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Angel Rabasa and Cheryl Bernard , Eurojihad: Patterns of Islamist Radicalization and Terrorism in Europe (Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2014). Pp. 245. $29.95. ISBN: 9781107078932
Conflict and Violence
In their book, Eurojihad: Patterns of Islamist Radicalization and Terrorism in Europe, Angel Rabasa and Cheryl Bernard of the RAND Corporation identify the "patterns of Islamist radicalization and terrorism in Europe," defining radicalization as the "rejection of the key dimensions of modern democratic culture at the center of the European value system." The book touches upon salient and timely issues such as the attraction of ISIS and the rejection of the West among those seeking Jihad. Rabasa and Benard provide the reader with detailed case studies (Pakistan, Central Asia, Yemen, and East Africa) and support their hypotheses with extensive statistical proof. EuroJihad is a well-written and extremely accessible book, and one that would be relevant for academics, students, researchers, policymakers, and the general public.
The authors stress that while only a small minority of European Muslims support violent extremism, "even a support level of just 1 percent in a national Muslim community of 3.4 million (Germany) or 1 million (Spain) represents a substantial and potentially dangerous level." This describes the challenge that a small group of ideologically committed and mobilized individuals pose to modern nation-states.
European Islamists comprise a diverse group, spanning first-generation immigrants to second- or even third-generation immigrants who identify neither with their country of birth nor with their country of origin, and whose expectations may exceed their perceived opportunities. In Britain, terrorist suspects are often young British-Pakistani (Asian) men who feel isolated...