MPP · JIHAD OR RE-INTEGRATION: PATHWAYS OF FOREIGN FIGHTERS AFTER WAR
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-09-02 → 2021-09-01
- EU contribution
- €165,599
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
JIHAD OR RE-INTEGRATION: PATHWAYS OF FOREIGN FIGHTERS AFTER WAR
This project analyzes pathways of foreign fighters in the aftermath of wars: why some choose between continued fighting and demobilization, and why some of the demobilized fighters integrate into society, while others go back to fighting. The aim is to examine the post-war trajectories of the foreign fighters who fought in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995), and Croatia (1991-1995) on all the warring sides. Many observers acknowledge that the activities of foreign fighters tend to be recursive and that some of them who fought in Afghanistan or Bosnia in the 1990s re-appeared in Syria in 2011 as either the combatants, recruiters, or conduits for terrorist groups. Despite this observation, there is no adequate understanding nor explanation of why this is happening. This project addresses this lack of knowledge through a comparative case study and the use of process tracing to analyze primary (personal biographies of foreign fighters and semi-structured interviews) and secondary sources (published books and articles by other authors). In the first stage, the project examines secondary sources and personal biographies of former fighters in order to identify the available data and determine the cohorts of foreign fighters. In the second stage, I aim to interview foreign fighters who fought in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. The project strives to shed light on the experience of foreign fighters as well as their motives and opportunities to either demobilize or pursue fighting elsewhere. This project has far-reaching policy implications to help understand the behavior and ties of foreign fighters today, particularly in Europe’s courtyard. There are several hundred individuals who left for Syria to wage jihad on the side of ISIS, many of whom had already fought in the Yugoslav wars. There are also former fighters who have taken part in recruitment and support for ISIS. It is, therefore, imperative for long-term European security planning that a clear understanding exists regarding how to deal with foreign fighters, how to integrate them into the society, and how the EU can tackle radicalized foreign fighters in the most effective way. This project contributes to emerging debates on foreign fighters by providing a better understanding of the behavior of foreign fighters. This project pursues several objectives. First, it develops an innovative theoretical framework to analyze the behavior of foreign fighters in the post-war setting by examining their different roles in militant organizations. The second aim is to shed more light on the behavior of foreign fighters who fought in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia: why some returned to civilian life and integrated into the host society, while others moved on to fight wars elsewhere. The final objective is to develop a number of policy recommendations to assist European policymakers in the integration of foreign fighters coming home from Iraq and Syria and tackling those who work with terrorist groups.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Foreign fighters pose a serious threat to Europe. Western intelligence agencies believe that approximately 400 foreign fighters have returned to the EU from Syria and Iraq, and that at least 250 radicalized individuals have been smuggled to Europe from 2014 until 2016. The major hotbeds of foreign fighters smuggling and recruitment are located in Europe itself, in Bosnia and Kosovo, both of which underwent civil wars that featured foreign fighters. We know little about how foreign fighters behave in the aftermath of such civil wars: why some continue fighting in other wars while others go back to civilian life. This is an unfortunate shortcoming because numerous studies have shown that some foreign fighters have demobilized in the aftermath of wars in Afghanistan and Bosnia, while others left for Chechnya, Iraq and Syria to continue jihad. Those who continued fighting built networks with terrorists who are responsible for recent attacks in Europe. It is, therefore, imperative to understand these dynamics in order to make sound decisions that can prevent terrorism in Europe. This project will remedy this shortcoming by pursuing three goals. First, the project will adopt a fresh theoretical framework for the study of foreign fighters. Drawing on organizational theory, career transition and political violence literature, the project aims to explain post-war pathways of foreign fighters as a function of their role in previous war(s). Such an approach goes beyond standard focus on motivations and will help elicit why foreign fighters demobilize or turn violent in a long-term perspective. Second, the project will obtain new empirical insights into how foreign fighters pursued different paths in two similar, post-conflict contexts (Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo). The third objective of the project is to develop a set of policy recommendations that will assist future policy makers in dealing with returning foreign fighters.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN · LeidenCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union