Tore Refslund Hamming is a Ph.D. candidate at the European University Institute in Florence and a visiting researcher at the Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS). He recently finished a visiting fellowship at Sciences Po-CERI. He is a specialist on contemporary Sunni Jihadi groups, especially al-Qaida and the Islamic State, and their internal dynamics. His research is based on fieldwork in the Middle East including interviews with leading Jihadi ideologues and close tracking of Jihadis’ online behaviour. He founded and directs the consultancy MENA Analysis and is a regular contributor to international media on Jihadi related issues and the threat from terrorism. He writes on www.jihadica.com.
Education:
BSc. at Copenhagen Business School; MA at Sciences Po-Paris; MSc. European University Institute and Ph.D candidate at European University Institute
Languages:
Danish, English, French, Arabic
Countries of Expertise:
Syria, Iraq
Issues of Expertise:
Jihadism, Terrorism, Civil war, Armed non-state actors
The rise of ISIS post-2013 changed how we perceive jihadism, but it also transformed how jihadists perceive themselves and how they behave. ISIS’s brutality and indiscriminate violence created unprecedented fragmentation within the jihadi movement, leading to critical self-reflection and changes in codes of conduct. This paper examines how three different jihadi groups – the Afghan Taliban, al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent, and Tehreek- e-Taliban Pakistan (or the Pakistani Taliban) – responded to the challenges presented by ISIS.
ISIS’s charm offensive toward al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
A secret letter recently obtained through an inside source sheds light on ISIS’s efforts to persuade an al-Qaeda affiliate to jump ship, abandon its allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahri, and join Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s ranks.
