The vacuum in the politics of Middle East has always provided an opportunity for external actors to intervene. After the decomposition of Ottoman Empire, puppet governments were placed to rule the Middle East, in best interest of imperial powers. It was an indirect imperialism. The puppet politicians always depended on external forces to consolidate their authority rather than people. They kept the local population and their security at stake to serve the imperial powers, in order to maintain their rule. People were considered as a subject to secure interests of state and the ruling elite. External powers were given easy access to the resources specifically oil reserves. One of the major goals of Western interference in Middle East was to merge it in the global economy. Therefore, people felt endangered, and insecure. Further, it gave rise to two main social groups, one was ruling elite and the other was subordinate. Different forms of nationalism developed in both the social groups. The ruling class developed in it liberal nationalism, wanted independence from Western influence but keep healthy relations as well. And the other class which was marginalized with the introduction of capitalist economic system, resisted centralization of state power and economic integration. External forces backed the oppressive regimes to suppress the resistance movements.
Street politics and Arab nationalism shaped the new paradigm of Middle Eastern politics. Many Arab revolutionary leaders appeared on the horizon like Nasser of Egypt who confronted Western-backed regimes. Street politics and military coups overthrew the existing political system. Many new socio-economic policies were introduced granting the control of resources to local population. Programs were designed to pursue the goals, but they lacked sustainability. It appeared that those programs could not function without excessive amounts of foreign aid. The economies of Middle Eastern states were again opened for foreign investments and integration. Its consequences proved to be devastating. Take, for example, Egypt government cut back subsidies on bread and other goods. Famous “bread riots” started there. People protested against the governments and their policies. The resistance was again tried to suppress using authoritarian tools. The consistent rioting, suppression, deprivation, insecurities and chaos led to the breakdown of social institutions. They were unable to function and fulfil their duties. During all the mayhem, Iraq was invaded by US and Saddam regime was toppled down. Nouri-al-Maliki was made the Prime Minister of Iraq. The government consisted of majority Shias. Maliki started targeting and marginalizing Sunni population of Iraq. Unwarranted detentions, murders, abductions, torture, and etc. On the other side, Syria was also going through a civil war due to the oppressive regime of Bashar-al-Asad. Hence, this ignited the fire of sectarianism in Middle East which was further pumped up by the sectarian clashes of Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Stepping in of Islamist organizations:
People were deprived of their due share of rights. After US invasion, state and society of Iraq was completely damaged. Syria was in a civil war. Many Islamist organizations appeared in the scenario. They started to provide basic necessities to people through charity. They presented an alternative social vision. But it was unclear what purpose the mosque-based charity projects actually had. One of the similar kind of organization was initiated by Abu Musab Al- Zarqawi. Slowly and steadily the organization instrumentalized the deprivation and sectarian elements in people. It was named as Al- Qaeda in Iraq. It was a Sunni organization, therefore, prejudiced against Shia sect. They considered them as “infidels” and “friends of Westerners”. After gaining popular support the organization expressed its motive of eliminating the “near and far enemies” of Islam, which were all sects of Islam except Sunni, Westerners, and Muslims who support West. The organization targeted Shia population in Iraq, claiming it as a retaliation of government’s actions. Religious sites, processions, meetings of Shias were suicide bombed. The government or military convoys were also attacked. People started joining the organization to fight the oppression of US and puppet regime of Maliki. Zarqawi was killed in a US-led airstrike in 2006. The organization almost shattered. But then it reappeared in 2011, under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It was then named as “Islamic state”. The goal was to establish “Islamic Caliphate”, a state where West cannot influence Muslims and they can live their lives according to their religion, freely. Muslims will neither be humiliated nor attacked. Their identity and recognition will be secured. This was also a Sunni organization. Many Iraqis started joining the organization for the “state”, considering the social, political and economic circumstances of Iraq at that time. IS began to expand across the borders, in Syria. It wanted to exploit the situation in Syria as well to gain maximum control and power. The organization was renamed as “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria”. As Sunnis in Syria were also oppressed under the Alawite regime, a huge number of people recruited themselves in ISIS. It began its activities in Syria by suicide bombing, targeting government offices, military convoys and Shia population. With its attacks, ISIS captured territories which had minimum control by the state. Baghdadi declared the establishment of Islamic State with himself as the Caliph in 2014. The state comprised of captured territories in Iraq and Syria with Raqqa as its nominal capital. This was an encouraging factor for many people resisting against repression. Large numbers were recruited in ISIS. Even marginalized non-Muslims in Western countries converted to Islam in order to join ISIS. They fled to Iraq and Syria. ISIS was a by-product of destroyed institutions and damaged social fabric. When the outlets of political expression are blocked by the tyrant structures, people adopt terrorism as their expression.
Consolidation and spread of the narrative:
With the boom of social media, ISIS used the opportunity to spread its narrative all across the world. Fighters made their official accounts on Twitter and many other sites to reach the common man. They started posting about their day to day lives and convince people to join the “Greater Cause” which will lead them to “Jannah”. They also posted videos of torture and beheadings of abducted foreigners, military personnel and journalists. They called it as revenge of humiliation and oppression against Muslims. Such accounts were identified and then suspended time to time. But they popped up one after another. The initiation of new account affected the traffic and followers but it was not completely rooted out. With the initiation of global “War on Terror”, authorities of social media sites were contacted and asked to suspend all such accounts accordingly. The violent content on different visual platforms was also removed. It did not wholly wiped ISIS out, but to some extent the reach was limited. Though accounts were being suspended, but the impact they had created could not be easily neutralized. ISIS extended its roots in many countries. It has been comprehensively explained by Jessica Stern and J. M. Berger in their book ISIS: The State of Terror about how ISIS expanded its influence through social media and attracted a large following across the world due to its violent videos and catchy slogans. The videos were made with high-quality equipment and fine graphics, in more than two dozen languages. All the efforts were done to gain popular support. But they were not able to achieve their desired goal because of their violence and genocidal vision. A huge mass of world population did not endorse the “ideology”.
As per the analysts, rise of ISIS is the result of dismantled institutions and damaged social fabric. The state institutions and government failed to serve the population, it created a vacuum for non-state actors to step in. They established parallel institutions and structure to provide sense of security which the state could not. This brought them popular support, after which they started pursing their interests. Although, the organization inflicted much harm on the world but its current state depicts that such ideologies can only survive in weak environment like that in Iraq and Syria.
