurgencies in Eurasia, this book offers a unique overview of the foreign fighter phenomenon across the continent. It was originally published as various special issues of Caucasus Survey, Terrorism and Political Violence and Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.

Download or read book Countering Radicalisation and Violent Extremism Among Youth to Prevent Terrorism written by M. Lombardi and published by IOS Press. This book was released on 2014-12-09 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although violent extremism is not a new phenomenon, it is increasingly recognized as a major challenge of our times. The recruitment of foreign fighters by extremist organizations, and its potential impact on public safety in the countries from which they come, is also emerging as a complex issue at the forefront of international preoccupations. This book presents the proceedings of the three day NATO Advanced Research Workshop, "Countering Violent Extremism Among Youth to Prevent Terrorism", held in Milan, Italy, in June 2014. The best way to respond to violent extremism in general, and the radicalization of disaffected youth in particular, is far from clear, but the stakes are so high and the potential threat to countries worldwide so great that inaction is not an option. The goal of the workshop was to enhance the capacity of policymakers and practitioners to design strategies that will achieve verifiable human-rights based outcomes to counter violent extremism. Subjects covered in the 19 papers which go to make up this book include: the causes or drivers of violent extremism; the factors which facilitate the recruitment of youth by violent extremist groups; the risk of growing Islamophobia in some Western and Central European countries; and proactive measures to counter the radicalization of youth. The book will be of interest to all those involved in policy development, prevention programs, de-radicalization programs or research aimed at countering violent extremism and the radicalization of young people.

Download or read book From Freedom Fighters to Jihadists written by Vera Mironova and published by Causes and Consequences of Ter. This book was released on 2019 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, thousands of pro-democracy rebel groups spontaneously formed to fight the Assad regime. Years later, the revolution was unrecognizable as rebel opposition forces had merged into three major groups: Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al Sham, and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Why did these three groups rapidly increase in size and military strength while others simply disappeared? What is it about their organizational structure and their Islamist ideology that helped group manage their fighters so successfully? With these questions at the forefront, this book examines the internal organization of armed groups and, in particular, their human resources. Analyzing the growth of these groups through the prism of a labor market theory, this book shows that extreme Islamist groups were able to attract fighters away from more moderate groups because they had better internal organization, took better care of fighters both physically and monetarily, experienced less internal corruption, and effectively used their Islamist ideology to control recruits. With unparalleled access and extensive ethnographic research drawn from her interviews and her year embedded with Iraqi Special Operation forces, Mironova delves deep into the ideological and practical nexus of some of the most radical groups in the Middle East. This book brings together more than 600 survey-interviews with local civilians and fighters on the frontline in Syria and a dataset of human resource policies from 40 armed groups; it is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants insight into the on the ground functioning of rebel organizations.

Download or read book Jihad in Central Asia written by Musa Khan Jalalzai and published by Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. This book was released on 2020-06-18 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The four Central Asian States (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan) security agencies and government have adopted several law and order measures to effectively fight against radicalization, but some states failed to intercept the infiltration of the ISIS militants from Afghanistan into the region. The power structures, social institutions and local authorities of the Central Asian states are unable to work with radical Islamic groups. The prospect of nuclear terrorism in Central Asia and possibly in Russia, is crystal clear. The risk of a complete nuclear device falling into the hands of terrorists will cause consternation in the region. Nuclear terrorism remains a constant threat to global peace. Access of terrorist organizations to nuclear material is a bigger threat to civilian population. These are some of the issues discussed in the book. The issues are based on well researched papers by eminent authors on the subject.

Download or read book Prosecuting Foreign Terrorist Fighters written by Bibi van Ginkel and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreign Terrorist Fighters undermine international peace and security by joining terrorist organisations and by contributing to the conflict and to the execution of terrorist acts, both in the conflict theatres and their home countries. Policies to counteract this phenomenon have been adopted at both the international and national levels, including security, administrative and preventative measures. This policy brief will focus on the legal measures, specifically the prosecutorial approach, and the difficulties that prosecutions of those who have travelled to the destination countries where the conflict takes place bring along. Given those difficulties, the main question this policy brief seeks to answer is whether there is a role for the military to play in assisting prosecutors in collecting evidence and arresting suspects in countries of destination in order to try them in a criminal court under a civilian jurisdiction. After elaborating on several future scenarios in Syria and Iraq, the policy brief concludes by giving recommendations for cooperation between the military and civilian prosecutors.

Download or read book Countering Terrorism Preventing Radicalization and Protecting Cultural Heritage written by A. Niglia and published by IOS Press. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most pressing challenges in the fight against terror is the way in which terrorist organizations have developed uniquely effective recruitment tools. Terrorist groups such as ISIS have successfully indoctrinated followers from all over the world, expanding their reach far beyond the Middle East. It is imperative that the international community finds effective ways to respond to this threat. This book presents findings and recommendations from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) ‘Human Factors in the Defense Against Terrorism: the Case of Jordan’, held in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in November 2016. The aim of the workshop was to deepen NATO-Jordanian cooperation within the Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) framework by sharing best practices in counter-terrorism and de-radicalization strategies among government authorities and distinguished experts from the diplomatic, military, academic, and private sectors. The discussions were centered around the technological and psychological aspects of terrorist recruitment techniques, particularly with regard to social media and other information-sharing platforms. Participants developed several innovative strategies for preventing, and even reversing, radicalization, and also established a series of protocols and emergency response techniques for practitioners and policy makers in the fields of counter-terrorism and emergency responders. Providing an overview of current expertise and best practice, this book will be of interest to all those collaborating to effectively counter the threats of terrorism and fight the process of radicalization.

Download or read book Your Sons Are at Your Service written by Aaron Y. Zelin and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tunisia became one of the largest sources of foreign fighters for the Islamic State—even though the country stands out as a democratic bright spot of the Arab uprisings and despite the fact that it had very little history of terrorist violence within its borders prior to 2011. In Your Sons Are at Your Service, Aaron Y. Zelin uncovers the longer history of Tunisian involvement in the jihadi movement and offers an in-depth examination of the reasons why so many Tunisians became drawn to jihadism following the 2011 revolution. Zelin highlights the longer-term causes that affected jihadi recruitment in Tunisia, including the prior history of Tunisians joining jihadi organizations and playing key roles in far-flung parts of the world over the past four decades. He contends that the jihadi group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia was able to take advantage of the universal prisoner amnesty, increased openness, and the lack of governmental policy toward it after the revolution. In turn, this provided space for greater recruitment and subsequent mobilization to fight abroad once the Tunisian government cracked down on the group in 2013. Zelin marshals cutting-edge empirical findings, extensive primary source research, and on-the-ground fieldwork, including a variety of documents in Arabic going as far back as the 1980s and interviews with Ansar al-Sharia members and Tunisian fighters returning from Syria. The first book on the history of the Tunisian jihadi movement, Your Sons Are at Your Service is a meticulously researched account that challenges simplified views of jihadism’s appeal and success.