We matched a list of 636 Tunisian Islamic State fighters derived from leaked border documents with information from the 2014 census, as well as other data. We tested these explanations using a range of variables to see which best predicted recruitment into the Islamic State. Figure 1Unemployed male graduatesOur results suggest that Islamic State fighters were significantly more likely to come from delegations with more unemployed male graduates. This reading finds support in recent studies demonstrating that deprived towns of Tunisia with prehistories of union activism saw little Islamic State activity. We are grateful to Aaron Zelin for generously sharing data on Islamic State recruits.

Source: Washington Post December 10, 2018 12:00 UTC