Introduction

In the spring of 2020, there were over 3.9 billion people under some sort of stay-at-home order to contain COVID-19. While most people at the time were focused on the overwhelming spread of the virus and the mounting casualties, extremists from across the political spectrum exploited the pandemic for their own objectives. Violent extremists often capitalize on “black swan” events or crises: events such as war, economic downturn, natural disasters, or even a global pandemic open up the political space for malign actors to fill with misinformation, foster mistrust in legitimate governments, or exacerbate people’s fears of “the other.” The crisis led to a litany of new grievances, while exacerbating existing ones: “A growing sense of instability [was] inflamed by the proliferation of disinformation designed to sow chaos and confusion, while exploiting emerging rifts in society—driving further polarization.” This chapter explains how some groups capitalized on the COVID-19 crisis and what the long-term impact is expected to be on democracy, the role played by civil society groups, and how ethnic politics likely shaped government responses.

Definition of terrorism

According to the literature there are as many as 100 different definitions of terrorism and no agreed-upon definition is used by every government agency, let alone across different countries or traditions, or throughout history. While each organization tends to define terrorism in self-interested ways (military definitions include attacks against people in uniform; industry definitions include attacks against economic targets), the definition that is most frequently used is from the US State Department, in which terrorism is “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.” In more specific terms, global terrorism tends to be violence perpetrated across borders or by nonnationals inside a state.

During the COVID-19 pandemic militant actors intensified their online propaganda, hoping to influence millions of people confined by the lockdown orders to their homes, where they were compelled to spend more time online and on social media. The pandemic induced an interruption of the daily functioning of society. This was interpreted by jihadist and far-right extremist groups as an ideal opportunity for recruitment, to carry out attacks, and spread chaos and confusion intended to topple governments and achieve the terrorists’ utopias.