An analysis of Islamic State’s Dabiq magazine

ABSTRACT

This article analyses Dabiq magazine to explore the strategic logic of Islamic State (IS) appeals to English-speaking Muslims. It offers the field a conceptual framework through which to analyse IS’s communications strategy and a top-down empirical study of Dabiq’s contents. This paper argues that Dabiq appeals to its audiences by strategically designing in-group identity, Other, solution and crisis constructs which it leverages via value-, crisis- and dichotomy-reinforcing narratives. By fusing identity- and rational-choice appeals, IS provides its audiences with a powerful ‘competitive system of meaning’ that is designed to shape its readership’s perceptions, polarise their support and drive their radicalisation.

本文分析了Dabiq这本杂志，探讨了伊斯兰国的战略逻辑对讲英语穆斯林的的吸引力。本文提供了一个观念框架，用来分析伊斯兰国的交流策略，并对Dabiq的内容作了全面的实证分析。本文认为，该杂志对于读者的吸引力，是在于它通过价值观——危机和二分法——的强化叙事，设计了群内身份、他者、解决、危机建构等等，为其读者提供了强大、有竞争力的 意义体系，用以塑造他们的观点，极化他们的支持，驱动他们走向极端。

KEYWORDS:

• Dabiq
• Islamic State
• ISIS
• ISIL
• propaganda

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Haroro J. Ingram is a Research Fellow with the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. This analysis was completed while a visiting researcher with the Naval Postgraduate School's Defense Analysis Department.

Additional information

Funding

This article is based on research supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award [DE140101123].