The Islamic State’s ideology & propaganda

While the Islamic State dominates headlines through its brutal tactics and online propaganda, questions persist about its ideology and recruitment techniques. Two new Brookings papers break down ISIS’ ideology and social media methods to trace how the group rose from a “paper state” of little influence to a global jihadi movement.

Drawing from private correspondence, speeches, and Islamic theology, Cole Bunzel analyzes the Islamic State’s doctrines and development since 2002 in “From Paper State to Caliphate: The Ideology of the Islamic State.” In “The ISIS Twitter Census,” J.M. Berger and Jonathon Morgan answer fundamental questions about how many Twitter users support ISIS, who and where they are, and how they participate in its highly organized online activities.

On March 11, the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World convened a panel of the papers’ authors and experts on the Islamic State’s propaganda to discuss what the group wants and how to counter it.

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