Lies or half-truths? Boko Haram’s ideology from a social movement theory perspective

ABSTRACT

Using Social Movement Theory (SMT) as a methodological framework and explicitly employing the core SMT concepts of political opportunism and framing, this paper seeks to examine Boko Haram's use of discourse in activism. As a rarely employed research method within the Boko Haram literature, SMT holds explanatory power around the movement's approach to transforming motivation potential into actual mobilisation via frame resonance. Focusing on the application of framing within (interpreted) sermons, lectures and exhortations by both Muhammad Yusuf and Abubakar Shekau as former substantive leaders of Boko Haram, this paper unpacks the discourse of Boko Haram's ideology. The paper shows that this ideology, which contrasts the softened core of the Salafist/Wahhabi doctrines from which Boko Haram broke away, relies on problematic interpretations of Qur’ānic exegesis and political thought as both relate to faith and governance in northern Nigeria. One policy recommendation to emerge from this study is that counter-narratives to Boko Haram's ideology should highlight not just why but also how the group's rhetoric employs lies and half-truths in an attempt to rationalise its activism; despite what appears to be an adherence to Qur’ānic exegesis, in making its claims.

KEYWORDS:

• Social movement theory
• framing
• political opportunism
• Islamic jurisprudence
• Boko Haram
• ideology

Notes

1 Wiktorowicz, ‘Introduction: Islamic Activism and Social Movement Theory’, 2.

2 Chrome, ‘From Islamic Reform to Muslim Activism: The Evolution of an Islamist Ideology in Kenya’; Singerman, ‘The Networked World of Islamist Social Movements’.

3 Wiktorowicz, ‘Introduction: Islamic Activism and Social Movement Theory’, 2.

4 Peace, ‘European Social Movements and Muslim Activism’, 2.

5 Ibid.

6 Tilly, ‘Foreword’, xi.

7 Wiktorowicz, ‘Introduction: Islamic Activism and Social Movement Theory’, 3.

8 Tarrow, ‘Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action, and Politics’.

9 Wiktorowicz, ‘Introduction: Islamic Activism and Social Movement Theory’, 3.

10 Ibid.

11 Peace, ‘European Social Movements and Muslim Activism’.

12 Wiktorowicz, ‘Introduction: Islamic Activism and Social Movement Theory’, 3.

13 Ibid.

14 Tilly, ‘Foreword’, xi.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Zulaika and Douglass, '‘Terror and Taboo: The Follies, Fables, and Faces of Terrorism’.

18 Tilly, ‘Foreword’, xi.

19 McCarthy and Zald, ‘Resource Mobilisation and Social Movements: A Partial Theory’.

20 Wiktorowicz, ‘Introduction: Islamic Activism and Social Movement Theory’, 4.

21 Ladbury et al, ‘Jihadi Groups and State-Building: The Case of Boko Haram in Nigeria’; Comolli, ‘Boko Haram: Nigeria's Islamist Insurgency’; Agbiboa, ‘The Ongoing Campaign of Terror in Nigeria: Boko Haram versus the State’.

22 Ugwueze, Ngwu and Onuoha, ‘Operation Safe Corridor Programme and Reintegration of Ex-Boko Haram Fighters in Nigeria’.

23 Brigaglia, ‘Boko Haram: the Local-Global Debate’; Brigaglia and Iocchi, ‘“Some Advice and Guidelines:” The History of Global Jihad in Nigeria, as Narrated by AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)’; Zenn, ‘Boko Haram: The Local-Global Debate’; Higazi et al., ‘A Response to Jacob Zenn on Boko Haram and Al-Qa'ida’; Zenn, ‘A Primer on Boko Haram Sources and Three Heuristics on Al-Qaida and Boko Haram in Response to Adam Higazi, Brandon Kendhammer, Kyari Mohammed, Marc-Antoine Pérouse De Montclos, and Alex Thurston’; Bukarti, ‘The Origins of Boko Haram—And Why It Matters’.

24 Bukarti, 'The Origins of Boko Haram—And Why It Matters'; Thurston, 'Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement'.

25 Solomon, ‘Counter-Terrorism in Nigeria: Responding to Boko Haram’; Pham, ‘Boko Haram's Evolving Threat’; Eji, ‘Rethinking Nigeria's Counter-Terrorism Strategy’; Onapajo, ‘Has Nigeria Defeated Boko Haram? An Appraisal of the Counter-Terrorism Approach under the Buhari Administration’; Onuoha, Nwangwu and Ugwueze, ‘Counterinsurgency Operations of the Nigerian Military and Boko Haram Insurgency: Expounding the Viscid Manacle’;

26 Amnesty International, ‘Nigeria: Stars on their Shoulders: Blood on their Hands: War Crimes Committed by the Nigerian Military’; Akanni, ‘Counter-Insurgency and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria’.

27 Zenn and Pearson, ‘Women, Gender and the Evolving Tactics of Boko Haram’.

28 Agbiboa, ‘Out of the Shadows: The Women Countering Insurgency in Nigeria’.

29 Subhramanian et al., 'A Machine Learning Based Model of Boko Haram'

30 Iyekekpolo, ‘The Political Process of Boko Haram Insurgency Onset: A Political Relevance Model’.

31 Amaechi and Tshifhumulo, ‘Unpacking the Socio-Political Background of the Evolution of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria: A Social Movement Theory Approach’.

32 Kassim and Nwankpa, ‘The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State’.

33 Umar, 'Salafi Narratives Against Violent Extremism in Nigeria'.

34 Benford and Snow, ‘Framing Processes and Social Movements: An overview and Assessment'.

35 Zenn, ‘Boko Haram: The Local-Global Debate'; Zenn, ‘A Primer on Boko Haram Sources and Three Heuristics on Al-Qaida and Boko Haram in Response to Adam Higazi, Brandon Kendhammer, Kyari Mohammed, Marc-Antoine Pérouse De Montclos, and Alex Thurston'; Higazi et al., ‘A Response to Jacob Zenn on Boko Haram and Al-Qa'ida’.

36 Higazi et al., ‘A Response to Jacob Zenn on Boko Haram and Al-Qa'ida’.

37 Gunning, ‘Social Movement Theory and the Study of Terrorism’.

38 Higazi et al., ‘A Response to Jacob Zenn on Boko Haram and Al-Qa'ida’.

39 Higazi et al., ‘A Response to Jacob Zenn on Boko Haram and Al—Qa'ida’; Bukarti, 'The Origins of Boko Haram—And Why It Matters'.

40 Amaechi, ‘Islam as a Resource for Violence in the Nigerian Boko Haram’, 139.

41 Goodwin, ‘State-Centered Approaches to Social Revolutions: Strengths and Limitations of a Theoretical Tradition’, 18.

42 Amaechi, ‘Islam as a Resource for Violence in the Nigerian Boko Haram’.

43 Della Porta, 'Social Movements, Political Violence, and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Italy and Germany', 82.

44 Omeni, 'Insurgency and War in Nigeria: Regional Fracture and the Fight Against Boko Haram'.

45 Amaechi, ‘Islam as a Resource for Violence in the Nigerian Boko Haram’, 141.

46 Thurston, 'Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching, and Politics'; Harnischfeger, 'Democratization and Islamic Law: The Sharia Conflict in Nigeria'.

47 Philips, ‘Boko Haram: Context, Ideology and Actors’, 19.

48 Brigaglia, '‘Ja'far Mahmoud Adam, Mohammed Yusuf and Al-Muntada Islamic Trust: Reflections on the Genesis of the Boko Haram Phenomenon in Nigeria’, 38.

49 Kassim and Nwankpa, 'The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State', 28.

50 Amaechi, ‘From Non-Violent Protests to Suicide Bombing: Social Movement Theory Reflections on the use of Suicide Violence in the Nigerian Boko Haram’.

51 Philips, ‘Boko Haram: Context, Ideology and Actors’, 19.

52 Ibid.

53 Ibid.

54 Kassim and Nwankpa, 'The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State', 29.

55 Iyekekpolo, ‘Boko Haram: Understanding the Context', 2221.

56 Zenn, 'Unmasking Boko Haram: Unmasking Global Jihad in Nigeria'.

57 Goodwin and Skocpol, 'Explaining Revolutions in the Contemporary Third World'; Hafez and Wiktorowicz, 'Violence as Contention in the Egyptian Islamic Movement'.

58 Della Porta, 'Social Movements, Political Violence, and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Italy and Germany'.

59 Crenshaw, ‘The Causes of Terrorism’.

60 Brockett, ‘A Protest Cycle Resolution of the Repression/Popular Protest Paradox’.

61 Zimmermann, ‘Macro-Comparative Research-On Political Protest’.

62 Opp and Roehl, ‘Repression, Micromobilization, and Political Protest’.

63 Mason and Krane, ‘The political economy of death squads: Towards a theory of the impact of statesanctioned terror’.

64 Mason, ‘Nonelite Response to State-Sanctioned Terror’.

65 Davenport, ‘State Repression and Political Order'; 'Regimes, Repertoires and State Repression’.

66 Tarrow, 'Struggling to reform: Social Movements and Policy Change During Cycles of Protest'; 'Struggle, Politics, and Reform: Collective Action, Social Movement, and Cycles of Protest'.

67 Earl, 'Tanks, Tear Gas and Taxes: Toward a Theory of Movement Repression'.

68 Omeni, 'Insurgency and War in Nigeria: Regional Fracture and the Fight Against Boko Haram'.

69 Kassim and Nwankpa, 'The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State'.

70 Tarrow, 'Struggling to reform: Social Movements and Policy Change During Cycles of Protest'; 'Struggle, Politics, and Reform: Collective Action, Social Movement, and Cycles of Protest'.

71 Omeni, 'Counter-insurgency in Nigeria: The Military and Operations against Boko Haram'; 'Insurgency and War in Nigeria: Regional Fracture and the Fight Against Boko Haram'.

72 Goffmann, 'Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of the Experience', 21.

73 Lavine, Cobb and Roussin, 'When Saying Less is Something New: Social Movements and Frame Contraction Processes', 275.

74 Benford and Snow, ‘Framing Processes and Social Movements: An overview and Assessment'; Snow and Benford', 614; Snow and Benford, ‘Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization’, 198.

75 McCarthy and Zald, ‘Resource Mobilisation and Social Movements: A Partial Theory’, 1217-8.

76 Ibid.

77 Goffmann, ‘Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of the Experience’.

78 Benford and Snow, 'Master Frames and Cycles of Protest'. In Frontiers in Social Movement Theory'; 'Framing Processes and Social Movements: An overview and Assessment'; Snow and Benford, ‘Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization’.

79 Snow and Benford, ‘Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization’, 199-204.

80 Benford and Snow, ‘Framing Processes and Social Movements: An overview and Assessment’, 614.

81 Ibid.

82 Snow et al., ‘Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation’.

83 Lavine et al., ‘When Saying Less is Something New: Social Movements and Frame Contraction Processes’.

84 Mohammed, ‘The Paradox of Boko Haram’.

85 Walker, ‘What Is Boko Haram? Special Report’.

86 Benford and Snow, 'Master Frames and Cycles of Protest'. In Frontiers in Social Movement Theory'; 'Framing Processes and Social Movements: An overview and Assessment'; Snow and Benford, ‘Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization’.

87 Amaechi and Tshifhumulo, ‘Unpacking the Socio-Political Background of the Evolution of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria: A Social Movement Theory Approach’.

88 Kassim and Nwankpa, ‘The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State’, 29.

89 Mohammed, ‘The Message and Methods of Boko Haram’.

90 Mohammed, ‘The Paradox of Boko Haram’.

91 Kassim and Nwankpa, ‘The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State’, 219.

92 Amaechi, ‘From Non-Violent Protests to Suicide Bombing: Social Movement Theory Reflections on the use of Suicide Violence in the Nigerian Boko Haram’.

93 Omeni, ‘Insurgency and War in Nigeria: Regional Fracture and the Fight Against Boko Haram’.

94 Kassim and Nwankpa, ‘The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State’, 29.

95 Ibid., 121-125.

96 Ibid., 215-216.

97 Ibid.,123.

98 Ibid.,121-122.

99 Zenn, ‘A Biography of Boko Haram and the Bay'a to Al-Baghdadi’.

100 Kassim and Nwankpa, ‘The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State’, 234.

101 Zenn, ‘Boko Haram: The Local-Global Debate’; ‘Unmasking Boko Haram: Unmasking Global Jihad in Nigeria’, 1.

102 Kassim and Nwankpa, ‘The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State’, 124.

103 Zenn, ‘Boko Haram: The Local-Global Debate’, 245.

104 Ibid.

105 Kassim and Nwankpa, ‘The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State’, 127.

106 Ibid., 3.

107 Ibid.,126.

108 Ibid.

109 Ibid., 124.

110 Ahmed, ‘Author's Interview with DSS Borno State Director, and Head of the JTF ORO DSS Component, Ahmed’.

111 Amaechi, ‘From Non-Violent Protests to Suicide Bombing: Social Movement Theory Reflections on the use of Suicide Violence in the Nigerian Boko Haram’.

112 Salkida, ‘ANALYSIS: What Shekau's Death Means for Security in Nigeria, Lake Chad‘.

113 Zenn and Pieri, ‘How much Takfir is too much Takfir? The Evolution of Boko Haram's Factionalization’.

114 Omeni, ‘Out of the Frying Pan: Abu Shekau's Death and Implications for Boko Haram and Security in North-East Nigeria’.

115 ‘From Marginalization to Massacres: A Political Process Explanation of GIA Violence in Algeria’.

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Akali Omeni

Akali Omeni joined the CSTPV, University of St Andrews, from the University of Leicester as an Assistant Professor in African Politics. At Leicester, he led (and founded) the Africa Research Group. Omeni joined Leicester from King’s College London, where he taught at the Department of War Studies. He previously worked with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and was co-chair of the Africa Research Group at King’s (affiliated to their world-leading War Studies department). In 2019, Omeni won the prestigious ‘Rising Star’ excellence award at King’s. Omeni’s research covers themes relevant to security, rebellion and warfare in Africa. His fourth book, on martial race theory, the colonial army and ethnic politics in Nigeria, is under contract with Hurst and Oxford University Press. A fifth book, Rebel: 500 Years of Small Wars, Civil Wars and Insurgencies in Africa, is also forthcoming with Oxford University Press.