In recent years, militant groups in the Middle East, such as the Islamic State and Tahrir al-Sham have attracted numerous foreigners to their cause—but how? Dr. Vera Mironova, a visiting scholar at the department of economics at Harvard University, has spent years studying the motivations of both foreign fighters and the armed groups that recruit them.
In that time, she has conducted field work in Croatia, Yemen, Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and most recently Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar. Results from this work have been published in Foreign Affairs, American Economic Journals: Applied Economics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, British Journal of Political Science, and World Development. Dr. Mironova also a has a book forthcoming with Oxford University Press, and has documented some of her field work at instagram.com/vera_mironov
Dr. Mironova will discuss what motivates foreign fighters to join Islamist movements outside of their home countries, what motivates the same fighters to give up fighting, and the benefits and drawbacks for armed groups employing foreign fighters in their ranks. The event is open to the UCF community, and afternoon refreshments will be served.
Co-sponsored by the Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence and UCF Global Perspectives.
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