Who is wanted? IS is represented as an utopia, an alternative to the habitual world to which an adolescent has failed to adapt himself. |
How many is wanted? 20 730 foreign citizens are fighting on the side of the terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Foreign terrorist fighters at present come from more than half of the world's countries. |
Where do they hire? The majority of fighters come from countries with Islamic cultural traditions. According to the Federal Security Service of Russia, as of mid-September 2015 there were 2400 Russian fighters with IS — second place after Tunisia. France closes the four main supplier states of IS volunteers and the first in their number of state of the Western world. |
What is the success of the recruitment? One of the target audiences of the recruiters are disadvantaged Muslim youths from poor eighbourhoods. In the context of the complexities of the modern post-industrial world religious fundamentalists offer very simple answers to spiritual and life problems. |
IS as a brand IS media managers often combine scenes of ruthlessness towards the enemy with demonstration of the readiness of their fighters to consciously sacrifice their lives for an idea. The message is being drummed into the heads of Muslims that they would unite in a single Umma by overcoming ethnic, political, psychological and behavioural differences. |
IS promotion toolkit Because most countries have banned IS and deny it access to the media, IS activists use the Internet as their main vehicle, using recruiting techniques modelled on network marketing. Interest groups created in the social media act in a stereotyped way: The members exchange information, videos and photos providing them with certain hashtags. |