I am looking on literature analysing how Islamic State recruited civilian experts as computer technician, experts in managing public goods, doctors, nurses... from Western countries. Is there anything in the literature? I am not looking on fighters' recruiting but on civilian experts in order to improve rebel governance expertise.
Many fighters/members and supporters come from Europe, mostly from the UK and the Netherlands. Whether there are any European experts, and what kind of experts, is debatable, except for information on the development of chemical and biological weapons. Islamic State allegedly recruited experts in chemistry, physics, and informatics to develop mass destruction weapons and continue to wage war against the West.
Please read-
The Islamic State ’s Use of Online Social Media Lisa Blaker University of Maryland, Baltimore County, [email protected]
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/154473508.pdf
Many fighters/members and supporters come from Europe, mostly from the UK and the Netherlands. Whether there are any European experts, and what kind of experts, is debatable, except for information on the development of chemical and biological weapons. Islamic State allegedly recruited experts in chemistry, physics, and informatics to develop mass destruction weapons and continue to wage war against the West.
Yes, I was searching about civilian recruitment of Western individuals. I am aware of the literature about foreign fighters but, despite the distinction bewtween military and civilian role is blurred due to the conflict, I was looking only on the civilian side. This in order to understand if and how many Western citizens flew to Syria and Iraq to work in the IS governance system
I remember how they published calls in their outlets for much needed skilled professionals to come and serve in their administration as physicians and engineers. Not many heeded the call and they continued to suffer from lack of sufficient professionals in these fields to the end. Additionally , most of those whjo were employed and filled higher ranks in these professions were local Iraqis and NOT Muhajireen
One platform that they used and was very successful for them, to recruit hackers (IT specialists) was the Deep Web. Also other social media such as Twitter and Facebook helped them a lot on recruting experts from different areas in Europe. The platforms mentioned above, were used by their leaders also to spread their ideology and hate towards their acclaimed "enemies".
They used social media and targeted minorities and unprivileged with special messages.
I think the main reason for the successful recruitment of the "experts" from Europe lies in the dissatisfaction and mistreatment by racist/populist main-stream politics and racism on daily @basis in the society. Foreign citizens or persons with migration background of Islamic faith, even those who cannot be classified as extremists or fundamentalists, seemingly had followed the false promises of the terrorists. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found any research material on this important matter.
well, this is pretty straightforward. You need to check governmental records. Some countries have publicly issued their estimates. Of course, the recruitment was focused on Islam-preaching individuals, through mosques, I guess. Anyway, interesting question. But I do not think that they recruited westerners only as 'expert staff' in the sense you suggest. Also, do not underestimate the role of ISIS-supportive countries like Turkey etc....
Turkey has been the only country that really fought DAESH (ISIL). Others tried to use other teröorist groups such as YPG/PKK as their proxy "warriors" against the DAESH.
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