Strategic Culture and Violent Non-State Actors

<p>This book applies strategic culture concepts to violent non-state actors (VNSAs) in a comparative analysis. </p><p>In recent years Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has become notorious for kidnapping Western hostages in north-western Africa and for its role in the short-lived Islamist takeover of Mali. The group formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat rebranded itself as an Al-Qaida franchise in 2007 leading to speculation of a change from its Algeria-centric agenda to an anti-Western one. This study compares and contrasts the ideas and behaviour of these two groups using a strategic-cultural approach and finds that despite some commonalities AQIM has a distinct strategic culture from Al-Qaida central thereby debunking the notion of Al-Qaida as a monolithic movement. This is the first comparative analysis of violent non-state actors to employ a strategic-cultural approach and the first such study on AQIM. While strategic culture has traditionally been applied to states this work adds to the emerging literature applying such approaches to non-state armed groups and employs a novel conception of strategic culture consisting of narratives and practices.</p><p>This book will be of much interest to students of strategic culture political violence Middle Eastern politics and Security Studies in general.</p>