Belgium and counterterrorism policy in the Jihadi era (1986-2007)

Jihadi terrorism went through different mutations. It started as an ‘Islamonationalist’ movement in the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. It then acquired a global character, with al-Qaeda as the vanguard organisation of
international jihadi terrorism. As a result of international and national efforts the organisation started to atomize and gave way to a decentralized, largely
home-grown patchwork of jihadi groups, linked by ideology and opportunistic links.
This Egmont Paper1 explores how Belgium reacted to the growth of this new form of terrorism from its early signs in the 1980s until today. Next, it analyses the measures taken by the Belgian law enforcement apparatus since 9/11.
Finally, it assesses Belgian specificities in combating jihadi terrorism. (from the introduction)