Diaspora Support
Continuity and Change: The Evolution and Resiliance of Al-Shabab’s Media Insurgency, 2006-2016
September 18, 2023The Somali jihadi-insurgent movement Al-Shabab has established itself, since emerging in 2007 after the overthrow of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) umbrella in the wake of the December 2006 Ethiopian invasion and occupation of parts of Somalia, as one of the relatively few jihadi organizations to succeed in the capture, control, and governance of territory ...
Women and Violent Radicalization
September 18, 2023As myths, stereotypes and media representations circulate about the several hundred Western women who have gone to Syria and joined the jihadists, it seems to us essential to try to understand the motives and explanatory factors behind the radicalization of these girls and women. What mechanisms and processes lead them to become radicalized and to ...
Communication Breakdown: Unraveling the Islamic State’s Media Efforts
September 18, 2023Despite the destruction and chaos sown on the battlefield by the group that calls itself the Islamic State, one could argue that its propaganda efforts toward supporters, sympathizers, and enemies have also had disruptive results. Whether online or on the ground, the group has sought to use propaganda to magnify the effects of its battlefield ...
Jihad in the Global Village: Al-Qaeda’s Digital Radicalization and Recruitment Campaign
September 18, 2023Following America’s “War on Terror,” al-Qaeda and its affiliates became highly decentralized in terms of organizational and media operations. Though mass media outlets continue to play a significant role in drawing attention to al-Qaeda’s transnational campaign, Salafi Jihadists have recently begun to rely on new media for purposes of legitimization and promotion. The Internet serves ...
Diaspora Involvement in Insurgencies: Insights from the Khalistan and Tamil Eelam Movements
September 18, 2023This article exposits and contrasts the roles of two diasporas in ethnic conflict waged in their homelands, namely the Sikh diaspora’s involvement in the Punjab insurgency in north India and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora’s role in Sri Lanka’s Tamil insurgency. It draws out the various similarities and distinctions between the two in their use ...
Irresponsible Radicalisation: Diasporas, Globalisation and Long-Distance Nationalism in the Digital Age
September 18, 2023The growing scholarship on ethnic diasporas has prompted various off-shoots. Two significant directions are the relationship of diasporas with globalisation and their role in the expansion and radicalisation of ethnic conflict. The corporate enthusiasm of the 1990s for globalisation has been followed by sombre reflections on its destructive impact upon a vast array of areas, ...
Communicating war in Mali, 2012: On-offline networked political agency in times of conflict
September 18, 2023The Arab Spring raised high expectations for political freedom, especially for situations in which the rapid development of ICT intersects with political oppression and rebellion, as was the case in Mali, West Africa. In 2012 the country’s northern part fell into the hands of ‘rebels’ and jihadists were on the rise. This article tries to ...
Exploring the Form and Function of Dissident Irish Republican Online Discourses
September 18, 2023This article seeks to contribute to broadening the focus of research in the area of violent online political extremism by examining the use of the internet by dissident Irish Republicans and their supporters. The argument here is not that the internet substitutes face-to-face contacts amongst Irish Republicans, including violent dissidents, nor that it currently plays ...
The Electronic Starry Plough: The Enationalism of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM)
September 18, 2023This paper takes the case of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) as the point of departure to discuss how insurgent political movement use Web communications. From mirror sites in Ireland and North America, IRSM supporters regularly use Web technology to relay the group message to a global audience at http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html. The resulting direct media ...