Jihad in the Periphery: Evolution of Jihadist Activism in Finland during the 2010s

During the 2010s, jihadism in Finland has undergone significant developments. While the country has almost no history of jihadist activism, over 80 people left from Finland to Syria and Iraq. According to the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, the number of individuals participating in militant activism domestically has increased significantly, doubling from 200 and approximately 400 between 2014 and 2017. Finland has also experienced the emergence of informal extremist networks operating domestically to support jihadi groups operating abroad. Moreover, Finland has recently experienced its first ever jihadist terror attack in the forms of a knife attack by a Moroccan asylum-seeker, allegedly inspired by the Islamic State. These recent developments, especially when set against the lack of history in jihadist activism provide an interesting puzzle. How can we explain this apparent escalation of jihadist activity in a country which has been and continues to be peripheral for jihadism in all respects? This paper presents the results of the first academic study on the jihadist networks and activism in Finland which the author conducted together with Juha Saarinen (King's College London). Besides providing and overview of the key developments, it looks at how these developments can be explained – and how these explanations support and challenge the current theoretical understanding of the dynamics of jihadist activity in Europe.