Analytic Memo 6: Globalization of ISIS

by Dack Anderson, Lead Security Consultant

Image: Srinivasan Balakrishnan, Indic Researchers Forum. Published March 10, 2023.

As part of my academic journey at Pikes Peak State College, I had the opportunity to study ESA4010: Terrorism Threat & Risk Analysis in 2022, a critical course that deepened my understanding of terrorism-related threats, emergency response strategies, and analytical methods. Under the guidance of Professor Woody Byrd, I conducted extensive research using structured assessment models to analyze whether ISIS remains a threat to the United States.

This sixth annex examines the Islamic State’s global expansion strategies, focusing on how the group exploits economic instability, cultural grievances, and localization efforts to establish ideological footholds around the world.

Key Findings

In a 2017 survey, ISIS was identified as the number one threat in 38 countries globally. Notably, in the same study, the United States ranked sixth. A significant number of the surveyed countries, including those in North America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, had experienced attacks linked to Islamic extremism (Poushter & Manevich, 2017). Efforts toward globalization by economically powerful nations and world superpowers appear to be generating political instability in the Middle East and North Africa. These conditions have created fertile ground for the expansion of ISIS. If globalization is accepted as fact, then intensified globalization efforts in these regions correlate with increased terrorist activity (Lutz & Lutz, 2015).

Many scholars argue that globalization and terrorism are positively correlated. Some go further, characterizing the twelfth century, when Islamic power spanned the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia, as the “Golden Age of Islamic Globalization” (Praja, 2007). While globalization yields numerous benefits, it also conceals adverse effects on certain nations and their populations. Modern terrorism increasingly targets foreign intervention, with groups like ISIS exploiting globalization’s reach to expand their networks and influence (Passante, 2021). Politically unstable nations often struggle to contend with the demands and influences of international corporations. This vulnerability has made them ripe targets for resilient, ideology-driven organizations like ISIS. In these regions, ISIS markets a simplified, unifying message, a vision of a fairer, more meaningful world rooted in fundamentalist principles.

This is not to suggest that globalization is solely responsible for ISIS’s rise. However, it does highlight a range of contributing factors (Dolatabadi & Seifabadi, 2017). ISIS deploys targeted propaganda tailored to regional grievances and tensions, positioning itself as the antidote to secular globalization. Through anti-Western and anti-modern rhetoric, it appeals to the disillusioned, especially those who feel left behind by global progress (Kernan, 2017). Despite battlefield defeats by the U.S. and its allies, ISIS continues to gain traction in politically unstable regions across the Middle East, northern Africa, and parts of central and eastern Asia. The group effectively uses global-localization tactics in places like Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines, connecting with Muslim communities and vying for influence within them (Wong, 2020).

Meaning of Findings

The findings suggest that Islamic extremism thrives in regions marked by political instability, economic fragility, and the pressure of globalization. While globalization is not a singular cause of terrorism, it interacts with regional vulnerabilities in ways that enable groups like ISIS to establish influence and justify their actions. In many cases, extremist organizations capitalize on perceived injustices stemming from foreign intervention and socioeconomic disparity. By framing their rhetoric around anti-globalization sentiments, they appeal to individuals and communities feeling disenfranchised or marginalized by global dynamics. ISIS, in particular, uses these grievances to construct narratives that resonate with local populations, effectively bridging global strategies with localized messaging.

Furthermore, the persistence of ISIS, despite territorial losses, demonstrates its adaptive capacity in navigating both global and regional conditions. Through strategic propaganda, recruitment efforts, and targeted violence, ISIS continues to position itself as a resistance force against Western influence and secular governance, drawing strength from the ideological appeal of its message.

Assessment of Findings

The current state of global ISIS influence implies that the organization must have cultivated support networks in key regions long before Western awareness or intervention. It is reasonable to conclude that within these disparate populations, there existed latent ideological alignment, enough to respond positively to the propaganda ISIS disseminates. What makes the group’s messaging dangerous is how effectively it speaks to real or perceived cultural grievances. ISIS not only denounces Western influence but also actively illustrates how it allegedly undermines traditional Muslim communities. In one edition of the Islamic State’s Dabiq magazine, the group argues that liberal Western ideologies allow what Allah forbids while forbidding what Allah permits. Such messaging, provocative and deeply ideological, is designed to inflame devout Muslims and draw them into ISIS’s framework of moral superiority.

This strategic use of selective theology and cultural disillusionment represents a persistent challenge. ISIS recruiters continue to frame globalization and Western expansion as existential threats, positioning themselves as protectors of spiritual purity. Simultaneously, global economic forces pursue market opportunities in many of the same regions where extremist groups are laying ideological groundwork. This contradiction poses a serious dilemma. On one hand, democratic societies advocate for open commerce and the rights of corporate citizens. On the other hand, they are tasked with countering terrorism that feeds off the very instability globalization can create. The question emerges: must the price of counterterrorism outweigh the liberties we claim to protect?

References:

Dolatabadi, A., & Seifabadi, M. (2017, May). Globalization, Crisis of Meaning and Emergence of the Fundamentalist Identity: The Case Study of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Eurasian Center for Big History and System Forecasting. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.sociostudies.org/journal/articles/939434/ 

Kernan, E. (2017). The Islamic State as a Unique Social Movement: Exploiting Social Media in an Era of Religious Revival. University of Vermont. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1227&context= hcoltheses 

Lutz. B, & Lutz. J. (2015, October). Globalisation and Terrorism in the Middle East. JSTOR. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/26297432#metadata_ info_tab contents 

Passante, P. (2021, August). The Affect of Globalization on Terrorism. University of New Haven. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://digitalcommons.newhaven.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1180&context=masterstheses 

Poushter, J. & Manevich, D. (2017, August 1). Globally, People Point to ISIS and Climate Change as Leading Security Threats: Concern about cyberattacks, world economy also widespread. Pew Research Center. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2017/08/01/globally-people-point-to-isis-and-climate-change-as-leading-security-threats/ 

Praja, J. (2007, March). Islam, Globalization and Counter Terrorism. United Nations Asia and Far East Institute. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.unafei.or.jp/publications/pdf/RSNo71/No71_09VE_Praja1.pdf 

Wong, P. (2020, September 4). The Islamic State’s Global-Localization Strategy in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines. Brill. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://brill.com/view/journals/bjgs/7/2/article-p193_193.xml