Dr. Edwin Bakker is Senior Research Follow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’. He just published “Jihadi terrorists in Europe” to contribute to a better understanding of the individuals and networks that have been behind jihadi terrorist activities in Europe.
- Infoguerre. How could you describe the threats of "Jihadi terrorists in Europe"? Are there people ready to join the violent jihad?
- Edwin Bakker (E.B).The research shows that in Europe there are quite a number of people that are ready to join the violent jihad and to commit terrorist crimes in Europe: about 250 were caught or captured in the last five years.
As it would be naive to belief that the security forces have captured all of them, we can assume that some of them are still out there. Given the increased radicalisation of Muslim youngsters in countries such as the UK and the Netherlands, many fear that this threat may even increase in the coming years.
- Infoguerre. Are the "Jihadi terrorists in Europe" well organised or do they work on their own side? Is there a European network or various cells 'self-organised' and 'self-recognised'?
- E.B. They seem to work mostly on their own, with little outside interference. There is very little evidence of control by 'Al Qaeda’ or other large international networks. Some of the jihadi fighters, however, do know each other. Internet plays an important role as a link between some individuals or groups.
I would regard them both as self-organised and self-recognized (they see them selves as Jihadi fighters but are not generally regarded as such or labelled as such by Al Qaeda). Of the 28 networks that I studied, less than 10 contained individuals with links to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria (Al Qaeda, GIA, etc.).
- Infoguerre. How could European countries work together to be more efficient?
- E.B. They should learn from each others experiences in order to be able to keep track of new developments. For instance: the Danes could learn from the Dutch with regard to the phenomenon of radicalisation. The Dutch could learn from the British with regard to technical matters, etc.
Of course sharing information is vital too, but this is often easier said than done. Concrete examples of European cooperation : through Eurojust and Europol, but also by way of better cooperation against international crime in general (one European center for ballistic / forensic research for instance, a better use of the E.U database of false and stolen passports, etc.)
- “Jihadi terrorists in Europe, their characteristics and the circumstances in which they joined the jihad: an exploratory study”, Edwin Bakker.
- http://www.clingendael.nl/cscp/publications/?id=6480&&type=summary.
- Clingendael Security and Conflict Programme.
- http://www.clingendael.nl/cscp/.
Few things to read / to see:
- http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/s22008.htm.
- http://www.eurunion.org/partner/EUUSTerror/EURespUSTerror.htm.
- http://www.terrorisme.net/p/index.shtml.
- http://jamestown.org/terrorism/.
- http://www.rand.org/research_areas/terrorism/.
- http://www.xavier-raufer.com/english.php.
- Infoguerre. How could you describe the threats of "Jihadi terrorists in Europe"? Are there people ready to join the violent jihad?
- Edwin Bakker (E.B).The research shows that in Europe there are quite a number of people that are ready to join the violent jihad and to commit terrorist crimes in Europe: about 250 were caught or captured in the last five years.
As it would be naive to belief that the security forces have captured all of them, we can assume that some of them are still out there. Given the increased radicalisation of Muslim youngsters in countries such as the UK and the Netherlands, many fear that this threat may even increase in the coming years.
- Infoguerre. Are the "Jihadi terrorists in Europe" well organised or do they work on their own side? Is there a European network or various cells 'self-organised' and 'self-recognised'?
- E.B. They seem to work mostly on their own, with little outside interference. There is very little evidence of control by 'Al Qaeda’ or other large international networks. Some of the jihadi fighters, however, do know each other. Internet plays an important role as a link between some individuals or groups.
I would regard them both as self-organised and self-recognized (they see them selves as Jihadi fighters but are not generally regarded as such or labelled as such by Al Qaeda). Of the 28 networks that I studied, less than 10 contained individuals with links to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria (Al Qaeda, GIA, etc.).
- Infoguerre. How could European countries work together to be more efficient?
- E.B. They should learn from each others experiences in order to be able to keep track of new developments. For instance: the Danes could learn from the Dutch with regard to the phenomenon of radicalisation. The Dutch could learn from the British with regard to technical matters, etc.
Of course sharing information is vital too, but this is often easier said than done. Concrete examples of European cooperation : through Eurojust and Europol, but also by way of better cooperation against international crime in general (one European center for ballistic / forensic research for instance, a better use of the E.U database of false and stolen passports, etc.)
- “Jihadi terrorists in Europe, their characteristics and the circumstances in which they joined the jihad: an exploratory study”, Edwin Bakker.
- http://www.clingendael.nl/cscp/publications/?id=6480&&type=summary.
- Clingendael Security and Conflict Programme.
- http://www.clingendael.nl/cscp/.
Few things to read / to see:
- http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/s22008.htm.
- http://www.eurunion.org/partner/EUUSTerror/EURespUSTerror.htm.
- http://www.terrorisme.net/p/index.shtml.
- http://jamestown.org/terrorism/.
- http://www.rand.org/research_areas/terrorism/.
- http://www.xavier-raufer.com/english.php.