University of Mississippi eGrove Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors Theses Honors College) 2015 To be, or not to be-Statehood is the Question: Analyzing the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq Leigh Anne Zook University of Mississippi. Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Zook, Leigh Anne, "To be, or not to be-Statehood is the Question: Analyzing the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq" (2015). Honors Theses. 580. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/580 This Undergraduate Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College) at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. TO BE, OR NOT TO BE——STATEHOOD IS THE QUESTION: ANALYZING THE ISLAMIC STATE IN SYRIA AND IRAQ by Leigh Anne Zook A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for completion of the Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies Croft Institute of International Studies Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College The University of Mississippi Oxford, Mississippi April 2015 Approved _________________ Advisor: Dr. Vivian Ibrahim _________________ Reader: Dr. Kees Gispen _________________ Reader: Dr. Benjamin Jones _________________ Reader: Melissa Graves ©2015 Leigh Anne Zook ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2 ABSTRACT To be, or not to be——Statehood is the Question: Analyzing the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq On June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi officially declared the Islamic State in the Sham (ISIS) as an Islamic Caliphate, and consequently renamed his organization the Islamic State (IS).