1. Exploiting Grievances: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
- Author:
- Alistair Harris
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an offshoot of Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network and a group that has been operating in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, presents a growing regional and international security challenge. Analysis of AQAP confirms that it has been adept at aligning the grievances of Yemeni communities with its own narrative of what is wrong and who is responsible. But AQAP's limited membership shows this has not translated into widespread recruitment because of dissonance between the organization's recommended course of action—violent jihad—and traditional Yemeni methods of seeking redress. Failure to address such grievances, however, runs the risk of increasing receptivity to alternative frameworks that include the use of violence.
- Topic:
- War
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Sinai Peninsula