Diasporas and Terrorist Recruitment

European foreign fighters who traveled to Syria (2012 – 2016) are considered a security concern. The mobilization of radical actors has further attracted attention from various disciplinary fields, including terrorism studies, migration, and diaspora studies. The questions which remain unsolved in the literature on terrorism is whether European jihadists are ‘external’ or ‘domestic’ radical actors, ‘insiders’ or ‘outsiders.’ The lack of consensus on this matter creates challenges to how states perceive their radicalized citizens expected to return from Syria and elsewhere, how and whether they are repatriated, prosecuted, reintegrated, as well what kinds of threats they pose prior to and leading up to radicalization and desire to leave or stay. To fill this gap in the literature, this project bridges two broad academic fields: diaspora studies and terrorism. It examines the role of post-conflict Balkan diaspora in Europe and their contribution to radicalization and recruitment of foreign fighters and home-grown terrorism. We examine the trajectories of post-war refugee communities from the Balkans to Austria and other countries in Western Europe. The project speaks to academic and expert communities in diaspora and terrorism studies. It intends to challenge established ideas concerning European migration, integration, and radicalization and contribute to better policy solutions.