From resilience to fragmentation: Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and jihadist group modularity
During the last decade, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) managed to survive despite suffering four major fragmentations. Through the case study of AQIM, the goal of this paper is to contribute theoretically and empirically to the literature on terrorism by explaining the fragmentation of resil...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cass
2020
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| In: |
Terrorism and political violence
Year: 2020, Volume: 32, Issue: 1, Pages: 100-118 |
| Further subjects: | B
Al Qaeda
B AQIM B North Africa B Sahel B Fragmentation B Resilience |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | During the last decade, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) managed to survive despite suffering four major fragmentations. Through the case study of AQIM, the goal of this paper is to contribute theoretically and empirically to the literature on terrorism by explaining the fragmentation of resilient jihadist groups. Two causes of fragmentation are identified: the “preference divergence,” in reference to the works of Shapiro, and the structural organization of power. Furthermore, two notions are presented to refine the theoretical tools of the literature on terrorism: a) the meta-strategy of survival, and b) centralized and deconcentrated power. To explore the group’s history and demonstrate the modularity of AQIM, a triangulation of primary sources, such as internal documents and key interviews, along with the monitoring of the regional press, is utilized. The author concludes this paper by suggesting new avenues for studying the evolution of jihadist groups. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 01.03.2023 Published online: 10 Aug 2017 |
| ISSN: | 1556-1836 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Terrorism and political violence
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2017.1351956 |