Audrey Kurth Cronin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780197265901
- eISBN:
- 9780191772047
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265901.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
In order to assess terrorist groups within a broad historical and strategic framework, it is vital to assess how and why terrorist campaigns end. Moreover, if effective counter-terrorism is to be ...
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In order to assess terrorist groups within a broad historical and strategic framework, it is vital to assess how and why terrorist campaigns end. Moreover, if effective counter-terrorism is to be developed, then serious reflection is required regarding what happens during the final phase of terrorist campaigns, and why. This chapter therefore: first, analyses four classic strategies of terrorism and considers why Western democracies have particular difficulty responding to them; second, it reviews six historical patterns of endings for terrorist organisations that have emerged from scholarly research on hundreds of groups; third, it assesses (in light of these six patterns) which counter-terrorism policies have hastened al-Qaida’s demise and which have not, while also reflecting upon the rise of ISIS and its potential future significance.Less
In order to assess terrorist groups within a broad historical and strategic framework, it is vital to assess how and why terrorist campaigns end. Moreover, if effective counter-terrorism is to be developed, then serious reflection is required regarding what happens during the final phase of terrorist campaigns, and why. This chapter therefore: first, analyses four classic strategies of terrorism and considers why Western democracies have particular difficulty responding to them; second, it reviews six historical patterns of endings for terrorist organisations that have emerged from scholarly research on hundreds of groups; third, it assesses (in light of these six patterns) which counter-terrorism policies have hastened al-Qaida’s demise and which have not, while also reflecting upon the rise of ISIS and its potential future significance.
Shawn Malley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781786941190
- eISBN:
- 9781789629088
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781786941190.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Well-known in popular culture for tomb-raiding and mummy-wrangling, the archaeologist is also a rich though often unacknowledged figure for constructing ‘strange new worlds’ from ‘strange old worlds’ ...
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Well-known in popular culture for tomb-raiding and mummy-wrangling, the archaeologist is also a rich though often unacknowledged figure for constructing ‘strange new worlds’ from ‘strange old worlds’ in science fiction. But more than a well-spring for scenarios, SF’s archaeological imaginary is also a hermeneutic tool for excavating the ideological motivations of digging up the past buried in the future. A cultural study of an array of popular though critically neglected North American SF film and television texts–spanning the gamut of telefilms, pseudo-documentaries, teen serial drama and Hollywood blockbusters–Excavating the Future treats archaeology as a trope for exploring the popular archaeological imagination and the uses to which it is being put by the U.S. state and its adversaries. By treating SF texts as documents of archaeological experience circulating within and between scientific and popular culture communities and media, Excavating the Future develops critical strategies for analyzing SF film and television’s critical and adaptive responses to contemporary geopolitical concerns about the war on terror, homeland security, the invasion and reconstruction of Iraq, and the ongoing fight against ISIS.Less
Well-known in popular culture for tomb-raiding and mummy-wrangling, the archaeologist is also a rich though often unacknowledged figure for constructing ‘strange new worlds’ from ‘strange old worlds’ in science fiction. But more than a well-spring for scenarios, SF’s archaeological imaginary is also a hermeneutic tool for excavating the ideological motivations of digging up the past buried in the future. A cultural study of an array of popular though critically neglected North American SF film and television texts–spanning the gamut of telefilms, pseudo-documentaries, teen serial drama and Hollywood blockbusters–Excavating the Future treats archaeology as a trope for exploring the popular archaeological imagination and the uses to which it is being put by the U.S. state and its adversaries. By treating SF texts as documents of archaeological experience circulating within and between scientific and popular culture communities and media, Excavating the Future develops critical strategies for analyzing SF film and television’s critical and adaptive responses to contemporary geopolitical concerns about the war on terror, homeland security, the invasion and reconstruction of Iraq, and the ongoing fight against ISIS.
Joel Blecher
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520295933
- eISBN:
- 9780520968677
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520295933.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
While scholars have long studied how Muslims authenticated and transmitted Muhammad’s sayings and practices (hadith), the story of how Muslims interpreted and reinterpreted hadith across a millennium ...
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While scholars have long studied how Muslims authenticated and transmitted Muhammad’s sayings and practices (hadith), the story of how Muslims interpreted and reinterpreted hadith across a millennium or more has yet to be told. Said the Prophet of God takes up this charge, illuminating the rich social and intellectual stakes of hadith commentary in the times and places it came to life: classical Andalusia, medieval Egypt, and modern India. The book closes with an epilogue on how commentary has been taken up by contemporary Islamist groups such as ISIS. Weaving together tales of high court rivalries, colonial politics, and contemporary field notes with explorations of the fine-grained debates among hadith commentators, Said the Prophet of God offers an interdisciplinary audience new avenues for understanding traditions of interpretation at the intersection of social and intellectual history across long periods of time.Less
While scholars have long studied how Muslims authenticated and transmitted Muhammad’s sayings and practices (hadith), the story of how Muslims interpreted and reinterpreted hadith across a millennium or more has yet to be told. Said the Prophet of God takes up this charge, illuminating the rich social and intellectual stakes of hadith commentary in the times and places it came to life: classical Andalusia, medieval Egypt, and modern India. The book closes with an epilogue on how commentary has been taken up by contemporary Islamist groups such as ISIS. Weaving together tales of high court rivalries, colonial politics, and contemporary field notes with explorations of the fine-grained debates among hadith commentators, Said the Prophet of God offers an interdisciplinary audience new avenues for understanding traditions of interpretation at the intersection of social and intellectual history across long periods of time.
Benjamin Isakhan (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748696161
- eISBN:
- 9781474416177
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696161.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
This book critically reflects on the failure of the 2003 intervention to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism, its citizens free to live in peace and prosperity. ...
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This book critically reflects on the failure of the 2003 intervention to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism, its citizens free to live in peace and prosperity. The book argues that mistakes made by the coalition and the Iraqi political elite set a sequence of events in motion that have had devastating consequences for Iraq, the Middle East and for the rest of the world. Today, as the nation faces perhaps its greatest challenge in the wake of the devastating advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and another US-led coalition undertakes renewed military action in Iraq, understanding the complex and difficult legacies of the 2003 war could not be more urgent. Ignoring the legacies of the Iraq War and denying their connection to contemporary events could mean that vital lessons are ignored and the same mistakes made again.Less
This book critically reflects on the failure of the 2003 intervention to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism, its citizens free to live in peace and prosperity. The book argues that mistakes made by the coalition and the Iraqi political elite set a sequence of events in motion that have had devastating consequences for Iraq, the Middle East and for the rest of the world. Today, as the nation faces perhaps its greatest challenge in the wake of the devastating advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and another US-led coalition undertakes renewed military action in Iraq, understanding the complex and difficult legacies of the 2003 war could not be more urgent. Ignoring the legacies of the Iraq War and denying their connection to contemporary events could mean that vital lessons are ignored and the same mistakes made again.
Neophytos Loizides
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780804794084
- eISBN:
- 9780804796330
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804794084.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Chapter 4 focuses on Turkey and the Kurdish question particularly in relation to the country’s neighbors. It highlights the 1998 Öcalan incident when hundreds of thousands of Turkish citizens joined ...
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Chapter 4 focuses on Turkey and the Kurdish question particularly in relation to the country’s neighbors. It highlights the 1998 Öcalan incident when hundreds of thousands of Turkish citizens joined mass nationalist mobilizations to protest against third countries (Syria, Italy and Greece) (allegedly) supporting the PKK (Kurdistan’s Workers Party). It examines how Turkish elites framed foreign governments and the PKK as the parties solely responsible for the Kurdish uprising, making any potential compromise unimaginable for the next two decades. At the same time the chapter examines the progress made by Turkey in reaching better relations with Greece leading to the Helsinki compromise in 1999. The chapter looks at parliamentary records and political discourse in the years preceding this crucial 1998-9 period to identify the framing of Turkey’s foreign policy, explain variation in foreign policy outcomes and Turkey’s subsequent reactions to the civil wars in Iraq and Syria.Less
Chapter 4 focuses on Turkey and the Kurdish question particularly in relation to the country’s neighbors. It highlights the 1998 Öcalan incident when hundreds of thousands of Turkish citizens joined mass nationalist mobilizations to protest against third countries (Syria, Italy and Greece) (allegedly) supporting the PKK (Kurdistan’s Workers Party). It examines how Turkish elites framed foreign governments and the PKK as the parties solely responsible for the Kurdish uprising, making any potential compromise unimaginable for the next two decades. At the same time the chapter examines the progress made by Turkey in reaching better relations with Greece leading to the Helsinki compromise in 1999. The chapter looks at parliamentary records and political discourse in the years preceding this crucial 1998-9 period to identify the framing of Turkey’s foreign policy, explain variation in foreign policy outcomes and Turkey’s subsequent reactions to the civil wars in Iraq and Syria.
Christopher Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300217179
- eISBN:
- 9780300222173
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300217179.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This book provides an analysis of the crucial but underexplored roles the United States and other nations have played in shaping Syria's ongoing civil war. Most accounts of Syria's brutal, ...
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This book provides an analysis of the crucial but underexplored roles the United States and other nations have played in shaping Syria's ongoing civil war. Most accounts of Syria's brutal, long-lasting civil war focus on a domestic contest that began in 2011 and only later drew foreign nations into the escalating violence. The book argues instead that the international dimension was never secondary but that Syria's war was, from the very start, profoundly influenced by regional factors, particularly the vacuum created by a perceived decline of U.S. power in the Middle East. This precipitated a new regional order in which six external protagonists — the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar — have violently competed for influence, with Syria a key battleground. Drawing on a plethora of original interviews, the book constructs a new narrative of Syria's war. Without absolving the brutal Bashar al-Assad regime, the book untangles the key external factors which explain the acceleration and endurance of the conflict, including the West's strategy against ISIS. It concludes with some insights on Syria and the region's future.Less
This book provides an analysis of the crucial but underexplored roles the United States and other nations have played in shaping Syria's ongoing civil war. Most accounts of Syria's brutal, long-lasting civil war focus on a domestic contest that began in 2011 and only later drew foreign nations into the escalating violence. The book argues instead that the international dimension was never secondary but that Syria's war was, from the very start, profoundly influenced by regional factors, particularly the vacuum created by a perceived decline of U.S. power in the Middle East. This precipitated a new regional order in which six external protagonists — the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar — have violently competed for influence, with Syria a key battleground. Drawing on a plethora of original interviews, the book constructs a new narrative of Syria's war. Without absolving the brutal Bashar al-Assad regime, the book untangles the key external factors which explain the acceleration and endurance of the conflict, including the West's strategy against ISIS. It concludes with some insights on Syria and the region's future.
Shawn Malley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781786941190
- eISBN:
- 9781789629088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781786941190.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Excavating the Future concludes with a discussion of two real-world archaeological events: ISIS’s destruction of artefacts at Palmyra and Nimrud and the reaction by heritage preservation ...
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Excavating the Future concludes with a discussion of two real-world archaeological events: ISIS’s destruction of artefacts at Palmyra and Nimrud and the reaction by heritage preservation organizations to simulate destroyed artefacts through 3D printing, stereoscopic modelling, and crowdsourcing projects. The envoi contends that these reproductive countermeasures to the world-wide media dissemination of terrorist attacks on material history serve to perpetuate a desired future born from the very logic of globalization and progress that has made World Heritage sites such irresistible targets for Islamic extremists. The envoi argues that SF’s response to the material conditions of history in the post 9/11 world invites attentive audiences to remain suspicious of such iconodulist claims upon the past and future.Less
Excavating the Future concludes with a discussion of two real-world archaeological events: ISIS’s destruction of artefacts at Palmyra and Nimrud and the reaction by heritage preservation organizations to simulate destroyed artefacts through 3D printing, stereoscopic modelling, and crowdsourcing projects. The envoi contends that these reproductive countermeasures to the world-wide media dissemination of terrorist attacks on material history serve to perpetuate a desired future born from the very logic of globalization and progress that has made World Heritage sites such irresistible targets for Islamic extremists. The envoi argues that SF’s response to the material conditions of history in the post 9/11 world invites attentive audiences to remain suspicious of such iconodulist claims upon the past and future.
Stéphane A. Dudoignon
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190655914
- eISBN:
- 9780190872632
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190655914.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
Since 2002, Sunni jihadi groups have been active in Iranian Baluchistan without managing to plunge the region into chaos. This book suggests that a reason for this, besides Tehran’s military ...
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Since 2002, Sunni jihadi groups have been active in Iranian Baluchistan without managing to plunge the region into chaos. This book suggests that a reason for this, besides Tehran’s military responses, has been the quality of Khomeini and Khamenei’s relationship with a network of South-Asia-educated Sunni ulama (mawlawis) originating from the Sarbaz oasis area, in the south of Baluchistan. Educated in the religiously reformist, socially conservative South Asian Deoband School, which puts the madrasa at the centre of social life, the Sarbazi ulama had taken advantage, in Iranian territory, of the eclipse of Baluch tribal might under the Pahlavi monarchy (1925-79). They emerged then as a bulwark against Soviet influence and progressive ideologies, before rallying to Khomeini in 1979. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, they have been playing the role of a rampart against Salafi propaganda and Saudi intrigues. The book shows that, through their alliance with an Iranian Kurdish-born Muslim-Brother movement and through the promotion of a distinct ‘Sunni vote’, they have since the early 2000s contributed towards – and benefitted from – the defence by the Reformist presidents Khatami (1997-2005) and Ruhani (since 2013) of local democracy and of the minorities’ rights. They endeavoured to help, at the same time, preventing the propagation of jihadism and Sunni radicalisation to Iran – at least until the ISIS/Daesh-claimed attacks of June 2017, in Tehran, shed light on the limits of the Islamic Republic’s strategy of reliance on Deobandi ulama and Muslim-Brother preachers in the country’s Sunni-peopled peripheries.Less
Since 2002, Sunni jihadi groups have been active in Iranian Baluchistan without managing to plunge the region into chaos. This book suggests that a reason for this, besides Tehran’s military responses, has been the quality of Khomeini and Khamenei’s relationship with a network of South-Asia-educated Sunni ulama (mawlawis) originating from the Sarbaz oasis area, in the south of Baluchistan. Educated in the religiously reformist, socially conservative South Asian Deoband School, which puts the madrasa at the centre of social life, the Sarbazi ulama had taken advantage, in Iranian territory, of the eclipse of Baluch tribal might under the Pahlavi monarchy (1925-79). They emerged then as a bulwark against Soviet influence and progressive ideologies, before rallying to Khomeini in 1979. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, they have been playing the role of a rampart against Salafi propaganda and Saudi intrigues. The book shows that, through their alliance with an Iranian Kurdish-born Muslim-Brother movement and through the promotion of a distinct ‘Sunni vote’, they have since the early 2000s contributed towards – and benefitted from – the defence by the Reformist presidents Khatami (1997-2005) and Ruhani (since 2013) of local democracy and of the minorities’ rights. They endeavoured to help, at the same time, preventing the propagation of jihadism and Sunni radicalisation to Iran – at least until the ISIS/Daesh-claimed attacks of June 2017, in Tehran, shed light on the limits of the Islamic Republic’s strategy of reliance on Deobandi ulama and Muslim-Brother preachers in the country’s Sunni-peopled peripheries.
Ondřej Beránek and Pavel Ťupek
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474417570
- eISBN:
- 9781474444774
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474417570.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter outlines the context within which various iconoclastic incidents have taken place in various parts of the Islamic world in recent years. After focusing on ISIS and the massive ...
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This chapter outlines the context within which various iconoclastic incidents have taken place in various parts of the Islamic world in recent years. After focusing on ISIS and the massive destruction of funerary monuments for which they have been responsible in Iraq and Syria, with a particular emphasis on Mosul, we deal with similar incidents, especially in the Arabian Peninsula, parts of Africa and central and south Asia.Less
This chapter outlines the context within which various iconoclastic incidents have taken place in various parts of the Islamic world in recent years. After focusing on ISIS and the massive destruction of funerary monuments for which they have been responsible in Iraq and Syria, with a particular emphasis on Mosul, we deal with similar incidents, especially in the Arabian Peninsula, parts of Africa and central and south Asia.
Ekaterina Stepanova
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526105813
- eISBN:
- 9781526135988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526105813.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
The chapter explores how, despite earlier counterterrorism failures and two bitter wars in Chechnya, terrorism in Russia has declined in the 2010s. The Islamist-separatist terrorism problem that used ...
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The chapter explores how, despite earlier counterterrorism failures and two bitter wars in Chechnya, terrorism in Russia has declined in the 2010s. The Islamist-separatist terrorism problem that used to dominate national politics was degraded to a relatively peripheral issue that hovers at a level of persistent, but low-scale and increasingly fragmented violence, primarily in the North Caucasus. However imperfect, interim and incomplete, a ‘solution’ that has worked out in the Russian case was not ‘war’. This ‘solution other than war’ was made possible by certain developments outside Moscow’s direct control, such as the internal split within the insurgency catalyzed by its increasing jihadization, and resulted from a combination of the policy of Chechenization, shifts in federal security strategy towards smarter suppression and prevention, and massive reconstruction and development assistance. While this solution is no substitute for addressing the underlying structural causes of violent extremism and has involved enormous security, financial, human rights and governance costs for the nation, these costs are much lower than the cost of war. This is seen as one of the key broader lessons to be gleaned from Russia’s response to terrorism. It also explains why Russia has a genuine interest in ensuring that this degree of stabilization and decline in terrorism of North Caucasian origin is not distorted or reversed by new destabilizing factors, including transnational influences and connections.Less
The chapter explores how, despite earlier counterterrorism failures and two bitter wars in Chechnya, terrorism in Russia has declined in the 2010s. The Islamist-separatist terrorism problem that used to dominate national politics was degraded to a relatively peripheral issue that hovers at a level of persistent, but low-scale and increasingly fragmented violence, primarily in the North Caucasus. However imperfect, interim and incomplete, a ‘solution’ that has worked out in the Russian case was not ‘war’. This ‘solution other than war’ was made possible by certain developments outside Moscow’s direct control, such as the internal split within the insurgency catalyzed by its increasing jihadization, and resulted from a combination of the policy of Chechenization, shifts in federal security strategy towards smarter suppression and prevention, and massive reconstruction and development assistance. While this solution is no substitute for addressing the underlying structural causes of violent extremism and has involved enormous security, financial, human rights and governance costs for the nation, these costs are much lower than the cost of war. This is seen as one of the key broader lessons to be gleaned from Russia’s response to terrorism. It also explains why Russia has a genuine interest in ensuring that this degree of stabilization and decline in terrorism of North Caucasian origin is not distorted or reversed by new destabilizing factors, including transnational influences and connections.
Samuel Helfont
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- April 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190843311
- eISBN:
- 9780190843342
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190843311.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Compulsion in Religion relies on extensive research with Ba’thist archives to investigate the roots of the religious insurgencies that erupted in Iraq following the American-led invasion in 2003. The ...
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Compulsion in Religion relies on extensive research with Ba’thist archives to investigate the roots of the religious insurgencies that erupted in Iraq following the American-led invasion in 2003. The Iraqi archival records demonstrate that by the 1990s, Saddam’s regime had developed institutions to control and monitor Iraq’s religious landscape. The regime’s ability to do so provided it with confidence to launch a national “Faith Campaign” and to inject religion into Iraqi politics in a controlled manner. Islam played a greater role in the regime’s symbols and Saddam Hussein’s statements in the 1990s than it had in earlier decades. This increase in religious rhetoric did not represent a shift from secular-nationalist ideology to Islamism, however. The regime’s official policies toward religious leaders and institutions remained remarkably consistent throughout the Ba’thist period; Saddam spoke derisively about all forms of Islamist politics in Iraq throughout his presidency. He promoted a Ba’thist interpretation of religion that subordinated it to Arab nationalism rather than depicting the religion as an independent or primary political identity. Saddam did so explicitly to undermine Islamists and the revolutionary religious movements that would emerge after 2003. When the American-led invasion of 2003 destroyed the regime’s authoritarian structures, it unhinged the forces that these structures were designed to contain, creating an atmosphere infused with politically instrumentalized religion but lacking the checks provided by the former regime. Sadrists, al-Qaida, and eventually the Islamic State emerged out of this context to unleash the insurgencies that have plagued post-2003 Iraq.Less
Compulsion in Religion relies on extensive research with Ba’thist archives to investigate the roots of the religious insurgencies that erupted in Iraq following the American-led invasion in 2003. The Iraqi archival records demonstrate that by the 1990s, Saddam’s regime had developed institutions to control and monitor Iraq’s religious landscape. The regime’s ability to do so provided it with confidence to launch a national “Faith Campaign” and to inject religion into Iraqi politics in a controlled manner. Islam played a greater role in the regime’s symbols and Saddam Hussein’s statements in the 1990s than it had in earlier decades. This increase in religious rhetoric did not represent a shift from secular-nationalist ideology to Islamism, however. The regime’s official policies toward religious leaders and institutions remained remarkably consistent throughout the Ba’thist period; Saddam spoke derisively about all forms of Islamist politics in Iraq throughout his presidency. He promoted a Ba’thist interpretation of religion that subordinated it to Arab nationalism rather than depicting the religion as an independent or primary political identity. Saddam did so explicitly to undermine Islamists and the revolutionary religious movements that would emerge after 2003. When the American-led invasion of 2003 destroyed the regime’s authoritarian structures, it unhinged the forces that these structures were designed to contain, creating an atmosphere infused with politically instrumentalized religion but lacking the checks provided by the former regime. Sadrists, al-Qaida, and eventually the Islamic State emerged out of this context to unleash the insurgencies that have plagued post-2003 Iraq.
Petter Nesser
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190264024
- eISBN:
- 9780190638566
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190264024.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
The book provides a comprehensive account of Islamist terrorism in Europe from 1994 until 2015, and a detailed background for understanding the current and future threat. In contrast to existing ...
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The book provides a comprehensive account of Islamist terrorism in Europe from 1994 until 2015, and a detailed background for understanding the current and future threat. In contrast to existing research, which has emphasized social explanations, failed immigration and home-grown radicalization, the book highlights transnational factors. It shows how jihadi terrorism in Europe is intrinsically linked to, and reflects the ideological agendas of, armed organizations in conflict zones such as Al Qaida and IS, and how entrepreneurial jihad-veterans facilitate the transnationalization of militancy.Less
The book provides a comprehensive account of Islamist terrorism in Europe from 1994 until 2015, and a detailed background for understanding the current and future threat. In contrast to existing research, which has emphasized social explanations, failed immigration and home-grown radicalization, the book highlights transnational factors. It shows how jihadi terrorism in Europe is intrinsically linked to, and reflects the ideological agendas of, armed organizations in conflict zones such as Al Qaida and IS, and how entrepreneurial jihad-veterans facilitate the transnationalization of militancy.
Simon Staffell and Akil Awan (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190650292
- eISBN:
- 9780190686499
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190650292.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
Jihadist narratives have evolved dramatically over the past five years, driven by momentous events in the Middle East and beyond; the death of bin Laden; the rise and ultimate failure of the Arab ...
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Jihadist narratives have evolved dramatically over the past five years, driven by momentous events in the Middle East and beyond; the death of bin Laden; the rise and ultimate failure of the Arab Spring; and most notably, the rise of the so-called Islamic State. For many years, Al-Qaeda pointed to an aspirational future Caliphate as their utopian end goal - one which allowed them to justify their violent excesses in the here and now. Islamic State turned that aspiration into a dystopic reality, and in the process hijacked the jihadist narrative, breathing new life into the global Salafi-Jihadi movement. Despite air-strikes from above, and local disillusionment from below, the new caliphate has stubbornly persisted and has been at the heart of ISIS's growing global appeal. This timely collection of essays examines how jihadist narratives have changed globally, adapting to these turbulent circumstances. Area and thematic specialists consider transitions inside the Middle East and North Africa as well as in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. As these analyses demonstrate, the success of the ISIS narrative has been as much about resonance with local contexts, as it has been about the appeal of the global idea of a tangible and realized caliphate.Less
Jihadist narratives have evolved dramatically over the past five years, driven by momentous events in the Middle East and beyond; the death of bin Laden; the rise and ultimate failure of the Arab Spring; and most notably, the rise of the so-called Islamic State. For many years, Al-Qaeda pointed to an aspirational future Caliphate as their utopian end goal - one which allowed them to justify their violent excesses in the here and now. Islamic State turned that aspiration into a dystopic reality, and in the process hijacked the jihadist narrative, breathing new life into the global Salafi-Jihadi movement. Despite air-strikes from above, and local disillusionment from below, the new caliphate has stubbornly persisted and has been at the heart of ISIS's growing global appeal. This timely collection of essays examines how jihadist narratives have changed globally, adapting to these turbulent circumstances. Area and thematic specialists consider transitions inside the Middle East and North Africa as well as in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. As these analyses demonstrate, the success of the ISIS narrative has been as much about resonance with local contexts, as it has been about the appeal of the global idea of a tangible and realized caliphate.
Jonathan Benthall and Jonathan Benthall
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784993085
- eISBN:
- 9781526124005
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784993085.003.0018
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Middle Eastern Cultural Anthropology
This Chapter reflects on the alleged special association between religion in general and violence – an association rebutted by both authors under review, David Martin (in Religion and Power: No logos ...
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This Chapter reflects on the alleged special association between religion in general and violence – an association rebutted by both authors under review, David Martin (in Religion and Power: No logos without mythos) and Karen Armstrong (in Fields of Blood: Religion and the history of violence). It was first published in the Times Literary Supplement on 10 December 2014, under the heading “Poplars in the marsh”. These two very different authors also agree that violent resistance is an inevitable response to policies that oppress large populations. The Chapter goes on to consider briefly the exorbitant reworking of Wahhabism that underpins the so-called Islamic State (Isis), and finally the obstacles that beset all attempts to found non-violent movements.Less
This Chapter reflects on the alleged special association between religion in general and violence – an association rebutted by both authors under review, David Martin (in Religion and Power: No logos without mythos) and Karen Armstrong (in Fields of Blood: Religion and the history of violence). It was first published in the Times Literary Supplement on 10 December 2014, under the heading “Poplars in the marsh”. These two very different authors also agree that violent resistance is an inevitable response to policies that oppress large populations. The Chapter goes on to consider briefly the exorbitant reworking of Wahhabism that underpins the so-called Islamic State (Isis), and finally the obstacles that beset all attempts to found non-violent movements.
Jonathan Githens-Mazer
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190650292
- eISBN:
- 9780190686499
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190650292.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
This chapter addresses the symbolic power of narratives of Islamic resistance in the Tunisian context. This includes understanding why Islam constitutes a template to challenge to the politics of the ...
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This chapter addresses the symbolic power of narratives of Islamic resistance in the Tunisian context. This includes understanding why Islam constitutes a template to challenge to the politics of the status quo, historically, and therefore resonates amongst certain sections of the Tunisian nation, and understanding the power of the narrative of jihadi violence as a subset of these politics of resistance and challenge. It particularly focuses on understanding the resonance of these jihadi narratives in the wake of the 2011 Tunisian Revolution.Less
This chapter addresses the symbolic power of narratives of Islamic resistance in the Tunisian context. This includes understanding why Islam constitutes a template to challenge to the politics of the status quo, historically, and therefore resonates amongst certain sections of the Tunisian nation, and understanding the power of the narrative of jihadi violence as a subset of these politics of resistance and challenge. It particularly focuses on understanding the resonance of these jihadi narratives in the wake of the 2011 Tunisian Revolution.
Robert G. Kaufman
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813167206
- eISBN:
- 9780813167749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813167206.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter argues that the main tenets of the Obama Doctrine have made a bad situation in the Middle East worse. Obama’s policy of giving priority to withdrawing from Iraq rather than winning the ...
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This chapter argues that the main tenets of the Obama Doctrine have made a bad situation in the Middle East worse. Obama’s policy of giving priority to withdrawing from Iraq rather than winning the war created a dangerous power vacuum that Iran and other radical forces in the region have filled. President Obama’s ideologically driven, premature withdrawal snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The administration also fundamentally misread the dynamics of the Arab Spring because of the Obama Doctrine’s blind eye to the danger emanating from Islamic radicalism of all varieties. Nothing illustrates the perversity of the Obama Doctrine more than the president’s assiduous attempts to reach a nuclear deal with a virulently anti-American Iran while seeking to put increasing distance between the United States and a decent, democratic Israel. The inability of the Obama Doctrine prudently to distinguish friends and foes has unleashed the worst instincts of a region teeming with foes.Less
This chapter argues that the main tenets of the Obama Doctrine have made a bad situation in the Middle East worse. Obama’s policy of giving priority to withdrawing from Iraq rather than winning the war created a dangerous power vacuum that Iran and other radical forces in the region have filled. President Obama’s ideologically driven, premature withdrawal snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The administration also fundamentally misread the dynamics of the Arab Spring because of the Obama Doctrine’s blind eye to the danger emanating from Islamic radicalism of all varieties. Nothing illustrates the perversity of the Obama Doctrine more than the president’s assiduous attempts to reach a nuclear deal with a virulently anti-American Iran while seeking to put increasing distance between the United States and a decent, democratic Israel. The inability of the Obama Doctrine prudently to distinguish friends and foes has unleashed the worst instincts of a region teeming with foes.
Noah Salomon
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691165158
- eISBN:
- 9781400884292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691165158.003.0006
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This epilogue first describes cases of Sudanese university students joining ISIS. It then argues that if we begin to evaluate the success of the Sudanese Islamic state project based not on the ...
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This epilogue first describes cases of Sudanese university students joining ISIS. It then argues that if we begin to evaluate the success of the Sudanese Islamic state project based not on the staying-power of the particular doctrines the Inqadh regime imposed or on the institutional forms it assumed, but rather on the questions it continues to provoke and the aspirations it engenders, we will better be able to explain why groups like ISIS have become attractive to Sudanese students living in the era of the late Inqadh. The fact that the renegade students felt they could not fulfill Islamic political aspirations in Sudan but needed to make the radical move of traveling across the world to join an organization vilified both at home and internationally suggests not only that the definition of an Islamic state remains as contested as ever, but that, contrary to some predictions, the failures of the Islamic state model in Sudan have led not to the eclipse of Islam as a viable political foundation, but rather to an even more active search for its true embodiment.Less
This epilogue first describes cases of Sudanese university students joining ISIS. It then argues that if we begin to evaluate the success of the Sudanese Islamic state project based not on the staying-power of the particular doctrines the Inqadh regime imposed or on the institutional forms it assumed, but rather on the questions it continues to provoke and the aspirations it engenders, we will better be able to explain why groups like ISIS have become attractive to Sudanese students living in the era of the late Inqadh. The fact that the renegade students felt they could not fulfill Islamic political aspirations in Sudan but needed to make the radical move of traveling across the world to join an organization vilified both at home and internationally suggests not only that the definition of an Islamic state remains as contested as ever, but that, contrary to some predictions, the failures of the Islamic state model in Sudan have led not to the eclipse of Islam as a viable political foundation, but rather to an even more active search for its true embodiment.
Caroleen Marji Sayej
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501715211
- eISBN:
- 9781501714856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501715211.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Middle Eastern Politics
Chapter One explores the ways in which the ayatollahs adapted politically to survive after 2003. The power vacuum created a space for new social actors to challenge their status and position, in ...
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Chapter One explores the ways in which the ayatollahs adapted politically to survive after 2003. The power vacuum created a space for new social actors to challenge their status and position, in intellectual, social and material terms. One challenge came from Sunni Islamists, ranging from efforts to form a Sunni marja‘iyyato the sectarian terror of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia and, eventually, ISIS. Lay Shiite groups offered Shiites an alternative to the traditional clerical model, and appealed especially to the urban poor. The most important of these groups formed under the leadership of Muqtada al-Sadr. In response to this existential threat, the ayatollahs worked to maintain their position as the most legitimate religious voices at the grassroots level.Less
Chapter One explores the ways in which the ayatollahs adapted politically to survive after 2003. The power vacuum created a space for new social actors to challenge their status and position, in intellectual, social and material terms. One challenge came from Sunni Islamists, ranging from efforts to form a Sunni marja‘iyyato the sectarian terror of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia and, eventually, ISIS. Lay Shiite groups offered Shiites an alternative to the traditional clerical model, and appealed especially to the urban poor. The most important of these groups formed under the leadership of Muqtada al-Sadr. In response to this existential threat, the ayatollahs worked to maintain their position as the most legitimate religious voices at the grassroots level.
Joel Blecher
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520295933
- eISBN:
- 9780520968677
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520295933.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The epilogue examines contemporary appropriations of hadith commentary among Islamist groups in the contemporary Islamic world, while contemplating the way an interpreter strives for timeliness ...
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The epilogue examines contemporary appropriations of hadith commentary among Islamist groups in the contemporary Islamic world, while contemplating the way an interpreter strives for timeliness and/or timelessness. The epilogue examines how rereadings of Mamluk-era hadith works were alternately deployed by a Pakistani Salafi commentator to bring about fairer labor practices, an al-Qaeda deputy to justify a rebellion in Egypt, and an anonymous propagandist for ISIS’s magazine (Dabiq) to justify the “revival of slavery” in Iraq and Syria. The epilogue concludes where the book began: ethnographic observations of prerevolution Damascus, where a renowned Damascene Shaykh, in the shade of Syria’s Baʿth party headquarters, delivered a live commentary on the Ṣaḥīḥ in part to contest Islamist understandings of the Prophet’s legacy.Less
The epilogue examines contemporary appropriations of hadith commentary among Islamist groups in the contemporary Islamic world, while contemplating the way an interpreter strives for timeliness and/or timelessness. The epilogue examines how rereadings of Mamluk-era hadith works were alternately deployed by a Pakistani Salafi commentator to bring about fairer labor practices, an al-Qaeda deputy to justify a rebellion in Egypt, and an anonymous propagandist for ISIS’s magazine (Dabiq) to justify the “revival of slavery” in Iraq and Syria. The epilogue concludes where the book began: ethnographic observations of prerevolution Damascus, where a renowned Damascene Shaykh, in the shade of Syria’s Baʿth party headquarters, delivered a live commentary on the Ṣaḥīḥ in part to contest Islamist understandings of the Prophet’s legacy.
Mehran Kamrava
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781501720352
- eISBN:
- 9781501720369
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501720352.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Middle Eastern Politics
The Persian Gulf’s security architecture is inherently unstable and insecure due to four primary reasons. First, America’s heavy-handed presence in and “footprints” across the region are a source of ...
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The Persian Gulf’s security architecture is inherently unstable and insecure due to four primary reasons. First, America’s heavy-handed presence in and “footprints” across the region are a source of chronic tension and resentment by both state and non-state actors throughout the region. Second, state actors feel vulnerable to external threats and therefore foster highly securitized national and regional environments. Third, this insecurity is reinforced by the rise of identity politics across national boundaries. Identity politics has always had a measure of salience across the Middle East in general and the Persian Gulf region in particular. This appeal would most likely not have been as powerful had it not been for the widespread inattention of state actors to elements of human security—the fourth reason for the instability of the prevailing security architecture.Less
The Persian Gulf’s security architecture is inherently unstable and insecure due to four primary reasons. First, America’s heavy-handed presence in and “footprints” across the region are a source of chronic tension and resentment by both state and non-state actors throughout the region. Second, state actors feel vulnerable to external threats and therefore foster highly securitized national and regional environments. Third, this insecurity is reinforced by the rise of identity politics across national boundaries. Identity politics has always had a measure of salience across the Middle East in general and the Persian Gulf region in particular. This appeal would most likely not have been as powerful had it not been for the widespread inattention of state actors to elements of human security—the fourth reason for the instability of the prevailing security architecture.
