TY - BOOK ID - 7222726 TI - The Islamist phoenix : the Islamic State and the redrawing of the Middle East PY - 2014 SN - 9781609806286 160980628X PB - New York (N.Y.): Seven stories press, DB - UniCat KW - Islamic fundamentalism KW - Terrorism KW - IS (Organization) KW - Middle East KW - History KW - TerrorismIS (Organization)Middle EastHistory KW - Islamic fundamentalism - 21st century KW - Terrorism - Middle East KW - Middle East - History - 21st century UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:7222726 AB - From its birth in the late 1990s as the jihadist dream of terrorist leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the Islamic State (known by a variety of names, including ISIS, ISIL, and al Qaeda in Iraq) has grown into a massive enterprise, redrawing national borders across the Middle East and subjecting an area larger than the United Kingdom to its own vicious brand of Sharia law. The author takes us beyond the headlines, demonstrating that while Western media portrays the Islamic State as little more than a gang of thugs on a winning streak, the organization is proposing a new model of nation building. Waging a traditional war of conquest to carve out the 21st-century version of the original Caliphate, IS uses modern technology to recruit and fundraise while engaging the local population in the day-to-day running of the new state. Rising from the ashes of failed jihadist enterprises, the Islamic State has shown a deep understanding of Middle Eastern politics, fully exploiting proxy war and shell-state tactics. This is not another terror network but a formidable enemy in tune with the new modernity of the current world disorder. ER -