Foreign fighters and war volunteers: between myth and reality

Arielli, Nir

doi:10.1080/13507486.2020.1713728

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Nevertheless, existing literature on foreign fighters, including (but not limited to) those already in the Donbass prior to 24 February, 2022, offers some insights. Works such as Arielli (2020) and MacKenzie and Kaunert (2021) are particularly useful. Foreign fighters have primarily come to been viewed through the lens of the Global War on Terror, and research over the past twenty years has primarily focused on jihadis, including articles on the presence of Europeans fighting for the Islamic State (see, for example, Rostami et al, 2020).…”

Section: Methodology and Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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The Composition and Challenges of Foreign Fighters in Ukraine

Habtom

2022

Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies

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Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, 2022, the Ukrainian government invited foreign citizens to join its military forces. While this invitation is not without precedent, Kiev's approach to foreign fighters differs from that seen in recent conflicts. This paper examines the characteristics defining Ukraine's approach to foreign fighters and highlights challenges these fighters have faced. It argues that the foreign fighters in Ukraine mainly come from Western countries and primarily serve an outward-facing role, internationalizing the conflict and in order to sway Western public opinion while offering relatively limited operational benefits. Logistical issues and a lack of experience, especially experience relevant to the context of a conventional war, have together resulted in low morale, further plaguing the attempt to use foreign volunteers.

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Section: Methodology and Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is not, however, unusual. Even in the case of the earlier Donbass conflict, foreign fighters received disproportionate media coverage (Arielli, 2020).…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Composition and Challenges of Foreign Fighters in Ukraine

Habtom

2022

Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies

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“…Foreign fighters motivated by many different belief systems have been extensively covered, with jihadists being most frequently focused on in recent times, especially those who joined Islamic State (IS) (Arielli 2012(Arielli , 2020Hegghammer 2010/11;Malet 2013;Tammikko 2018). Much concern has surrounded the possibility of violence and other challenges upon their return, although there is mixed evidence for this in history (Altier et al 2019;Byman 2015;Cragin 2017;Malet and Hayes 2018;Milton 2020;Reed et al 2017;de Roy van Zuijdewijn 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radicalisation, Foreign Fighters and the Ukraine Conflict: A Playground for the Far-Right?

MacKenzie

Kaunert

2021

Social Sciences

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Ukraine has been viewed by some as having become a training ground, networking opportunity, and general hub for the far-right due to the conflict in the east of the country, which began in 2014. With this type of terrorism on the rise in the West and events like the storming of the US Capitol Building in January 2021 fresh in the memory, it should come as no surprise that any such possibilities will generate concern. To investigate the types and extent of the threats posed by participants in the Ukraine conflict, we scrutinise the activities of a few alumni that we know of to date, as well as highlighting neglected historical episodes of right-wing fighters. We make three arguments here based on occurrences so far. Firstly, we know little about far-right foreign fighters and more attention needs to be paid to historical instances of the phenomenon. Secondly, some limited but diverse threats have already arisen from the Ukraine conflict and others may emerge in the future, but it would be unwise to overplay and homogenise the problem. Finally, it is Ukraine itself that probably faces the greatest challenges from its domestic far-right, although, if left unchecked, it may affect others in providing a space for, and permitting the growth of, connections with like-minded individuals and groups based elsewhere. Despite our warning about exaggerating the problem, Western security services should be taking the far-right very seriously at present, such as in relation to potential infiltration of them by such elements.

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Italian far-right foreign fighters in the Ukrainian war. The long chain of Transnational Recruitment Network (TRN)

Toscano

Grippo

2023

International Review of Sociology

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Foreign fighters and war volunteers: between myth and reality

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

The Composition and Challenges of Foreign Fighters in Ukraine

The Composition and Challenges of Foreign Fighters in Ukraine

Radicalisation, Foreign Fighters and the Ukraine Conflict: A Playground for the Far-Right?

Italian far-right foreign fighters in the Ukrainian war. The long chain of Transnational Recruitment Network (TRN)

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