The making of ISIS : interplays of capital, coercion, and contention.

Abstract

The thesis is an investigation of the validity of state formation in the Syrian Jazirah from a bellicist perspective, at the age of increasing challenge to the conventional nation-state. It argues that social organizations competing with the de-facto state and mimicking its processes are enabled by contextual variables of rentierism, militarization, and tribalism, through a longue durée argument. To do so, the thesis elaborates a modified Tillyan framework, traveled spacio-temporally, specifies it to the context of Syria and Iraq, and illustrates the interplays of capital, coercion, and contention leading to the emergence of ISIS.