This book analyses the process of the recruitment of foreign fighters from the Western Balkans, specifically Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, to Syria and Iraq from 2012 to 2015.
Utilizing in-depth, semi-structured interviews with foreign fighters and their families, as well as a number of relevant stakeholders it answers the question of what were the processes and circumstances leading up to the departure of foreign fighters from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and what informed their agency? The author draws on the theories of social movement approaches, more specifically, contentious politics literature and utilizes the specific concepts of triggering mechanisms, which refer to the enabling circumstances that make the radicalization and departure possible, and pleasure in agency, to elaborate on individual motivation. The book also shows how a wider state- fragility within the context of the post-Yugoslav wars and the transitional period that never ended, aided radicalization and how an incomplete process of post-war transition can fuel the process of political and religious radicalization creating a wider enabling web for recruitment.
It will be of interest to students and scholars of Southeast European politics and foreign policy, post-war democratic transition, security policy and radicalization more broadly.
Chapter 1 Unpacking Radicalization
Chapter 2 Foreign Fighters’ History
Chapter 3 Theory and Practice
Chapter 4 Collecting and Treating Sensitive Data
Chapter 5 Balkan Recruits
Chapter 6 Enabling Networks and Organization
Chapter 7 Conclusion
Biography
Tanja Dramac Jiries is an international development and democracy assistance professional with over a decade of experience in overseeing democracy assistance to civil society organizations, think tanks, and independent media across Southeast and Central Europe spanning over ten countries.
