In August 2024, a terrorism plot assisted by the Islamic State, a jihadist militant group, targeting a concert of the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, the capital city of Austria, was uncovered and neutralised. Three males, aged 17, 18 and 19, were arrested for involvement in the plot that was intended…
Volume VI of the Vienna Papers Series opens a broad kaleidoscope of recent manifestations of extremism in Europe from militant climate activism to violent anti-government movements as well as terrorist groups and stakeholders in Africa, Asia and the United States. The transnational aspect becomes all the more relevant in a comparative perspective that aims at…
Due to the (current) sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks and crimes, particularly following the Hamas terror attack against Israel, the EICTP has set itself the task of analyzing and assessing this phenomenon on an international comparative basis. Anti-Semitism poses a threat to our liberal society and must be vigorously combated, regardless of ideology, political convictions…
Often wrongly criticized, the concept of right-wing lone-actor terrorists is plausible since it only concerns planning and execution. Often also named “lone wolves”, lone-actor terrorists definitely take part in large ideological groups and must be considered in the light of large societal contexts. In other words, white supremacy, QAnon, Reichsbürger, Identitarianism, Incels, etc. must be…
For several months now, concerted actions by climate activists in various European countries and metropolises have regularly made headlines. The protests are staged in a targeted manner through short-term, high-profile, provocative and media-accompanied disruptive actions. Polarizing protests against the existing climate policy, which in the view of climate activists is not sustainable enough, are still…
Dr. Wolfgang Kraushaar examines in his paper whether a radicalization has already taken place in the context of the climate protest movement or whether it is to be expected; or whether this movement could slide in parts or even as a whole into terrorism. The explosive topic shows (not only due to the fact that…
Prof. Dr. Eckhard Jesse describes in his paper on the climate protest movement that the protest movement shows problematic traits. This applies, on the one hand, to the unresolved relationship to violence. Although this is rejected in theory, in practice it is sometimes accepted by militant forces. Secondly, and this point is more serious, the…
Our European democracy(s) is/are under threat, at a post-World War II historical level. This paper examines the current threats facing our European democracies, primarily at the level of analysis of homeland security. These threats and their actors are analyzed here in the thematic areas of democratic resilience, narratives and conspiracy narratives of radicals and extremists,…
Towards a New Iron Curtain By Prof. Dr. Rob de Wijk / The Hague Center for strategic Studies and Leiden University The Russian war against Ukraine will have important implications for the future European security order. Many analysts, including myself, did not believe that Putin would attack: 150.000 troops are simply too few to…
In 2022 the Media Mujahidin – the media operatives who work on and offline in support of Salafi-Jihadi groups – have continued to maintain a persistent presence online and conduct influence operations amongst their primary, Arabic speaking, target audience. This contrasts significantly with the dominant narrative which has been presented by both the transatlantic orthodoxy…
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which began on 24.2.2022, must be analyzed on different levels. As a result of Russia’s war of aggression with armed forces that are among the largest in the world against Ukraine as a country that is not a member of NATO, thousands of people have been killed and wounded…
The level of the threat of right-wing extremist violence and right-wing terrorism assess many European security agencies as extraordinarily high. The Dutch domestic intelligence service AIVD called 2019 “the year” of right-wing terrorist attacks worldwide. Data obtained by terrorism researchers from various sources come to long-term comparisons and show that Germany, along with Sweden (ranked…