The Declaration of the Islamic State in Iraq and Al-Sham

2020 ◽  
pp. 149-160
Author(s):  
Haroro Ingram ◽  
Craig Whiteside ◽  
Charlie Winter
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Seismic Effects ◽  
War Effort ◽  
The Arab Spring

Chapter 6 features Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s announcement on 8 April 2013 that the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) had changed its name to the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS). Emerging as leader in May 2010, Baghdadi was pivotal in continuing the group’s revival in Iraq. However, when the Arab Spring reached neighboring Syria in early 2011, within months war had broken out and, in January 2012, Baghdadi sent ISI members to join the war effort. Under the title of Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) and the leadership of Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani, they quickly built a reputation for their military prowess and outreach strategies but their link to ISI was publicly unknown. When Baghdadi declared that JN was an extension of his group in his 2013 announcement, it had seismic effects for the global jihad triggering a bitter conflict between ISIS and al-Qaida.

scholarly journals Nasheeds as a part of the jihadi culture. The role of music in the Islamic State’s propaganda

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Marta Stempień
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Major Objective ◽  
Systemic Analysis ◽  
Empirical Research Methods ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The 19Th Century

Nasheeds outpace the era of Internet and Youtube. Jihadist poetry in the Islamist hymns can be seen as an extension of the 19th-century anticolonial style of poetry called qaseeda. Presented article shows that nasheeds were not always a significant element in the jihadi culture. The increase of their role was observed quite recently, after the outbreak of the “Arab Spring”. This article is a case study. It attempts to fill a gap in research on the IS’s propaganda materials. The major objective of this article is to investigate the phenomenon of jihadist naseeds, including their role in the ‘jihadi culture’. The author seeks to answer to the question whether the presented facts may indicate the increase in their role occurred with the transfer of IS’ activities to cyberspace and whether it will be intensified in the future. The article takes into account historical conditions, briefly describing the genesis of the naseeds and their proliferation after the events of the “Arab Spring”. Then, using systemic analysis, the author presents their role in the activities of the Islamic State. In addition, theoretical and empirical research methods, such as: scientific literature analysis, case analysis, content analysis, classification, generalization were taken to solve the research problem.

26. Conflict and Chaos in the Middle East

2020 ◽  
pp. 643-669
Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
International Intervention ◽  
The Arab Spring

This chapter examines the unrest across the Middle East in the 2010s. The first section focuses on the civil war in Syria and the role of so-called Islamic State., examining the causes of the Syrian uprising and the development of protests against President Assad into civil war. It describes the growth of Jihadism, formation of Ahrar al-Sham, and emergence of ISIS, and the subsequent declaration of a Caliphate. The escalation and destructive impact of the conflict is examined in the context of increasing international intervention and the involvement of foreign powers in both exacerbation of the conflict and efforts to restore peace. The second section describes the growing regional importance of Iran alongside the 2015 nuclear deal and tensions with Saudi Arabia. The chapter concludes with the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt, conflict in Yemen, and the downfall of Gaddafi in Libya.

Searching a Political Solution for Syria

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saroj Kumar Rath
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Pull Out ◽  
Transition Mechanism ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
The Us ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Middle East Policy

Syria’s sudden plunge into civil struggle is directly linked with United States’ Middle East policy. The 2011 pull-out of American troops from the smouldering provinces of Iraq and the subsequent refusal of the US to take sides in the ‘Arab Spring’ have weakened the incumbent governments and produced too many unsuitable civil claimants to rule ‘Arab Spring’-affected countries. The so-called US neutrality left a vacuum, which was filled by a swarm of Islamist extremists. The resultant internecine wars sparked by contending parties in Iraq, Syria and Yemen had taken these countries to the very verge of chaos. The outcome among other things included a revival of al-Qaeda, which was soon eclipsed by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and an unending spiral of civil war in Syria, the major result of the anti-Western blowback. This article argues that the fight against extremist forces in Syria is doomed if there is absence of a strong, functional and acceptable government. Lasting peace under President Bashar al-Assad looks impossible but it is essential to have the core of Ba’athist regime in place in any transitional or post-transition mechanism. A new interpretation of political solution is required. Else, the state will collapse, which will only help the jihadists. Despite its limitations and challenges, federalisation of Syria and the establishment of a federal structure of the government, it seems, is the only viable solution.

scholarly journals Middle East: The Origins of the 'Islamic State' (ISIS)

2018 ◽  
pp. 3-22
Author(s):  
Mediel Hove ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
International Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
The Arab Spring

This article examines the origins of the ‘Islamic State’ or the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham or Levant (ISIS) in light of the contemporary political and security challenges posed by its diffusion of Islamic radicalism. The Arab Spring in 2011 ignited instability in Syria providing an operational base for the terrorist group to pursue its once abandoned Islamic state idea. Its growth and expansion has hitherto proved to be a threat not only to the Middle East but to international security given its thrust on world domination. It concludes that the United States of America’s activities in the Middle East were largely responsible for the rise of the Islamic State.

Al-Qaida and the 9/11 Decade

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alia Brahimi
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Strong Sense ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Weak States ◽  
Radical Islam ◽  
The Arab Spring

The declaration of a Caliphate in June 2014 by an al-Qaida offshoot implied a strong sense of political–religious unity, but, in reality, the announcement reflected deep division at the heart of radical Islam. This article critically assesses al-Qaida’s progress on its four main objectives over the course of the 9/11 decade, and suggests that its principal setbacks were due to the fragmentation of Islamic authority. In particular, Osama bin Laden’s inability to reverse the misguided focus, by some affiliated groups, on the ‘nearer enemy’, began to portend al-Qaida’s downfall. However, after the Arab Spring, in the chokeholds of strong states and the chaos of weak states al-Qaida found advantage. Furthermore, with the rise of groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a new pattern of radicalism emerged, in which the threat to ‘far enemy’, ‘near enemy’ and ‘nearer enemy’ were combined.

Multiplicities of Purpose: The Auditorium Building, the State, and the Transformation of Arab Digital Media

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-347
Author(s):  
David Faris
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Transnational Media ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Moment Of Resistance ◽  
The Arab Spring

Digital media played a key role in a number of uprisings that later became known as the Arab Spring. Now that this moment of resistance has largely given way to a tumultuous and unsettled regional order, we can ask what role these media forms are playing in the new ecology of the postuprisings Middle East. I would argue that we are witnessing a period of experimentation—journalists are attempting to generate both revenue and dissent under circumstances that range from unsettled (Tunisia) to increasingly repressive (Jordan), while proto-state actors and transnational jihadis are exploiting social media to attract supporters and influence diverse audiences. What is clear is that in many states the digital arrangement that characterized the 2000s—activist bloggers squaring off openly with recalcitrant and often clueless states—is gone. States are now more aware of and careful about the strategies they employ vis-à-vis digital dissent. In places such as Egypt, some of the most vocal activists are in prison. In Jordan, they have returned to producing journalism that skirts the line between tolerated and forbidden. Across the region digital media activists are grappling with disillusionment about the trajectory of the Arab Spring, while digital spaces are sites for transnational contestation, including by the most successful challenger to the state system since Jamal ʿAbd al-Nasir in the 1950s, the Islamic State (IS). ʿAbd al-Nasir famously used radio to breach the information firewalls erected by new Arab states. IS has similarly employed the technologies of the day to execute a plan of even greater ambition and reach—far from reaching out only across national boundaries within the subsystem, IS militants have crafted a transnational media operation of remarkable scope, one that has drawn tens of thousands of recruits not only from the Middle East but also from Europe, the United States, and Asia.

A Short History of a Long Conflict

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-52
Author(s):  
Beth Van Schaack
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Short History ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Foreign Intervention ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Events ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact

This introductory chapter offers a short history of the eight-year conflict in Syria, covering the arrival of the Arab Spring, the transformation of a long-overdue revolution into a full-scale armed conflict, and the evolution of the situation on the ground to date. This chapter prefaces the contemporary violence with a few historical events, surfacing atrocities committed in the 1980s that have never been the subject of any genuine accountability process as well as the entrenchment of authoritarianism under the House of Assad. It describes how the arrival of the Arab Spring reawakened long-dormant revolutionary impulses, which amplified the government’s repression. This, in turn, provoked an armed resistance and a full-scale conflict, which opened space for the arrival of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The chapter recounts this history with reference to several key events and factors: the response of the international community, the opposition’s perpetual rearrangements, the appearance of ISIL, the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity (including the infringement of the taboo against chemical weapons), the humanitarian catastrophe that ensued, forms of foreign intervention (aid, arms, and air strikes), and failed peace processes. In addition to recounting the involvement of major Western powers in the Syrian battlespace, it also touches upon the impact of spillover conflicts in the subregion. Others will write the definitive history of this tragedy; the goal here is to touch upon key milestones as this conflict unfolded and to set the scene for the efforts to promote justice and accountability for the atrocities underway.

Islam and Statism: At the intersection of the State of Medina, Modern Statism and the Islamic State

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 349-353
Author(s):  
Faisal Ahmad Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The State ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Postcolonial History ◽  
The Arab Spring

Since the Arab Spring and the rise of Islamic State, it has become a topic of discussion whether there can be a state based on Islamic principles or values. This paper argues that in modern times there cannot be a state claiming to be Islamic. So the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or simply the Islamic State were all misnomers. After the Hijra in 7th century CE, the short lived State of Medina incorporated some of the Islamic principles and it too did not last long enough so as to appreciate the feasibility of a State that was Islamic. However, this paper doesn’t deny the fact that the States cannot espouse Islam as a directive principle in their state policy or declaration of Islam as the state religion. Nonetheless, it is argued that no state can be Islamic post the peace of Westphalia (1648). Therefore, in the 21st century there cannot be any actualization of  any Islamic State unless the postcolonial history is normatively challenged. The so-called Islamic state that emerged in Syria & Iraq was a coalition of rebel forces and Mujahideen groups that tried to form a caliphate based on Islamic socio-politico and economic principles, however a futile attempt. For any new Islamic State or a caliphate to emerge, the notion of Westphalian demarcation of boundaries stands as the greatest challenge against it.

Regime Security in Jordan Revisited: New Challenges to the Monarchy’s Resilience After the Arab Spring

2021 ◽  
pp. 234779892110175
Author(s):  
Takuro Kikkawa
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Syrian Refugees ◽  
Weak State ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Internal Struggle ◽  
Dramatic Shift ◽  
The Arab Spring

Jordan is one of the few authoritarian Arab regimes that survived region-wide mass protests during the Arab Spring, although the monarchy lacked enough force or resources to neutralize the dissident. This study analyzes the source of the resiliency of the Hashemite monarchy during 2011–2020 concerning regime security. The retreat of the Jordanian democratization movements in the early phase of the Arab Spring was the consequence of the opposition’s failure to achieve coordination and alignment, particularly the internal struggle of the Muslim Brotherhood regarding how to respond and its successful co-optation by the government. The scope of regime security in Jordan experienced a dramatic shift from appeasement to coercion around 2014 because of the eroding social order in neighboring states, represented by the influx of Syrian refugees into Jordan and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq. Actions for securitization against Islamists, namely increased policing and tighter border control, were arranged through coercion and securing mass support in tandem. Jordan’s experience illustrates how this typically “weak state” secured its survival in this unprecedented, rapidly changing security situation.

8. Religion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the relationship between religion and politics. It first defines the concept of religion before discussing its contemporary political and social salience in many developing countries. It then considers how religion interacts with politics and with the state in the developing world, as well as how religion is involved in democratization in the developing world by focusing on the Arab Spring and its aftermath. It also examines the differing impacts of the so-called Islamic State and Pope Francis on the relationship between religion and politics in the developing world. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the role of religion in international politics after 9/11.

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