Reddit reviews Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century

Got a couple more for you. Apologies for the length and review-y-ness; I'm in essay season and had my notes to hand :)


Abdel Bari Atwan. (2015). Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate. London. Saqi Books.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Islamic-State-Caliphate-Abdel-Bari-Atwan/dp/0863561349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452127827&sr=8-1&keywords=islamic+state+digital+caliphate

Significance: One of the few journalists to have secured interviews with Osama bin Laden, Atwan draws on a wealth of exposure to, and sources within, the global jihadist movement. As his title suggests, Atwan's main assertion is that IS could not have achieved its successes on the ground without its 'mastery of the internet'. However, only one chapter—a slim 15 pages—is dedicated to the group's online functions. For internet-savvy redditors, little of this brief description of TOR, DDOS strikes, Twitter storms, etc. is likely to prove groundbreaking.

The real significance of Atwan's book is in his detailed yet accessible explanation of the rise of IS and of how the group functions on the ground—all placed within decades of research and interviews. He dedicates a chapter to IS' adherence to Abu Bakr Naji's strategy 'the management of savagery'. In another, he explains succinctly how foreign fighters are radicalised/recruited via propaganda distributed online, and what happens thereafter.

Essentially, Atwan provides a history of the Islamic State that contrasts its hyper-modern trappings with its anachronistic ideology and long-established organisational origins—both Ba'athist and transnational. Best of all, it is written by a veteran journalist and, as such, with a highly accessible brevity and clarity that is absent in some of the loftier texts above (and indeed this suggestion).


Marc Sageman. (2008). Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century. Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania Press.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leaderless-Jihad-Networks-Twenty-first-Century/dp/0812240650/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452127855&sr=1-1&keywords=leaderless+jihad

Significance: As /u/PM_ME_UR_ATGMS rightly notes above, Sageman is among the most noteworthy of contributors to the field of radicalisation. Leaderless Jihad draws on further case studies (500 in total) to revise his previous conclusions and further emphasise the bottom-up nature of jihadi social mobility. He repeats his calls for a more scientific methodology of understanding radicalisation, and again rails against discussions of 'root causes' or individual terrorist psychopathologies. He provides compelling answers in the form of social interactionism and his 'Bunches of Guys' theory—models that are used by intelligence and security agencies. For Sageman, Al-Qaeda became by 2008 ‘a multitude of informal groups’ that differed from the previously ‘structured group’.

Another key aspect of Leaderless Jihad is his clarification of a four-stage (but non-linear) model of radicalisation, consisting of: moral outrage, perceiving Islam as being ‘under threat’ (especially by ‘the West’), frame resonance (i.e. identifying moral outrage with personal experiences), and mobilisation.

Notably, Sageman’s revisions followed the emergence of ‘Web 2.0’ and the altered terrain that new technologies brought with them. In his 2004 book, he described fears of online radicalisation as ‘overblown’; 4 years later he asserts that the internet is ‘the virtual glue holding the global jihadist movement together’. At 8 years old it is outdated in terms of social media usage, etc., but his understanding of the psycho-social dynamics at play stands the test of time and can be transplanted easily to contemporary cases of the foreign fighter phenomenon.

Two of the most respected writers in the field, who have different understandings of how terrorist networks work and what the threat really is, are Bruce Hoffman and Marc Sageman.

Hoffman's key book is Inside Terrorism - it should be noted that was published before 9/11, but the reality of terrorism didn't change much. Hoffman stresses the top-down, leadership-driven nature of groups like al-Qa'ida.

Sageman's key books are Understanding Terror Networks and Leaderless Jihad. These are not easy reads, though, so not best for newcomers to terrorism research. Sageman argues that leadership isn't as important to groups like al-Qa'ida as it used to be, and that the real threat is from 'bunches of guys' around the world inspired by al-Qa'ida who take up the mission of terrorism more or less on their own.

You can also search the web for freely available articles by these two, any of which will be worth reading.