Ideological rationality and violence: An exploratory study of ISIL’s cyber profile

Abstract

This exploratory study examines the narrative space of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Specifically, we developed a methodology to gather, archive, and analyze ISIL’s online presence in social media. Our sample was drawn from transient websites (N = 8308) collected between August 2015 and October 2015. From this pool, we coded a random sample of 100 English-only articles for violent, pragmatic, and ideological themes. Exploratory factor analyses revealed two constructs: violence and ideological rationality. Our findings offer insight into the messaging and organizational dynamics of ISIL. We conclude with implications and future directions.

Keywords:

• SIL
• violent extremist organizations
• cyber technology
• social media

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Julia Fuller and Caleb Steffensmeier for their assistance with content coding of ISIL transient webpages.

Notes

1. Please contact the second author for access to our correlation tables.