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Since its beginning, the Syrian civil war has been marked by atrocities on both sides of the conflict and as diplomatic efforts fail to bring the various fighting factions to one table, there seems to be no end in sight for the increasingly sectarian conflict. The Syrian crisis has drawn in a range of outside factions and there are reports of some 11,000 non-Syrians fighting alongside government troops, opposition forces and other, often religiously-inspired groups. While most of these so-called foreign fighters come from neighbouring states, around 20 percent of them are estimated to come from Europe. Authorities at the national and international level try to counter these worrying developments via a plethora of means. This article focusses on the question of what legal tools and measures legislators can and should utilise to prevent potential fighters from travelling to Syria and/or prosecuting individuals upon their return, for example for acts committed while abroad or the possible preparation of terrorism-related acts. It analyses the legal avenues available on the international and domestic levels for addressing the issue of foreign fighters. As concerns the national level, the article focuses on the European states that appear to have the highest percentage of departed foreign fighters: Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (uk). The authors conclude, among other things, that rule of law responses to the foreign fighter phenomenon in the countries investigated remains fragmented. Although at the European level, the attacks in Belgium in May 2014 have meant that calls for a comprehensive approach to the foreign fighter phenomenon have become more urgent, it is doubtful whether Europe will soon have a Union-wide response to this increasingly challenging problem.

Over the last three years Europe and North America have been hit by an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks perpetrated by individuals motivated by jihadist ideology. Who are the individuals who have carried out these attacks? Were they born and raised in the West? Or were they an "imported threat", refugees and migrants? How did they radicalize? Were they well educated and integrated, or social outcasts? Did they act alone? What were their connections to the Islamic State? The answers to these and other questions have large implications for our understanding of the threat facing us and, consequently, help us design sounder policy solutions built on empirical evidence. This study, the first of its kind, seeks to analyze the demographic profile, radicalization trajectories and connections to the Islamic State of all the individuals who have carried out attacks inspired by jihadist ideology in North America and Europe in the three years since the proclamation of the caliphate in June 2014.

Negli ultimi tre anni l'Europa e il Nord America sono state colpite da un'ondata senza precedenti di attacchi terroristici, eseguiti da individui ispirati dall'ideologia jihadista. Chi sono gli autori di questi attentati? Sono nati e cresciuti in Occidente o sono rifugiati e migranti? Come si sono radicalizzati? Erano ben istruiti e integrati o, al contrario, vivevano ai margini della società? Hanno agito da soli? Quali erano le loro connessioni con lo Stato Islamico? Rispondere a questi e altri interrogativi è utile per comprendere la natura e la portata della minaccia e per riuscire a individuare soluzioni politiche adeguate, basate sull'evidenza empirica. Lo studio – il primo di questo tipo – mira ad analizzare il profilo demografico, le traiettorie di radicalizzazione e i legami con lo Stato Islamico degli individui che hanno compiuto attacchi di matrice jihadista in Europa e Nord America dalla proclamazione del sedicente Califfato nel giugno del 2014.

In the last three years, Europe and North America have been hit by an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks, carried out by individuals inspired by jihadist ideology. Who are the authors of these attacks? Are they born and raised in the West or are they refugees and migrants? How are they radicalized? Were they well educated and integrated or, on the contrary, lived on the margins of society? Have they acted alone? What were their connections with the Islamic State? Answering these and other questions is useful for understanding the nature and scope of the threat and for being able to identify adequate political solutions based on empirical evidence. The study - the first of this type - aims to analyze the demographic profile, the trajectories of radicalization and the links with the Islamic State of the individuals who carried out jihadist attacks in Europe and North America from the proclamation of the so-called Caliphate in June 2014.

Over the last three years Europe and North America have been hit by an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks perpetrated by individuals motivated by jihadist ideology. Who are the individuals who have carried out these attacks? Were they born and raised in the West? Or were they an "imported threat", refugees and migrants? How did they radicalize? Were they well educated and integrated, or social outcasts? Did they act alone? What were their connections to the Islamic State? The answers to these and other questions have large implications for our understanding of the threat facing us and, consequently, help us design sounder policy solutions built on empirical evidence. This study, the first of its kind, seeks to analyze the demographic profile, radicalization trajectories and connections to the Islamic State of all the individuals who have carried out attacks inspired by jihadist ideology in North America and Europe in the three years since the proclamation of the caliphate in June 2014.

Since the first reports detailing the presence of foreigner participating in the Syrian civil war in September 2011, the number of foreign fighters has increased exponentially. Especially European policymakers are worried about the potential threat posed by the presence of hundreds of European foreign fighters in Syria and the possibility that some of them could return to stage an attack. This article examines the challenges European policymakers face when addressing the foreign fighter phenomenon in general, and that of returnees in particular. The article first discusses the complexity of the (potential) threat posed by those that return from the fight in Syria. Next, it outlines the need for and challenge of providing an accurate threat assessment. The authors then present a number of recent ideas and proposals on how to deal with the phenomenon of foreign fighters in Europe. These proposals highlight the need for a mixed or comprehensive approach, which is sensible given the complexity as well as the multidimensional and international nature of the threat. However, it also poses an additional challenge to policymakers pertaining to the implementation of such an approach. This governance challenge is discussed by investigating the possible roles of various actors when dealing with returnees. Based on these findings, the concluding part presents a number of policy recommendations.