IKMAS Seminar Series No.10/2016
Josef Korbel School of International Affairs University of Denver
Abstract
Two years have passed since the rise and expansion of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Recent military defeats on the battlefield have not affected the capacity of this organization to direct or inspire terrorist attacks in major world cities such as Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, Orlando, Istanbul, Baghdad, Dhaka and now Nice. The threat of ISIS will remain at the top of the international agenda for the foreseeable future and further attacks are expected. Before a coherent strategy against ISIS can be devised, however, a clearer understanding of the roots of this organization is required. What is the best framework of analysis to explain the rise and expansion of ISIS? Is the problem with ISIS fundamentally due to something inherent in Islam, Arab Culture or Muslim political thought? Richard Haass, the President of Council on Foreign Relations, has argued this point by affirming that this “is a deeply flawed part of the world that never came to terms with modernity.” Similarly, President Obama on several occasions has spoken about “ancient sectarian différences” between Sunni and Shia, suggesting that perhaps today we are witnessing a Muslim version of Christian wars of religion in 16th century. His implication was there was little the international community could do to ameliorate the turmoil in the Arab-Islamic world; it had to simply burn itself out. Or is the problem with ISIS fundamentally about the legacy of US intervention in Iraq in 2003? Did a failed US policy toward the Middle East inadvertently create ISIS as some have argued? What is the best entry point or point of departure to understand this vexed problem? This lecture will grapple with these questions and its implications for international security.
Biodata
Dr. Nader Hashemi is Associate Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. His publications include Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009; The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and Iran’s Struggle for Democracy (New York: Melville House, 2011), edited with Danny Postel; The Syria Dilemma (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013), edited with Danny Postel.; and Iran’s Green Movement: A Political and Intellectual History (Oxford University Press/Hurst & Co., forthcoming).