Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East: Geopolitics, Ideology, and Strategy

Front Matter....Pages i-xv
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Introduction: The Phenomenon of Non-state Armed Actors and Patterns of Violent Geopolitics in the Middle East....Pages 3-20
The Transformation of the Regional Order and Non-state Armed Actors: Pathways to the Empowerment....Pages 21-39
Front Matter....Pages 41-41
Understanding “Foreign Policy” of the PYD/YPG as a Non-State Actor in Syria and Beyond....Pages 43-75
The Kurdish Fight Against ISIS: Realizing the Virtual Kurdistan Through Factionalized Politics in a Fragmented Homeland....Pages 77-95
Global Politics of Image and the Making of a Legitimate Non-state Armed Actor: Syrian Kurds and ‘The Secular West’ in Kobane....Pages 97-118
Front Matter....Pages 119-119
Path to Become a State: From Jama’at Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad to the Islamic State....Pages 121-146
The New Middle East, ISIL and the 6th Revolt Against the West....Pages 147-167
An Influential Non-state Armed Actor in the Iraqi Context: Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi and the Implications of its Rising Influence....Pages 169-187
Front Matter....Pages 189-189
Operationalizing the Vision of Building a New Caliphate: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State (IS)....Pages 191-211
The Making of European Foreign Fighters: Identity, Social Media and Virtual Radicalization....Pages 213-235
What the ISIS Crisis Means for the Future of the Middle East....Pages 237-260
Conclusion: The State of the Non-state Armed Actors in the Middle East....Pages 261-267
Back Matter....Pages 269-278