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Description
This dissertation explores the various online radicalization and recruitment practices of groups like al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, as well as Salafi Jihadists in general. I will also outline the inadequacies of the federal government's engagement with terrorist / Islamist ideologies and explore the ways in which early 20th century foundational Islamist theorists like Hasan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, and Abul ala Mawdudi have affected contemporary extremist Islamist groups, while exploring this myth of the ideal caliphate which persists in the ideology of contemporary extremist Islamist groups. In a larger sense, I am arguing that exploitation of the internet (particularly social networking platforms) in the radicalization of new communities of followers is much more dangerous than cyberterrorism (as in attacks on cyber networks within the government and the private sector), which is what is most often considered to be the primary threat that terrorists pose with their presence on the internet. Online radicalization should, I argue, be given more consideration when forming public policy because of the immediate danger that it poses, especially given the rise of microterrorism. Similarly, through the case studies that I am examining, I am bringing the humanities into the discussion of extremist (religious) rhetorics, an area of discourse that those scholars have largely ignored.
ContributorsSalihu, Flurije (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis advisor) / Miller, Keith (Thesis advisor) / Corman, Steven (Committee member) / Gee, James P (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
It is imperative for the West that the War on Terror not be won, yet it is also certain that the War on Terror will be won, a victory for the West which simultaneously signifies its defeat. This state of affairs is not paradoxical, but catastrophic, and as is argued in the course of this essay, the War on Terror is the logical and necessary terminus of the Western project and its attendant metaphysic. Beginning with Marx's analysis of the commodity in Das Kapital, it has become increasingly clear that the West (and for that matter, the rest of the world) is succumbing to a regime of simulation, in which reality is liquidated in favor of increased inertia of circulating signs. Using Jean Baudrillard's infamous critiques of the postmodern society as a guide, the following essay examines the emerging forms of terrorism and their relation to Western social structures, ultimately concluding that the West is on the brink of an abyss which is marked by the advent of the anonymous act of terrorism.
ContributorsOberhaus, Daniel Martin (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / King, Kristy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In this thesis, I conduct a preliminary analysis of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham's travel manual-cum-propaganda ebook Hijrah to the Islamic State, which has been used by people from various parts of the world attempting to enter Syria and join the terrorist organization. Using techniques from discourse and propaganda analysis I examine how the author of the text uses discursive resources to construct the reader of the text, the author's expectations for the reader, and the act of traveling to Syria. I then use news articles from varying organizations as well as the Islamic State-produced periodical magazine Dabiq to locate the document within the context of Islamic State affairs and propaganda. Subsequently, I show that the use of discursive resources is consistent with the ethos espoused in Dabiq, and in addition to serving as a guide to entering Syria Hijrah to the Islamic State is also a soft introduction into the radical belief systems of the terrorist group itself.
ContributorsDelmonico, Edward Peter (Author) / Prior, Matthew (Thesis director) / Adams, Karen (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05