The American Journal of Psychoanalysis

, Volume 76, Issue 3, pp 240–254 | Cite as

Troubled Journeys: Some Motivations of Young Muslim Men to Join the Islamic State

Article
First Online:

Abstract

Large numbers of young people have joined jihadists groups in the Syrian/Iraqi conflict. Why would these young people decide to become jihadist fighters? What are the representations of the West they hold and how do these representations shape their decision? Drawing on the psychotherapeutic work with Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers, this paper seeks to explain the most intimate reasons of young Muslim would-be fighters to join the Islamic State militias.

Keywords

War identity violence Islamic State 
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Copyright information

© Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.SofiaBulgaria

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