Who says what of the Islamic state : a social and hashtag network analysis of the Khilafah and خلافة -

Abstract

The academic study of terrorism has been dominated by a disciplinary method that is entirely strategic; it tends to reflect geopolitics with the academic purpose to identify, combat, and prevent terrorism in all avenues, including media. However, media communication amongst terrorists is not riddled with the incessant planning on means of propagating, attacking, or even recruiting terrorists, as an operational study of terrorism would suggest. In light of the emerging discipline of Sociology of Terrorism, this paper explores the more subtle dynamics of interaction between proponents and opponents of the Islamic State, ISIS, on Twitter. The dynamics in this research delves into the engagements with account to all the modes of interaction: tweet, retweet, favorite, share, and @. Additionally, it will explore quantitatively and qualitatively emerging discourses that are manifested through hashtags. Both methodologies are centralized around a common element: Khilafah or خِلافة - the Arabic word for Khilafah. By performing a Social and Hashtag Network Analysis over a period of time, we find that tweets that revolve around the respective hashtags are more nuanced and suggest a newer approach in understanding the transnational existence of the Islamic State Phenomena that should challenge the operational studies literature.