scholarly journals Citizenship Deprivation as a Counterterrorism Measure in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Sara Kulic
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
International Community ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Pressure ◽  
Foreign Fighters

Since the proclamation of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Caliphate in June 2014, an unprecedented number of jihadi supporters in Europe have left their countries to fight alongside the organisation in Iraq and Syria. Over the years, ISIS has lost much of its territory and was militarily defeated in 2019, leaving a large number of members waiting in Kurdish camps and Iraqi prisons for their fate to be decided. Instead of repatriating foreign fighters, many European countries have started to use citizenship deprivation as a tool of preventing them from returning. Under the rationale of protecting national security and deterring possible supporters, it has been argued that citizenship deprivation is nothing more than risk exportation, with notable implications for a whole international community. This article provides an overview of the rationale behind citizenship deprivation as a counterterrorism measure and highlights how, from a counterterrorism perspective, shifting the problem instead of addressing it, could be counterproductive and undermine the fight against terrorism. The article concludes that despite numerous implications, following the public pressure to harshly respond to terrorism, it is unlikely that the popularity and use of citizenship deprivation as a counterterrorism measure will be in decrease soon.

scholarly journals Voldelig transnational aktivisme: Islamisk Stat, foreign fighters og radikalisering

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lasse Lindekilde ◽  
Preben Bertelsen
Keyword(s):  
The Internet ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Transnational Activism ◽  
Revolutionary Movement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Study Circles ◽  
Quest For Meaning ◽  
Religious Convictions ◽  
Foreign Fighters ◽  
Interdisciplinary Theory

Denne artikel undersøger, hvordan radikaliseringen og mobiliseringen af danske foreign fighters foregår, og hvad der motiverer unge danske muslimer til at drage i krig for en voldelig, revolutionær bevægelse som Islamisk Stat. Den offentlige danske debat om foreign fighters tegner et billede af unge, som via bestemte moskémiljøer, studiekredse i Danmark samt internettet radikaliseres til at tro, at væbnet kamp for kalifatet er en religiøs pligt. I kontrast til dette argumenterer artiklen for, at mange foreign fighters i høj grad motiveres af personlige udfordringer, fremmedgørelse og søgen efter mening med tilværelsen snarere end af dybt forankrede og reflekterede politiske og religiøse overbevisninger. I deres søgen efter et tilhørsforhold og mening kommer de unge på forskellig vis i kontakt med radikaliserende miljøer, hvor ensidig deliberation polariserer de unges holdninger. Artiklen præsenterer en interdisciplinær teoretisk model af radikalisering, hvis frugtbarhed diskuteres via analyse af illustrative casestudier af danske foreign fighters, som er rejst ud for at kæmpe for Islamisk Stat. Ved at stille skarpt på mobiliseringen af foreign fighters og tilbyde en forklarende ramme herfor, bidrager artiklen til teori om sociale bevægelser, som alt for ofte alene beskæftiger sig med mobilisering af progressive, pro-demokratiske og ikkevoldelige bevægelser. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Lasse Lindekilde and Preben Bertelsen: Violent Transnational Activism: Islamic State, Foreign Fighters and Radicalization The purpose of this article is to investigate the process of radicalization and mobilization of Danish foreign fighters, and the motivation of young Danish Muslims to go to war and fight for an ultra-violent, revolutionary movement like Islamic State. The public debate on foreign fighting in Denmark suggests that young Danish Muslims are radicalized through certain mosque milieus, study circles and the internet to believe that violent fighting for the caliphate is a religious obligation. In contrast to this picture, this article argues that many foreign fighters are rather motivated more by a quest for meaning and belonging, individual challenges and a sense of alienation than by deeply rooted political or religious convictions. In their search for belonging and meaning, these young Muslims come in contact with radicalizing milieus, where one-sided deliberation is unfolding and where attitudes polarize, motivation forms and is sustained. The article presents an interdisciplinary theory of radicalization, and discusses it in relation to case studies of Danish foreign fighters who have left for, or were on their way to fight, for Islamic State. By emphasizing the mobilization of foreign fighters and offering an explanatory framework for this empirical phenomenon, the article contributes to the theorization of social movements, which has too often focused solely on mobilization to progressive, pro-democratic and non-violent movements. Keywords: radicalization, foreign fighters, mobilization.

scholarly journals Life after ISIS: the problem of the Islamic State foreign fighters

2019 ◽  
pp. 93-110
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Ciślar
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Profile ◽  
The World ◽  
Foreign Fighters

After the collapse of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria many states faced the problem of the foreign fighters wanting to return. Some governments refused to accept their citizens arguing that they pose too much of a threat to the public. Are the governments across the world justified to revoke the citizenships of the former members of the Caliphate? Do states have a responsibility for their own citizens and are obligated to help them no matter the circumstances? These are the questions that this article examines from the legal and political point of view. The article examines a high profile case study of Shamima Begun – a former jihadi wife, who travelled to Syria as a teenager, caught in a battle for her British citizenship

The Myth of a Migration Crisis in France

2018 ◽  
pp. 126-144
Author(s):  
Isabelle Rigoni
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
National Security ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Modes Of Action ◽  
Security Context ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Institutional Actors

France is an old immigration country but has been slow to recognize itself as such. Since 2000, the Western security context has produced a new stage in migration and asylum policies. The tragic and traumatic nature of terrorist attacks in France and other European countries has legitimized the strengthening of national security laws, fueled more conservative attitudes regarding cultural and ethnic diversity, and fed into debates on communitarianism, multiculturalism, and universalism. This chapter analyzes how migratory dynamics have been constructed as a crisis in contemporary France and examines the initiatives of civil society towards what politics and media consider to be a migration crisis. Finally, it analyzes the modes of action used by various social and institutional actors in the context of an imagined migration crisis.

scholarly journals Paranoid styles and innumeracy: implications of a conspiracy mindset on Europeans' misperceptions about immigrants

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Sergio Martini ◽  
Mattia Guidi ◽  
Francesco Olmastroni ◽  
Linda Basile ◽  
Rossella Borri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Factors ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors ◽  
Influence Perceptions ◽  
Western Democracies

Abstract Innumeracy, that is, the inability to deal with numbers and provide correct estimates about political issues, is reported to be widespread among the public. Yet, despite the recognition that a conspiracy mindset is an increasingly common phenomenon in Western democracies, this has not been considered as a potential correlate of innumeracy. Using data from an online sample of respondents across 10 European countries, we show that those with a higher propensity to hold a conspiracy worldview tend to overestimate the actual share of the immigrant population living in their own country. This association holds true when accounting for country heterogeneity and other cognitive, affective and socio-demographic factors. Employing a comparative design and refined measurements, the article contributes to our understanding of how a conspiracy mentality may influence perceptions of relevant political facts, questioning basic processes of democratic accountability.

DERADICALIZATION OF RETURNING FOREIGN FIGHTERS AND HOMEGROWN TERORRISTS

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-100
Author(s):  
DANILO VUJOVIĆ ◽  
NEDELJKO CVETKOVIĆ
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Security Risk ◽  
European Security ◽  
Preventive Work ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Foreign Fighters

In the last couple of years, with the prolification of the Migrant Crisis and the defeat of the Islamic State, the return of the foreign fighters, who went form Europe to the Caliphate and joined the local conflict, as well as the problem of the homegrown terrorism have become the focal point of almost all national security strategies of European countries. The situation that followed drove the authors to set the possible approaches to solving this challenge to European security as a goal for their research. The subject of this article encompasses the process of deradicalization, as the only humane way to deal with the problem at hand, as well as the process of radicalization, as necessary for understanding the formation of the individuals that pose a threat to the security of Europe. The article also tackles the preventive work directed at those social groups that are deemed susceptible to radicalization, as well as the use of individualized and holistic approach to the radicalized individuals. Special consideration is given to the programs of deradicalization as a form of institutionalized way of dealing with this type of a security risk. In the conclusion the authors give their own view of what is the most adeqaute approach when working with radicalized individuals and the role of certain elements of society in it.

scholarly journals The Ancient Walls of Damascus and the Siege of Mouaddamiyya: A Historical and Spatial Analysis of Bounded Place and Cultural Identity

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nour Halabi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Public Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Political Turmoil ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Vast Area

Throughout the Syrian crisis, the presence of material and symbolic boundaries to culture became a particularly salient element of the continuously unfolding political turmoil. As one terrorist group, Daesh, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, seeks to unite the vast area of the Middle East under the political, religious, and cultural administration of a “Greater State of Syria,” or “al-Sham,” this article revisits the historical spatial organization of Damascus and the construction of city boundaries and walls as factors that contributed to the cultivation of spatially grounded cleavages within Syrian and Damascene identity. In the latter section of this article, I reflect on the impact of these cleavages on the Syrian crisis by focusing on the public response to the siege of the Mouaddamiyya neighborhood.

scholarly journals The Controversy Surrounding the 2008 Good Friday Prayer in Europe: The Discussion and its Theological Implications

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Hermann Henrix
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Political Dialogue ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Friday Prayer

The Good Friday prayer “for the Jews” that was promulgated on February 4, 2008 triggered significant controversy. This article reviews how this controversy expressed itself in European countries in various ways and with differing intensity. It was eventually resolved at the level of political dialogue. Cardinal Kasper’s important commentary on the prayer, publicly approved by Secretary of State Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, calmed the public discussion. But this did not resolve the theological questions raised by the prayer, the focus of the second half of the article. When in today’s Church, the words of prayers that are in accord with Scripture call to mind negative experiences in the Christian-Jewish history, can they be used as the Church’s prayer? Can the two Good Friday prayers for the Jews co-exist, that of the 1970 missal and that of 2008? The fundamental theological problem raised by the two different prayers is not the issue of mission, but rather the question of salvation. How does one resolve the tension between the fact that God’s covenant with the Jewish people has not been revoked and the universal salvific significance of Jesus Christ? Is it possible to create a Christian-Jewish bridge by referring to Jesus Christ? These questions remain unresolved, but theologians are now addressing them.

scholarly journals Sino-Swiss Strategic Partnership: A Model for China-Europe Relations

2017 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 267-282
Author(s):  
Shichen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
Infrastructure Investment ◽  
Investment Bank ◽  
The Public ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Bilateral Cooperation ◽  
Sensitive Issues

After signing a bilateral free trade agreement with China and joining in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Switzerland has become one of China’s best partners in Europe. The bilateral relationship has been upgraded from “strategic partnership” to “innovative strategic partnership,” and is regarded by the Chinese as “a model relationship for China-European countries.” Two fundamental reasons explain why Switzerland has achieved such harmonious relations with the world’s second largest economy: first, there is no historical conflict between the two countries; second, Switzerland is more pragmatic than other European countries in strengthening bilateral cooperation with China. So far, the two countries have institutionalized dialogues and other exchanges involving both elites and the public; sensitive issues have been properly handled without obstructing the development of their bilateral relations. As ever closer ties are being built between China and Europe as a whole, the Beijing-Bern relationship can serve as a model for other European countries.

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