Iranzu Carretero will represent the URJC in the "Defense and I" contest

Xavier Pinilla Bermejo

The URJC student Iranzu Carretero has been chosen as the winner of the “Defense and I” contest at the URJC with the article Growth of Jihadism in the Sahel Essay, an essay on the rise of jihadism in Africa's Sahel region. His work was chosen by a jury as the one with the highest quality presented by URJC students. Carretero, who is in the second year of the Degree in International Relations in English, was encouraged to participate thanks to a series of conferences given at the university. Specifically, he chose the topic after attending the talk "Salafi-Jihadi Threats and the Sahel" given by Katherine Zimmerman in December 2020.

This cycle of conferences takes place annually within the framework of the subject International Security and Defense, taught by Professor Vicente Garrido Rebolledo since the creation of the International Relations degree. Garrido was the one who encouraged his students to participate in this competition thanks to his extensive relationship of cooperation with the American embassy.

When carrying out the work, Carretero discovered the great complexity that exists with regard to terrorism in this part of the world. Above all, he was surprised by the large number of actors involved. In her article, the author explains some strategies to stop the proliferation of these jihadist groups, both military and non-military.

As the winner of the contest at the URJC, Carretero will enjoy a trip to Brussels, where NATO's headquarters in Europe are located, in order to learn about its operations and that of the main institutions involved in security and defense on the continent.

On the other hand, at the end of August, the organizers of the award will launch a popular vote in which the winning projects with the best score will compete. In this way, Iranzu still opts to be the national champion of the competition.  

First edition of the contest

This contest celebrates its first edition, being an initiative of the digital media isglobal with the collaboration of Embassy of the United States in Spain. The objective of the contest is to involve young people from all Spanish universities in debates on Security and Defense, so that they develop proposals in which they analyze how their generation can face each of the security threats and challenges and provide solutions.