Gilles Kepel, Professor of Political Science at Sciences Po and at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, introduced the third debate on Democratic Security which addressed the situation in Europe in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels in 2015-2016, as well as their impact on democratic security and on the respect of human rights and freedoms.
In the context of the rising threat of terrorism, Gilles Kepel’s lecture sketched the history of salafism and jihadism in Europe. Seeing 1979 as a turning point for the revival of the ancient concept of jihadism, Kepel elucidates several key historical and legal concepts of the Muslim faith, as well as the factors which led jihadism to take on the extremist and violent nature that we see in the West today.
For him, the radicalisation of Islam is an extremely serious matter. He blames radical Islam and Western elites for creating a fertile ground for the rise of a third-generation jihad. He underlines that “behind the jihadist eruption lies the entrenchment of Salafism, the most radical proponents of which, their eyes fixed on Syria and Daesh, are aiming for the destruction of Europe through civil war”.
According to Prof. Kepel, the European and in particular the French society are increasingly split by “virtual and mental enclaves,” and characterised by a growing rejection of common values and heightened social, political, and economic marginalisation, especially of the young generation. The radicalisation of French Muslims in densely populated French suburbs and the growing influence of imported ideologies are the main axes of his analysis. That stance pits him against other scholars/intellectuals supporting the idea of an islamisation of radicalism.
Professor Kepel also observes that radical islamists are increasingly reaching out through the various online social networks to spread their jihadist theories.
In his reasoning, also Professor Kepel observes that the economic abandonment and disenchantment with politics are feeding the growing popularity of far-right parties as a reflection of a more profoundly divided modern society.
For Kepel, a lack of historical understanding on the part of policy makers has left a void in knowing how to approach the problem. Whilst at heart this might be a ‘cultural battle’, the taboo of Islamophobia often impinges or prevents us from thinking this through. Kepel hopes to break down this taboo by increasing knowledge and understanding about Islam.
At the end of the debate, Professor Kepel signed his book for interested readers.
Gilles Kepel is the author of Terreur dans l'Hexagone: Genèse du djihad français (“Terror in the Hexagon: Genesis of the French Jihad" - published in French by Gallimard, 2015). In this book, he presents the most comprehensive history to date of the leading homegrown Western jihadist movement.
Watch video of the conference
Gilles Kepel's biography
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