Returning Western Foreign Fighters: The Case of Afghanistan, Bosnia and Somalia

Zuijdewijn, J. de Roy van; Bakker, Edwin

doi:10.19165/2014.2.02

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…45 De Roy Zuijdewijn, in an attempt to go beyond a primary focus on the physical challenge, has looked at three aspects of the fallout, namely physical threat, ideological influence, and social fallout. 46 Milton has focused more on the individuals involved and their specific roles, such as network supporter, global operative, recruiter, and entrepreneur. 47 Drawing upon these works, a four-component analytical framework for assessing the threat of returning foreign fighters can be outlined, as follows:…”

Section: Returning Foreign Fighters: Assessing the Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Far-right foreign fighters and Ukraine: A blind spot for the European Union?

Kaunert

MacKenzie

Léonard

2023

New Journal of European Criminal Law

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Despite the decline of Daesh in the Middle East, the issue of foreign fighters remains relevant to the EU. There is now another major conflict on the EU’s doorstep that has also been drawing in significant numbers of foreign fighters for a few years, namely the Russo-Ukrainian War. This article investigates the phenomenon of far-right foreign fighters travelling from Europe to Ukraine. It makes three main inter-related arguments. First, although far-right extremists travelling to Ukraine constitute only a very small proportion of all the individuals joining the conflict and have turned up in smaller numbers than what had generally been predicted, they represent a security risk to the EU and its Member States for a range of reasons. Second, despite these concerns, it is important not to exaggerate the scale of the presence of far-right foreign fighters in Ukraine, notably because this may play into the hands of the Russian authorities that have described the invasion of Ukraine as a ‘denazification’ mission. Third, whilst fully keeping the previous point in mind, it would nevertheless be in the interest of the EU and its Member States to place the issue of far-right foreign fighters travelling to Ukraine on the policy agenda, even if their number is relatively small. This is particularly important considering the rise of right-wing political violence, the potential for transnationalisation, the current strength of societal discontent in some European states, and the mainstreaming of previously fringe beliefs. A more coordinated approach towards dissuading those at risk of travelling to Ukraine could be developed, alongside preparing for the eventual return of those who have already travelled to the region.

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Section: Returning Foreign Fighters: Assessing the Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Far-right foreign fighters and Ukraine: A blind spot for the European Union?

Kaunert

MacKenzie

Léonard

2023

New Journal of European Criminal Law

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“…The second characteristic that differentiates global terrorism is the marked international character of its members, who despite their different geographical origins are united by their profession of a certain extremist and violent version of Islam: neo-Salafism. These individuals, whether urban jihadists or foreign fighters, endorse these goals at an international level, granting them a new identity in substitution of a previous identity based on a nation state logic (Hegghammer 2010, Van Zuijdewijn and Bakker 2014, Marrero Rocha 2020. Thus, the members of the organisation cease to identify with a specific state of origin, which grants global terrorism greater autonomy and independence compared to other actors that are conditioned to a greater extent by national and state elements (Malet 2013, 277) As a result, states have lost the degree of influence they used to have to determine the resources and actions of terrorist groups who acted within a specific territory during the Cold War.…”

Section: From International Terrorism To Global Terrorism: New Organi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

From financing needs to criminal terrorism: The role of terrorist financing in crime-terror relations

Rocha¹,

Canales²

2022

Oñati Socio-Legal Series

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After twenty years of national and international measures to combat financing of terrorism and money laundering, global terrorism has encountered greater restrictions to access the volume of economic resources it needs which has justified its collaboration with criminal organisations or conversion into criminal-terrorist organisations. This study seeks to analyse crime-terror relations by looking at the influence of the fight against terrorist financing in the evolution of global terrorist organisations, which have developed structures to establish a new range of relationships with transnational organised crime with unprecedented intensity. This article highlights some of the features that differentiate global terrorism from other types of terrorism, especially in terms of its objectives, organisational structures and funding possibilities, as well as pointing out a possible effect of the fight against terrorist financing in the relationship between terrorism and crime. Finally, it offers the different contexts where economic, political and social circumstances have created new cooperation models with organised crime groups.

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“…18 Similarly, the first wave of foreign fighters who arrived in Bosnia in the early 1990s mostly lacked real fighting experience. 19 However, in some cases, studies have shown that foreign fighters have brought significant skills and knowledge to their adopted conflicts. While, as noted above, the first wave of foreign fighters who joined the Bosnian war were relatively unskilled, the second wave, comprised of many commanders from the conflict in Afghanistan, brought useful experience to the Bosnian fight.…”

Section: Becoming a Foreign Fighter: Pathways And Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Career Foreign Fighters: Expertise Transmission Across Insurgencies

Daymon¹,

Zuijdewijn²,

Malet³

2020

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where she worked on violent extremist groups' use of online platforms, propaganda, and youth involvement in extremist organizations. She holds an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a BA and honorary MA in Oriental Studies from Cambridge University, UK. Her research interests include Islamic movements, terrorism, terror groups' use of the Internet, encrypted platforms, foreign fighters, and radicalization.

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Returning Western Foreign Fighters: The Case of Afghanistan, Bosnia and Somalia

Cited by 15 publications

References 11 publications

Far-right foreign fighters and Ukraine: A blind spot for the European Union?

Far-right foreign fighters and Ukraine: A blind spot for the European Union?

From financing needs to criminal terrorism: The role of terrorist financing in crime-terror relations

Career Foreign Fighters: Expertise Transmission Across Insurgencies

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