International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 2018 | Page 6

• The Jihadist Ideology
Between Instability and Chaos: The Hybridization of Threats
Here I am thinking primarily of the jihadist ideology. I have written previously
about how this is characterized by a project of a totalitarian nature, inspired by a
fantastical view of History in which we, the democracies, are enemy number one
due to our values of openness, cultural diversity, and gender and interindividual
equality. However backward the terrorist ideology may be, its use of the most modern
technologies and propaganda methods has given its deadly narrative an unprecedented
virulence that the military defeat of ISIS in the Levant will not extinguish.
A militarized terrorist organization can be destroyed by material forces with
superior numbers and capabilities, but it is more difficult to overcome an idea that
is widely disseminated and entrenched in hearts and minds. The ideological potential
for conflict is not, however, limited to the fight against terrorist organizations.
• The Logic of Power, Interference, and Ideological Struggle
The rise of authoritarian regimes and the lure of isolationism and nationalism represent
a further threat to our democracies. The logic of power I described earlier
employs approaches of strategic intimidation that also focus their efforts on the
sphere of information and representation. They try to undermine our democracies
by turning the very principles that underlie them—openness, freedom of information
and expression—into tools of interference and destabilization through
the targeted dissemination of fake news and its distribution in the digital space.
We are living in a new age of propaganda. Disinformation is not of course a new
phenomenon, but the digital revolution and its effects on the formation of public
opinion, particularly among young people, has given it an unprecedented impact.
This represents a disruptive threat to our very democracy, the scope of which we
are only just beginning to grasp.
2. HYBRIDIZATION: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL PHENOMENON
For the purposes of analysis, I have thus far distinguished between different types
of crisis. However, we know that the most serious crises are always multidimensional,
erupting due to a reciprocal aggravation of factors that are isolated in analysis
but form an explosive mix in the real world. The fog of war is now hybrid in
appearance. In my view, this phenomenon can be described more precisely by
considering it from two different angles.
- The “Hybridization” of Crises
Firstly, to take up your vocabulary, the hybridization of crises themselves, i.e.
several very different destabilizing factors coming together in one theater. I will
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