Table Of ContentJIHADIST TERROR
ii
JIHADIST TERROR
New Threats, New Responses
Edited by
Anthony Richards
with Devorah Margolin
and Nicolò Scremin
I.B. TAURIS
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COMBATING JIHADIST
TERRORISM AND EXTREMISM
(COJIT)
In light of the London Bridge attack on 3 June 2017, the third of five jihadist-
inspired terrorist assaults in the UK that year, concerned citizens across the
country were asking three questions: why is this happening? Is there a solution?
And if so, what is it?
The prime minister said we had shown ‘too much tolerance’ of extremism
in the UK and that we must be prepared to have ‘difficult’ and ‘embarrassing’
conversations throughout our society to combat the influence of the nihilistic
hatred that jihadist terrorism represents. Such conversations must involve all
sectors of UK society, not just within and between minority segments.
CoJiT is an initiative designed to make a rapid, direct and high-profile
contribution in responding to these difficult questions and to play a catalysing
role in the ‘national conversation’ called for by the prime minister. It has brought
together leading experts to look afresh at how we define the particular problem
of jihadist terrorism and to discuss openly what has to be done to counter it and
the extremist ideology that fuels it, not just in the UK but around the world. The
initiative is focused on the active encouragement of practical policy engagement at
all levels designed to affect both policy and operational change.
CoJiT will promote this engagement through an independent national dialogue
with community individuals, local government and social and police leads, as well
as with national government. It will focus on practical solutions identified by
the initiative, such as CoJiT’s recommendation for independent oversight of the
government’s Prevent programme, encouraging where possible their adoption and
implementation.
CoJiT is conceived quite independently and begins with a problem-solving
perspective: it is not our intention to duplicate any of the extensive and good
analysis already in existence, but rather to offer an independent synthesis of it as
a baseline of accepted evidence to initiate the sort of honest national dialogue the
prime minister has called for.
The CoJiT-funded conference on Combating Jihadist Terrorism in the United
Kingdom, held at the Royal Institution, London, in September 2018 under the
Chairmanship of former RUSI Director, Professor Michael Clarke, of which this
book is the product, was the first iteration of the independent national conversation
that CoJiT is seeking to promote. CoJiT’s objectives in light of the outcomes of that
first conference are to:
●● Promote an active, sustained national conversation primarily in the UK
about jihadist terrorism and related extremism
●● Develop further the body of analytical work contained in this first
publication, summarizing the emerging conclusions with public
presentations
●● Support, contribute to and collaborate with other organizations involved
in related endeavours
We hope you find much of value in the contributions in this volume and that
you will wish to take an active part in the independent national conversation on
combating terrorism and extremism in the months and years to come.
Ian Maxwell & Mohamed Amersi
CoJiT Founding Members & Directors
www.cojit.org
CONTENTS
1 Introduction Anthony Richards 1
PART ONE MOTIVATIONS FOR JIHADIST
TERRORISM
5
2 Drivers of Jihadist Terrorism: Understanding the Ideological
Antecedents of Salafi-Jihadi Terrorism Shiraz Maher 7
3 The Impact of Jihadist Terrorist Narratives and How to
Counter Them: A Research Synthesis Kurt Braddock 15
4 The Impact of Conspiracy Theories and How to Counter
Them: Reviewing the Literature on Conspiracy Theories
and Radicalization to Violence Amarnath Amarasingam 27
5 The International Context of UK Radicalization Trends:
Developments Abroad That Inspire Terrorism within the
UK Petter Nesser 41
6 Evidence for the Relationship Between Non-Violent
Extremism and Violent Radicalization: Conveyor Belt or
Firewall? Emman El-Badawy 53
7 A Demography of British Muslims: Cross-Sectional
Understanding of Muslim Communities and Their
Heterogeneity within the UK Tufyal Choudhury 67
8 Willingness to Engage and Discuss Issues across
Muslim and Ethnic Minority Communities: Attitudes
towards Muslims from Non-Muslims in the UK Maria
Sobolewska 77
9 The Impact of Structural Inequalities, Integration,
Otherness and Discrimination Tahir Abbas 87
10 The Role of Community Engagement and the Practical
Role of Moderate and Non-Violent Extremist Movements
in Combating Jihadist Terrorism Basia Spalek and Salwa
El-Awa 97
11 The Role and Impact of Women’s Influence in Radicalization
and Counter-Radicalization Katherine Brown 111
12 Psychological Dimensions of Terrorism: Profiling
Impossible but Patterns Discernible Max Taylor 125
PART TWO METHODS AND MODALITIES
OF JIHADIST TERRORISM AND COUNTER-
MEASURES
135
13 Neighbourhood Effects – How Jihadist Recruitment Really
Works Jytte Klausen 137
14 The Role and Impact of Encryption as Facilitator
and Pros and Cons of the Encryption Intervention
Debate Carl Miller 155
15 Physical Facilitating Environments – Prisons and
Madrassas as Mechanisms and Vehicles of Violent
Radicalization? Andrew Silke 169
16 Improved Terrorist Practical Learning Potentials from
Internet-Based Platforms Anne Stenersen 179
17 Lone-Actor Terrorism: The Nature of the Threat and
Responses Paul Gill 189
18 Returning Foreign Fighters: The Extent of the Threat to the
UK and Prospects for Reintegration Richard Barrett 199
viii CONTENTS
PART THREE LEGISLATIVE AND
INTELLIGENCE RESPONSES
209
19 Responding to Terrorism through Legislation Max Hill,
QC 211
20 Assessing the legislative response to Terrorism: Adequacy,
Gaps, What’s Unnecessary or Counterproductive Lord
David Anderson, KBE, QC 219
21 Independent Assessment of the Current Balance
between Counter-Terrorism Legislation and Civil Liberties:
The Role of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism
Legislation Jessie Blackbourn and Clive Walker 229
22 An Assessment of Prevent and the Challenges
Ahead Therese O’Toole 245
23 Intelligence-Led Policing and Counter-Terrorism Michael
Clarke 259
PART FOUR GENERAL PERSPECTIVES ON
THE JIHADIST TERRORIST THREAT AND
RESPONSES
269
24 Personal and Organizational Patterns of Known Terrorists
and Related Groups in the UK since 1998 Raffaello
Pantucci 271
25 Successes and Failures of the UK’s Counter-Terrorism,
Counter-Radicalization and Prevent Strategy against
Jihadist Terrorism since 1998 John Gearson 285
26 An Independent Assessment of the UK’s Capacity and
Capabilities Devoted to Countering Jihadist Terrorism:
Government, Policing, Intelligence Agencies and Civil
Society Richard Walton 299
27 Comparison of Experiences and Best Practice Drawn
from Research in Other Countries: Countering Violent
Extremism in Europe Peter R. Neumann 313
CONTENTS ix
