Religion or Ideology? The Radicalization of European Jihadists

Thousands of citizens from Western countries, second generation immigrants but also converted natives, fight among the radical Islamist group of isis or Al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq. Their average age is between 18 and 28, but there are also several minors. More than 10% are women. Who are they? We do not have a standard profile. They come from middle and working classes, from the metropolitan suburbs as well as from residential areas, with different levels of education. Most of them do not have any prior religious or political militancy. They convert back or convert to Islam because they are politically radicalised, not vice-versa. Radical Islam appears to them as a doctrine of complete refusal for western political and cultural systems and also satisfies their needs of identity and sense of youth looking for answers in the latest all-absorbing narration at their disposal, showing total otherness until the decision to use weapons to fight against what the West represents. The article analyzes the factors that push young Europeans towards radicalisation. Radicalisation, ideo- logy, identity, community, generation are the theoretical concepts thanks to which we are going to provide an interpretation-explanation of the phenomenon.