Jihadism in Europe: European Youth and the New Caliphate (Religion and Global Politics)

European jihadism is a multi-faceted social phenomenon. It is not only linked to the extremist behavior of a limited group, but also to a much more global crisis, including the lack of a utopian vision and a loss of meaning among the middle classes, and the humiliation and denial ofcitizenship among disaffiliated young people in poor districts all over Western Europe.This book explores how European jihadism is fundamentally grounded in an unbridled and modern imagination, in an uneasy relationship with social, cultural, and economic reality. That imagination emerges among: young women and their longing for another family model; adolescents and their desire tobecome adults and to overcome the family crisis; people with mental problems for whom jihad is a catharsis; and young converts who seek contrast with a disenchanted secular Europe. The family and its crisis, in many ways, plays a role in promoting jihadism, particularly in families of immigrantorigin whose relationship to patriarchy is different from that of the mainstream society in Europe. Exclusion from mainstream society is also a factor: at the urban level, a large proportion of jihadists come from poor, stigmatized, and ethnically segregated districts. But jihadism is also anexpression of the loss of hope in the future in a globalized world among middle class and lower-class youth.

Politics & Social Sciences

Khosrokhavar, Farhad

Social Sciences

Oxford University Press

Review\n"Khosrokhavar offers a valuable political ethnographic and anthropological analysis. The book explains the lure of jihadism for modern European youth and breaks down complex theology into an easily understood language supported by enlightening interview evidence. This is a recommended read for anyone looking for insight into the thoughts and motivations of young European jihadists." -- Laura Welty, International Affairs\n"This brilliant, indispensable book provides the first truly sociological explanation of Jihadism in Europe: Violent fanaticism is produced first by humiliating social exclusion, then by the failure of Western secular utopias. Farhad Khosrokhavar is masterful thinker of enormous reach." -- Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University\n"Farhad Khosrokhavar is a distinguished French sociologist with a long record of thought-provoking writings on Islamist political movements and the extremist fringe. His new book will stimulate healthy debate. Khosrokhavar is willing to say decidedly un-PC things about the roots of jihadism. This is not an alarmist book but Khosrokhavar recognizes the gravity of the threat posed by jihadist extremism to the social fabric of Europe's cities." -- Jyette Klausen, Brandeis University\n"Professor Farhad Khosrokhavar is the only social scientist in the world that could have written such a unique book. An unrivalled book, that offers the best and clearest analysis one can conceive on Jihadism in Europe, as a total phenomenon, in its multiple dimensions - political, and geo-political, psychological, social, cultural, religious." -- Michel Wieviorka, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales\nEuropean jihadism is a multi-faceted social phenomenon. It is not only linked to the extremist behavior of a limited group, but also to a much more global crisis, including the lack of a utopian vision and a loss of meaning among the middle classes, and the humiliation and denial of citizenship among disaffiliated young people in poor districts all over Western Europe.\nThis book explores how European jihadism is fundamentally grounded in an unbridled and modern imagination, in an uneasy relationship with social, cultural, and economic reality. That imagination emerges among: young women and their longing for another family model; adolescents and their desire to become adults and to overcome the family crisis; people with mental problems for whom jihad is a catharsis; and young converts who seek contrast with a disenchanted secular Europe. The family and its crisis, in many ways, plays a role in promoting jihadism, particularly in families of immigrant origin whose relationship to patriarchy is different from that of the mainstream society in Europe. Exclusion from mainstream society is also a factor: at the urban level, a large proportion of jihadists come from poor, stigmatized, and ethnically segregated districts. But jihadism is also an expression of the loss of hope in the future in a globalized world among middle class and lower-class youth.

Suicide Bombers: Allah's New Martyrs

In the West, the suicide bomber has become a familiar image in newspapers and on television. In Palestine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and elsewhere, the results of suicide bombing have been devastating. What drives young men and women to become suicide bombers? This is not a question that is often addressed. This remarkable book provides some of the answers, and explores how the suicide bomber relates to the concept of the martyr in fundamentalist Islam. Farhad Khosrokhavar contrasts it with the idea of the martyr in Christianity. Most importantly, he offers a clear insight into the different ways in which the concept is viewed within Islam, including divisions within Islamic fundamentalist groups, which change according to the political situation of the country in which they are based.Drawing on extensive interviews with jailed Islamist militants, Farhad Khosrokhavar examines differing attitudes towards the 'sacred death' in various Islamic countries, including Iran, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt. He also investigates transnational networks such as Al-Qaeda, offering portraits of various prisoners who belong to the group.Farhad Khosrokhavar distinguishes between two types of martyr: those from the developing world, who are excluded from what modernity has to offer; and the minority who live at the heart of the Western world – a mainly middle-class diaspora from the Middle East and the Maghreb who are at ease with several cultural codes, but whose experience of the West is still marked by racism and discrimination.

Self-Help

Death & Grief

Pluto Press

Macey, David

Revolt Against Theocracy: The Mahsa Movement and the Feminist Uprising in Iran

This book is the first in-depth account of the uprising in Iran that began on 16 September 2022, when a young woman, Mahsa Amini, was killed by the morality police. In the months that followed, protests and demonstrations erupted across Iran, representing the most serious challenge to the Iranian regime in decades.&nbsp; Women have played a key role in these protests, refusing to wear a hijab and cutting their hair in public to chants of 'Woman, Life, Freedom'. In Farhad Khosrokhavar's account, these protests represent the first truly feminist movement in Iran, and one of the first in the Muslim world, where women have been in the vanguard. There have been many movements in the Muslim world in which women have taken part, but rarely have women - and especially young women - been the driving force. The Mahsa Movement also championed non-Islamic, secularized values, based on the joy of living, the assertion of bodily freedom and the quest for gender equality and democracy. Khosrokhavar gives a full account of the context of and background to the events triggered by the killing of Mahsa Amini, analyzes the character of the Mahsa Movement and the regime's repressive response to it, and draws out its broader significance as one of the most significant feminist movements and political uprisings in the Islamic world.

Polity

Inside Jihadism (The Yale Cultural Sociology Series)

Jihad is the most organized force against Western capitalism since the Soviet era. Yet jihadism is multifaceted and complex, much broader than Al Qaeda alone. In the first wide-ranging introduction to today's rapidly growing jihadism, Khosrokhavar explains how two key movements variously influence jihadi activists. One, based in the Middle East, is more heavily influenced by Islamic religion and political thought. The other, composed of individuals growing up or living mostly in Europe and Western democracies including the United States, is motivated by secular as well as religious influences. Khosrokhavar interprets religious and lesser-known Arabic texts and the real-world economic and political dynamics that make jihadism a growing threat to Western democracies. Interviews with imprisoned jihadists on what motivated their plots and actions help the readers understand reality as seen by jihadists. The author concludes with recommendations to safeguard democracies from future jihadism.

Inside Jihadism: Understanding Jihadi Movements Worldwide (Yale Cultural Sociology Series)

Routledge

Jihad is the most organized force against Western capitalism since the Soviet era. Yet jihadism is multifaceted and complex, much broader than Al Qaeda alone. In the first wide-ranging introduction to today's rapidly growing jihadism, Khosrokhavar explains how two key movements variously influence jihadi activists. One, based in the Middle East, is more heavily influenced by Islamic religion and political thought. The other, composed of individuals growing up or living mostly in Europe and Western democracies including the United States, is motivated by secular as well as religious influences. Khosrokhavar interprets religious and lesser-known Arabic texts and the real-world economic and political dynamics that make jihadism a growing threat to Western democracies. Interviews with imprisoned jihadists on what motivated their plots and actions help the readers understand reality as seen by jihadists. The author concludes with recommendations to safeguard democracies from future jihadism.

From Libya in the east to the Gulf peninsula in the west, the 'Arab Spring' has shaken entrenched regimes. Decades-old dictatorships have fallen after mass protests. Whilst the final outcome is unclear, the historical importance of these events is beyond doubt. Farhad Khosrokavar contextualizes the demands of the protesters. He looks beyond the Arab world to show how the movements are leaving a deep imprint on countries like Iran and how a new conception of democracy is emerging in the region, challenging traditional ideas. Looking to the future, Khosrokavar discusses how the new movements may change the world.

New Arab Revolutions That Shook the World

Sociology

In the wake of the Paris, Beirut, and San Bernardino terrorist attacks, fears over homegrown terrorism” have surfaced to a degree not seen since September 11, 2001—especially following the news that all of the perpetrators in Paris were European citizens. A sought-after commentator in France and a widely respected international scholar of radical Islam, Farhad Khosrokhavar has spent years studying the path towards radicalization, focusing particularly on the key role of prisons—based on interviews with dozens of Islamic radicals—as incubators of a particular brand of outrage that has yielded so many attacks over the past decade. Khosrokhavar argues that the root problem of radicalization is not a particular ideology but rather a set of steps that young men and women follow, steps he distills clearly in this deeply researched account, one that spans both Europe and the United States. With insights that apply equally to far-right terrorists and Islamic radicals, Khosrokhavar argues that our security-focused solutions are pruning the branches rather than attacking the roots—which lie in the breakdown of social institutions, the expansion of prisons, and the rise of joblessness, which create disaffected communities with a sharp sense of grievance against the mainstream.

Radicalization: Why Some People Choose the Path of Violence

Religion & Spirituality

The New Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Khosrokhavar, Farhad. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Khosrokhavar, Farhad

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Khosrokhavar, Farhad. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Jihadism in Europe: European Youth and the New Caliphate (Religion and Global Politics)

Jihadism in Europe: European Youth and the New Caliphate (Religion and Global Politics)

Suicide Bombers: Allah's New Martyrs

Suicide Bombers: Allah's New Martyrs

Revolt Against Theocracy: The Mahsa Movement and the Feminist Uprising in Iran

Revolt Against Theocracy: The Mahsa Movement and the Feminist Uprising in Iran

Inside Jihadism: Understanding Jihadi Movements Worldwide (Yale Cultural Sociology Series)

Inside Jihadism (The Yale Cultural Sociology Series)

New Arab Revolutions That Shook the World

Radicalization: Why Some People Choose the Path of Violence