Gendered Jihad. Recruitment Strategy of the Islamic State (PDF)

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - International Politics - General and Theories, Leiden University, language: English, abstract: The Thesis reviews motivating factors which led European women to join ISIS. Furthermore, it analyzes recruitment strategies of the tetrrorist organization, particularly their distributed online magazines Dabiq and Rumiyah.

To help understand the large number of muhajirat from the West, this thesis will investigate into which factors affect women's radicalization process. Therefore, first the motivating factors for the emigration will be examined. Furthermore, the advanced recruitment strategy through which ISIS indoctrinates potential members will be analyzed. The thesis will argue that recruitment is an important aspect of radicalization, because it directly connects with the motivating factors of the individuals and frames the perspective of the affected women. The combination of the motivating factors and the recruitment will lead to the finalizing of the radicalization process. Understanding the connection between the recruitment and the motivating factors will in turn aid to draw implications for policy advice on effective counter-terrorism measures. Hence, my research question is: To what extent does the recruitment strategy of the Islamic State foster the radicalization process of Western women to join the Caliphate?