(Few) Jihadis Without a Jihad? Central Eastern Europeans and their Pathways to Global Jihad

A presentation of research findings and a panel discussion on Central Eastern Europeans and attempts at joining global jihad

(New York, N.Y.) - In September 2015, two months before the infamous Paris attacks, in which ISIL terrorists killed 131 people, additional members of the Paris attack cell, hiding amongst migrants/refugees trekking westwards, were picked up in Hungary, effectively the first Schengen Area country on their way. It might have looked as if global jihad came to Central Eastern Europe. As it later turned out, this had only been a fleeting visit.

For the last 18 months GLOBSEC has been researching the issue of criminal-terrorist interconnections in Europe and built up a database which includes 350 terrorist attackers and arrestees from 11 countries, mostly Western European. Currently, in co-operation with the Counter Extremism Project(CEP), it has turned its attention towards the Central Eastern European region, and mapped out how its inhabitants would join global jihad. Their numbers are low and their journeys into jihad are rarely successful. In fact, they are wannabe jihadis without a jihad, individuals who, to some extent, accidentally stumble upon jihadism. Unlike in Western Europe, no local jihadi infrastructure of radical mosques, jihadi veterans or like-minded individuals exists which could, for example, support their travel to the battlefields of Syria and Iraq. In such conditions, these Eastern European individuals are forced to improvise and, are regularly unable to build up a network of their own, often ending up acting in isolation.

GLOBSEC and CEP's studies of European jihadism reveal its parochial mask. It is embedded in certain communities, often in small towns or even villages, in Western Europe and these in turn e.g. connect to global jihad by sending its members to e.g. fight as foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) in Syria/Iraq or other jihadi battlefronts (Somalia, Yemen). At the same time, however, and despite the seeming lack of logistical barriers, representatives of the very same European jihad are so far largely unable or unwilling to connect with the few wannabe jihadis from Central Eastern Europe, thus condemning them to improvisation in their jihadi exploits. Consequently, on a strategic level, Europe’s counter-measures should account for the presence or lack of a jihadi infrastructure and network in a given EU region, and also focus on efforts denying the wannabe jihadis from outside Western Europe access to radical or outright jihadi milieus that already exist in Western Europe.

Please join us for the presentation of the initial research findings: 

When:          Friday, September 20, 2019, 9:00-10:30 a.m. EDT
Location:     Bohemian National Hall, 321 E 73rd St, New York, NY 10021
Speakers:    Dr. Kacper Rekawek, Head of National Security Programme, GLOBSEC 
                      Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director, Counter Extremism Project
Moderator: Ben Makuch, National Security Correspondent, VICE

To register for the event, please click here <[link removed]>.



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