Examining the narratives of radical Islamists and other extremely violent groups: The case of the "Islamic State" (original) (raw)

This chapter examines the narratives of radical Islamists and other extremely violent groups. In particular, the focus is on groups that rely, partially or exclusively, on terrorism to achieve their political ends. Terrorism can be seen as a combination of violence and communication. Narratives are often a crucial part of this communication activity. A useful perspective to approach this question is represented by framing theory. This well-established and sophisticated perspective has been widely used to study, in particular, social movements. However, it can also be fruitfully applied to the analysis of terrorist organizations and militants. A key element in this line of research is the distinction of three "core framing tasks" : "diagnostic" framing (concerning the problem), "prognostic" framing (concerning the solution), and "motivational" framing (concerning the " call to arms "). On the basis of this tripartition, the work explores the narrative of the so-called Islamic State (IS), the more influential and dangerous terrorist organisation of our age.