Rejection of Foreign Fighters by Local Insurgent Groups: A Closer look at Al-Shabaab (Somalia) and GIA (Algeria)

• In Event: The Behavior and Dynamics of Terrorist Organizations

Abstract

What causes local insurgent groups to violently reject foreign fighters? Foreign fighters can offer resources, tactical innovations, and alternative frames to the conflicts they join (Bakke, 2014, pp. 150-152). Moreover, local insurgents have sought foreign fighters in an attempt to increase their resources and maximize their chances of victory (Malet, 2009, p. vi). Despite these benefits, in rare cases, local insurgent groups have rejected the foreign fighters that they once encouraged and welcomed. This presents a puzzle that has not been addressed in the growing literature on foreign fighters. In particular, local insurgents in Somalia and Algeria—al-Shabaab and the Groupement Islamique Arme (GIA), respectively—violently rejected foreign insurgents. Using process tracing and source triangulation, our study examines four potential explanations for foreign fighter rejection, with hypotheses corresponding to different levels of analysis – ideological; tactical; organizational; and leadership. In-person interviews with relevant actors, as well as secondary source material, including: archival data, court documents, and reports from sources with on-the-ground experience, are used to inform our analysis. Using sufficiency tests to explore these four hypotheses, our results suggest that rather than any one cause being sufficient, multiple causes working simultaneously may be sufficient for foreign fighter rejection.

Authors

• Tricia Bacon, American University

• Daisy Muibu, American University