Recruitment Rhetoric: Media Strategies of the Islamic State and Al-Qa`ida

Abstract

Salafi-Jihadi information operations are designed to manipulate, radicalize, and recruit from the global Muslim population. This paper examines the global outreach operations of prominent Salafi-Jihadi groups, in an effort to outline suitable responses to Islamic extremism in the Sri Lankan context. It draws from in-depth studies of media strategies utilized by the Islamic State and Al- Qa`ida, based on their online presence, media outputs, and captured materials. It also considers information and analyses of primary source materials such as magazines, recruitment guides, and interviews with terrorists and their family members. These are discussed in the context of the broader strategy of al-Qa`ida and the Islamic State. Both organizations seek to exploit ‘Islamaphobia’ to recruit and radicalize individuals from a target audience on multiple ‘impact’ levels. Relevant methods are presented to consider the scope and depth of their information operations. Research findings that show propaganda campaigns are designed to have strategic as well as individual impacts to propagate ideology and inspire action are summarized. Recruitment and radicalization approaches based on both sociological studies and data from individual country experiences were then used to frame observable pathways to terrorism. An analytical lens based on risk factors is used to discuss recruitment tactics on structural, social, and individual levels. Recommendations for Sri Lanka to counter the spread of ‘Islamaphobia’, improve social integration, and counter extremism at a local level are presented for consideration by policymakers.