| dc.description.abstract | Since the rise of the Islamic State, thousands of people from around the world have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight, support, and participate in the organization. Many of these people came from Western countries, including Norway. For numerous reasons, a great deal of them have returned to their countries of origin. The question now is what threat they may pose to national security, and what the risk that they choose to commit acts of terrorism is. The paper examines the extent to which we can establish this threat, how we can assess the risk they pose, and what we can do with this assessment. To what extent can the knowledge of the threat, and the risk assessments performed, assist in developing strategies for rehabilitation? Is there a way in which we can standardize and systemize these risk assessments in order to gain better insight, and in turn, improve the way we develop rehabilitation programs? The findings show many challenges in both ascertaining the threat posed by foreign fighters, as well as the implementation of standardized risk assessment. However, research and experience also indicate that there is a lot to gain from the different risk assessment tools available. Such tools are able to tell us a great deal about which areas to focus on when developing rehabilitation programs and help us better understand which steps to take when doing so. | |
