Resilience to stress in bipartite networks: Application to the Islamic State recruitment network

Networks are resilient to internal failures or external attacks. The resiliency is often beneficial, but there are scenarios where the collapse of a social system, network, or organization would be beneficial to society, such as the dismantlement of terrorist, rebel, or organized crime groups. In this article, we develop a methodology to estimate the effect of knockouts and apply our method to the Islamic State recruitment network. Using our novel application, we demonstrate how coordinated attacks against recruiters might reduce the Islamic State's ability to mobilize new fighters. This analysis has direct implications for studies of network resilience and terrorist recruitment.

Vulnerabilidad, propaganda terrorista online y reclutamiento en el contexto del terrorismo internacional

La captación de terroristas conocidos como “internacionales” o “yihadistas” y la propaganda online son cuestiones contemporáneas cruciales. El Estado Islámico ha desarrollado un aparato de propaganda organizado y eficaz a escala mundial. Fuera de sus territorios, se sirve de una red que llama a personas vulnerables a convertirse en combatientes terroristas extranjeros (foreign terrorist fighters) o en lobos solitarios (lone wolves). El presente estudio analiza los principales objetivos, medios y efectos de la propaganda online y del reclutamiento de terroristas, y concluye que es necesario un cambio del actual paradigma de prevención. El objetivo multicultural más amplio es restablecer la confianza mutua entre las personas marginadas y/o radicalizadas, la sociedad y el Estado.The so-called «international» or «jihadi» terrorist recruitment and online propaganda are paramount contemporary issues. The Islamic State built an organised and efficient propaganda apparatus at global level. Outside its territories, it relies upon a network calling on vulnerable individuals to turn into foreign terrorist fighters or lone wolves. This paper analyses the main targets, means and effects of terrorist propaganda and recruitment. In the concluding remarks, the author argues that a change of the current preventive paradigm is necessary. The broader goal is to restore mutual trust between marginalised and/or radicalised individuals, society, and the State.

US Public Diplomacy and the Terrorism Challenge

Summary Public diplomacy can be one element of multifaceted counter-terrorism strategy, but to be successful it must be used in timely fashion as a preventive tool. One key to reducing the threat posed by terrorism is to turn off terror groups’ recruiting faucets, and public diplomacy can play an important role in doing this. This article explores the vulnerability of certain populations and how they might be reached and strengthened in ways that undercut terrorist recruitment. This includes recognizing the importance of religion in terrorist recruiting and how it may be addressed constructively. Further, traditional pubic diplomacy programmes such as educational and cultural exchanges have been underestimated as a mean of counteracting the ‘othering’ that increases vulnerable populations’ susceptibility to terrorist recruitment.

Terrorist recruitment and prison radicalization: Assessing the UK experiment of ‘separation centres’

Although correctional institutions are supposed to be strong partners in de-radicalization and disengagement from violence, prisons have historically played an instrumental role in many radical organizations, enabling recruitment of new followers. Recent examples from Europe and the Middle East demonstrate that prisons frequently facilitate the spread of Islamist ideology by providing inmates a platform to forge alliances, exchange experience and recruit potential attackers. Because policies regarding management of terrorism-related offenders can either mitigate or exacerbate the risks of prison radicalization, it is important to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. This article examines strategies for dealing with Islamism in prisons worldwide (dispersal, containment and mixed approach), focusing on best practices, and assesses the United Kingdom’s experiment of ‘separation centres’ from the point of view of its potential to tackle the spread of Islamism in prisons.