The thesis in your hands focus on foreign Fighter phenomenon in the Czech Republic. It argues, that Foreign Fighters are specific kind of migrants who travel both short-term and long-term into a conflict area of their choice. Some do come back to their countries of departure. The thesis has two goals. First one is to find out if there is potential for securitization of Foreign Fighters in the Czech Republic present in Czech society. For this purpose, securitization theory is used. Second goal of the thesis is to look closer on the Foreign Fighter phenomenon both in general and in local circumstances. The thesis presents analysis of academic literature on the topic of Foreign Fighters. It discusses definitions, Foreign Fighter numbers and threat assessment, and approaches adopted to deal with the phenomenon. Next, specifics of foreign Fighters in the Czech Republic are discussed. A survey was launched in order to gain data for this study among Czech society. Results of the survey indicate there is not much interest for securitization of the topic in the Czech Republic. Further results yielded there is not much of a difference in Czech Foreign Fighters and their compatriots from other countries, except maybe focus of Czech fighters on Ukraine except Middle East.

Quel est le point commun entre George Orwell, André Malraux, Davy Crockett et Oussama Ben Laden ?Cette question pourrait en surprendre certains. Comment trouver un point commun entre, l’auteur de La Ferme des animaux et de 1984, le résistant et ministre français et l’élu du Congrès des États-Unis ancré dans la culture populaire ?Qui plus est s’ils le partagent avec l’ancien leader d’Al Qaida.Comme des milliers d’autres, ils ont été des « combattants étrangers ». En des temps différents et pour défendre des causes différentes, ils entreprirent un voyage qui les mena à prendre les armes dans des guerres étrangères. Ce phénomène historique a connu, depuis la dernière décennie, un nouveau tournant juridique à travers le flux des milliers d’étrangers qui ont rejoint l’une des parties belligérantes en Syrie ou en Irak. Pour faire face à cette menace pour la paix et la sécurité internationales, les Nations unies ont alors créé le statut juridique de « combattant terroriste étranger », soumettant ces étrangers des conflits armés aux dispositions de la lutte contre le terrorisme. Toutefois, ce statut semble souffrir de nombreuses lacunes qui, notamment, ne permettent pas de différencier un terroriste international d’un simple volontaire international, d’un membre d’un groupe armé organisé ou encore d’un combattant d’une force armée étatique. George Orwell, André Malraux et Davy Crockett seraient aujourd’hui sûrement considérés comme des « combattants terroristes étrangers ». De plus, l’application de ce statut pour identifier des acteurs des conflits armés entre en opposition avec certaines règles du droit international. Finalement, pour trouver le statut juridique des « combattants étrangers », pour les identifier et encadrer leurs activités, y compris leurs actes terroristes, c’est vers les règles du Droit international humanitaire qu’il faut se tourner. Les « combattants étrangers », même terroristes, sont déjà identifiés par les statuts du Droit dans la guerre. / What do George Orwell, André Malraux, Davy Crockett and Osama Bin Laden have in common? This question might be surprising to some. How to find a common trait between the author of Animal Farm and 1984, the French resistance former minister, and the elected representative of the United States congress rooted in popular culture? Especially, if they are to share it with the former leader of Al Qaeda.Like thousands of others, they were "foreign fighters". In different times and to defend different causes, they undertook a journey which led them to take up arms in foreign wars. This historic phenomenon underwent a new legal turning point the last decade through the flow of thousands of foreigners who joined one of the belligerent parties in Syria and Iraq. To address this threat to international peace and security, the United Nations created the legal term of “foreign terrorist fighter”, subjecting these foreigners in armed conflicts to provisions in international counter-terrorism law. However, this status suffers shortcomings, which make it impossible, in particular, to differentiate between an international terrorist, an international volunteer, a member of an organized armed group or even a combatant of a state armed force. Today, George Orwell, André Malraux and Davy Crockett would probably be considered as "foreign terrorist fighters". In addition, the application of such status to identify actors of armed conflicts is in opposition with some rules of international law. Finally, to determine the correct legal status of "foreign fighters", to identify them and thus regulate their activities, including their terrorist acts, it is to the rules of international humanitarian law that we must turn. Even when qualified as “terrorists”, "foreign fighters" are already identified by the status of the law of war. / Doctorat en Sciences juridiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Over 5,000 European citizens joined the ranks of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the early 2010s. Since the rollback of the terrorist organization in 2016, European Union (EU) member states have had to decide whether or not to repatriate these individuals who were made prisoners mainly by Iraqi, or Kurdish authorities. France, the EU country that saw the highest number of its citizens join ISIS was also directly targeted by terrorist attacks orchestrated by ISIS returnees. From 2017 to 2019, it relied heavily on a non-repatriation approach, a measure which was welcomed by the general public but criticized by human rights and legal experts. However, in 2019, the withdrawal of US troops and the Turkish offensive in North-East Syria have further destabilized the region and pushed the French government to adapt its strategy. This study aims at understanding how the Macron administration legitimized the measures it implemented to tackle the ISIS returnees phenomenon and whether its approach has evolved. Through critical discourse analysis (CDA) and by drawing from the securitization theory, this research investigates the official communications of the French government between 2017 and 2020. The data will reveal that the “low-probability, high impact” threat posed by ISIS returnees has been over-securitized. This might lead an over-perception of this threat, which could threaten the social cohesion of the country and make measures bargaining with human rights and the rule of law acceptable for the public opinion. While many contributions have analyzed the policies and laws related to the issue of ISIS returnees in the EU, few have investigated how states responded to it in their official communications. With a focus on the EU country that has been the most concerned by this phenomenon, this study will help to bridge this gap in knowledge and will have broader implications for discursive practices regarding ISIS returnees and terrorism in Europe and the West.

The aim of the thesis is to identify those German citizens, who were fighting in the Yugoslav wars, determine their background, actions on the ground and post-war trajectories, as well as suggest probable motivations for joining the combat in the way they did. The thesis raises the question, how these German war volunteers can be best described and if they are somehow specific within their subgroup of predominantly Western anti-Yugoslav foreign fighters. I argue that Nir Arielli, one of the few scholars dealing with the role of Westerners in the conflict, falls short by qualifying them merely as "meaning seekers" and thus overlooks the multitude of political connections and references, first and foremost among the Germans. I will offer a critique by pointing out differences and nuances, especially in origin- based motives, ideological underpinning and perspectives on the conflict. In doing so, I will raise the question of what we do know about the political situation in both Germany and Croatia in the early 1990s, and how each of that might that have facilitated decisions to join combat abroad. In addition, I will classify their appearance both within the well-known theory of "new wars" as well as within the phenomenon of foreign war volunteering, arguing that there is not much reason why this group should...

Area of interest regarding this master thesis is the fight against terrorism at European Union level. The work then aims to analyze how effective the EU institutions in the fight against terrorism, Europol, Eurojust and the CTC, are. The first part focuses on the issue of terrorism itself, by the help of comparative analysis and data analysis the possible root causes of terrorism and issues regarding radicalization are discussed. The second part is devoted to the actual effectiveness of the main EU institutions in the fight against terrorism and consequently to the security threat associated with the issue of foreign fighters that became a priority agenda within the EU counterterrorism. These sections has also been prepared on the basis of empirical research since semi-standardized interviews with experts in this field were conducted. It was investigated, that the EU institutions in the fight against terrorism have several weaknesses, and there are several limits in their fight against terrorism. Conversely, in the context of foreign fighters the EU has managed to adopt several concrete and directed measures.

The aim of this thesis was to find out what role psychological and social factors play in the motivation of jihadist foreign fighters to leave for Syria. The sub-questions examine, on the one hand, how authors of the studies focused on motivation of foreign fighters work with the theoretical background and concepts related to the psychosocial sphere, their interpretation of the key concepts and motivation of foreign fighters and, on the other hand, what psychosocial motivation to leave for Syria prevails in existing studies. In order to answer these questions, I chose several theoretical models of radicalization that work mainly with the psychological and social dimension of the problem.Subsequently, I chose several main psychosocial categories and narratives to analyse the studies, with the possibility of new categories occurring. I was particularly interested in existential motivation such as search for meaning or the identity crisis, in the case of jihadists also connected with the ideology and the influence of social groups. Based on the analysis, I found out that the theoretical basis, the specific definitions of individual key concepts and the logic of the interpretation of the respondents' words in the majority of the studies are missing or not fully described. Without the proper definition...

The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine the securitization discourse used to construct the security threat coming from the veteran effect of the Islamic State's foreign fighters in Europe, and to see what kind of policies were adopted to counter it so far. The phenomenon of departing European citizens, who are becoming foreign fighters in the Syrian conflict, joining the ranks of the Islamic State, and then return back to their country of origin after having acquired combat experience or other training, has become a hot topic of discussion not only for academics, but also for politicians and ordinary citizens. To precise, this thesis is working with three main case studies, whose securitization discourse and security policies are analysed. These are: European Union, United Kingdom and France. The author was interested in finding out what similarities and differences can be found between the analysed countries, plus, whether there is some pattern of influence between the European Union and its member states in this area. The author of this thesis chose to use a comparative case study as a research design. It is useful to realize a contrast of contexts and therefore to discover specifics of the analysed cases. Two tables were created in order to clarify the operationalization of the analysed...

This thesis deals with the phenomenon of Central Asian foreign fighters in Syria, 2011- 2017. It analyzes their radicalization, recruitment, and travel patterns. Special emphasis is placed on tracking the home states' responses, including elements of de-radicalization and counter-radicalization. The thesis has found that there is arguably no single factor explaining the Central Asian fighters' radicalization; nor is there a typical profile of a Central Asian fighter. Available data suggest that radicalization and extremist recruitment most often occur in Russia. Furthermore, the analysis of travel patterns has shown that the majority of Central Asian fighters traveled to Syria either indirectly via multiple countries (again, most often Russia) or directly from their country of origin, and then crossed the border from Turkey. The thesis concludes that all five Central Asian states have adopted policies to address the perceived security threat of returning foreign fighters, whereas the hard, restrictive and punitive approach has been prevalent all across the region.

In recent years Europe experienced several terrorist attacks on its soil. Some of these were committed by Jihadists radicalised in prisons. An issue already identified by scholars has thus become publicly known and attracted attention of policy makers. The combination of Islamic propaganda with jails imprisoning substantial amount of vulnerable inmates and incarceration of returning foreign fighters create a mixture threatening to produce more violent extremists. The aim of this thesis is to describe how Germany approaches the issue and connect its solution with existing radicalisation models and prison regime concepts. Because of the federal structure of Germany, this description is based on analysis of three levels: institutional analysis of the German framework (macro); comparison of state projects tackling the issue (meso); and a case study of practitioners of one federal state (micro). The thesis comes to a conclusion, that the German strategy is strongly decentralised, still not in its final form, applies the concept of dynamic security as its prison regime and approaches the issue from a holistic perspective, involving also non-state actors and other areas of radicalisation.

Why do some rebel groups perpetrate conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) while others do not? A growing body of research has suggested various explanations, but offers no consensus regarding this puzzling question. At the same time, recent studies have recognized how foreign fighters impact rebel groups’ violence against civilians. Yet, to what extent the presence of foreign fighters could also explain rebel-inflicted CRSV remains unexplored. In this study, I argue that rebel groups with foreign fighters are more likely to perpetrate CRSV than rebel groups without foreign fighters, based on two causal mechanisms. Firstly, foreign fighters pose a risk to the internal cohesion of rebel groups, which is why CRSV is initiated as a socialization tool. Secondly, foreign fighters alleviate the rebel groups dependency on the local civilian community, thereby enabling such violence. The results from logistic regressions, based on a sample of 45 rebel groups between 1989 and 2014, indicate that there is indeed covariation between the presence of foreign fighters and CRSV occurrence. The findings contribute to the ongoing scholarly debate trying to explain variations in CRSV, as well as to the emerging field of foreign fighters' effect on violence against civilians. The results also have relevant policy implications for the international efforts in preventing CRSV.