Page 67 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

MILE ŠIKMAN: RADICALIZATION AS A CAUSE OF TERRORISM – THE CASE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

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The literature on radicalization and terrorism is quite extensive and diverse . It ranges from
viewpoints that radicalization is a process which has a direct causal relation with terrorism
(Laqueur, 1999; Hegghammer, 2011; Kohlmann, 2004; Burke, 2009), through viewpoints
that the concept of radicalization has been misused in order to draw attention away from the
real causes of terrorism, such as poverty and Western foreign policies (Kundnani, 2012; Silva,
2018), to viewpoints that the concept of radicalization should be replaced with another con-
cept, for example, “fanaticism” as an introduction to terrorism (Schuurman, Taylor, 2018: 14).
It could therefore be said that the concept of radicalization follows the fate of terrorism with
regard to the conceptual definition (Lalić and Šikman, 2018). Unquestionably, radicalization
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always manifests itself at the level of attitudes , and it does not necessarily have to result in
violence, whereas terrorism always results in terrorist behaviour (Marret et al., 2013, p 125).
It is for this reason that these different viewpoints must be taken into consideration when con-
sidering such a complex issue as the impact of radicalization on terrorism.

The aim of this paper is to examine the theoretical concept of radicalization and to determine
the extent to which this factor has contributed to the manifestation of specific forms of terror-
ism in BiH. The terrorist attacks carried out in BiH, and the BiH citizens who leave for Syria
and Iraq to become foreign terrorist fighters are examined. Thus, this paper continues to deal
with these issues based on previous research results (see more: Šikman, 2018; Šikman, 2016).

2 The Theoretical Concept of Radicalization

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In the most general sense, Leksikonu stranih reči i izraza (2002) defines the term radicalism
(Lat. radicalis) as “rootedness, thoroughness, complete consistency in advocating understand-
ing or the implementation of a programme”, while the term radical (Lat. radicale) is defined as
“radical, complete, fundamental, deep-rooted” (Vujaklija, 2002, p 772). Similarly, radicaliza-
tion is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “‘the action or process of making somebody more
extreme or radical in their opinions on political or social issues” (Oxford University Press,
n.d.). However, even though it is generally used in a negative sense when describing the pro-
cess leading to terrorism, the concept of radicalization may also be used in a positive sense.

In this sense, it corresponds to the term extremism (Lat. extremus) used to denote “immod-
eracy, intransigence, irreconcilability (regarding an attitude or viewpoint)” (Vujaklija, 2002,
p 268). Although the term extremism is encountered in culture, sports, art, and religion, its
destructiveness is most pronounced in the area of politics (Đorić, 2012, p 47). Extremism is
often described as the end result of the process of radicalization, whereas violent extremism
is described as the acceptance of, and involvement in, violent activity as a result of radical
or extremist views (Hendrickson, 2014, p 2; Bjelopera, 2013, pp 11-12); hence the connec-

9 The best review of the selected literature on radicalization and deradicalization in the context of terrorism was
provided by Eric Price and Alex P. Schmid in the journal Perspectives on Terrorism Vol. 4, No. 2 (May 2010)
(see: Price, Schmid, 2010), while in their paper entitled “The Three Ps of Radicalization: Push, Pull and Personal.
A Systematic Scoping Review of the Scientific Evidence about Radicalization into Violent Extremism”, Matteo
Vergani, Muhammad Iqbal, Ekin Ilbahar and Greg Barton presented the findings of the first systematic scoping
review of scientific literature on radicalization into violent extremism, obtained between 2001 and 2015 (Vergani
et al., 2018).
10 Scholars such as Peter Neumann (2013) emphasize that: “‘the principal conceptual fault-line is between notions
of radicalization that emphasize extremist beliefs (‘cognitive radicalization’) and those that focus on extremist
behaviour (‘behavioural radicalization’)” (Neumann, 2013: 873).
11 Lexicon of Foreign Words and Phrases.

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