Farhad Khosrokhavar – författare

European jihadism is a multi-faceted social phenomenon. It is not only linked to the extremist behavior of a limited group, but also to a much more global crisis, including the lack of a utopian vision and a loss of meaning among the middle classes, and the humiliation and denial of citizenship among disaffiliated young people in poor districts all over Western Europe. This book explores how European jihadism is fundamentally grounded in an unbridled and modern imagination, in an uneasy relationship with social, cultural, and economic reality. That imagination emerges among: young women and their longing for another family model; adolescents and their desire to become adults and to overcome the family crisis; people with mental problems for whom jihad is a catharsis; and young converts who seek contrast with a disenchanted secular Europe. The family and its crisis, in many ways, plays a role in promoting jihadism, particularly in families of immigrant origin whose relationship to patriarchy is different from that of the mainstream society in Europe. Exclusion from mainstream society is also a factor: at the urban level, a large proportion of jihadists come from poor, stigmatized, and ethnically segregated districts. But jihadism is also an expression of the loss of hope in the future in a globalized world among middle class and lower-class youth.

European jihadism is a multi-faceted social phenomenon. It is not only linked to the extremist behavior of a limited group, but also to a much more global crisis, including the lack of a utopian vision and a loss of meaning among the middle classes, and the humiliation and denial of citizenship among disaffiliated young people in poor districts all over Western Europe. This book explores how European jihadism is fundamentally grounded in an unbridled and modern imagination, in an uneasy relationship with social, cultural, and economic reality. That imagination emerges among: young women and their longing for another family model; adolescents and their desire to become adults and to overcome the family crisis; people with mental problems for whom jihad is a catharsis; and young converts who seek contrast with a disenchanted secular Europe. The family and its crisis, in many ways, plays a role in promoting jihadism, particularly in families of immigrant origin whose relationship to patriarchy is different from that of the mainstream society in Europe. Exclusion from mainstream society is also a factor: at the urban level, a large proportion of jihadists come from poor, stigmatized, and ethnically segregated districts. But jihadism is also an expression of the loss of hope in the future in a globalized world among middle class and lower-class youth.

This volume explores the paramount importance of family to jihadism in France, Spain and in Europe more generally. In France, special focus is given to the Mohammed Merah paradigmatic case study in the Toulouse region. In Spain, attention is given to the North and to Catalonia. With attention to both the concrete family - often in crisis - and the imaginary family invented by radicalized youth to substitute, this book shows the fundamental need among many jihadists to reconstitute the family, whether in the form of a clan or the imagined Caliphate (or neo-Ummah): a form of shared existence that offers escape from societies in which jihadists feel ill-at-ease. Demonstrating the failure of an emphasis on the individual actor to capture the meaning of jihadism, Family and Jihadism reveals the fundamental importance to our understanding of jihadist activity of the family (in an extended anthropological sense) - real or imagined - into which the individual is inserted. A study of the crisis of family and the re-creation of a new, enlarged family in the lives of young jihadists, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, politics and security studies with interests in radicalisation, political violence, social movements and religious violence.

This volume explores the paramount importance of family to jihadism in France, Spain and in Europe more generally. In France, special focus is given to the Mohammed Merah paradigmatic case study in the Toulouse region. In Spain, attention is given to the North and to Catalonia. With attention to both the concrete family - often in crisis - and the imaginary family invented by radicalized youth to substitute, this book shows the fundamental need among many jihadists to reconstitute the family, whether in the form of a clan or the imagined Caliphate (or neo-Ummah): a form of shared existence that offers escape from societies in which jihadists feel ill-at-ease. Demonstrating the failure of an emphasis on the individual actor to capture the meaning of jihadism, Family and Jihadism reveals the fundamental importance to our understanding of jihadist activity of the family (in an extended anthropological sense) - real or imagined - into which the individual is inserted. A study of the crisis of family and the re-creation of a new, enlarged family in the lives of young jihadists, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, politics and security studies with interests in radicalisation, political violence, social movements and religious violence.

It is not only a paradox but something of an intellectual scandal that, in an era so shaken by radical actions and ideologies, social science has had nothing theoretically new to say about radicalism since the middle of the last century. Breaching the Civil Order fills this void. It argues that, rather than seeing radicalism in substantive terms - as violent or militant, communist or fascist - radicalism should be seen more broadly as any organized effort to breach the civil order. The theory is brilliantly made flesh in a series of case studies by leading European and American social scientists, from the destruction of property in the London race riots to the public militancy of Black Lives Matter in the US, the performative violence of the Irish IRA and the Mexican Zapatistas to the democratic upheavals of the Arab Spring, and from Islamic terrorism in France to Germany's right-wing populist Pegida.

This book is the first in-depth account of the uprising in Iran that began on 16 September 2022, when a young woman, Mahsa Amini, was killed by the morality police. In the months that followed, protests and demonstrations erupted across Iran, representing the most serious challenge to the Iranian regime in decades. Women have played a key role in these protests, refusing to wear a hijab and cutting their hair in public to chants of ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’. In Farhad Khosrokhavar’s account, these protests represent the first truly feminist movement in Iran, and one of the first in the Muslim world, where women have been in the vanguard. There have been many movements in the Muslim world in which women have taken part, but rarely have women – and especially young women – been the driving force. The Mahsa Movement also championed non-Islamic, secularized values, based on the joy of living, the assertion of bodily freedom and the quest for gender equality and democracy.Khosrokhavar gives a full account of the context of and background to the events triggered by the killing of Mahsa Amini, analyzes the character of the Mahsa Movement and the regime’s repressive response to it, and draws out its broader significance as one of the most significant feminist movements and political uprisings in the Islamic world.Now available as an audiobook.

This book is the first in-depth account of the uprising in Iran that began on 16 September 2022, when a young woman, Mahsa Amini, was killed by the morality police. In the months that followed, protests and demonstrations erupted across Iran, representing the most serious challenge to the Iranian regime in decades. Women have played a key role in these protests, refusing to wear a hijab and cutting their hair in public to chants of ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’. In Farhad Khosrokhavar’s account, these protests represent the first truly feminist movement in Iran, and one of the first in the Muslim world, where women have been in the vanguard. There have been many movements in the Muslim world in which women have taken part, but rarely have women – and especially young women – been the driving force. The Mahsa Movement also championed non-Islamic, secularized values, based on the joy of living, the assertion of bodily freedom and the quest for gender equality and democracy.Khosrokhavar gives a full account of the context of and background to the events triggered by the killing of Mahsa Amini, analyzes the character of the Mahsa Movement and the regime’s repressive response to it, and draws out its broader significance as one of the most significant feminist movements and political uprisings in the Islamic world.Now available as an audiobook.

Jihad is the most organized force against Western capitalism since the Soviet era. Yet jihadism is multifaceted and complex, much broader than Al Qaeda alone. In the first wide-ranging introduction to today's rapidly growing jihadism, Khosrokhavar explains how two key movements variously influence jihadi activists. One, based in the Middle East, is more heavily influenced by Islamic religion and political thought. The other, composed of individuals growing up or living mostly in Europe and Western democracies including the United States, is motivated by secular as well as religious influences. Khosrokhavar interprets religious and lesser-known Arabic texts and the real-world economic and political dynamics that make jihadism a growing threat to Western democracies. Interviews with imprisoned jihadists on what motivated their plots and actions help the readers understand reality as seen by jihadists. The author concludes with recommendations to safeguard democracies from future jihadism.

Jihad is the most organized force against Western capitalism since the Soviet era. Yet jihadism is multifaceted and complex, much broader than Al Qaeda alone. In the first wide-ranging introduction to today's rapidly growing jihadism, Khosrokhavar explains how two key movements variously influence jihadi activists. One, based in the Middle East, is more heavily influenced by Islamic religion and political thought. The other, composed of individuals growing up or living mostly in Europe and Western democracies including the United States, is motivated by secular as well as religious influences. Khosrokhavar interprets religious and lesser-known Arabic texts and the real-world economic and political dynamics that make jihadism a growing threat to Western democracies. Interviews with imprisoned jihadists on what motivated their plots and actions help the readers understand reality as seen by jihadists. The author concludes with recommendations to safeguard democracies from future jihadism.

From Libya in the east to the Gulf peninsula in the west, the 'Arab Spring' has shaken entrenched regimes. Decades-old dictatorships have fallen after mass protests. Whilst the final outcome is unclear, the historical importance of these events is beyond doubt. Farhad Khosrokavar contextualizes the demands of the protesters. He looks beyond the Arab world to show how the movements are leaving a deep imprint on countries like Iran and how a new conception of democracy is emerging in the region, challenging traditional ideas. Looking to the future, Khosrokavar discusses how the new movements may change the world.

In the wake of the Paris, Beirut, and San Bernardino terrorist attacks, fears over 'homegrown terrorism' have surfaced to a degree not seen since September 11, 2001. A sought-after commentator in France and a widely respected international scholar of radical Islam, Farhad Khosrokhavar has spent years studying the path towards radicalization, focusing particularly on the key role of prisons - based on interviews with dozens of Islamic radicals - as incubators of a particular brand of outrage that has yielded so many attacks over the past decade.