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Mccants ISIS Apocalypse Summary

1793 Words8 Pages

William McCants in the book The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of The Islamic State takes the reader on a tour of the Islamic state. Through his journey, McCants (2013) examines three central concepts explained in Terrorism in Perspective, which include: technology and terrorism, women and terrorism and financing terrorism.
In this critical analysis, the concepts are defined followed by a brief discussion on their value to the study of terrorism. Thereafter, each concept will be linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) as explained by McCants. Moreover, the conclusion includes a discussion on how the concepts deepen our understanding of ISIS.

ISIS and Technology: Psychological Warfare, Martyrdom, Propaganda …show more content…

According to McCants (2015), ISIS hit its peak of success in 2013-2014 due to its recruitment tactics of its soldiers. First, at the core of its message, ISIS used psychological warfare to recruit its members through social media. Part of the "psycho-logic" process is "externalization" dividing the world into "us versus them" as this allows violence to become acceptable (p. 13). For instance, it used social media platforms to post propaganda targeting foreigners with mixed messages of "apocalypticism, puritanism, sectarianism, ultraviolence, and promises of a caliphate" (McCants, 2015, p. 153). McCants (2015) illustrate the caliphate made several promises, including, "a place of honor for Muslim youth who felt shut out by their political systems or alienated from their societies" (p. …show more content…

Thus, women are willing to carry out the same acts as their male counterparts and can reach a target (Nacos, 2005). According to McCants (2013), women share men's motives in joining ISIS. They want to be "part of something larger than themselves…a chance to rebuild the caliphate or a belief that they are living in the last days" (p. 114). Furthermore, they are no less bloodthirsty. For instance, "as a woman watched a video on the beheading of eighteen Syrian hostages and the American aid worker and Muslim convert Peter Kasig in November 2014," she exclaimed, "so many beheadings at the same time, Allahu Akbar, this video is beautiful" (McCants, 2013, p.

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