Islamic State has replaced Al Qaeda as the great
global threat of the twenty-first century, the bogeyman we have all
come to fear. But Daesh started as a local movement, rooted in the
resentment of the Sunni Arabs of Iraq and Syria. It is they who have
lost most in the geo-strategic shift in the balance of power in the
region over the last thirty years, as Iranian-backed Shias have
mobilised politically and advanced on the social and economic fronts.
How has Islamic State been able to muster support far beyond its initial
constituency in the Arab world and to attract tens of thousands of
foreign volunteers, including converts to Islam, and seemingly countless
supporters online? In this compelling intervention into the debate
about Islamic State's origins and future prospects, the renowned French
sociologist of religion, Olivier Roy, argues that the group mobilised a
highly sophisticated narrative, reviving the myth of the Caliphate and
recasting it into a modern story of heroism, death and nihilism, using a
very contemporary aesthetic of violence, well entrenched amid a youth
culture that has turned global and violent.
