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Articles

Al Qaeda and ISIS: From Revolution to Apocalypse

Audrey Borowski briefs us on the very different ideologies of two superficially similar terrorist organisations.

The past fifteen years have witnessed the spectacular resurgence of global terrorism, notably under the shape of Al Qaeda, and more recently, the Islamic State. While superficially similar, these two movements diverge radically in their aims and outlooks.

The Redemption Ideology of Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda draws the legitimacy for its attacks from the oppression and humiliation it claims the Ummah (the global Islamic community) is subjected to. It conceives its use of violence primarily as reactive and retributive; as a bid to reclaim humanity for the downtrodden and refound civilisation through sacrificial acts. Its thinking is firmly entrenched in the here and now, operating within globalized modernity, whose codes and concepts it has re-appropriated.

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