A Radicalização Salafista-Jihadista na Europa:

O Caso dos Imigrantes de Segunda e Terceira Geração Conectados Com o Islão

Abstract

At a time when Europe is confronted with the return of thousands of European foreign fighters who have previously traveled to Syria and Iraq, joining the self-proclaimed Islamic State there, and when the terrorist attacks of islamist matrix are increasingly repeated in the old continent, perpetrated by cells of endogenous terrorism or by individuals acting independently, it is important to reflect on the process that underlies these phenomena: the radicalization. Indeed, contrary to what happened in previous decades, when the majority of radical Islamists operating in Europe were immigrants from Muslim countries, today i tis found that a growing number relates to young European Muslims who, although having connections to Islam (being sons or grandsons of immigrants from Muslim countries), were born and raised in the West. Thus, we question the factors and dynamics that lead these individuals to adopt radical views of Islam and, in the limit, to commit an attack against their own country. This retreat to the radicalization process, and the understanding of the dynamics responsible for the transformation of individuals beyond suspicion into radicals and potential terrorists, is vital and indispensable for the development of effective counterterrorism strategies.