As Osama bin Laden’s killing makes international headlines, Graduate Institute visiting faculty member Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou publishes an article in the latest issue of the journal The Muslim World shedding light on al-Qaida’s origins and trajectory.
Dr Ould Mohamedou’s article “The Militarisation of Islamism” gives an analysis of al-Qaida’s rise from a replenishing station for fighters on their way to the Afghan-Soviet front to its current status as a weakening central organisation with fragmented regional franchises. Analysing key moments of Islamist terrorism during the last two decades, the author looks at al-Qaida’s original goal to establish a transnational Islamist striking force and shows that this has given way over time to local concerns in countries where the organisation’s spin-offs are based.
The paper examines different stages of the development of al-Qaida, founded by bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri: the development phase consisting of coordination activities, the setting up of training camps and establishing founding documents declaring war on Americans; the operational phase between 1995 and 2005 when a campaign of 20 international operations including the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, was carried out; and its current stage when regional branches loosely affiliated to al-Qaida act on their own and create a confused picture of the original group.
Dr Ould Mohamedou also delves into the differences between the six regional al-Qaida offshoots (al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, in the Arabian Peninsula, in Europe, in Egypt, in Afghanistan and in the Islamic Maghreb). He writes that the proliferation was initially an indication of the organisation’s impressive global reach but that the regional groups’ differences were significant and the relationships to the main al-Qaida grew tenuous. He goes on to detail the diverse paths and significance of each of the “franchises”. “All in all, what can be read as a regionalisation of al-Qaida ended up confusing the global picture of the organisation”, Dr Ould Mohamedou writes. He also observes that the original al-Qaida’s officers were well educated and knowledgeable of Western or American society, often earning degrees or spending years in the West, while the “franchise” officers have included former inmates and low level military figures with local outlooks.
Before providing conclusions, Doctor Ould Mohamedou poses some final questions concerning the organisation founded by bin Laden just over two decades ago: “Had the focus on militarisation not been pursued in at the expense of political cogency?” “Has not “al-Qaidism” proved detrimental to al-Qaida? And if so, what fundamentally is the meaning of such proliferation?” These questions will have to wait to be answered in the group’s third act, Dr Ould Mohamedou writes.
To learn more, read “The Militarisation of Islamism” by Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou [pdf].
Dr Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou is a member of the Graduate Institute’s Visiting Faculty in its International History and Politics, and Development Studies academic units. He is also currently Visiting Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. He has a PhD in Political Science from the City University of New York. He was previously Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Mauritania and prior to that Associate Director of the Programme of Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University where he founded the Transnational and Non-State Armed Groups Project. From 1998-2004, he was Director of Research at the International Council on Human Rights Policy.
His major publications include the books Understanding Al Qaeda: Changing War and Global Politics, and Iraq and the Second Gulf War: State-Building and Regime Security. In French, he has published Contre-croisade: origines et conséquences du 11 septembre.
Other Institute coverage of Dr Ould Mohamedou’s work includes:
Institute’s Middle East experts dissect region’s revolutions
Presentation: New Terrorism
Dr Ould Mohamedou made several media appearances discussing the death Osama bin Laden:
Interview on Swiss television TSR on the definition of terrorism, its history and future
On TSR's Journal: Part 1 and Part 2
Swiss Radio RSR Forum with Professor David Sylvan
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};