Terrorism: The problem with radicalization: Overlooking the elephants in the room

Since the 9/11 attacks in the United States, Western governments have been in various states of alert against the threat presented by individuals inspired by Islamist extremist groups. Notwithstanding the large numbers of victims of terrorism in the Middle East - most visibly in Syria and Iraq - serious attacks have taken place in countries across Europe over the last 15 years, including France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Belgium and the United Kingdom. A heightened state of vigilance in Western nations has been accompanied by a panoply of counter terrorism strategies and State security measures designed to counter political and religiously motivated violence (see Walklate and Mythen, 2015; Thomas, 2012). In particular, European intelligence networks have been exercised by the threat of “home-grown” terrorism, whereby citizens become radicalized and motivated to wage attacks in their countries of origin. Following on from the 2015 and 2016 attacks in France and Belgium, widespread concerns have been expressed about individuals fighting with Islamist militants in conflict zones in Syria and Iraq becoming “radicalized” and returning to home countries to commit atrocities (see Francis, 2015).