Recent analyses reveal that the vast majority of jihadists come from or have some connections with specific areas or districts within different states.

One can describe them as local/regional “hotbeds” of extremism. Molenbeek in Belgium, Gornje Maoče and Ošve in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Minneapolis in the US, Kasserine and Ben Guerdane in Tunisia, Sirte and Derna in Libya, Sinai in Egypt, Pankisi Valley and Dagestan in the Caucasus: each area has unique characteristics that lead to “exporting” fighters or creating new IS-controlled zones.

Starting from the debate on the origin and nature of jihadist militancy that is dividing the most important scholars of Islam, this report outlines a broad spectrum of radicalization factors leading to the emergence of jihadists hotbeds, such as poverty, unemployment, lack of job prospects, juvenile delinquency, trafficking and smuggling, socio-political, economic and physical marginalization, the role of Salafist ideology as well as the influence of brotherhood networks. All these elements have been frequently highlighted as factors or triggers that could contribute to explaining dynamics of radicalization leading to active violent militancy under the ideals of jihadism.

To get a better sense of both the differences and similarities amongst the various hotbeds, the report provides an overview of some of the largest contributors to Islamic extremists and foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION, Paolo Magri

 

1. Regional Hotbeds as Drivers of Radicalization, Ali Soufan and Daniel Schoenfeld

JIHADIST HOTBEDS - WESTERN COUNTRIES

2. ISIS and al-Shabaab in Minnesota's Twin Cities: the American Hotbed, Lorenzo Vidino, Seth Harrison, Clarissa Spada

3. Molenbeek and Beyond. The Brussels-Antwerp Axis as Hotbed of Belgian Jihad, Guy van Vlierden

4. Hotbeds of Extremism: the UK Experience, Douglas Weeks

5. Beyond Gornje Maoče and Ošve: Radicalization in the Western Balkans, Florian Qehaja

 

JIHADIST HOTBEDS - MENA AND THE CAUCASUS

6. The Libyan Radicalization Hotbeds: Derna and Sirte as Case Studies, Arturo Varvelli

7. Multiple Layers of Marginalization as a Paradigm of Tunisian Hotbeds of Jihadism, Valentina Colombo

8. Insurgency or Terrorism? A New Front in Sinai, Giuseppe Dentice

9. Revived Hotbeds in the Caucasus: Pankisi Valley and Dagestan, Mairbek Vatchagaev

 

CONCLUSIONS, Paolo Maggiolini and Arturo Varvelli