The Islamic State’s Worldview
as a Radical Terror Management Device
1
Institute of Political Science, University of
Wroclaw
Publication date: 2022-04-01
Studia Politologiczne 2022;63
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The US reaction to 9/11 set off a chain of events leading to the raise of the
most radical strain of revolutionary Salafism ideology incarnated by the Islamic State. The
analysis of IS worldview allows one to observe its striking compatibility with the fundamental
tenets of Terror Management Theory (TMT). The main proposition of this article is that
the Islamic State’s worldview should be interpreted as a product of an ideological evolution
triggered/amplified by the Global War on Terror (GWOT), leading towards reenergization
of the revolutionary Salafi narrative and increasingly radical – and thus psychologically
efficient but strategically flawed – terror management device.
PEER REVIEW INFORMATION
Article has been screened for originality
two double-anonymous peer reviews
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