Islamic State (ISIS) Recruiting in the West: How Dabiq Magazine Frames Recruitment Messages to Appeal to Westerners - Jihadi Terrorism Movement in Iraq and Syria, bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban

This important 2018 report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction.

This study investigates Dabiq magazine's messaging strategy to recruit foreign fighters from Western nations to fight in Islamic State (IS)-controlled areas. Dabiq magazine uses three main messages to appeal to Westerners: 1) loss aversion stresses that Muslims worldwide need to travel to IS-controlled areas to fight, or they risk losing Islam as a religion, culture, and identity; 2) selective incentives stress that potential recruits can gain tangible and intangible rewards in an effort to increase participation; and 3) sense of duty stresses that every Muslim is obligated to aid other suffering Muslims.

This study evaluates the 15 issues of Dabiq magazine released from July 2014 to July 2016 to quantitatively analyze which of the three messages is presented most often throughout the magazine. Also, it draws correlations to real-world events that could possibly explain what drives IS's messaging approach. The study finds that Dabiq almost equally stresses the loss aversion and sense-of-duty message, and the trends follow three distinct phases. Initially, Dabiq stressed the sense-of-duty argument, then faced a transition period, and eventually switched to stressing the loss aversion argument in the last five issues. The recruiting message's emphasis changes dynamically based on real-time antiterrorism efforts.

I. INTRODUCTION * A. MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTION * B. INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC SIGNIFICANCE * C. HYPOTHESES AND ASSOCIATED LITERATURE REVIEW * D. RESEARCH DESIGN * E. STUDY OVERVIEW AND DRAFT CHAPTER OUTLINE * II. ISLAMIC STATE IDEOLOGY AND BACKGROUND * A. PEOPLE * 1. Abu Mus'ab az-Zarqawi * 2. Osama bin-Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban * B. PLACES * 1. Targets of Opportunity—Potential Strongholds * 2. Targets of Opportunity—Potential Victims * 3. Iraq * 4. Syria * 5. Dabiq * C. EVENTS * 1. Sykes-Picot Agreement * 2. Paper State, Digital Caliphate, the Islamic State * D. CONCLUSION * III. DABIQ MESSAGING STRATEGY * A. THE LOSS AVERSION ARGUMENT * 1. Coding Loss Aversion Articles * 2. The Far Enemy * 3. The Near Enemy * 4. The Unbelievers * B. THE SELECTIVE INCENTIVES ARGUMENT * 1. Coding Selective Incentive Articles * 2. Tangible Rewards * 3. Intangible Rewards * 4. Afterlife Rewards * C. THE SENSE-OF-DUTY ARGUMENT * 1. Coding Sense of Duty Articles * 2. Shame * 3. Guilt * 4. Honor * D. CONCLUSION * IV. ASSESSMENT AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS * A. THREE PHASES OF DABIQ RECRUITING MESSAGE * 1. Phase 1: Sense of Duty * 2. Phase 2: Transition * 3. Phase 3: Loss Aversion * APPENDIX A. DABIQ ARTICLES AND ISSUES * APPENDIX B. DABIQ ISSUE-DATE OVERVIEW