1. Jihadist propaganda, offline: Strategic communications in modern warfare
- Author:
- Haid Haid and Charlie Winter
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Insurgent strategic communication has rarely posed as great a threat to regional and international security as it does today in Syria, where jihadists are using it to aggressively advance their short- and long-term interests. Using a qualitative mixed-methods approach incorporating semi-structured interviews with activists and journalists operating inside Syria and in-depth, longitudinal content analysis, this paper compares and contrasts the in-theater outreach strategies of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, tracking how each has used propaganda and censorship to entrench its rule over local constituents in recent years. It demonstrates that, notwithstanding the fact that both organizations share the same ideology, there are significant tactical and strategic disparities between their respective approaches toward public diplomacy, disparities that run right to the heart of what drives their enmity for each other.
- Topic:
- Media, Islamic State, Propaganda, Jihad, and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Syria