Toward a New Typology of Sunni Jihad

One recurring theme of the immediate post-9/11 environment was that of regional political organizations and violent lone-wolf actors pledging allegiance to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group (AQ). Following the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)'s 2014 capture of Mosul, Iraq, many of the...

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Published in:Studies in conflict and terrorism Vol. 43; no. 12; pp. 1064 - 1085
Main Author: González Mendelejis, Nathan
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Washington Routledge 01-12-2020
Taylor & Francis LLC
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Summary:One recurring theme of the immediate post-9/11 environment was that of regional political organizations and violent lone-wolf actors pledging allegiance to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group (AQ). Following the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)'s 2014 capture of Mosul, Iraq, many of these loose affiliations began shifting to ISIS. This resulted in a blurring of distinctions between different types of Sunni jihadi organizations, with media commentators and analysts at times referring to groups as "Al Qaeda-like" or "ISIS-affiliated," despite those groups' goals and operational scopes being largely disconnected from both AQ and ISIS. This article proposes a new typology of Sunni jihadi groups according to theater of operation, strategy, and geopolitical alignment. This typology offers three categories: global jihad, local jihad, and sectarian jihad. In addition, it identifies four types of operation types that Sunni jihadi groups adopt: (1) core theater attacks, (2) power-projection attacks, (3) local recruitment, and (4) foreign recruitment. The main contribution of this article is its frameworks for improving the quality of the analysis of Sunni jihadi groups.
Bibliography:STUDIES IN CONFLICT AND TERRORISM, Vol. 43, No. 12, Dec 2020: 1064-1085
STUDIES IN CONFLICT AND TERRORISM, Vol. 43, No. 12, Dec 2020, 1064-1085
2020-11-11T20:20:08+11:00
SCT.jpg
Informit, Melbourne (Vic)
ISSN:1057-610X
1521-0731
DOI:10.1080/1057610X.2018.1520797