Recruits into the Islamic State (IS) group are better educated than their average countryman, contrary to popular belief, according to a new World Bank study.
Moreover, those offering to become suicide bombers ranked on average in the more educated group, said the newly released study titled “Economic and Social Inclusion to Prevent Violent Extremism”.
Poverty not a driver The study, which aimed to identify socio-economic traits that might explain why some are drawn to the IS, made clear that poverty and deprivation were not at the root of support for the group.
Almost without exception, fighters joining IS’s Syria and Iraq-based forces had several more years of education in their home countries — whether in Europe, Africa or elsewhere in West Asia — than the average citizen. The data shows clearly, the report said, that “poverty is not a driver of radicalisation into violent extremism”.
Out of 331 recruits described in a leaked IS database, only 17 per cent did not finish high school, while a quarter had university-level educations.
About 30 per cent of the recruits told the extremist group what positions in the force they wanted. Around one in nine volunteered for suicide operations, and their educational levels were on par with those who sought to be administrators, the report said.
Most of the 331 recruits also reported having a job before travelling to join the IS, according to the study.
”We find that [IS] did not recruit its foreign workforce among the poor and less educated, but rather the opposite. Instead, the lack of economic inclusion seems to explain the extent of radicalisation into violent extremism,” it said.
