Extremism and Radicalism in the National Security Strategy 2013: a fragmented and incomplete vision

Abstract

Although Islamic extremism is one of the main issues threatening global stability and security, the Spanish National Security Strategy (NSS) does not pay much attention to it. According to the NSS, it is merely an enhancer of threats, integrated into a complex and multidimensional concept of security, and is related to (a) the terrorist threat, (b) the risk of energy vulnerability, and (c) the risk associated to a lack of national cohesion. There is a drop in the level of analysis and also a conceptual confusion around the terms: radicalism, extremism and fundamentalism. This lack of precision, that make the various phenomena look homogeneous, make difficult the design of a precise and effective polity that can signal the road to combat extremism and the actors that should be involve in this fight.