The Rise of the Jihadist Movement
| Autor | Baris Karaagac |
| Páginas | 11-38 |
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública
Departamento de Gestión Pública y Departamento de Estudios Políticos y de Gobierno
Volumen V, número , enero-junio
Pp. -
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universidad de Guanajuato.
11
THE RISE OF JIHADIST MOVEMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST—A LONGER
AND CRITICAL VIEW
Baris Karaagac
Abstract
is article is a re sponse to the a-historical
analyses i n the mainstrea m media and acade-
mia, which often a nalyze and pres ent jihadist
movements, in particul ar the Islamic State
and Al-Qaed a, as actors that are driven merely
by ideology, irrationality and veng eance. It is
also a response to a number of an alyses on the
left, which esta blish an automatic relationship
between imperia lism and the ongoing conict
with the jihadist g roups as its protagonists in
the Middle East. e a rticle, in an attempt
to avoid the excessive generalit y of the latter,
argues that t he emergence and increasin g in-
uence of jihadist movements should be loca-
ted in two historica l processes: ) a series of
colonial and imperia list interventions, which
go back to the early t wentieth century; ) the
failure of the Ar ab uprisings of and ,
which created politica l vacuum that would be
lled by jihadist ac tors. It also a rgues that the
current conict ma rks a shift toward s a new
paradigm of violent conic t.
Keywords: Jihadism, Sa lasm, Wahh abism,
the Islamic State, A l-Qaeda, world orders,
Resumen
Este artícu lo es una respuesta a los a nálisis
ahistóricos dentro de los medios y l a academia
dominantes, mismos que frecuentemente ana-
lizan y presenta n a los movimientos jihadistas,
en particula r al Estado Islámico y a A l-Qaeda,
como actores que están motivados mer amente
por una ideología, por la irraciona lidad y por
la venganza. E s también una respuest a a un
número de análisis de sde la izquierda que esta-
blecen una relación automática entre el impe-
rialismo y el con icto en curso con los grupos
jihadistas c on sus protagonistas en el Med io
Oriente. El artículo, en un i ntento por evitar
la generalidad exc esiva de los últimos, arg u-
menta que la emergente y creciente inuencia
de los movimientos jihadista s deben ser ubica-
dos como parte de dos procesos h istóricos: )
una serie de intervenciones colonia les e impe-
rialista s, mismas que se remontan a principios
del siglo ; ) el fracaso de los levanta mientos
árabes de y , mismos que crearon un
vacío político que habría de ser llenado por
actores jihadista s. Además, se arg umenta que
el actual con icto marca un ca mbio hacia un
nuevo paradigma de c onicto violento.
Palabras clave: Jih adismo, sal asmo, wah ha-
bismo, Estado Islámic o, Al-Qaeda, órdenes
mundiales .
Fecha de recepción: de ma rzo de
Fecha de aceptación: de m ayo de
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universid ad de Guanajuato. Volumen V, número 1, enero -junio 2016
12
e self-proclaimed Islamic State and the almost instantaneous growth of its fame and
power in the past couple of years have become a source of fear, worry and anger across
the globe. e group has gained a reputation of notoriety by virtue of its brutalit y,
which has been widely broadcast thanks to its prolic media network. ere have been
heated and unresolved debates in the academia a nd the media as to the nature of this
group as well as how it can be defeated. Joining the debate on the Islamic State and
other jihadist groups, I will address in this paper two questions. e rst one is ‘How
do we explain the rise of the armed jihadist movements in Iraq and Syria since ?’
Here, the focus will be on the Islamic State and al-Qaeda a s the two leading and
most inuential representatives of such movements. e second question is ‘What does
the form that the conict has a ssumed in this period signi fy in terms of international
politics and the current world order?’ I will argue that t he emergence and widespread
inuence of such movements should be located primarily in two processes: ) a series
of (neo)-colonial and imperialist interventions in the region which stretch back to the
early twentieth centur y, and which culminated with the invasion of Iraq and t he
ongoing internationalized intra-state conicts in Iraq and Syria; ) the failure of the
Arab uprisings of and in eecting economic, political and socia l change, thus
creating frustration, and political and ideological vacuum addressed and lled by jiha-
dist actors. In response to the second question, I will arg ue that the particular form the
conict has assumed in the region (and the world) points to the rapidly changing form
of armed conict. e traditional conict paradigm has been replaced by a new one,
which has challenged and modied the pillars of the former.
e mainstream media and academia often present and analyze jihadist movements,
in particular the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, as actors that are driven merely by ideolo-
gy, irrationality and vengeance. In t hese epistemologies and processes of identity cons-
truction, i.e. the construction of the ‘other’, what is usually ignored and/or omitted are
both the complexity of these identities, and the histories which involve the relations
between ‘us’ and these constructed ‘others’ and which have played a formative role in
the emergence of the actors signied by these identities. In these ontologies, the actors
confronted by the West are reduced to barbaric fanatics who are driven by a religious
ideology based on hatred and violence. Whi le it is true that some of these jihadist actors,
particularly the Islamic State, have employed violent and ‘barbaric’ tactics and actions
e Islamic State i s the name of the Salast, ji hadist group that separated f rom Al-Qaeda in Februar y
and decla red a worldwide caliph ate in June . e group had pre viously cal led itself, among
others, the Isla mic State of Iraq and al-Sham (or Islam ic State of Iraq and Syria). It has also been refe -
rred to as Daesh, an acronym derive d from its name in Ar abic. e latter has be en mostly used by its
critics, and mi litary and ideological opp onents. Without getting involved in the debate s over its name,
such as whether or not the g roup should be allowed to call itself t he ‘Islamic State’, I will rely in this
work on the name the group itse lf has picked for itself. e two ma in organizations a liated with Al-
Qaeda in the reg ion have been The Organization of Jihad ’s Base in Mesopotamia (or, simply Al-Qae da in
Iraq) and The Suppor t Front for the People of the Levant (or the al-Nusr a Front).
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