A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of Islamist Militancy in the Philippines (2000-2024)

This article is a narrative synthesis and methodical analysis of empirical studies examining Islamist militant organizations in the Philippines from 2000 to 2024. The PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines (Page et al., 2021) were adhered to for the study of grey literature and peer-reviewed literature to identify recurring empirical trends linked to recruitment, radicalization, and violent behavior. A pooled statistical meta-analysis was not conducted due to the heterogeneity in the methodological approaches (Sands et al., 2020). Structured narrative synthesis reveals a consensus on four mechanisms: socioeconomic marginalization, kinship-based recruitment networks, ideological framing, and governance fragility. The results add to the idea of multi-level radicalization and have ramifications for counter-terrorism policy in situations where governance is fragile.