Radical Settlements in the Balkan

Absztrakt

The disintegration of Yugoslavia left ponderously operating small states behind. During the process of disintegration, radical movements of the Balkans were given a boost, which is – in addition to several influencing factors – one of the direct causes of the recent radicalization. Among the Balkan countries, the most affected ones are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, but radicalism also influences the society and administration of Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. The (mainly) Muslim communities’ extremism posed a complex problem before the current wave of immigration, many operating groups in the Balkans built up close links with Middle-Eastern fundamentalist organizations (mostly with Al-Qaeda and ISIS), and organized criminal and terrorist acts in Europe as a forward base of the fundamentalist centers. A new global threat is the recruitment and travel of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq, to the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations’ training camps, besides the uncontrolled influx and the blending of possible fighters among the operating European groups also poses a huge risk. This process is significantly easier, as the foreign recruiters only have to keep in touch with the local centers’ leaders, who can provide a constant supply of human force and equipment. Thereby, the radical Muslim communities’ empowerment and isolation are not only a daily threat in Western Europe (especially Belgium and France), but also might lead to the destabilization and radicalization of the Balkans. The analysis shows examples of the Western Balkans’ fundamentalism by countries, localizes villages and towns with fundamentalist majority, and outlines the influence of the centers’ ideologies.