Following the announcement of the establishment of a Caliphate in 2014, individuals and groups from all corners of the world pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State. Of particular interest to this study are violent terrorist groups based in Southeast Asia. The thesis focuses on this region as, despite obvious geographical constraints, local bay'ah pledges have allowed ISIS to suddenly emerge in the region with a large and well organised force allowing for an increase in terrorist activities and ultimately the capture of Marawi, the largest city to fall under the ISIS banner outside of Syria and Iraq. But a question remains too often unanswered - why do terrorist groups ally? While the dynamic is rare and paradoxical due to groups' illicit and clandestine nature, strategic alliances between terrorist groups are far from being a new phenomenon. While a handful of scholars dared to explore this complex field, it remains under-theorised to this day. This thesis uses an available list of studies and analyses on terrorist alliances and complements it with theories related to alliances between states in order to understand the rationale behind Southeast Asian Islamists alliance with ISIS. While there lacks a consensus as to why groups ally, the study finds it to be a multi-dimensional and mutually...

ŠUPOVÁ, Kateřina. Reflection of structural and political conditions in the ideology and practice of Islamic groups - the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda (Master's thesis). Charles University in Prague. Faculty of Arts. Department of Political Science. Tutor: Zora Hesová, M.A., Ph.D. 2019. p. 84. In this thesis the author's main goal is to analyze the strategy and propaganda of the Islamic state in relation to the strategy of Al Qaeda. Emphasis is on studying the intentions and capabilities of each group by examining the ideology, goals, warfare, tactics, propaganda etc. What was the reason for the split? Martha Crenshaw's instrumental and organizational perspectives were very useful for analysis. As well as a concept of Michael Arena and Bruce Arriga deals with identity and propaganda in collaboration with Ervin Goffman, who deals with the theory of self-presentation, By analyzing various documents, declarations by the Islamic state and al-Qaeda there is outlined an ideological, apocalyptic and strategic movement shift. Keywords: ideology, propaganda, strategy, Islamic state, al-Qaeda, terrorism, identity

The master's thesis Insurgent Governance Systems: The Effectiveness of the Talban and the Islamic State is a qualitative comparative analysis of Islamic Jihadist rebel governance systems in the cases of the Islamic State and the Taliban. Using Mampilly's framework for effective rebel governance systems, I analyze the various factors, stemming from 'below', 'within', and 'above' that negatively and positively affect an insurgent government, its leadership, and the civilians that dynamically interact with the rebels. This thesis' aim is three part. First, it aims to show that variations between conventional rebel governments and Islamic Jihadist governance systems do exist. Second, that variation also exists between different Islamic Jihadist rebel governments, and that the challenges and opportunities presented by civilians and international actors are dealt with differently. Third, that the effectiveness of these rebel organizations is dependent on the factors presented by Mampilly, yet is not static as effectiveness of a rebel governance system changes throughout a conflict. This thesis found that significant variation, as well as some similarities, exists between conventional and Islamic Jihadist organizations; through analyzing the two cases presented, we can see variation does exist between the...

Terrorism is a global problem and the existence of IS has been of global concern. People from all over the world have travelled to the caliphate to fight for IS, and 79 countries and organizations with USA in the lead has fought the battles against IS. This research looks into how the role of women has changed due to the military and territorial development. This is a hypothesis-testing case study where the method process tracing is used. Feminist theory is used to categorize the different roles of women, which are searched for in open sources that by the media house of IS were published in English. The findings show that the narrative of a woman as a mother and wife is seen as the most important task throughout the whole existence of the caliphate, even if women in 2015-2016 are described more as objects. In 2017-2018, women are described more as actors and even allowed to participate in combat ’under certain circumstances’. The morality codes are though maintained. Women are, for example, seen in a video participating in combat in a fully covering niqab. The main body of the thesis contains 18 407 words.

Since the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) declared its caliphate in June 2014, there has been an unprecedented amount of terrorist attacks conducted in the West by individuals either inspired by jihadist ideology or linked to ISIS. As evidenced by the number of ISIS-related attacks throughout Europe and North America, the West faces an ongoing and persistent transnational threat from Islamic terrorism. There is an extensive amount of literature on terrorism and ISIS. However, there is a gap in literature on the potential impact of ISIS on the future of Islamic terrorism. This qualitative case study explored how ISIS potentially shaped the future of Islamic transnational terrorism. Stepanova'€™s asymmetric conflict theory served as the framework for this study. Interviews and one open-ended questionnaire on Islamic transnational terrorism were collected from 15 individuals within the defense enterprise, academia, and individuals working in private defense organizations, using purposive sampling. Analysis occurred by using Braum and Clarke'€™s six phases of coding. The results of this study indicated ISIS has shaped the future of transnational terrorism by demonstrating likeminded extremists no longer have to travel to conflict zones in order to plan or receive guidance on attack targets while using simple attack methods and weapons. Additionally, ISIS empowered and encouraged its members to interact with potential recruits or supporters through social media and open forums, which may possibly be emulated in the future by likeminded groups. The results contribute to positive social change by providing decision makers information on the future of Islamic transnational terrorism, thus allowing for appropriate countermeasures that mitigate terror activities.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how the central pillars of Salafi-Jihadism are discussed in ISIS’s own magazines and how the pillars are related to Juergensmeyer’s concepts of cosmic war, satanization, and theater of terror. The material in this thesis has been sourced from the magazines Dabiq and Rumiyah, which were published by ISIS in the period 2014-2017. The magazines are initially aimed at an English-speaking audience, and it is intended for ISIS’ followers, but also for their enemies. A thematic analysis approach with a deductive orientation was employed and preconceived themes from what Shiraz Maher describes as the five pillars of Salafi-Jihadism, tawḥīd, jihad, takfīr, al-walā’ wa-l-barā’, and ḥākimiyya were used. The analysis shows that the magazines place a strong emphasize on the Salafi-jihadist pillars, and ISIS can therefore be placed within the Salafi-Jihadi tradition.

There is currently a knowledge gap in terrorism research and in peace and conflict studiesregarding whether international news media use gender normative language when reporting onfemale and male suicide bombers in three different Islamic terrorism contexts. The contexts areAl-Qaeda, the Islamic State and Boko Haram. This thesis aims to highlight how internationalnews media use a language that reinforces gender norms through their portrayal of female andmale suicide bombers in the three mentioned Islamic terrorist contexts. Therefore, this thesisaims to analyze and compare a limited number of news media articles. To achieve the purposeof the study, a discourse analysis combined with a feminist post-structuralist theoreticalframework via Gentry and Sjoberg's (2015) narratives “mother, monster, and whore”, has beenused as a lens to examine the language use of news media. The study shows that the languageused by international news media reinforces gender norms and creates power relations betweenwomen and men who commit suicide bombing. Furthermore, these results may have policyimplications in terms of suboptimal efforts to combat Islamic terrorist efforts by women.

This paper reviews foreign influences on Êzîdîism from 19th Century travelogues to the 2014 Şengal Genocide.  The author introduces a broader definition for ‘Êzîdîism’ than previously used to show that the affects of external mistreatment are pervasive throughout the community.  Using examples of Êzîdî orthopraxy, the paper demonstrates the changes occurring within Êzîdîism due to foreign influence.  The author suggests that outsiders consider varying their literary and linguistic treatment of Êzîdîism.  In light of the Êzîdîs’ current situation, this paper concludes with the possibilities that religious and cultural re-definition might provide.

The purpose of this essay was to examine Islamic State’s (IS) self-image and perception of their enemies, and also what kind of propaganda technique that they use in their movies. To do so three questions were formulated: 1. According to Social Identity Theory the ingroup’s social identity is the same as the ingroup’s prototype. How is IS’s prototype portrayed, and thus their social identity, in the movies Flames of War and Clanging of the Swords IV? 2. According to Social Identity Theory a consequence of group membership is that the ingroup will associate outgroups with stereotypic images. What stereotypic images does IS’s associate outgroups with in the movies Flames of War and Clanging of the Swords IV? 3. According to Jacques Ellul propaganda can be categorized as either rational or irrational. So, based on his definition of propaganda, what kind of propaganda technique is used in Flames of War and Clanging of the Swords IV ? In this paper four segments were analyzed from two of IS’s movies: Flames of War and Clanging of the Swords IV. Two theories were used in this essay: Ellul’s theory on rational and irrational propaganda, and also Social Identity Theory. The first theory presents different techniques of argumentation that can be classified as either rational or irrational propaganda. The second theory describes the phenomenon known as prototype and stereotype. The most common propaganda technique used in the movies was that of social evidence, which is a rational strategy of propaganda. This means that the propaganda mainly uses symbols in its arguments, which in this case is the symbol of Allah. IS uses Allah, as well as their leader Al-Baghdadi, to justify their actions. Irrational propaganda is also used quite often. It can be seen in the way IS describes their own group and their enemies. IS always describes themselves with positive attributes and characteristics, while their enemies are described as their complete opposite. The purpose of this is to make the viewer automatically start to associate the ingroup (IS) as good and the outgroups (enemies) as evil. The prototype of IS is that they see themselves as the holy warriors of Allah executing His will on earth. The stereotypic image of IS’s enemies is that they are apostates and enemies of Allah. Their infidelity has provoked Allah, they’re sinners and thus IS considers it to be their duty to punish them.

(in English): This master's thesis is based on analysis of the essential sources of the international organization Ḥizb al-taḥrīr providing focus on its concept of the caliphate which is compared to other international Islamist organizations that struggle for the restoration of the abolished caliphate.