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Durham E-Theses Theorising Militant Groups' Meso-Level Evolution A Comparative Study of the Egyptian Islamic and Jihad Groups Drevon, Jerome How to cite: Drevon, Jerome (2015) Theorising Militant Groups' Meso-Level Evolution A Comparative Study of the Egyptian Islamic and Jihad Groups, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13611/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Theorising Militant Groups' Meso-Level Evolution A Comparative Study of the Egyptian Islamic and Jihad Groups Jerome Drevon Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Sciences School of Government & International Affairs Durham University 2015 2 / 314 Abstract This research theorises militant groups' meso-level evolution from their emergence to their potential non-violent transformation. The central argument of this thesis is that the timing of militant groups' adoption of violence in semi-authoritarian regimes is crucial in accounting for their subsequent ideational and organisational evolution, according to a path-dependent model. When a militant group predates its legitimisation of armed violence, the time period preceding the latter encourages low-risk activism mobilising patterns, which are defined as safer modes of mobilisation that are not directly opposed by the state and therefore do not entail high individual costs. These mobilizing patterns facilitate the creation of strong horizontal ties between the group's leaders and the development of collective group identity shared by its leaders and members. These three factors collectively ease the internal legitimisation of shared horizontal and vertical organisational norms, which respectively refer to the norms uniting the leaders of the group and the norms uniting the leaders to their followers. Theses norms include the normalisation of the prerogatives of the group's leadership, an internal culture of consensus and shared decision making processes. These factors subsequently shape the group's evolution, whose possible non-violent transformation becomes contingent on the ability of its leadership to exploit external macro stimuli or internal learning processes, and to draw on the group's collective identity to internally legitimise a new strategic direction. Conversely, the second type of militant group is defined by its members' immediate engagement in high-risk activism forms of mobilisation, defined by their high individual cost caused by their intrinsically violent nature (e.g. staging a military coup). The combination of early ideational justifications of violence and its associated mobilising patterns fuel internal factionalism and hinder the legitimisation of internal norms of decision making and the consolidation of a controlled collective group identity. This mobilising pattern often sparks splits over any new tactical and strategic issues which may arise overtime, and eventually impedes the successful consensual transformation of this type of group in changing macro circumstances. This theorisation of militant groups' evolution is applied to the Egyptian Islamic and Jihad Groups. This thesis is based on a social movement theory framework. It is a qualitative small-n comparative case-study research using field research and interviews with numerous leaders and members of these two groups. 3 / 314 4 / 314 Table of Content Declaration and Statement of Copyright...................................................................................................9 Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................................11 List of Illustrations...................................................................................................................................15 List of Abbreviations................................................................................................................................17 Arabic Glossary........................................................................................................................................19 Arabic Transliteration..............................................................................................................................23 1. A Meso-Level Comparative Study of Political Violence.....................................................................25 1.1. Towards a Meso-Level Theorisation of Islamist Militant Groups' Evolution...................................25 1.2. The Main Arguments of this Research..............................................................................................28 1.3. The Choice of a Small-n Case Study and the Scope for Generalisation...........................................30 1.4. The Adoption of a Pluralistic Approach............................................................................................33 2. Developing a Methodological Meso-Centred Social Movement Approach........................................39 2.1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................39 2.2. Social Movement Studies Towards the Political Process Model Consensus....................................41 2.3. Revisiting the Political Process Model.............................................................................................46 2.4. The Study of Violent Contentious Politics and Islamist Movements................................................50 2.5. Building a Relational Meso-Centred Approach................................................................................56 2.6. A Methodological Meso-Level Comparative Case Study.................................................................59 3. The Emergence and Early Developments of Armed Militancy...........................................................65 3.1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................65 3.2. The Seeds of Violence under Nasser.................................................................................................68 3.3. Early Jihadi Mobilisation under Sadat.............................................................................................72 3.4. Spreading Daʿwa in the South of Egypt...........................................................................................82 3.5. Towards an Armed Confrontation: the Killing of Pharaoh...............................................................88 3.6. Conclusion........................................................................................................................................94 5 / 314 4. Militant Groups' Ideological Construction...........................................................................................97 4.1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................97 4.2. The Organisational Study of Militant Groups' Ideological Construction.......................................100 4.3. Taking Ideas Seriously: A Fight for Orthodoxy..............................................................................104 4.3.1. A Salafi Discursive Tradition.............................................................................................105 4.3.2. Asserting Orthodoxy and Challenging their Opponents' Credibility.................................109 4.3.3. A Constraining Ideational Framework...............................................................................115 4.4. Decision Making and Organisational Evolution.............................................................................119 4.4.1. Exploring Early Organisational Differentiations...............................................................121 4.4.2. Organisational Division of Labour in Egypt and Abroad..................................................124 4.4.3. Discussing a Merger in Peshawar and the Sudan..............................................................128 4.4.4. Joining al-Qaeda?...............................................................................................................131 4.5. The Origins and Diffusion of New Ideas........................................................................................134 4.5.1. Early Ideational Developments in Prison..........................................................................136 4.5.2. The Influence of a Competitive Ideational Market in Exile..............................................137 4.5.3. Revising Jihad in Prison.....................................................................................................142 4.6. Conclusion......................................................................................................................................146