Norm Entrepreneurship as Jihadi Lived Experience

Norm entrepreneurs have been typically conceptualised as being non-state aiming at propagating and sustaining ‚good norms‘, in particular human rights and fundamental freedoms. Recently, new research has looked in the dark side of normative argumentation and production, and at state actors as challengers or norms, or as proponents of bad norms. In spite of this progress, it is apparent that the literature on norms continues to focus exclusively on ‘high politics’, while the units of analysis are still states or non-states actors – essentially organizations. Building on recent advances in IR theory looking at the ‘lived experience’ of ‘common people’, this paper investigates norm entrepreneurship and its effects in the context of Islamist radicalisation and terrorism. Salafism as an alternative to democracy has been investigated to some extent. Also, in the literature on individual radicalization processes, it has been noted that ‘following rules’ is one of the motivations to engaged in political violence, and that the idea of abiding rules accompanies much of jihadis’ daily routine. This paper investigates for the first time the intersection of these two areas, by mapping the dynamic between non-Western, Islamist normative systems and lived experience, including how individual actors contribute to the spread and confirmation of these norms.