Extremism in the Digital Era

This chapter is dedicated to introducing the key topics tackled by this volume. It includes a brief background on the developments that reflect the importance of investigating the topics covered by this volume. It also illustrates the significance of the discourse analytical study conducted by the author and briefly outlines the key findings.

In order to rise and establish itself, extremism undoubtedly requires a fertile ground. Iraq and Syria emerged in the first two decades of the twenty-first century as major incubators to extremist Islamist groups in the Middle East. This chapter delves into the socio-economic and politico-religious circumstances that have largely contributed to the rise of ultra-extremist Sunni and Shia Islamist organizations, namely ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi. It examines the rise of Islamist extremism and sectarianism in Syria and Iraq over the recent years.

Jihād is deemed to be the most renowned and yet the least understood Islamic notion in contemporary public consciousness. It is therefore of crucial importance to explore jihād as a term, concept, and practice and to outline its fundamental features and tackle the development of its basic tenets throughout history, for both the sake of this study and the general understanding of what it actually implicates. This chapter comprises a review of key theoretical concepts and movements with regard to the main topic of this volume, namely jihād, Salafi-Jihadism, and sectarianism. It examines the various aspects of the concept of jihād and its development throughout history. It also explores the rise of Salafi-Jihadism and the evolution of sectarianism in the Islamic world.

Digital media networks and platforms considerably allowed suppressed communities across the Middle East to realize their mutual hardships, joint grievances, and shared concerns. The very same networks enabled them to mobilize and revolt against dictatorship, corruption, and injustice. Digital networks, including social media, arose as an alternative source of information; a cyberspace for political and social participation; a platform allowing people to share their views and exchange ideas; a podium for public engagement in civil society activities, freedom of expression and democracy. Nonetheless, this digital age has also been exploited by extremist Islamists to pursue their agendas. This chapter tackles the development of the media landscape in the Middle East over the past few decades up until the outbreak of the Arab Spring and the associated media activities, and the eventual rise of media outlets affiliated with extremist groups such as ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi. It examines the evolution of the mediatized Islamist extremism in the digital age.

This chapter delves into theoretical and practical aspects of discourse and discourse analysis. Various theories about discourse are discussed throughout this chapter. Besides, methods of discourse analysis are outlined and explored. This chapter further presents the methodological frameworks employed for the sake of analyzing the data of this corpus-based study. These include van Dijk’s (2000) Ideological Square, and Manipulative Strategies introduced by Blass (2005). These methodological instruments and the associated tools, which allow a discourse analyst to identify and examine activities and practices that fall under discursive ideologization and discursive manipulation, are outlined and discussed within this chapter. It also provides a presentation of the data corpus and the utilized selection criteria.

This chapter delves into the discourse of various Syrian and Iraqi media outlets in a bid to study and explore the environment within which the extremist discourses of groups like ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi have originated. Research data, collected from multiple influential local media outlets, are analyzed and discussed based on discursive ideologization and manipulation. This chapter primarily aims to tackle the question of sectarianization within the media discourse in Syria and Iraq through exploring the employed manipulative and ideological aspects.

This chapter comprises the analysis of the extremist discourses of ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi, and it explores the sectarian aspect of the discourses of both groups in the context of Sunni and Shiʿite extremism. Research data extracted from media outlets affiliated with ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi are analyzed within the methodological framework of Ideological Square and Manipulative Strategies. This discourse analytical part primarily focuses on data produced by media outlets linked to ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi in the period between 2014 and 2017, a period that marks a key phase of growth and remarkably active presence by both groups in the Syrian and Iraqi arenas. It is a period during which the radical groups under study have been highly active in the media arena and received an extensive local, regional, and international attention. The ultimate objective of this chapter is to explore the development of the discourses of the radical Islamist groups ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi, by means of delving into the linguistic and contextual activities applied and the associated messages. It also strives for unraveling aspects of religionization, politicization, and sectarianization within the media discourse of these groups.

This chapter provides concluding remarks on the contents of this volume on various levels, and includes a summary of key findings of the critical discourse analysis conducted on the Syrian and Iraqi media in general, and that of ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi in particular. Firstly, it sheds light on the development of the media discourse in Syria and Iraq, which constitute the discursive environment within which extremist Sunnis and Shia arose and their sectarian discourse grew. Secondly, this chapter examines the evolution of the discourse of ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi. Thirdly, it outlines key messages, linguistic and contextual activities of media outlets run by or affiliated with these radical organizations. Finally, it discusses main aspects and defining features of the extremist discourse of ISIS and al-Hashd al-Shaabi. These include politicization, religionization, and sectarianization. The potential impact of such discursive practices among the addressees, and the implicated consequences to the society at large, are further underlined and discussed.