Determining Youth Radicalization in Jordan
Author(s):
Jordan has found itself pulled into a global storm involving terrorist groups and their ideologies, with al-Nusra and ISIS operating in its current center. Equally important is a decades-long history of violent extremist and terrorist movements operating in Jordan, and involving Jordanians, some of whom play prominent ideological and leadership positions in today’s terrorist banes-ISIS and al-Qaeda. Moreover, repeated influx of refugees from neighboring conflicts, economic and governance challenges, and Salafi influences migrating into Jordan, have all combined to create vulnerabilities and motivations, including among the young, on a psychological level that have ideological resonance to terrorist recruitment inside Jordan. This article reports on a survey of 840 youth from the age group of 16-26 in Zarqa Central District, Central Irbid, and Central Tafileh in Jordan. Despite the low support for extremist and terrorist groups among the youth in the aforementioned areas, the article outlines the need for social, political, economic, and educational alternatives to counter extremist ideologies and groups that promote violence as a solution to contentious socio-political issues in the country.