207 Palmerino Cuneo Terrorism and organised crime: The system of “permanent… jihad and thereby embracing a nebulous fight against global terror, the response must be reconducted to a local level, taking into account specific political, economic, social and territorial factors109. Political and local jihad requires a political and local response, where a bottom-up approach is crucial, involving local clans and tribal groups and their grievances. At the same time, the intermestic nature of the Sahel requires a response at regional level. The perspective needs to be inverted: jihadism is the symptom, not the cause of conflict in the Sahel. It is important to understand that it is the structural instability itself that favours this radical hybrid threat. The ultimatum for security in postmodern times consists in filling these empty spaces. In this sense, short-term security responses, though vital, can slip into the dynam-ics of permanent conflict110 which — like emergency humanitarian aid — does not achieve any long-term tangible results in socio-political terms while exacerbating the same factors of instability. The ongoing global effort against the holy war and to curb the massive exodus towards Europe could be reduced by setting up other kinds of initiatives with a political flavour and “regional” character. Enhancing regionalism is thus proposed as a tool to mitigate the effects of ge-opolitical competitions; a relational “filter” that could favour the diversification of socio-economic structure, the creation of local value chains and their inclusion in the global circuit, while simultaneously including social struggle in the political context, moving from a radicalisation of Islam to an Islamisation of radicalism, with positive effects on the process of nation-building. Regionalism as a form of “balance of power” within the postmodern relational complexity, lowering conflict potential, as the best response to the “intermestic” nature of the Sahel, where domino effects are the norm and the proliferation of terrorism (and conflict) in nearby states requires a “security scheme” to act as a filter, which would integrate the Sahel into the policies of the Maghreb in a coherent way. A realistic definition of an active role for the European Union within multipolarity must needs include the creation of a geopolitical space with direct influence on the EU’s extended southern border towards the Sahel – a kind of “Euro-Mediterranean NAF-TA”; an irrevocable solution that must be actively sought and forged, since we cannot afford the luxury of chasing after terrorist threats or their culminations on the old 109 Moreover, the intertwining of ideological interests between terrorist groups and jihadist brands, because of the confusing mass of rivalries and interests and the fact that the local societies are fragmented into tribes and clans whose relations change continually, makes it difficult (particularly for Westerners) to understand what is going on, who are the friends, who are the enemies and their effective strength – resulting in a high probability of errors in planning any intervention. The same dilemma arose previously in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Somalia, and – following the Arab Spring – the conundrum continues in the Sahel without a solution in sight. 110 The intensification of so-called jihadist terrorism and the most significant instances of restructuring occurred in the wake of operation “Barkane” and the establishment of the G5 Sahel. Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos n.º 13 - Año: 2019 - Págs.: 181 a 212
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