• No results found

6. Conclusion and discussion

terrorize the Muslim Ummah. The United States is often portrayed as the leader of this new crusader campaign. Second, the IS leadership often argues that the West is a master over “puppet” regimes in the Middle East. A variety of different terms are used in the speeches to describe this master-follower relationship between the West and regimes in the Middle East. In the speeches, the IS leadership often discusses how the Western leaders are actively corrupting and manipulating murtadd (unbelieving) regimes in the Middle East. According to them, the West has been controlling regimes for years.

Moreover, the West is often portrayed as being too afraid to fight the IS on the ground themselves and therefore use the “puppet” regimes in the Middle East so that these regimes fight the IS for the West.

Next to these two characteristics, the IS leadership also ascribes a variety of other homogenous and negative characteristics to the West. These characteristics mainly relate to the Christian and unbelieving character of the West and the active behavior of the West. In the speeches, the Christian character is highlighted by using terms such as “protectors of the Cross” or “Christian” when referring to the West. The unbelieving character of the West is highlighted by terms such as “disbeliever” or

“kufr”. The negative active behavior of the West is emphasized in the speeches by terms such as

“arrogant” or “losers”. Moreover, the IS leadership reclaims concepts, such as terrorism, which are often used to describe the IS and are now used to describe the West. In the speeches, the organization argues that not the IS, but the West should be considered terrorists based on their violent behavior directed towards the Muslim Ummah.

The last sub-question aimed to analyze the purpose of this representation of the West in the speeches by the IS leadership. Based on the analysis of the speeches, the negative representation of the West serves three purposes. First, the IS leadership uses this representation of the West to construct the self-image of the organization. The IS uses mirror-imaging, as explained by Baumann, to mirror the negative character as presented in the speeches for the construction of the self-identity. By representing the West in a homogenous and negative way in the speeches, the IS leadership presents the identity of the ‘self’ in opposition to this negative identity of the West. In the speeches, the IS leadership emphasizes the unbelieving character of the West and its allies. The West is for example represented as being part of the camp of unbelievers and the IS represents itself as the vanguard of the believers. Other examples include that the West is associated with humiliation, disgrace, and subordination in the speeches. The IS on the other hand is associated with honor, respect, and leadership. The negative characteristics of the West are thus used as a mirror for the construction of the identity of the organization. Second, the negative representation of the West is used to mobilize support for the IS. By arguing that the world is divided between a camp of unbelievers and a camp of believers, the IS aims to persuade people to support the IS, as this organization is presented as the

‘right’ camp. The IS is presented as the right actor fighting tyranny and every enemy is presented as wrong. The ‘self’ is described as the protector of Islam and defender of the oppressed Muslims. You are either part of the camp of unbelievers who are associated with negative characteristics in the

speeches, or you are part of the camp of believers who are described positively. This directly serves the mobilization strategy of the IS, as the negative representation of the West and its allies is aimed to create a great distance between a potential supporter and the Western systems. Moreover, the IS argues that the only way to counter Western expansionism is to support the IS which is presented in the speeches as the only vanguard against the West and its allies. The third purpose of this negative representation is that the IS is able to legitimize its violence and hatred directed toward the West. In the speeches, the leadership often emphasizes the violent character of the West. In doing so, the West is presented as a real threat to the Muslim Ummah. In the speeches, the leaders argue that the only way to counter this Western threat is by using violence and waging war against the enemies of Allah.

The use of violence is presented as the only option to deter the Western expansionism. Moreover, the leaders encourage people to perform a violent version of jihad in response to the violent actions of the West directed toward Muslims. This use of violence is thus legitimized by emphasizing the violent character of the West.

The research question of this thesis is: “To what extent is the West represented from an Occidentalist perspective in the speeches by the IS leadership?”. Based on the analysis of this research it can be concluded that representations of the West in the speeches by the IS leadership are rooted in Occidentalist discourse. In Occidentalism, the West is often portrayed with negative characteristics such as it being materialistic, hypocritical, and inhumane. Moreover, Western systems are criticized (Buruma & Margalit, 2005). This is also evident in the analyzed speeches by the IS leadership. The leaders present a dichotomous worldview by arguing that the world is divided into a camp of unbelievers, which includes the West, and a camp of believers, which includes the IS. The West is ascribed a sinful character by using homogenous and negative labels such as “kufr”, “disbeliever”

and “hypocritical”. This shows that the IS leadership uses othering strategies to represent the West as inhumane and fundamentally different from the IS. In doing so, the West is categorized as the enemy out-group. The IS leadership especially uses Religious Occidentalist discourse, which entails that the animosities against the West are not presented in a secular way, but as a holy war fought against an absolute evil. This is done by engaging with the concept of Jahiliyyah, which is an important concept in Religious Occidentalist discourse. This concept is used to describe the unbelieving character of the West which forms a direct threat to the Muslim Ummah. Emphasizing this sinful character of the West is an important element in the representation of the West in the speeches. Additionally, the Occidentalist representation of the West is used as a mirror-image to construct the self-identity of the organization. Moreover, it is used to mobilize support for the IS and to legitimize violence directed toward the West. In conclusion, the West is actively represented from an Occidentalist perspective in the speeches by the IS leadership which not only has an impact on the identity construction of the West but also has a direct impact on the IS itself.

6.3 Contributions

This research has contributed to the literature on representations of the West and Occidentalism in the IS’s media in various ways. Several studies have engaged with the Crusader narrative in the IS’s media (Metin, 2021; Mahood & Rane, 2016; Baele et al., 2019). These studies have concluded that the term “Crusader” is often used to label the West. However, in this study, the term Crusader is also qualitatively analyzed in the speeches, giving insights into how the IS uses a Crusader narrative to represent the West from an Occidentalist perspective. Moreover, this research has shown that the term

“Crusader” is the most used term compared to the other coded terms that relate to how the West is represented by the IS leadership. Secondly, this study has identified new actors that the IS categorizes as constituting the West based on the speeches by the IS leadership. In the study by Baele, Bettiza, et al. (2019), the researchers concluded that the West broadly corresponds to the United States and Europe. However, this study concluded that next to these two actors, Canada and Australia are also identified as constituting the West in the speeches. Third, this research has shown the importance of the United States in the discourse of the IS leadership. Some researchers have identified the US as a Western actor in the speeches (Baele et al., 2019; Lorenzo-Dus & MacDonald, 2018). However, these studies do not discuss how important the US is in the speeches of the IS leadership. This research adds that the IS leadership often criticizes US domestic and foreign policies in their speeches with the aim of categorizing the US as an enemy. Fourth, this research has contributed to the literature by using an Occidentalist framework to analyze the speeches by the IS leadership. By using this theoretical lens, this research has been able to emphasize the importance of Religious Occidentalist discourse in the speeches by the leadership. The conflict between the IS and its enemies is put in a religious framework by not presenting this conflict in a secular way, but by presenting this conflict as a holy war that actively endangers the Muslim Ummah. Moreover, other studies on representations of the West in IS media (Lorenzo-Dus et al., 2019; Lorenzo-Dus & Macdonald, 2018; Sims, 2012; Slåttelid, 2017) have not shown how the IS re-claims concepts for the representation of the West in IS media.

The West often uses the concept of terrorism to describe the IS, but in the speeches by the IS leadership, this concept is re-claimed by the organization to describe the West.

6.4 Limitations

Although this research contributed to the literature on Occidentalism in the speeches, there are several limitations to this study that should be taken into account moving forward. The first is that the speeches by the IS leadership are originally delivered in Arabic. This language barrier is overcome by using a translated version of the speeches that were included in the database. Because this research is based on translated versions of the speeches, this might have had an impact on the interpretation of nuances in the discourse of the IS leadership in the qualitative part of this study. Additionally, the qualitative analysis of this research was rather time-consuming. Consequently, the analysis of the

qualitative part only included speeches by the caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This has implications for the generalizability of the qualitative research results of this thesis.

6.5. Implications

The conclusions of this research have several scientific implications. First, more research needs to be done on primary sources of jihadi groups. This research has shown that analyzing primary sources, such as speeches by the IS leadership, is crucial in understanding the worldview of an organization but also gives insights into how these sources shape the perceptions of certain actors, mobilize support, and legitimize violence. Therefore, future research should focus more on other primary sources than magazines, videos, and social media posts by the IS and other jihadi organizations. These sources might include religious chants, photo galleries, or news communiques by the IS or other radical organizations. Additionally, more research needs to be done on how the message that this media conveys is received, interpreted, and internalized by the target audience. This is important for understanding how the media’s message is received and might lead to action.

Secondly, this research has several practical implications for policymakers. First, the conclusions of this research are important for the improvement of de-radicalization programs. This research has shown that the IS leadership constructs a homogenous and negative image of the West in the speeches.

Therefore, de-radicalization programs should aim to show a different image of the West that challenges this homogeneous and negative identity. An example is that the Islamophobic character of the West that is constructed in these speeches needs to be challenged. By understanding how the West is represented, policymakers and experts are better able to counter these narratives and increase resilience to the appeal of these narratives. Secondly, the conclusions of this research are important for counter-terrorism strategies. This research has shown that the IS leadership negatively represents the West in the speeches which directly serves the mobilization strategy of the IS. Therefore, the intelligence services should aim to make people more resilient and less susceptible to these kinds of media by presenting a more heterogeneous image of the West.