Page 75 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

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

Additionally, through the process of radicalization, a number of BiH citizens have gone to
Syria and Iraq since 2012 to join the Islamic State and other terrorist groups. All of them
have been indoctrinated with Salafi ideas, either by radical self-proclaimed leaders or via the
internet; they advocated the ideas of religious radicalism in para-jamaats and as such went
to Syria and Iraq (Shikman, 2018). Some of them took their wives and children to Iraq and
Syria and some died in combat, while a number of them returned to BiH. Some of these were
charged with terrorism-related offences (the offences of organizing a terrorist group and join-
ing foreign paramilitary and parapolice forces) and tried in BiH (see more: Šikman, 2018).
However, this did not diminish the degree of their radicalization, because not only did they
disobey government authorities, including the court adjudicating the case, but some of them
continued to express radical views, either by radicalizing other prisoners or even by attempt-
ing to return to Syria and Iraq (Šikman, 2018, p 132).

The common thread in all the cases of terrorism in BiH is the adherence to the rigid ideology
of the global jihadist movement. This thesis is confirmed by the data that individuals who
were active members of the Salafi communities in BiH were involved in all terrorist attacks
carried out in BiH, expressing views typical of such an ideology (cf. Bećirević, 2016, p 18).

4 Conclusion

Although the concept of radicalization is not theoretically grounded, it may serve to under-
stand the process leading to terrorism. There is a consensus that radicalization as such has two
basic dimensions: the first is expressed at the attitudinal level and the second at the level of be-
haviour. Clearly, the cognitive dimension of radicalization encompasses a broad range of indi-
viduals, and many of them will probably never be involved in a terrorist act. However, caution
should be exercised, since terrorism today also encompasses public views inciting others to
engage in terrorist activities. On the other hand, the behavioural dimension of radicalization
means a specific behaviour caused by extremist views. It usually involves the manifestation
of violent actions to achieve their goals as a result of the extremist ideas adopted. However,
as Marco Nilsson (2018) points out, the causal path may also run the other way, with radical
behaviour leading to increasingly radical beliefs: “This exemplifies the complexity of jihadi-
ship as a process whereby ideas merge and problems seeking solutions arise in encounters
with new circumstances” (Nilsson, 2018, p 8). This concept also includes the influence of
other factors (individual and external) that lead to terrorism in their interaction. If we view
radicalization in this way, we can explain some of the behaviours concerning radicalization
and terrorism which have manifested themselves in BiH over the past 30 years.

In this respect, it is evident that the process of radicalization in BiH began to manifest itself
in the early 1990s with the arrival of foreign nationals to participate in the global jihadist
movement. These individuals internalized both the cognitive and behavioural dimensions of
radicalization as they actively participated in spreading extremist beliefs, on the one hand, and
in using violence as a method of achieving goals on the other. The rigidity of this ideology is
supported by the fact that violence was not only aimed at enemies, but also at fellow-nationals
who refused to accept the proclaimed views. Radicalization gradually spread and was accept-
ed by a small portion of the local population, who gradually adopted the established patterns
of belief and behaviour. This led to the formation of separate communities, organized accord-
ing to strictly defined lifestyles and activities (the Salafi communities). These communes were

75