British foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq

: how their Salafi-Jihadist narratives are communicated

Abstract

What factors contribute to a British citizen undertaking to travel to Syria and or Iraq and engage in violent actions? This is a perennial question for researchers, academics, security and intelligence personnel and there is no one answer that can encapsulate the complexity of the question. But, there is a perspective that suggests narratives play an important role in changing the attitude, beliefs, and intentions that can culminate in travel to the conflict zone for extremist purposes. 
This project examines narratives, how they are different to stories, and identifies their constituent parts in detail. It argues that a narrative is a very persuasive means of communication, especially a master narrative which is distinguished by its robustness and how deeply embedded it is in a particular culture. Using content posted on Twitter, analysing research conducted by academics and think tanks, and capitalising on social media content featured in news media, this project demonstrates how some British foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq communicate a Salafist-Jihadist ideology through narrative means.1 The veracity of their religious commitment is difficult to qualify but notwithstanding this, evidence suggests they do espouse this strict literalist interpretation of Islam. 
This thesis examines radicalisation and the range of push and pull factors which are then articulated in a narrative context. It outlines how the Ummah has become a potent global, albeit imagined, community and how this forms just one of the pull factors that young British Muslims may experience. A large body of commentary exists as to the role of Salafist-Jihadist ideology as another pull factor and both sides of the argument are outlined with the evidence weighing in favour of it playing an important part. Why some individuals come to be in Syria and Iraq in the first place is attributable to a range of push factors, with identity being cited as critical in some of the literature. This project examines the veracity of this claim amid a confluence of factors such as (perceived) grievance, relative deprivation and group membership.

Date of Award	1 Dec 2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	King's College London
Supervisor	Frank Foley (Supervisor) & Peter Neumann (Supervisor)