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Neighbourhood Effects on Jihadist Radicalisation in Germany? Some Case-Based Remarks

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Neighbourhood Effects on Jihadist Radicalisation in Germany? Some Case-Based Remarks Neighbourhood Effects on Jihadist Radicalisation in Germany? Some Case-Based Remarks Jörg H!ttermann" #he Institute for Interdisci%linary Research on Conflict and 'iolence (I)G*" Bielefeld Uni,ersity" Germany- 'ol. /0102/3 #he IJC' %ro,ides a forum for scienti4c e5change and public dissemination of u%-to-date scienti4c kno6l- edge on conflict and violence. #he IJCV is inde%endent" peer re,ie6ed" open access" and included in the Social Sciences Citation Inde5 (SSC$* as well as other rele,ant databases (e.g." SC78+S" EBSC7" ProQuest" DNB*. #he topics on which we concentrate;conflict and violence;ha,e al6ays been central to various disci%lines. Conse<uently" the journal encom%asses contributions from a wide range of disci%lines" including criminology" economics" education, ethnology" history" political science" psychology" so- cial anthropology" sociology" the study of religions" and urban studies. >ll articles are gathered in yearly volumes" identi4ed by a D7$ with article-6ise pagination. ?or more information please ,isit 666.i=c,.org >uthor Information: Jörg !ttermann" #he Institute for Interdisci%linary Research on Conflict and 'iolence ($)G*" Bielefeld +ni,er- sity" Germany Suggested Citation: >8>@ !ttermann" J. (02/3*. Neighbourhood Effects on Jihadist Radicalisation in Germany? Some Case- Based Remarks" 02/3. International Journal of Conflict and 'iolence" /0" 1-/A. doi@ /2.B//C1+NIB$1 i=c,.ABC ar,ard: !ttermann" Jörg. 02/3. Neighbourhood Effects on Jihadist Radicalisation in Germany? Some Case- Based Remarks" 02/3. International Journal of Conflict and 'iolence /0@ 1-/A. doi@ /2.B//C1+NIBI/i=c,.ABC - Jörg !ttermann@ =oerg.huettermann-uni-bielefeld.de #his 6ork is licensed under the Creati,e Commons >ttribution;No:eri,ati,es Dicense. ISSN@ /3ABE/F3G IJCV@ 'ol. /0102/3 !ttermann@ Neighbourhood Effects on Jihadist Radicalisation in Germany? Some Case-Based Remarks / Neighbourhood Effects on Jihadist Radicalisation in Germany? Some Case-Based Remarks Jörg H!ttermann" #he Institute for Interdisci%linary Research on Conflict and 'iolence (I)G*" Bielefeld Uni,ersity" Germany >bout t6enty young %eople tra,elled from a small German former mining settlement named :inslaken-Dohberg to become 4ghters 6ith al-Nusra and $S$S. #hey dre6 %articular attention, 6ith media re%orts about HmembersI of 6hat they termed the HDohberg BrigadeI killed in the 4ghting, or in air strikes by the anti-$S$S coalition, or in s%ectacular suicide attacks claiming many ,ictims. :ra6ing on that case" the article e5%lores ho6 neighborhood can effect the emergence and %ersistence of radi- calisation to =ihadi neo-Salafism. #he author %resents a series of local elements that interfere 6ith one another to strengthen each otherJs %ersistence and effects and thus %romote the emergence and %ersistence of the radicalisation %henomenon at hand. #he interference of elements is not an automatic but a social %rocess" enacted by neighbors telling stories of cons%iracy" of discrimination and recounting e5%eriences of s%irituality" heroism" masculinity" and femaleness. $t is %erformed by neighbors setting" crossing and a,oiding symbolic boundaries. >nd 4nally it is %layed by neighbors sim%ly follo6ing their routines. #he au- thor sho6s ho6 e5%laining s%ace-related radicalisation processes means more than adding up s%atial factors. His ap%roach re- =ects the idea of isolating a single social fact E such as local structures, e,ents" %rocesses or social actors that e5isted" oc - curred or acted prior to the emergence of radicals in their neighbourhood – as de4nite cause for radicalisation. )ey6ords: neighborhood effects" radicaliKation, neo-Salafism" jihadism" milieu, emergence >cknowledgements@ #he article is based on a research %roject at the Institute for Islamic #heology ($$#* at the +ni,ersity of 7snabrück, Germany. #he %roject lasted from Se%tember 02/G to 7ctober 02/L and 6as funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. ?ield research and data analysis were performed by the author himself. Ne,ertheless" the te5t o6es much to ins%iring con,ersa- tions 6ith Michael Kiefer ($$#*" ?abian Sro6ig and 'ictoria Roth (both Institute for Interdisci%linary Research on Conflict and 'io- lence" Bielefeld Uni,ersity" Germany*. Ne would like to thank the Ministry for the confidence and trust they placed in us. /. Radicalisation in the Neighbourhood hadists in $slamist %ropaganda ,ideos generated %ublic un- Bet6een 02/B and 02/A se,eral hundred =ihadists left Ger- ease. >fter %art of the group returned to Germany to face many to 4ght in Syria or $ra< 6ith the al-9aeda offshoot al- %rosecution, the media also sho6ed great interest in their tri- Nusra ?ront or the so-called $slamic State. #he disco,ery that als" ,erdicts and sentences. Es%ecially follo6ing the 8aris at- about t6enty young %eo%le had de%arted from =ust one small tacks in 02/L" the <uestion 6as ho6 and 6hy so many former mining to6n named :inslaken-Lohberg dre6 %articu- young men (and a number of 6omen) from a settlement 6ith lar attention, 6ith media re%orts about HmembersI of 6hat =ust si5 thousand inhabitants on the outskirts of an incon- they termed the HDohberg BrigadeI killed in the 4ghting" or in s%icuous German to6n could turn into =ihadists. Are certain air strikes by the anti-$S$S coalition, or in s%ectacular suicide urban neighbourhoods in Germany ser,ing as socio-s%atial attacks claiming many victims. Nitness re%orts and other e,i- hotbed for neo-Salafist radicalisation, in the same 6ay as dence suggest that young men from Dohberg %artici%ated in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in Brussels or the banlieus outside torture and e5ecutions, 6hile the a%%earance of Dohberg =i- 8aris? IJCV@ 'ol. /0102/3 !ttermann@ Neighbourhood Effects on Jihadist Radicalisation in Germany? Some Case-Based Remarks 0 >t 4rst glance the ans6er 6ould a%%ear to be no. For a young Muslim men and 6omen in urban conte5ts in Ger- start" 6ith a %o%ulation of si5 thousand Dohberg is very much many. #hose are the starting %oints for the follo6ing case- smaller than Molenbeek (almost one hundred thousand*. based reconstructi,e analysis. #he author 6ill de4nitely not >nd :inslaken-Lohberg is a small to6n, 6hereas in Belgium be sup%lying a de4niti,e clari4cation of the relationshi%s be- and France 6e are dealing 6ith metropolitan settings" as 6ell t6een %lace and radicalisation to a =ihadi ,ersion of neo- as ,ery different histories of relations bet6een majority and SalafismO case-based arguments are generally unsuited for minority society and different national integration models. such pur%oses. But he 6ould like to highlight that %lace does >nother difference is that Germany E unlike ?rance in %artic- matter for understanding the emergence and %ersistence of ular E has ne,er 6itnessed the kind of large-scale ci,il unrest radicalisation to6ards =ihadist neo-Salafism as 6itnessed in among migrant youth upon 6hich Salafist radicalisation %ro- :inslaken-Dohberg. cesses could %iggyback; this s%eaks against fears that 6e could be seeing the emergence of H?rench or Belgian condi- 0. #heoretical and Methodological >%%roach tionsI (Doch 222C; also Castel 222C; Moran 22//*. +nderstanding the 6ay s%ace matters in the %resent conte5t $dentifying a fe6 ob,ious differences is naturally not re<uires us to renounce traditional deterministic ap%roaches enough to %ro,ide a %roper ans6er to the <uestions %osed of cause and conse<uence. $nstead of seeking causal e5%la- abo,eO 6e must dig dee%er. #his is a <uestion for urban so- nations 6e need to think in terms of a) the emergence of a cial ecology" 6hich in the century since its founding has ac- social %henomenon (Nahlberg 02/BO Duhmann /CCL" /FBE cumulated a mass of em%irical kno6ledge about the 6ays in BB* and b* the functional e5%lanation of its persistence ( üt- 6hich socio-s%atial and neighbourhood effects can affect the termann 022F*. Nith a ,ie6 to our theme" this means that actions" attitudes" e5%eriences and biographies of the inhabi- the interference of local s%atial structures" local s%atial %ro- tants of urban s%aces" for e5am%le in relation to e5%eriences cesses and local e,ents and their relationshi% to societal of discrimination, educational ambition, health, de,iancy" so- and transnational conte5ts constitutes a milieu of social ele- cial mobility" intergenerational %o,erty (Sam%son 02/0O ments that as a 6hole increases the %robability of neigh- Massey 02/FO ,an am et al. 02/0* or intergroup contact bourhoods (like Dohberg* e5%eriencing radicalisation to6ards (Schönwälder et al. 22/A" 9*. Qet to this day we still kno6 too =ihadist neo-Sala4sm. #he focus of this e%istemological ap- little about e5actly ho6 such effects function, including 6hich %roach lies in interference, emergence" and %ersistence" but local mechanisms" %eculiarities" side-effects" am%li4ers and not in causation in the classical sense. >s a conse<uence" feedback loops interact and ho6 (Sam%son 02/0" ABEBLO neighbourhood-related radicalisation to6ards =ihadist neo- e5ce%tions include SchönwPlder et al. 02/A" CLE/L/O üt- Salafism should be seen as different from the underlying in- termann 02/3O üttermann and Minas 02/G*. #he fact that terfering elements that broadly constitute an emergence-%ro- the latest research on neighbourhood effects brings together moting milieu. #his ap%roach re=ects mechanical understand- disci%lines like %sychology" medicine and sociology to illumi- ings social %henomena. $t is also far from suggesting that nate effects and the %rocesses that enable them demon- there is only one %ath to radicalisation to6ards =ihadist neo- strates a belief that such effects deri,e from a com%le5 Salafism" and thus corres%onds to the standard set by Randy causal milieu (Massey 222B*.
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