“What motivates and Sustains Terrorist Movements?”

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon, from a genealogical analysis, terrorism can be identified since the emergence of liberal ideologies (Blain, 2005). Yet historical developments influences terrorism which makes it more complex to be studied. In order to avoid any controversies, this paper rely on Kis-katos et al (2014) research paper in identifying the characteristics of terrorist groups which will be helpful in identifying the aims, objectives and motives of the groups that will be examined in this paper. This paper will examine two groups from the same terrorist category, namely; the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Hezbollah which both are categorized as religious terrorist groups. The rationale behind Kis-katos et al analysis is to show that terrorism is not a homogeneous phenomenon and therefore a group must be approached through its ideology, thus, this paper’s purpose is to show that sharing the same geography does not necessarily imply that different terrorist organizations have similar root causes, and that it is better that these terrorist groups be approached according to the ideology they hold.

Understanding a groups’ aims and objectives requires an understanding of how they came into being. Today’s ISIS was previously an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and had the same aims and objectives of Al-Qaeda. Sayyed Qutb had huge influence on AQI founder Abu-Musab Al Zarqawi as well as Bin Laden, the main theme in Qutb’s philosophy is that “Muslims society had become spiritually vacuous because Islam progressively had absorbed foreign influences that deviated from true Koranic principles” (Celso, 2014). These foreign influences Qutb believes to be “the cause of Muslim backwardness” and in order to bring back the ideal past of Muhammad and his companions era, Qutb argues that Muslims must return to Sharia rule (Celso, 2014). Therefore, the aim of these jihadists is “to create an authentic Islam stripped of foreign liberal influences” (Celso, 2014).

In Parallel with Celso’s analysis on the influence of Qutbs’ philosophy on the leaders of Islamic terrorist organizations, Kis-Katos et al (2014) characterizes religious terror in general as seeking the establishment of divine order, this is also true in Islamic terror yet it is also particularly “targeted against the intrusion of post-Enlightenment Western values into traditional Muslim societies”. This can be seen clear in the case of AQI which was established in 2004 after the Iraq invasion by U.S. in 2003. However, in a report (Lewis, 2013) AQI was disrupted by 2011, yet, it was not long until it remerged stronger due to two factors; first, internal and sectarian conflict in Iraq, and second, escalation of the Syrian Conflict. (Lewis, 2013) (Celso, 2014). The Sunni minority in Iraq started experiencing discrimination in the new Iraqi government, therefore, the primary grievance for the resurgence of AQI was of discriminatory basis of the Sunni minority in Iraq.

However, their objective to create a purified community or ummah gained momentum with the escalation of the Syrian conflict and provided them with the incentive to go beyond the Iraqi territory. Low (2016) using Laclau’s theory of populism in his analysis of ISIS’s rhetoric in forming up its audience, argues that “the rhetoric of this movement is crafted not only to resonate with the multiple political disaffections experienced by Muslims across the globe, but also to direct such disaffections toward the production of a new public for a new state: an Ummah that is loyal to the ISIS-declared Caliphate”.

Terrorism, as Kis-katos et al (2014) define it is a strategy pursued by those who adopt it as the only proper mean to achieve their goals, therefore, responses to compromise differs from a group to another, such a thing may not be possible in the case of ISIS given its radical worldview as Kis-katos explains that religious groups follow a divinely ordained order to establish God’s rule on earth.

As for Hezbollah, things are quite different. The primary grievance of Hezbollah was the dire situation the Shi’a community in Lebanon was living in, while the Israeli offensive and its two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon (where majority of the Shi’a lived) triggered the emergence of Shi’a insurgency (Norton, 2014). Historical events also had influence on the political mobilization of the Shi’a. The Shi’a led Iranian Revolution of 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini served as an inspiration for the Shi’a in Lebanon to act (Norton, 2014, p. 36). This can be seen clear in the Open Letter that Hezbollah announced in 1985, the grievances as well, as an Islamist group, is directed against the west and that Islam is the only answer (Norton, 2014, p. 36). It views all the suffering the Muslim world lives under is caused by the United States (Norton, 2014, p. 37), and the international community being incapable of acting to lift out injustice, it calls to take up arms and fight under the banner of Islam (Norton, 2014, p. 38). In that Open Letter, Hezbollah views the world as being divided between the oppressed and the oppressors “this perspective not only enjoyed resonance among the Shi’a, many of whom had first-hand experience with Israeli oppression, but it also legitimized and commended the use of violence against the enemies of Islam, particularly the West” (Norton, 2000). Even after the withdrawal of Israel from southern Lebanon in 2000 the group continued seeking the realization its goal of establishing an Islamic state, by indulging in politics (Norton, 2014, p. 98). In what followed above regarding groups pursing terrorism as a means, given the case of Hezbollah, it can be inferred that this is not necessarily the case that a terrorist group won’t compromise, instead that it might be persuaded to purse its goals using non-violent means, but then its categorization as terrorist will be put into question.

In conclusion, as this paper attempted to show, through presenting their aims, objectives and motivations, that even when categorized in the same terror type this doesn’t necessarily mean that all the terrorist groups of that type are the same, instead, each group has different reasons for their emergence, and no matter how similar their goals may be, the way they pursue this goal differs between them.

References

Blain, M. (2005). On The Genealogy of Terrorism. The 37th World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology. Stockholm: Frontiers in Sociology.

Celso, A. N. (2014). Cycles of Jihadist Movements and the ROle of Irrationality. Foreign Policy Research Institute, 229-247.

Kis-katos, K., Liebert, H., & Schulze, G. (2014). On the heterogeneity of terror. European Economic Review(68), 116-136.

Lewis, J. D. (2013). Al-Qaeda in Iraq Resurgent. Washington: Institute for the Study of War.

Low, R. (2016). Making up the Ummah: The rhetoric of ISIS as public pedagogy. Review Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 297-316.

Norton, A. R. (2000). Hizballah and the Israeli Withdrawal from Southern Lebanon. Journal of Palestine Studies, 22-35.

Norton, A. R. (2014). Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.