The Salafi Jihadist Challenge to the International System and the Role of US Hegemony
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Historical Ambitions Meet Contemporary Obstacles: The Salafi Jihadist Challenge to the International System and the Role of US Hegemony John Albert Turner Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Politics Faculty o f Arts and Human Sciences University of Surrey 2013 P ro Q u e st N um ber: 27750261 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent on the quality of the copy submitted. in the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest27750261 Published by ProQuest LLC(2019). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. Ail Rights Reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346 11 Acknowledgements iv Abstract v Introduction 1 Methodology 9 Structure of the Thesis 12 Section I: Debates on the Rise of the Global Jihad and Orthodox Theoretical Perspectives 24 Chapter 1: Contending Arguments for the Rise of Salafi Jihadism 25 1.1 Globalisation and Modernity 33 1.2 Clash of Civilisations 37 1.3 Culture and Values 42 1.4 The Jewish State 45 1.5 US Foreign Policy, Democracy and Authoritarian Regimes 51 1.6 Economic Disenfranchisement 59 1.7 Why Not the Rest? 61 1.8 Conclusion 62 Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework 64 2.1 The Realist Tradition 68 2.2 Realism, Hegemony and Salafi Jihadism 84 2.3 The Relevance of History and Ideas 89 2.4 Conclusion 95 Section II: Islamic Theory of the State and the International 97 Chapter 3: The Islamic State 98 3.1 Sovereignty in the West 103 3.2 Islamic Sovereignty 108 3.2.1 Specialised Officialdom: The Caliphate 113 3.2.2 Coercive Law:Sharia 117 3.2.3 Islamic Territoriality and the Umma 121 3.3 Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State 124 3.4 Conclusion 126 Chapter 4: An Islamic Paradigm of International Relations 129 4.1 Towards an Islamic Paradigm of International Relations 131 4.2 Three Approaches: Classical, Reformist and Salafi Jihadist 134 4.3 The Classical Approach 136 4.3.1 The Muslim Brotherhood 140 4.4 The Reformist Approach 142 4.4.1 The Neo-Islamists 144 4.5 The Third and Fourth Debates and the Emergence of the Salafi Jihadist School 146 4.5.1 Al-Qaeda 152 4.6 Conclusion 153 Ill Section III: Islamic Order: The Historical Search for Legitimacy and Unity 156 Chapter 5: The Struggle for Unity and Legitimacy During the Imperial Age 157 5.1 The Emergence of Empire 162 5.2 The Abbasid Dynasty and its Competitors 165 5.3 The Ottoman Dynasty and its Competitors 167 5.4 Conclusion 171 Chapter 6; The Struggle for Order in the 20“* Century: Pan Arabism and Political Islam 173 6.1 Legitimacy to Rule 174 6.2 Replacing the Ottoman Order, Pan-Arabism and the Search for Legitimacy 176 6.3 Egypt: Gamal abd al-Nasser and Anwar al-Sadat 180 6.4 Syria and Iraq: Ba’athism 183 6.5 Pan-Islamism: Iran 187 6.6 The Rise and Fall of Political Islam and the Next Contender 188 6.7 Conclusion 194 Section IV: The United States, the International System and Salafi Jihadism 196 Chapter 7: The Rise of Salafi Jihadism and the Emergence of the Al-Qaeda Ideology 198 7.1 The Tenets of al-Qaeda’s Ideology 201 7.2 The Evolution of Reformative Islamic Thought, al-Afghani to al-Zawahiri 214 7.3 Al-Qaeda as Ideology 228 7.4 Conclusion 232 Chapter 8: ‘Glocalisation,’ al-Qaeda and its Constituent Players 235 8.1 Al-Qaeda’s Global Affiliates 240 8.2 Al-Qaeda’s Friends and Allies 251 8.3 Global Competitors: Same Goal, Different Methods 255 8.4 The Freelance Jihadists 260 8.5 Conclusion 262 Chapter 9: The International System, Nation-States and US Hegemony: 264 The Salafi Jihadist Resistance 9.1 Constructing World Order 267 9.2 Resisting World Order 273 9.3 Post Hegemonic Challenges to World Order 278 9.4 Conclusion 283 Conclusion 285 Appendix 295 Bibliography 299 IV Acknowledgements The creation of a piece of scholarly work is rarely the result of the efforts of one individual, but rather, the product of many helping hands in ways both large and small. It is with humility and gratitude that I wish to acknowledge those who have been a part of this endeavour. The support and encouragement of my mother Janet Turner, father John Turner and sister Lana, allowed me not only the resources to see this project through but the encouragement to carry on. My supervisors Professor Mark Olssen and Dr. Roberta Guerrina, with enduring patience, provided me with direction and guidance which was indispensable to this project. I am greatly appreciative of their time and attention that went well beyond the duties of mere supervisors. I also recognise Dr. Jason Abbott who presided over the beginnings of this work. I am grateful to the viva voce examiners Dr. Jack Holland and Dr. Ayla Gol for their thorough examination of the thesis and their helpful insights into this work and its future potential. There are many who were not directly involved in this project but none the less were supportive of me during my time at the University of Surrey. I am grateful for the help of many of the current and former School of Politics staff for their various contributions; Professor Marie Breen-Smyth, Dr. Maxine David, Dr. Tom Dyson, Dr. Theofanis Exadaktylos, Professor Chris Flood and Dr. Simon Usherwood. As well I am indebted to the School administrator Nita Walker for her tireless dedication to the School, and as well Richard Sandiford. I am thankful for my fellow travellers Stavroula Chrona and Ciaran Gillespie who will no doubt soon complete their own Doctoral work and make significant contributions to the field. Their company and friendship have been a great source of encouragement. Finally, I wish to thank the many friends that have supported me along the way, in particular; Dr. Cristiano Bee, Ray Cottrell, Christian Gilliam, Luke Herbert, Dan King, Effion Sweet and Dr. Owen Worth. To all of these and to many more I shall be eternally grateful. Abstract This thesis asks, what are the social, ideological and historical trends that have brought Salafi Jihadism into conflict with the US at the turn of the 21®^ century? It is proposed that one of the primary factors driving Salafi Jihadist violence against the United States and its allies lies in an incompatibility between the contemporary international system and the Salafi Jihadist vision of an Islamic political order. There has been since the origins of Islam a search for unity among the Muslim people and a political order legitimised through religiously sanctioned governance. Though these aims have been ongoing since Islam’s origins, in the contemporary era this is met with particular challenges. The international system is characterised by the sovereignty of nation-states. Despite persistent challenges to the international system and the greater interconnectivity of states through globalising processes, the state remains the most prominent manifestation of sovereignty. The contemporary period is unique as the most significant hegemonic power, the US along with other great powers, not only accepts the given order but as well actively seeks to maintain it. This has hampered the ambitions of Islamic actors who seek to continue to strive for the unity of the Islamic world and governance that has its legitimacy based in religion defined by a particular actor’s notion of what constitutes legitimacy in Islamic terms. These ambitions are presented with more profound obstacles than has been the case in previous historical settings. These historical ambitions have met with an international system that is structured in such a way that it is incompatible with this particular Islamic political narrative. The Salafi Jihadists are attempting to be the vanguard of Islam itself with their particular ideological understanding of Islamic political order, derived fi*om the Salafist tradition. This imagined order is contradictory to the status quo of the contemporary international system that is in part characterised by state sovereignty. It is, therefore, the strategy of the Salafi Jihadists to disrupt the hegemon’s ability to maintain this order, in what could be understood as reflective of competing universalisms. Introduction Salafi Jihadist terrorism^ began to emerge as a distinct subject of interest for scholars during the latter part of the 20^^ century. The Iranian Islamic Revolution, the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, as well as a number of other violent events raised perplexing questions for scholars of International Relations. In particular, the question was raised as to what are the roots of this “Muslim Rage,” as Bernard Lewis would come to term it.^ More succinctly, scholars sought to both explain why this “rage” had come to be directed against the West in the form of international ‘terror’ organisations and why the appeal of such groups appeared to be increasing. Many scholars endeavour to find the explanations for the rise of the Global Jihad by looking at contemporary issues that emerged in the 20^^ century.^ However, there does not exist a great deal of research that seeks to understand the phenomenon by looking to contemporary issues coupled with an historical perspective. Instead, existing explanations focus either on very specific issues of the modem era or timeless meta- ^ Terrorism is understood here absent of any normative connotations, but rather as politically motivated asymmetrical violence.