Radical IslamUnderstanding Jihadi ideology and propaganda
There is increasing recognition from politicians and policy makers that the ideology of jihadi movements must be countered to undermine the threat. The jihadi movement’s combination of theology and political objectives needs to be uprooted through rigorous scrutiny and sustained intellectual confrontation. New research from the Center on Religion & Geopolitics finds a common ideology communicated through the propaganda of three leading jihadi groups — ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The report notes that violent ideologies do not operate in a vacuum. A fire requires oxygen to grow. A broader political culture overlaps significantly with some of the assumptions of the jihadi ideology, without necessarily being extreme or agreeing with its violence.
The Center on Religion & Geopolitics says that there is increasing recognition from politicians and policy makers, including by both President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron at the UN General Assembly in September 2015, that the ideology of jihadi movements must be countered to undermine the threat. The jihadi movement’s combination of theology and political objectives needs to be uprooted through rigorous scrutiny and sustained intellectual confrontation.
A new report from the Center on Religion & Geopolitics notes that after the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda had approximately 300 militants. ISIS alone now has, at a low estimate, 31,000 fighters across Syria and Iraq. Understanding how ideology has driven this phenomenon is essential to containing and defeating violent extremism.
But violent ideologies do not operate in a vacuum, the report says. A fire requires oxygen to grow. A broader political culture overlaps significantly with some of the assumptions of the jihadi ideology, without necessarily being extreme or agreeing with its violence.
The jihadi ideology preys upon those who are sympathetic to some of its aims. Unless we understand how the ideology relates to wider beliefs, we cannot uproot it.
The Center on Religion & Geopolitics has analyzed a cross-section of 114 propaganda sources ranging from April 2013 to summer 2015 from three Salafi-jihadi groups: ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The aim of the analysis was to identify precisely what ideology is shared by the three groups, as revealed in their propaganda, in order to inform effective counter-narratives from mainstream Muslims, governments, and civil society.
This report provides an evidence base for what is already assumed by many, that the ideology of Salafi-jihadism is a vital motivating force for extremist violence, and therefore must be countered in order to curb the threat.
Professor Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, has described the report – Inside the Jihadi Mind: Understanding Ideology and Propaganda — as “a needed and incisive analysis of one of the core issues behind the current jihadi threat, the manipulation and exploitation of scripture to provide a religious justification for their violence.”
