Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East

Murat Yesiltas is Associate Professor in the Middle East Institute of Sakarya University, Turkey. Tuncay Kardas is Associate Professor in the Middle East Institute of Sakarya University, Turkey.

1. Introduction: The Phenomenon of Non-State Armed Actors and Patterns of Violent Geopolitics in the Middle East .- 2. The Transformation of the Regional Order and Non-state Armed Actors: Pathways to the Empowerment .- 3. Understanding "Foreign Policy" of the PYD/YPG as a Non-State Actor in Syria and Beyond .- 4. The Kurdish Fight Against ISIS: Realizing the Virtual Kurdistan through Factionalized Politics in a Fragmented Homeland .- 5. Global Politics of Image and the Making of a Legitimate Non-State Armed Actor: Syrian Kurds and 'the Secular West' in Kobane .- 6. From Al-Qaeda to Post Qaeda: The Evolution of ISIS .- 7. The New Middle East, ISIS and the 6th Revolt against the West .- 8. A New Controversial Actor in Post-ISIS Iraq: Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi (The Popular Mobilization Forces) .- 9. Operationalizing the Vision of Building a New Caliphate: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State (IS) .- 10. The Making of Foreign Fighters in the Middle East: Identity, Social Media and VirtualRadicalization .- 11. What the ISIS Crisis Means for the Future of the Middle East .- 12. Conclusion: The State of the Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East.