Violence-producing cynamics of fragile states: how state fragility in Iraq contributed to the emergence of Islamic State

In the post-Cold War era, “Jihadi-Salafi Groups” (JSGs) have emerged as significant “violence-making” organizations. Almost all JSGs have emerged in highly fragile states. The literature on the state fragility-terrorism nexus, by focusing exclusively on whether state fragility is a cause of terroris...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ibrahimi, Said Yaqub (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
In: Terrorism and political violence
Year: 2020, Volume: 32, Issue: 6, Pages: 1245-1267
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (Publisher)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
International Relations
International security
Iraq
Islamic State
Islamism
state fragility
Violence
Description
Summary:In the post-Cold War era, “Jihadi-Salafi Groups” (JSGs) have emerged as significant “violence-making” organizations. Almost all JSGs have emerged in highly fragile states. The literature on the state fragility-terrorism nexus, by focusing exclusively on whether state fragility is a cause of terrorism or not, has failed to consider the broader impact of state fragility on the emergence of JSGs. The role of state fragility as a condition of the emergence of JSGs, in particular, is mostly overlooked in the literature. This paper, adding state fragility as a condition variable to the causal model of the rise of JSGs, fills this gap. The empirical basis of this research includes a single case study examining the relationship between state fragility in the post-Saddam Iraq and the formation of Islamic State (IS). By adding a new variable to the causal model of the rise of IS, this research makes a strong within-case inference concerning this case. Although the empirical basis of this research includes a single case study, the analytical framework developed in this paper has possible implications for studying a larger number of Jihadi-Salafi groups.
Item Description:Gesehen am 20.01.2023
Published online: 04 Jun 2018
Physical Description:Diagramme
ISSN:1556-1836
DOI:10.1080/09546553.2018.1463914