Islamic State's Online Propaganda

Miron Lakomy is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Political Sciences, the University of Silesia, Poland. He was a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford and the European University Institute and a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses mostly on online terrorist propaganda and he has published in world-leading journals in the field of security studies, including Terrorism & Political Violence, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, and Security Journal.

Introduction Part I. Going virtual: Islamic State’s shock and awe campaign on the Internet 1.1. Origins of the "virtual Caliphate" 1.2. Understanding IS’s digital jihad: why has it drawn the world’s attention? 1.3. Organization of the Islamic State’s media arm 1.4. From apex to crisis: online propaganda of Daesh in the post-territorial phase Part II. United they stand: rediscovering the thematic landscape of the "Caliphate’s" e-periodicals 2.1. Evolution of the Islamic State’s written propaganda 2014-2019 2.2. Crude beginnings: Islamic State News and Islamic State Report 2.3. Flagship magazines revisited: the thematic composition of Dabiq and Rumiyah from a comparative perspective 2.4. Francophone Internet users as a target of the propaganda machine of Daesh: the case of Dar al-Islam 2.5. Konstantiniyye as a means of reinforcing radicalism in Turkey 2.6. Reaching out to Russian communities: Furat.Press and Istok 2.7. Al-Naba as a tool of communication with internal audiences 2.8. Written propaganda reborn? Unofficial periodicals after the fall of the "Caliphate" Part III. Reading between the lines: understanding the propaganda techniques exploited by Dabiq and Rumiyah 3.1. Methodology of the research project 3.2. Propaganda devices and argumentation used in Dabiq and Rumiyah 3.3. Triggering emotions or behaviour? Identifying core messages aiming to inspire the target audience to follow IS’s agenda Conclusions