DIIS Book

New book uncovers the pop-up mechanisms behind Islamic State and al-Qaeda

“Expanding Jihad” analyzes the reasons behind new hotspots for al-Qaeda and IS

As the Islamic State movement is pushed back in Iraq and Syria, it is simultaneously popping up in parts of Asia, the Sahel, and North and East Africa. Comparing developments in different regions and asking why al-Qaeda (AQ) and Islamic State (IS) are emerging in some places and not in others, this book addresses how and why AQ and IS are expanding.

Covering Lebanon, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh and Saudi-Arabia the book analyses the conditions under which AQ and IS establish themselves in new places. The mechanisms uncovered include:

  • Military interventions by the West
  • A polarized political climate
  • Regional spill-overs from jihadism

The four cases are situated on the fringes of world attention, but due to ongoing developments, they each have the potential to become new centers of gravity for transnational jihadism. That means they can also teach us something about what might prevent these jihadist movements from expanding further. The concluding chapter of the book takes stock of what we know about the end of jihadism, demonstrating what peace and conflict research teach us about how jihadi movements end.

’Expanding jihad – How al-Qaeda and the Islamic State find new battlefields’ is edited by senior researcher Mona Kanwal Sheikh, who also contributes with a chapter on how AQ and IS find Bangladesh. The other contributors to the book is Manni Crone (Burkina Faso), Libanon (Lars Erslev Andersen), Maria-Louise Clausen (Saudi-Arabien) and Isak Svensson (How Jihadist Wars End).

DIIS Experts

Mona Kanwal Sheikh
Global security and worldviews
Head of unit, Senior researcher
+45 4089 0476
EXPANDING JIHAD: How al-Qaeda and Islamic State find new battlefields
Expanding Jihad
How al-Qaeda and Islamic State find new battlefields