Abstract:
This study aims to better understand why Belgium had the highest foreign jihadist fighter representation per capita among Western European countries in the Syrian-Iraqi conflict. Temporally, this study covers the major jihadist waves from 2012 to 2015. Through a cross-national study with the Netherlands, this comparative study aims to answer why Belgium’s foreign jihadist fighter representation per capita was three times higher than that of the Netherlands. This research question was explored by testing two sets of hypotheses as possible causal explanations. The socio-economic deprivation hypothesis was explored through the lens of relative deprivation theory to explore whether higher levels of relative deprivation among Belgian foreign jihadist fighters could account for the discrepancy in the foreign jihadist fighter count of both countries. Social movement theory and social network analysis were utilised to underpin the radical jihadi network hypothesis as a causal explanation for the disparity between Belgium and the Netherlands’ foreign jihadist fighter representation in the Syrian-Iraqi conflict. The findings disconfirmed the socio-economic deprivation hypothesis as a compelling explanation, yet a preponderance of evidence provided strong support for the radical jihadi networks’ hypothesis. The influential role of Belgian radical jihadi networks on foreign jihadist fighter mobilisation in the initial stages of the conflict was found to be the main reason why Belgium had a much higher number of foreign jihadist fighters in the Syrian-Iraqi conflict than the Netherlands but also why it ended up having the largest foreign jihadist fighter count per capita of all Western European nations.
