Young people who are drawn to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s cause need to realise that lasting change can never be wrought through violence.

FOR reasons that are complex, there has always been a morbid fascination with lost causes and the “bad guys”.

A cursory glance at what is on offer in cinemas will show that we are fascinated with mafioso gangsters, thugs, gun-slingers and ne’er-do-wells of all hues and shapes.

Today, the same macabre fascination has resulted in another development that is equally disturbing – that of young, angry and frustrated men and women who have chosen to travel across the globe to take part in what they regard as a conflict driven by causes that are higher than the law, nationhood and civic obligation.

…The writer is an associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.