This research note examines how terrorism in Europe has transformed over the past two decades, arguing that ideology-based frameworks no longer capture the most significant developments. The research note identifies six cross-cutting trends that have reshaped contemporary terrorism in Europe: the virtualisation of radicalisation and recruitment; the rise of lone-actor attacks; the growing salience of mental health vulnerabilities; ideological hybridisation; changing demographics, particularly the increasing involvement of minors; and increasingly compressed radicalisation trajectories. The research note contends that these trends are deeply interconnected and driven primarily by the expanding role of digital technologies. Together, they have produced a “grey zone” of terrorism, which is characterised by lone attackers who radicalise primarily online, defy clear ideological categorisation, and combine fragments of political ideas with psychological vulnerabilities, developmental issues, and deeply held personal grievances. This grey zone complicates detection, prevention, legal attribution, and public debate. Most fundamentally, the resulting violence sits uneasily
with traditional definitions of terrorism, requiring a reassessment of prevailing concepts of radicalisation and terrorism in Europe today.
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