The uniqueness of ISIS : achievements and inevitable setbacks 2014-2018

Abstract EN

This paper aims to understand the driving beliefs of those who join ISIS and unpick its unique nature, answering what makes ISIS exceptional.

The paper assess how ISIS survives in the face of territorial setbacks and investigates ISIS from outer and inner perspectives, employing case study approach through primary and secondary literature to provide insight into the main differences between al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Further, the paper traces the history of other terrorist movements in relation to changing geopolitics, and explores ISIS’s profound relationship with millennials who in it find agency and instant gratification.

Due to its ideological nature, its radical belief and its virtual relationship with worldwide followers, ISIS maintains the possibility of surviving and reproducing itself in another form despite its setback and lacking territory.