Since 2012, thousands of individuals have traveled from Western countries to join jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq. While much has been written about these individuals, only sparse attention has been paid to the social environment of these jihadist travelers and, more specific, the role of family members in their radicalization, joining and returning from jihadist groups. In order to gain greater insight into the roles of the families of foreign fighters, we conducted a literature analysis and interviews with both relatives of individuals who left the Netherlands to join a jihadist group, or who had plans to do so, and dozens of professionals who had relevant knowledge and expertise. Our findings contradict the assumption that families automatically play a strong role that is either restraining or encouraging. Rather, the results indicate that the influence of family members is often rather limited and can best be understood as latent and passive. We also found that radicalized individuals themselves regularly try to recruit their family members to the cause. These insights can be an important starting point for further policy development. It highlights that the prevention of radicalization and the fostering of reintegration is a collective effort—rather than an individual responsibility of families. We also conclude that, with the coming of age of the jihadist phenomenon in the West, it is possible that in the future we will witness more cases of families who have directly encouraged a jihadist radicalization process or a journey to a jihadist combat zone in the future. While it is still very uncertain how this will develop in the next decades, more research seems warranted on the intergenerational transfer of extremist ideals and behavior within families living in Western societies.

自 2012 年以来，成千上万的人从西方国家前往叙利亚和伊拉克加入圣战组织。虽然已经有很多关于这些人的文章，但很少关注这些圣战旅行者的社会环境，更具体地说，家庭成员在他们激进化、加入圣战组织和从圣战组织返回时所扮演的角色。为了更深入地了解外国战士家属的角色，我们对离开荷兰加入圣战组织或计划加入圣战组织的个人的亲属以及数十名专业人士进行了文献分析和采访。谁有相关的知识和专长。我们的发现与以下假设相矛盾，即家庭会自动发挥强大的抑制或鼓励作用。相当，结果表明，家庭成员的影响往往相当有限，最好将其理解为潜在的和被动的。我们还发现激进的个人自己经常试图招募他们的家庭成员加入这一事业。这些见解可以成为进一步制定政策的重要起点。它强调防止激进化和促进重新融入社会是一项集体努力，而不是家庭的个人责任。我们还得出结论，随着西方圣战现象的成熟，未来我们可能会看到更多家庭直接鼓励圣战激进化进程或前往圣战战区的家庭案例。未来。虽然在未来几十年这将如何发展仍然非常不确定，