New Book

The Essence of Islamist Extremism

This book engages in a critical analysis of radical Islamist rhetoric in order to understand the resilience of Islamist extremist groups and movements. Through analyzing radical Islamist discourse from temporally and contextually varied Islamist extremist groups, this book argues that the essence of Islamist extremism can only be accurately understood by drawing a distinction between radical Islamist explanations of violence and the radical Islamist justifications of violence. Ultimately, I argue that radical Islamist explanations of violence are reasoned in terms of Hegelian struggles for recognition, while radical Islamist justifications of violence are reasoned in moral consequentialist terms. In this way, the references to grievances (such the negation of the self, whether actual or perceived) supplement the explanations while the references to Islamic religious tenets provides the framework needed to present actions in terms of a morality. Understanding the nature of reason in radical Islamist rhetoric in this way has critical implications for the kind of policies that are likely to effectively combat its threat.