The rise
of the Islamic State to international prominence in 2014 with its seizure of
Mosul, Iraq and the declaration of its caliphate led to a cottage industry of
western books on the group. ISIS The State of Terror by Jessica Stern
and J.M. Berger was one example coming out in 2015. It tried to compare the Islamic
State to the larger jihadist movement, highlighting the differences between IS
and Al Qaeda. It also talked about its unique use of violence and the Internet.
Overall, the book is a bit uneven. The first half on the history of the Islamic
State and its differences with Al Qaeda is good. The second part not so much as
it tends to lose focus.
ISIS
The State of Terror
has a very good start pointing out the differences between the Islamic State
and Al Qaeda. It compares the beheading of James Foley in 2014 with the
decapitation of Nicholas Berg in 2004. That highlights IS always promoted
gruesome acts of violence across the world to intimidate its foes and recruit
new followers. Al Qaeda always condemned these acts warning that it could cost
the jihadist movement support amongst other Muslims. Al Qaeda saw itself as an
intellectual vanguard group that would assist others. IS on the other hand
called on all Muslims to come to its caliphate. Al Qaeda was small and elite.
The Islamic State was populist. The Islamic State was able to push its message
through a slick media operation involving magazines, newspapers, Facebook and
Twitter in multiple languages meant to appeal to foreign audiences. Al Qaeda in
comparison had long videos of its leaders like Ayman al-Zawahiri giving
speeches with none of the excitement nor popular appeal that the Islamic
State’s media had. It focused on other jihadists already converted to the
cause. Stern and Berger wrote that IS was a game changer. It’s use of violence,
media and its utopian vision of the caliphate set it apart from not only Al
Qaeda but all the other jihadist groups around the world. It set a new standard
of what an extremist group could do and achieve.
Where the
book starts going off track is its discussion of social media and ideology.
First it has a whole chapter on the use of the Internet that has nothing to do
with IS. Then it goes over some of the major Al Qaeda and Islamic State
supporters on Twitter, what they said, and how the company eventually responded.
When it first discusses the Islamic State’s ideas it doesn’t deal with what it
said but rather tries to use sociology and other Social Sciences to try to
explain how it appealed to people. Then when it does go into its ideology it
focuses upon its apocalyptic ideas. The book does note at the end that it
didn’t know whether IS actually believed in the End Times or was just using it
to gain followers. This whole second part of the book showed how ISIS The
State of Terror was a reflection of the 2014-15 period. Jihadist Twitter
accounts for instance and the back and forth between them were trendy at that
time, but in the big picture of things weren’t that important as how IS used
the Internet which was already covered earlier in the book. The talk about IS
being an apocalyptic group also proved to be way off. One of the group’s
slogans was that it would endure, not that it wanted everything to end.
ISIS
The State of Terror
was definitely a book of the moment when it was published in 2015. To many
Western researches the group was brand new to them, and so its use of things
like Facebook and Twitter were very novel. Unfortunately that took the book off
on tangents. Other times Stern and Berger were quite good like their comparison
of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Today there are much better books focused
solely upon the Islamic State, its strategy, tactics and ideology because
people’s knowledge has grown so much. When ISIS The State of Terror came
out it wasn’t bad. It’s just that it’s been surpassed by others in the field
since then.
Link to all of Musings On Iraq’s
book reviews
listed by topic
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