UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE: AN ISLAMIC STATE WAY OF WAR

Abstract

Despite its military defeat, and the collapse of its so-called caliphate in 2018, the Islamic State has seemingly expanded to several other areas around the world. This thesis develops a theory of unconventional warfare to examine why and how the Islamic State has expanded outside of its core area in Iraq. This study reveals that the Islamic State's expansion fits within its stated ideology to create an Islamic caliphate and that it has done so by using methods that were evaluated and tested in Iraq. Through the sponsorship of Jabhat al Nusra in Syria, Islamic State-Khorasan Province in Afghanistan, and Islamic State-West Africa in Nigeria, the Islamic State conducted unconventional warfare by leveraging control over the population, implementing organizational control, exploiting various opportunities, and providing external support to local jihadist organizations in order to establish recognized franchises in these locations. This research allows the reader to better understand why the Islamic State expanded outside of Iraq and offers insight into the methods and techniques used by the Islamic State to expand.