International Relations and political violence: A study of the causes of domestic Jihadist violence in a transatlantic context

DOI10.1177/0020702020933641
Published date01 June 2020
Date01 June 2020
Subject MatterScholarly Essay
Scholarly Essay
International Relations
and political violence:
A study of the causes
of domestic Jihadist
violence in a
transatlantic context
S. Yaqub Ibrahimi
Department of Political Science, Carleton University,
Ottawa, Canada
Abstract
Two decades after the 9/11 attacks, homegrown jihadist violence (HJV) in the West has
almost disappeared, but the causes and conditions fomenting the phenomenon have not
changed much. In this paper, I argue that, despite the security services’ ability to phys-
ically destroy the structures and networks of HJV in separate national contexts, the
spectre of HJV is haunting the West as a transnational problem. Dealing effectively with
this problem requires a comprehensive understanding of the root causes of HJV and its
cross-level and transnational origins. This paper examines such causes through the lens
of International Relations’ levels of analysis, which allows us to categorize and explain
those causes at individual, group, and international levels. The paper seeks to add new
insight to the HJV literature and, at the same time, provide a pre-theoretical basis for a
broader debate on the causes of this global security problem.
Keywords
International Relations, political violence, domestic jihadist violence, United States,
Canada, United Kingdom
Corresponding author:
S. Yaqub Ibrahimi, Carleton University, Department of Political Science, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa,
Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada.
Email: yaqub.ibrahimi@gmail.com
International Journal
2020, Vol. 75(2) 144–162
!The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702020933641
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How can homegrown jihadist violence (HJV) in the West be explained using the
levels of analysis? Addressing this question helps provide a clearer image of the
HJV phenomenon, allows us to categorize causes of HJV from micro to macro
levels, and adds new insight to the debate on causes of the problem. As an
important international security and political violence issue, HJV has received
great scrutiny by scholars in the past f‌ifteen years. However, no one has pro-
vided a cross-level analysis of its causes through the lens of the levels of analysis
framework.
1
This paper seeks to f‌ill the gap by applying the International
Relations’ (IR) levels of analysis framework, conventionally used for studying
international and inter-state issues, to the study of HJV.
2
By bringing the IR’s
levels of analysis literature into conversation with the radicalization to violence
literature, this paper provides a multidisciplinary and multi-level analysis of
HJV. While applying this IR theoretical model to the study of an asymmetric
security problem from the political violence f‌ield helps enrich both f‌ields, it also
emphasizes the need for using conventional theories in explaining novel inter-
national issues.
The HJV is also known in the literature as homegrown terrorism or extremism,
as well as domestic terrorism.
3
In this paper, it refers to jihadist activities that have
occurred as lone-wolf or small cell plots and/or attacks in Western cities since the
Madrid train bombings in 2004. Those activities are carried out by individuals,
“who were born and raised in the West or have a strong attachment to the West,”
or who have resided for an extended period of time in Western countries and, at
the same time, are inspired and radicalized by a particular strand of Islamist
ideology called Jihadi Salaf‌ism.
4
Depending on their personal preferences, social
networks, and relationship with major jihadist organizations, some of those
1. See for example, R.E. Berkebile, “What is domestic terrorism? A method for classifying events from
the global terrorism database,” Terrorism and Political Violence, 29, no. 1 (2017): 1–26; L.L.
Dawson, “The demise of the Islamic State and the fate of its Western foreign f‌ighters: Six things
to consider,” International Center for Counter Terrorism, The International Centre for Counter-
Terrorism, The Hague 9, 2018; M. Hafez and C. Mullins, “The radicalization puzzle: A theoretical
synthesis of empirical approaches to homegrown extremism,” Studies in Conf‌lict & Terrorism, 38,
no. 11(2015): 958–975; Peter Nesser, “How did Europe’s global jihadis obtain training for their
militant causes?” Terrorism and Political Violence, 20, no. 2 (2008): 234–256; J. Klausen et al.,
“Radicalization trajectories: An evidence based computational approach to dynamic risk assess-
ment of ‘homegrown jihadists,’” Studies in Conf‌lict & Terrorism, 2018, DOI: 10.1080/
1057610X.2018.1492819; M. Zekulin, “Endgames: Improving our understanding of homegrown
terrorism,” Studies in Conf‌lict & Terrorism, 39, no.1 (2016): 46–66.
2. On levels of analysis, see J.D. Singer, “The level of analysis problem in international relations,”
World Politics, 14, no. 1 (1961): 77–92; K.N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, (Boston:
McGraw-Hill, 1979).
3. See M. Crone and M. Harrow, “Homegrown terrorism in the West,” Terrorism and Political
Violence, 23, no. 4 (2011): 521–536; Berkebile, “What is domestic terrorism?”; Hafez and Mullins,
“The radicalization puzzle”; Zekulin, “Endgames.”
4. Crone and Harrow, Ibid.; B. Jenkins, “Would-be warriors: Incidents of jihadist terrorist radicali-
zation in the United States since September 11, 2001,” Rand Corporation, 2010; Zekulin,
“Endgames.” On types of Salaf‌ism and characteristics of jihadi Salaf‌ism see Q. Wiktorowicz,
“Anatomy of Salaf‌i movement,” Studies in Conf‌lict and Terrorism, 29, no. 3 (2006): 207–239.
Ibrahimi 145

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