The status of jihadi militancy in Europe

DIIS analyst Ann-Sophie Hemmingsen contributes with the article Plebeian Jihadism in Denmark: An Individualisation and Popularization Predating the Growth of the Islamic State in which she argues that already before IS’s conquests in Syria and Iraq, a plebeian version of jihadism was developing in Denmark. This version resonates particularly well with IS’s version, in some ways resembling it, indicating that the group is not so much creating something new as it is capturing a Zeitgeist, channeling already existing energies in its direction. This perspective allows us to view the group’s mobilization in Denmark in a new light, which has implications for how to best respond to it, and it reminds us that a military defeat of IS is unlikely to end all contemporary challenges posed by jihadism.

In early September 2016, the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) hosted the conference “European Jihadism in the ‘Caliphate’ Era” bringing together academics, policy makers, practitioners and journalists to assess the status of jihadi militancy in Europe following the rise of the so-called “Islamic State”. The presentations made at the conference have now been turned into fourteen articles, which provide nearly up-to-date insights about the IS-induced effects on European jihadism and well–informed thoughts on what could be the future trends.

The contributions in the issue demonstrate how the study of European jihadism has moved beyond ‘either-or’- explanations, such as debates about whether the threat is either international or home-grown, or whether it is driven either by social grievances or ideology. The contributors take into account the interplay between different drivers and highlight both continuity and discontinuity regarding the evolving threat and responses to it. Findings are based on empirical research, ranging from qualitative interviews to content and quantitative data analysis.

The special issue was prepared by guest editor Petter Nesser and his colleagues at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (Oslo, Norway) in collaboration with Alex Schmid (The Hague, Netherlands) and James Forest (Lowell, Mass., USA), the regular editors of Perspectives on Terrorism.