Author: Richard H. Shultz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Counterinsurgency
Languages : en
Pages : 156
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Book Description
In this paper, the author differentiates and characterizes terrorists and insurgents, and he conducts a detailed conceptual and historical analysis of insurgency and its current manifestation on a global scale by the Salafi Jihad movement. This work lays out the case that terrorism and insurgency differ, and that the current "long war" is actually being fought by the other side as an insurgency. As a result, the United States must amend and adapt its strategy to one of global counterinsurgency, beyond a global war on terrorism alone.
Author: Usaf Institute for National Security Studies
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781502863317
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack on strategic targets inside the United States by al Qaeda, scholars, analysts, and policy specialists began to interpret and frame those events within the larger context of war. But was it war? And if it was, what kind of war was it? Al Qaeda was not a state but a nonstate actor. Many labeled al Qaeda a transnational terrorist organization. Could such a nonstate armed group go to war with a major state actor? What kind of war could it carry out? There were no easily decipherable answers to these questions, for al Qaeda did not reflect or emulate the conduct of war as it was known and practiced in the past.Within a short period of time the US government began to describe the post 9/ 11 conflict environment—one in which America found itself engaged in a fight against unconventional and asymmetrical enemies who could pose major, even strategic, security threats—as a global war on terrorism. This generated a great deal of discussion and differences of opinion. Was this an accurate portrayal of the post 9/ 11 security environment or did such a characterization lack strategic clarity?By the summer of 2005 senior Bush administration officials expressed serious doubts about this terminology and recast how they described the fight against al Qaeda, its affiliates, and other terrorist groups. Illustrative of this was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. At news conferences and in public addresses he began to speak of a global struggle against violent extremism—“the long war”—rather than a global war on terrorism. Other senior military leaders, to include the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, followed suit.But this begged the question, how should we understand those conducting “the long war?” Who are they and what kind of battle are they fighting? What are their objectives and what kind of strategy and tactics do they employ in this fight to achieve them? One possible answer that has been suggested is that the United States and its allies are now confronted by a global Salafi Jihad insurgency.
Author: Assaf Moghadam
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421401444
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361
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Book Description
2009 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice This groundbreaking volume examines the rise and spread of suicide attacks over the past decade. Sorting through 1,270 terror strikes between 1981 and 2007, Assaf Moghadam attributes their recent proliferation to the mutually related ascendance of al Qaeda and its guiding ideology, Salafi Jihad, an extreme interpretation of Islam that rejects national boundaries and seeks to create a global Muslim community. In exploring the roots of the extreme radicalization represented by Salafism, Moghadam finds many causes, including Western dominance in the Arab world, the physical diffusion of Salafi institutions and actors, and the element of opportunity created by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He uses individual examples from the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and Europe to show how the elite leaders of al Qaeda and affiliated groups and their foot soldiers interact with one another and how they garner support—and a growing number of converts and attackers—from the Muslim community. Based on over a decade of empirical research and a critical examination of existing thought on suicide attacks, Moghadam distinguishes the key characteristics separating globalized suicide strikes from the traditional, localized pattern that previously prevailed. This unflinching analysis provides new information about the relationship between ideology and suicide attacks and recommends policies focused on containing Salafi Jihadism.
Author: Paul B. Rich
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351705849
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258
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Book Description
This path-breaking collection of papers examines the phenomenon of jihadist insurgent movements in the Middle East and North, East and West Africa. It argues that military and strategic analysts have paid insufficient attention to the phenomenon of jihadism in insurgent movements, partly due to a failure to take the role of religion sufficiently seriously in the ideological mobilisation of recruits by guerrilla movements stretching back to the era of "national liberation" after World War Two. Several essays in the collection examine Al Qaeda and ISIL as military as well as political movements while others assess Boko Haram in West Africa, Al Shabaab in Somalia and jihadist movements in Libya. Additionally, some authors discuss the recruitment of foreign fighters and the longer-term terrorist threat posed by the existence of jihadist movements to security and ethnic relations in Europe Overall, this volume fills an important niche between studies that look at Islamic fundamentalism and "global jihad" at the international level and micro studies that look at movements locally. It poses the question whether jihadist insurgencies are serious revolutionary threats to global political stability or whether, like Soviet Russia after its initial revolutionary phase of the 1920s, they can be ultimately contained by the global political order. The volume sees these movements as continuing to evolve dynamically over the next few years suggesting that, even if ISIL is defeated, the movement that brought it into being will still exist and very probably morph into new movements. Jihadist Insurgent Movements was originally published as a special issue of Small Wars & Insurgencies.
Author: Assaf Moghadam
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136710582
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
This book deals with the causes, nature, and impact of the divisions within the jihadi movement, and the splits between jihadis and other Islamic groups. Fault Lines in Global Jihad offers a systematic and comprehensive examination of the broad range of divisions that contribute to the weakening of the jihadi movement. It separates these divisions into two broad categories, namely fissures dividing jihadis themselves, and divisions separating jihadis from other Muslim and Islamist groups. The first part of the book covers intra-jihadi divisions, highlighting tensions and divisions over strategic, tactical, and organizational issues. The second part of the book addresses several important case studies of jihadi altercations with other Muslim and Islamist groups of non-jihadi persuasion, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the Shii community. More than simply an enumeration of problems and cracks within al-Qa’ida and its cohorts, this book addresses critical policy issues of relevance to the broader struggle against the global jihadi movement. The editors conclude that these divisions have and continue to weaken al-Qa’ida, but neither in an automatic nor in an exclusive fashion—for these divisions render the global jihadi movement simultaneously vulnerable and more resilient. This book will be of much interest to students of jihadism, terrorism and political violence, Islamism, security studies and IR in general.
Author: Simon Staffell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190911573
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
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 realised caliphate.
Author: Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror"
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442245425
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 460
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Book Description
Dozens of international and local organizations, up to one hundred thousand individuals, and millions of supporters are part of the phenomenon of global jihad. This reference work names and differentiates these organizations, explaining their ideology, infrastructure, operational capabilities, and activities. It also analyzes their mutual and multi-lateral relations inside and outside the "jihadi framework.”
Author: Shiraz Maher
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190651121
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 314
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Book Description
No topic has captured the public imagination of late quite so dramatically as the specter of global jihadism. While much has been said about the way jihadists behave, their ideology remains poorly understood. As the Levant has imploded and millenarian radicals claim to have revived a Caliphate based on the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, the need for a nuanced and accurate understanding of jihadist beliefs has never been greater. Shiraz Maher charts the intellectual underpinnings of salafi-jihadism from its origins in the mountains of the Hindu Kush to the jihadist insurgencies of the 1990s and the 9/11 wars. What emerges is the story of a pragmatic but resilient warrior doctrine that often struggles - as so many utopian ideologies do - to consolidate the idealism of theory with the reality of practice. His ground-breaking introduction to salafi-jihadism recalibrates our understanding of the ideas underpinning one of the most destructive political philosophies of our time by assessing classical works from Islamic antiquity alongside those of contemporary ideologues. Packed with refreshing and provocative insights, Maher explains how war and insecurity engendered one of the most significant socio-religious movements of the modern era.
Author: Seth G. Jones
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833087185
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 109
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Book Description
This report examines the status and evolution of al Qa’ida and other Salafi-jihadist groups, and uses qualitative and quantitative data to assess whether this movement has strengthened. The author uses this analysis to examine U.S. strategic options to counter al Qa’ida and other terrorist groups based on the threat level and the capacity of local governments.
Author: Jarret M. Brachman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134055404
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225
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Book Description
Global Jihadism exposes the core doctrine and strategy of today’s global Jihadist movement. The first half of the book explores the ideas upon which groups such as Al Qaeda are built, including the concepts of Jihad, al-Wala wal-Bara, Takfir and Tawhid. Jarret Brachman exposes a genre of Jihadist strategic scholarship that has been virtually ignored in the West and helps to situate it within the broader Salafist religious movement. The second half explores the thinking and activities of Al Qaeda’s propaganda machine, explaining its intricacies and idiosyncrasies. It includes case studies on the rise and fall of global Jihadist terrorism in Saudi Arabia post-9/11, and highlights the explosive results of bringing theory to bear on practice in the United Kingdom over the past twenty years. The book concludes by providing innovative strategies for combating the global Jihadist ideology.
