Salafi Jihadism And Digital Media

This book explores the online strategies and presence of Salafi-Jihadi actors in the Nordic as well as the international context. Global Salafi-jihadism has been at the epicentre of international focus during the past decade. This book explores how the Swedish and other Nordic Salafi-jihadist sympathisers have used social digital media to radicalise, recruit, and propagate followers in relation to foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and online communities. The chapters in this volume unpack different perspectives of Salafi-jihadi communications strategies, as well as how the international Salafi-jihadi community has constantly reconfigured and adapted to changing security conditions. The case studies of the Nordics constitute a microcosm of wider Salafi-jihadi narratives in relation to the rise and fall of the Islamic State’s so-called ‘digital caliphate’. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, counter-extremism and counter-terrorism, social media and security studies.

More than a decade ago, in 2002, al-Qaeda declared their cyber-aspirations: “We strongly urge Muslim Internet professionals to spread and disseminate news and information about the jihad through e-mail lists, discussion groups and their own Web sites (...). The more Web sites, the better it is for us. We must make the Internet our tool.” Social media is part of today ́s battlefield. Over the past decade the Internet has become increasingly important to the loose and decentralized jihadist movement. This book illustrates that Jihadism online has had tremendous significance within the global jihad movement and no doubt its importance will rise in the future, as improved bandwidth, increased functionality, and the fast growing number of users will make the Internet a far more vital nerve than it is today. Salafi-Jihadist websites and social media spaces legitimate the actions of Islamic terrorists and encourage readers to support the Jihad wherever they can. Social media has offered new ways in which to promote terrorism or Jihad, and thus facilitated its intensification. Today everyone can be a part of a radical movement, anywhere. Due to the availability of propaganda material online, the Internet has not only changed the process of radicalization but influenced the nature of terrorism: the autodidactiv terrorist has become the new threat to Western security services.

No topic has captured the public imagination of late quite so dramatically as the specter of global jihadism. While much has been said about the way jihadists behave, their ideology remains poorly understood. As the Levant has imploded and millenarian radicals claim to have revived a Caliphate based on the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, the need for a nuanced and accurate understanding of jihadist beliefs has never been greater. Shiraz Maher charts the intellectual underpinnings of salafi-jihadism from its origins in the mountains of the Hindu Kush to the jihadist insurgencies of the 1990s and the 9/11 wars. What emerges is the story of a pragmatic but resilient warrior doctrine that often struggles - as so many utopian ideologies do - to consolidate the idealism of theory with the reality of practice. His ground-breaking introduction to salafi-jihadism recalibrates our understanding of the ideas underpinning one of the most destructive political philosophies of our time by assessing classical works from Islamic antiquity alongside those of contemporary ideologues. Packed with refreshing and provocative insights, Maher explains how war and insecurity engendered one of the most significant socio-religious movements of the modern era.

Violent Extremism: A Nordic Outlook illuminates the global issue of violent extremism, with a particular focus on Sweden and the Nordic countries. This concise volume leverages empirical research to uncover the mechanisms and dynamics driving violent extremism, setting itself apart in a field often criticized for a lack of data-driven analysis. The contributors employ unique Nordic data to offer insights on violent extremism, examining its organization, the evolution of extremist groups, online presence, and societal impact. Aimed at fostering a deeper understanding of the complexities of violent extremism, the contributions draw on several social science perspectives to enhance prevention and intervention strategies. This approach not only enriches our grasp of extremist organizations and individual paths in to or out of extremism but informs effective counter measures. Essential reading for policymakers, researchers, and security professionals, this volume offers practical, empirical insights on tackling a pressing challenge in societies around the globe.

Digital War offers a comprehensive overview of the impact of digital technologies upon the military, the media, the global public and the concept of ‘warfare’ itself. This introductory textbook explores the range of uses of digital technology in contemporary warfare and conflict. The book begins with the 1991 Gulf War, which showcased post-Vietnam technological developments and established a new model of close military and media management. It explores how this model was reapplied in Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), and how, with the Web 2.0 revolution, this informational control broke down. New digital technologies allowed anyone to be an informational producer leading to the emergence of a new mode of ‘participative war’, as seen in Gaza, Iraq and Syria. The book examines major political events of recent times, such as 9/11 and the War on Terror and its aftermath. It also considers how technological developments such as unmanned drones and cyberwar have impacted upon global conflict and explores emerging technologies such as soldier-systems, exo-skeletons, robotics and artificial intelligence and their possible future impact. This book will be of much interest to students of war and media, security studies, political communication, new media, diplomacy and IR in general.