The Schism of Jihadism in the Sahel: How Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are Battling for Legitimacy in the Sahelian Context
Oct 13, 2021This paper examines the prospects of jihadist expansion in the Sahel region and its implications for security actors and civilian populations alike. It investigates the role of propaganda and public discourse narratives in bolstering jihadist group legitimacy and advancing attempts by groups seeking to generate local embeddedness and mass support. It offers a nuanced perspective of inter-jihadist contestation, one that goes beyond mere focusing on security operations and clashes and delves more deeply into group framing and identity.
The state of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Sep 07, 2021
About the Project
Today, ISIS’s territorial Caliphate has been defeated and the U.S. homeland and that of our European allies has been made more secure from externally planned terror attacks than at any point since before 9/11. However, the root causes of the previous wave of terrorism remain in place and most have been exacerbated in recent years — a new wave, pursued by a more diverse, flexible and technologically potent array of jihadist enemies appears all but inevitable.
The Recrudescence Project is a policy-focused initiative being conducted jointly by the Middle East Institute’s (MEI) Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program, the Center for National Security (CNS) at Fordham Law and the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point and launched in order to research the next wave of jihadist terrorism and to devise more effective strategies to prevent or mitigate it.
Project Partners
Founded in 1946, the Middle East Institute is the oldest Washington-based institution dedicated solely to the study of the Middle East. It is a non-partisan think tank providing expert policy analysis, educational and professional development services, and a hub for engaging with the region's arts and culture.
Project Lead:
Charles Lister is the author of “The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency” (Oxford University Press, 2016). His research focuses on terrorism and insurgency across the Levant. As a senior consultant to the Syria Track II Dialogue Initiative, he managed nearly three years of intensive face-to-face engagement with the leaderships of over 100 Syrian armed opposition groups.
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The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point educates, advises, and conducts research to equip present and future leaders with the intellectual tools necessary to understand the challenges of terrorism and counterterrorism.
Project Lead:
Brian Dodwell is the Executive Director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences, U.S. Military Academy, West Point. He has served at the CTC since 2010 and spent four years as the Deputy Director from 2014 to 2018, before serving as the Director of the Center for two and a half years during a planned transition in military leadership. He assumed his current position in 2021.
Full bio
The Center on National Security (CNS) is a non-partisan, educational think tank dedicated to providing thought-leaders, policy makers, and the public with the tools to better understand today’s national security issues.
Project Lead:
Karen J. Greenberg, a noted expert on national security, terrorism, and civil liberties, is Director of the Center on National Security. She is the author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo’s First 100 Days (Oxford University Press, 2009), which was selected as one of the best books of 2009 by The Washington Post and Slate.com.
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Recrudescence Working Group
As part of the Recrudescence initiative, MEI, CNS and CTC will convene a Working Group involving experts from academia, the think tank community and the U.S. Government — in order to share ongoing research and devise policy responses to elements of this new wave of terrorism.