The Strategic Logic of Women in Jihadi Organizations (eBook)

This book discusses the role of women in jihadi organizations. It explores the critical puzzle of why, despite the traditional restrictive views of Islamic jurisprudence on women's social activities, the level of women's incorporation into some jihadi organizations is growing rapidly both in numbers and roles around the world. The author argues that the increasing incorporation of women and their diversity of roles reflect a strategic logic -jihadi groups integrate women to enhance organizational success. To explain the structural metamorphosis of jihadi organizations and to provide insight into the strategic logic of women in jihadi groups, the book develops a new continuum typology, dividing jihadi groups into operation-based and state-building jihadi organizations. The book uses multiple methods, including empirical fieldwork and the conceptual framework of fragile states to explain the expanding role of women within organizations such as ISIS. Addressing a much-overlooked gap in contemporary studies of women's association with militant jihadi organizations, this book will be of interest to scholars in the field of gender and international security, think tanks working on the Middle East security affairs, activists, policy-makers, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students undertaking study or research associated with gender and militant non-state actors.

Dr. Hamoon Khelghat-Doost is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Üsküdar University. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr. Khelghat-Doost is also a Next Generation Leader on Gender, Peace, and Security (GPS) at Women In International Security (WIIS), Washington D.C., United States. His research interests include human security and sustainable development with special focus on the intersection of gender and political violence in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. Dr. Khelghat-Doost also conducts research and writes widely on issues related to gender, forced migration, religious violence, international security, terrorism, radicalization, and sustainable development.