Seminar: Expanding Jihad: How Al Qaeda and Islamic State find new battlefields

Although the Islamic State (IS) movement has been pushed back militarily in Iraq and Syria, it is simultaneously popping up in parts of Asia, the Sahel, and North and East Africa. The pattern of dispersal that we see today resembles what we saw when some members of the Al-Qaeda (AQ) central leadership were killed by the US-led NATO alliance in the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Comparing developments in different regions and asking why AQ and IS are emerging in some places and not others, the seminar addresses the question of how and why AQ and IS are expanding: what are the circumstances under which AQ and IS are able to establish themselves in new places?

The seminar will also launch a new DIIS book on the dynamics behind AQ/IS expansion, and features keynote talks by Graeme Wood, the author of “The Way of the Strangers – Encounters with the Islamic State”, and Professor Isak Svensson, who directs an international project on “Resolving Jihadist conflicts Religion, Civil War, and Prospects for Peace”, based at Uppsala University.

On the occasion of the book launch, the seminar will be followed by a wine reception.

Speakers

• Graeme Wood, Lecturer at Yale University, journalist and author of ”The Way of the Strangers –Encounters with the Islamic State”
• Isak Svensson, Professor at Uppsala University, and leader of the research project “Resolving Jihadist Conflicts? Religion, Civil War, and Prospects for Peace”
• Manni Crone, Senior Researcher, DIIS
• Lars Erslev Andersen, Senior Researcher, DIIS
• Maria-Louise Clausen, Postdoc, DIIS
• Mona Kanwal Sheikh, Senior Researcher, DIIS

Programme

14.00-14.10: Welcome and introduction – Mona Kanwal Sheikh

14.10-14.50: On the strategy and theology of Islamic State vs Al-Qaeda – Graeme Wood

14.50-15.00: The rise of Jihadi Militancy in Burkina Faso – Manni Crone

15.00-15.10: Is Lebanon the next battlefield? – Lars Erslev Andersen

15.10-15.20: The struggle for Islam’s heartland: the case of Saudi Arabia – Maria-Louise Clausen

15.20-15.30: Al Qaeda and the Islamic State finds Bangladesh – Mona Kanwal Sheikh

15.30-16.00: What we know about how to end jihadi militancy – Isak Svensson

16.00-17.00: Book launch reception

Practical information

The seminar will be in English and livestreamed on diis.dk.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use our online registration form no later than Tuesday 26 September 2017 at 12.00 noon. Livestream does not require registration.

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