Salafi-Jihadi Inspiration: How New Terror Networks Leverage al Qaeda and the Islamic State
Open AccessAl Qaeda and the Islamic State have inspired affiliate groups, which have sought to emulate their goals and tactics. Moreover, since al Qaeda and the Islamic State differ in their goals and tactics, so too do their affiliates. This thesis explains how those affiliates emulated al Qaeda and the Islamic State’s goals and tactics. First, I analyze the goals and tactics of the two parent organizations. I identify three main differences in their goals: (1) al Qaeda's focus on the far enemy versus the Islamic State's focus on the near enemy; (2) al Qaeda’s long-term goal of establishing a caliphate versus the Islamic State’s immediate goal of establishing a caliphate; and (3) al Qaeda’s ideological rejection of the use of violence against Muslims versus the Islamic State’s targeted violence against Muslims. Their tactics differ insofar as al Qaeda mainly used suicide attacks in pursuit of its goals while the Islamic State focused on using insurgent tactics to wage an insurgency. Second, I show how AQIM and ISCAP-DRC drew inspiration from their parent organizations, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State respectively, and mimicked each group’s goals and tactics. Findings indicate that both AQIM and ISCAP-DRC adapted their goals to align themselves more with their parent organization and adopted tactics from both parent organizations during each group’s height of power. The thesis concludes by highlighting what this means for emerging terrorist organizations in Africa.
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