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Extremist acts of political behaviour, and the efforts to counter them, have become part and parcel of the world of international relations and globalization, a phenomenon most closely associated with the end of the Cold War and the political and social changes it wrought. These were made explicit in the attacks on September 11, 2001 on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the USA, which subsequently brought about a US-led “war on terror”. These forms of political violence have become a global phenomenon, a product of modernity and globalization which shows no sign of abating. The number of radicalized young people in Western and non-Western countries who are willing to travel overseas for the cause of Jihad (holy or religious war) and violent extremism has increased significantly since 9/11. In the more than two decades since largely US-driven counter-terrorism efforts began in response to what US President George W. Bush called the “Global War on Terror”, the numbers of extremist and radicalized fighters has risen at least fourfold in terms of the numbers of Sunni Jihadist fighters in the field from the Middle East to North Africa, Afghanistan and beyond, according to 2018 figures from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. However we look at the issue, as social scientists, policymakers and interested observers, the response represents a failure to some extent of state and society to deal with the global threat of violent extremism at any level, involving religion, ethnicity or ideological forms which seek to change the political and social order. In this text, we pay specific attention to religious and Jihadi fighters, but we also include violent extremists from the right wing of the spectrum, a movement that is growing in Western Europe and beyond. As our readers will note, there are chapters dealing with extremism in Canada and another showing the consequences of the rise of the far right in Germany. This inclusion stems from the fact that the far right constitutes a serious threat here as they tend to undervalue democracy and the institutions in which they stand.

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Introduction

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Kenneth Christie

摘要

Extremist acts of political behaviour, and the efforts to counter them, have become part and parcel of the world of international relations and globalization, a phenomenon most closely associated with the end of the Cold War and the political and social changes it wrought. These were made explicit in the attacks on September 11, 2001 on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the USA, which subsequently brought about a US-led “war on terror”. These forms of political violence have become a global phenomenon, a product of modernity and globalization which shows no sign of abating. The number of radicalized young people in Western and non-Western countries who are willing to travel overseas for the cause of Jihad (holy or religious war) and violent extremism has increased significantly since 9/11. In the more than two decades since largely US-driven counter-terrorism efforts began in response to what US President George W. Bush called the “Global War on Terror”, the numbers of extremist and radicalized fighters has risen at least fourfold in terms of the numbers of Sunni Jihadist fighters in the field from the Middle East to North Africa, Afghanistan and beyond, according to 2018 figures from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. However we look at the issue, as social scientists, policymakers and interested observers, the response represents a failure to some extent of state and society to deal with the global threat of violent extremism at any level, involving religion, ethnicity or ideological forms which seek to change the political and social order. In this text, we pay specific attention to religious and Jihadi fighters, but we also include violent extremists from the right wing of the spectrum, a movement that is growing in Western Europe and beyond. As our readers will note, there are chapters dealing with extremism in Canada and another showing the consequences of the rise of the far right in Germany. This inclusion stems from the fact that the far right constitutes a serious threat here as they tend to undervalue democracy and the institutions in which they stand.