CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Burazer Katicin, Zrinka |
|---|---|
| Title | How Italy Successfully Avoided Large-Scale Islamic Terrorist Attacks? |
| Summary | This thesis explores the Italian resilience to large-scale Islamic terrorism despite sharing many socio-political and demographic features with other Western European nations that have experienced significant numbers of jihadi attacks. A mixed-methods approach, consisting of historical analysis, policy review, interviews and comparative case studies with France and Belgium, is utilized in this research in order to identify which combination of legal, institutional, social, and geopolitical factors that have contributed to Italy’s particular security outcome. Italy’s own experience with domestic terrorism during the “Years of Lead” bolstered the development of a robust counterterrorism infrastructure including proactive legislation, centralized intelligence and preventative policing practices. Additionally, the fragmented nature of Italy’s Muslim population, lack of a formalized Islamic religious structure, limited colonial legacy with the Islamic world as well as lack of ghettoization have all contributed to mitigating radicalization in the country. Interviews including policymakers and religious leaders, offer valuable insight into the Italian success story. The findings suggest that Italy’s case offers relevant lessons for counterterrorism frameworks across Europe and beyond. |
| Supervisor | Bogaards, Matthijs |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/burazer_zrinka.pdf |
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