Merah and Breivik: A Reflection of the European Identity Crisis

Abstract

While the cases of Anders Behring Breivik and Mohamed Merah clearly demonstrate the impact of social networks and the role of the Internet and prison on the radicalization process, the killings in Norway and France in fact expose larger issues that exist within contemporary Europe, including profound identity crises manifesting as Islamist extremism in some quarters and far-right extremism in others. This article discusses the individual pathways towards extremism of Merah and Breivik, the interconnectivity of two extremisms and how these can be understood as mirrored manifestations of an identity crisis in Europe. 1

The Responsibility of European Archaeologists

“…Brexit, the refugee crisis, economic difficulties, and the increasing political gains of the far-right are all obstacles that slowly but surely erode the foundations of the European project. To top it all, there is a deep European identity crisis strangling the future of the continent (Andre, 2015). ”…”