Author(s): Paul Emanuel ȚAP
Publication name: Romanian Intelligence Studies Review
Publisher name: Mihai Viteazul National Intelligence Academy
Publication type: Journal article
Publication date: December 31, 2020
Pagination:
Issue/ Volume: 24/2020
DOI:
Abstract:
Terrorism is as old as human history. Over time, terrorism has acquired
different forms and has developed a series of strategies to achieve its goals. Islamist
terrorism started to develop from the 80s of the twentieth century. Al-Qaeda emerged
during the time of the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989) and during the 90s its
development took place. In the beginning, ISIS was al-Qaeda’s branch in Irak. After the
September 2001 attacks, the image of international terrorism started to be associated
with the jihadist movements. Nowadays al-Qaeda and ISIS are two of the most iconic
jihadist movements. Although they share common values and principles, since 2011 the
tensions between them began to intensify, and in 2014 the two organizations broke up.
The separation of the two organizations caused a breakdown in the global jihadist
movement and, at the same time, an ongoing struggle for supremacy emerged. This
article analyzes the causes that led to the separation of the two organizations. The
analysis of the causes and motivations that influenced the fracture between al-Qaeda
and ISIS was made with process tracing. Process tracing is one of the most used research
methodologies in social sciences, and it focuses on analyzing the causes that led to the
materialization of an event, and not just to their description. Our findings show that
there were multiple causes which led to the fracture between al-Qaeda and ISIS. These
include the lack of subordination of ISIS to al-Qaeda, the degree of violence used in the
strategies of the two organizations, or the inability to identify which enemy should be
eliminated first. Our analysis shows that divergent opinions, different strategies and
personal ambitions can distract attention from reaching a common ideal. The split
between the two organizations does not increase al-Qaeda and ISIS’s chances of
achieving their goals.
Keywords: ISIS, al-Qaeda, terrorism, jihadism, fracture, tensions.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.