The Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Those Affiliated with Terrorism: The Case of Iraq

The rehabilitation and reintegration of terrorists and former combatants has been a longstanding focus in several fields of academic literature. However, this literature still falls short in several ways. First, the literature has only minimally considered persons affiliated with terrorist groups—often family members of militants who themselves are not culpable for crimes—and how to account for their rehabilitation and reintegration (sometimes referenced as transitional rehabilitation). Second, scholarship on contemporary cases such as ISIS has tended to focus on western cases of women and minor returnees—not those in key countries governed and affected by terrorist actors such as Iraq. Third, it has neglected first-hand experiences and challenges that these affiliated individuals perceive returning to their community. Drawing on primary source interviews, focus groups, and fieldwork in Iraq, this article uses a case study to highlight implications of rehabilitation and reintegration of civilians “affiliated” with a terrorist group who are not terrorist offenders, and who live in, or are returning to conflict-affected areas. It calls for more research focus on this population and highlights some of the ways existent scholarship on terrorism and DDR may be expanded to more robustly account for those “affiliated” with terrorism.