Understanding Al Qa'eda
| Published date | 01 September 2008 |
| Date | 01 September 2008 |
| Author | Maha Azzam |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1478-9302.2008.00163.x |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Understanding Al Qa’eda
Maha Azzam
Chatham House
Greenberg, K. J. (ed.) (2005) Al-Qaeda Now: Understanding Today’s Terrorists. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Gerges, F. A. (2005) The Far Enemy:Why Jihad went Global. Cambridge: Cambr idge University Press.
Karen Greenberg’s Al-Qaeda Now: Understanding Today’s Terrorists is a collection of
the contributions of the participants in the joint conference hosted by the New
America Foundation and the Centre on Law and Security at New York Univer-
sity School of Law in December 2004 and entitled ‘Al-Qaeda: 2.0’.The volume
brings together the different views of a number of well-informed commentators
and specialists on al Qa’eda. It is a window into a crucial debate, not only about
al Qa’eda but also about political Islam more broadly. In places the analysis reflects
some of the usual misconceptions in the literature and among policy makers
which have implications for our understanding of Islamism, radicalisation and
ideology, some of which I shall raise in the course of this article.
Where Greenberg’s book raises key issues for debate, Fawaz Gerges’ authoritative
and scholarly work, The Far Enemy, analyses and explains the jihadi response.
Gerges understands and illuminates much about the shift from local jihad to
globalism and the internal dynamics of al Qa’eda.
The contributors to Greenberg’s book provide some general and widely accepted
arguments on which the contributors seem to agree. In some ways the variability
of the chapters in it reflects the different backgrounds of the individuals who
contributed to the conference.The ideas they posit encompass current thinking
on al Qa’eda. Among these are that al Qa’eda has become more of a movement
and an ideology than an organisation; that the profile of a terrorist tends to be of
educated young men exposed to the West than of impoverished, uneducated
youth living in the Middle East; that strengthening US intelligence services is of
the utmost importance; and that anti-Americanism is at an all-time high in the
Middle East, even in countries that are considered allies.
Greenberg’s volume clearly points to al Qa’eda as damaged, increasingly unco-
ordinated and dispersed yet still influential and capable of adapting. It is a
movement that needs very little in the way of financing to accomplish its
individual missions. It has successfully employed internet and television media to
communicate its message. It has provided an ideological point of reference that
POLITICAL STUDIES REVIEW: 2008 VOL 6, 340–354
© 2008The Author.Jour nal compilation © 2008 Political StudiesAssociation
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