ISIS: Global Islamic Caliphate or Islamic Mini-State in Iraq?-
Yezid Sayigh
OP-ED JULY 24, 2014
AL-HAYAT
Carnegie Middle East Center
▻http://carnegie-mec.org/2014/07/24/isis-global-islamic-caliphate-or-islamic-mini-state-in-iraq
In announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the areas of Iraq and Syria it controls on June 30 and calling on Muslims everywhere to vow allegiance to its self-styled caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) displayed global ambitions. Whether these are real or not, many outsiders assume that its appeal extends far beyond the borders of Iraq. But in fact ISIS is following a well-worn path for taking power and consolidating it in the limited geographical space of a single nation-state where its true social base lies.
This constrains ISIS’s hope of gaining significantly broader strategic depth, and belies its claims of representing a universal Muslim community, let alone of exercising meaningful authority over them. Despite the spectacular drama of its swift advances in Iraq in June, reality is more pragmatic: ISIS advanced in its own “natural” habitat, whose outer boundaries it has already reached. Iraq is where ISIS survived after the defeat of the Sunni insurgency in 2006-2008 and subsequently revived, and where the fate of its Islamic state will be decided.
Yezid Sayigh
SENIOR ASSOCIATE
MIDDLE EAST CENTER
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