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2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Soft Power, European Security Strategy and Radicalism: Cultural, Religious and Dimensional Challenges

Author : George Voskopoulos

Published in: European Union Security and Defence

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

European security has been at the epicentre of the EU’s macro-strategic planning in an effort to deal with the onset of Islamic radicalism. By default, this effort is built on alternative/parallel strategies aiming at maximizing desired outcome. Soft power is a means the EU disposes to enhance the nexus between external and internal security in order to build bridges across religions and establish the basis of mutual understanding. Internal balancing is a prerequisite to create strong and efficient nuclei to deal with the major causes of the radicalization process. The challenges are not single dimensional but stem from a multidimensional milieu. This chapter scrutinizes a number of cultural, cognitive, religious, historical and institutional issues that will determine the ability of the EU to limit multifaceted threats.

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Footnotes
1
On the way internal and external security issues link after the signing of the Lisbon Treaty.
 
2
On the difficulties on academically defining them.
 
3
As plausibly suggested, “The fear terrorism generates can distort public debates, discredit moderates, empower political extremes, and polarize societies”. On the way terrorism undermines democracies and their institutions.
 
4
On a prevention strategy.
 
5
On the convergence of the external and internal security agendas.
 
6
Divergent views on the way to collectively deal with immigration/refugee influx have operated as an ideological tank for the far right and eurosceptics in the EU.
 
7
The 2015–2020 EU Internal Security Strategy (“renewed internal security strategy”) was set on the 16 June 2015 Council Conclusions.
 
8
For a comparative approach on hard and soft security and the way viewed by the EU and the USA.
 
9
Cultural consensus theory may offer some useful insights.
 
10
On the relation between religion and politics and the public sphere.
 
11
On the misunderstanding of the use of the concept of soft power.
 
12
As suggested, “the path to jihadism is the result of many factors, including political outrage against what the jihadis perceive to be the injustices of their own governments or the actions of distant governments against fellow Muslims, subjection to torture, peer pressure, economic deprivation, or even religious alienation”.
 
13
For a comparative approach on soft, hard and smart power.
 
14
Values affect overlapping fields in a complex way, thus creating crises (i.e. human rights, refugee, migrant crises).
 
15
The approaches to the EU as a normative power are often identified as biased because they pay little attention to hard power issues.
 
16
Pluralism in the field of national interests may have paralysing effects at a time of transition in international politics and more particularly in Europe’s periphery. As suggested, “the common interest of all Europeans especially lies in the stability and security of the regions on the EU’s periphery”.
 
17
On the need for adaptation and improving performance.
 
18
When asked about intercultural and interreligious relations, the findings illustrated that “the EU perception on the [then] situation was very slightly positive (0.1). The situation was seen to have worsened over the last 5 years (−23) and the outlook for the next 12 months is similarly gloomy (−11). The figures relating to the current situation and five-year comparison have fallen since the last wave of analysis. The 12-month expectations score has evolved positively, by +1. These changes are relatively limited, and overall, the situation has stayed quite stable regarding this dimension since the May 2010 survey”.
 
19
A number of critical and at the same time ontological questions are made, namely, “What is it that has led 4000 to travel to Syria to fight for the so-called Islamic State?” “And what is it that leads European citizens to engage in barbarous carnage such as those witnessed in Paris?”.
 
20
The 2017 London attack illustrated that the perpetrator had been indoctrinated in a relatively short time and this sets questions as far as the time dimension of the radicalization process is concerned.
 
21
Especially this chapter.
 
22
Article 1a (Lisbon Treaty) underpins that “the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail”. In effect, Article 1a puts ample emphasis, even indirectly, on the need to apply elements of soft power.
 
23
The concept of moderate Islam is questioned in terms of validity and ontology. Still even if it does not exit, security considerations lead to the need to “invent” it, meaning to create nuclei of moderate Islam across Europe. For a thorough analysis of what constitutes moderate Islam.
 
24
This is the case of France and the protracted state of emergency due to the terrorist attacks.
 
25
On the social and economic elements of the radicalization process.
 
26
For an overview of the term.
 
27
The term smart power was developed by Joseph Nye in his effort to illustrate the need for the use of combined tools of action, namely, soft and hard power, while Nossel’s analysis is based on, inter alia, liberal internationalism and exercising foreign policy.
 
28
As suggested, “while in Iraq and Syria Islamic State draws on local Sunni grievances, in the West it attracts a very different crowd. Roughly one-quarter of its recruits in Europe are converts from non-Muslim backgrounds. Many of those born to Muslim parents don’t come from observant families”.
 
29
Eventually the majority of ISIS victims were Muslims.
 
30
On the relation between radicalization and societal exclusion. As pointed out, “the links between extremism, social exclusion and radicalization corroborate some previous research with one report commissioned by Manchester mayor Andy Burnham after the Arena attack identifying a lack of social integration”.
 
31
This is related to the danger of identity politics and their impact on radicalization. As pointed out, “The more worrying populist development in the West is the emergence of rightwing extremism which practices ‘white identity politics’ and thinks that ‘the West’ should consist of homogeneous white ethno nations”.
 
32
Education and value formulation play a catalytic role and may provide a premium to deal with radicalization. An interesting case study.
 
33
For the texts of the Agreement.
 
34
On the demographics see end Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
 
35
On the nonsocial causes of radicalization.
 
36
Where the philosophical foundations, strategic goals of the movement and tactics of jihadism are scrutinized.
 
37
For a case study (Netherlands).
 
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Metadata
Title
Soft Power, European Security Strategy and Radicalism: Cultural, Religious and Dimensional Challenges
Author
George Voskopoulos
Copyright Year
2021
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48893-2_1