ISIS

Non-state actors and the phantom of asymmetry
Non-state actors and the phantom of asymmetry
The sunny days of free-riding are receding. In some form or another, most countries have leeched off American power for the last three decades. The preponderance of US military…
Misogyny is often the connection between overlapping far-right ideologies
Misogyny is often the connection between overlapping far-right ideologies
On the afternoon of 6 May, a gunman opened fire in a mall carpark in Allen, Texas, killing eight and wounding seven others before he was shot dead by a police officer. Despite…
Is a stable Afghanistan where China, Russia and the US cooperate?
Is a stable Afghanistan where China, Russia and the US cooperate?
There is little that the United States can concur with China and Russia at a time regularly described as a “Second (or New) Cold War”. Yet amid all the ideological differences,…
Why outsourcing counter-terrorism online won’t work in future
Why outsourcing counter-terrorism online won’t work in future
The past five years have seen the creation of a latticework of overlapping methodologies to identify and remove online terrorist content and hate speech. Most notably, a…
The militarisation of motherhood: repatriating ISIS’s Western women
The militarisation of motherhood: repatriating ISIS’s Western women
The Australian government’s decision to repatriate more than 20 women and 40 children from camps in Syria is an overdue policy change, representing a stark rhetorical shift. In…
Risks and responses repatriating foreign terrorist fighters and families
Risks and responses repatriating foreign terrorist fighters and families
Last weekend, the first of about 60 Australian women and children planned to be repatriated from detention camps in Syria arrived home. As has been the case in most Western…
Maldives: the legacy of Islamic State
Maldives: the legacy of Islamic State
From 2014 to 2018, more people departed the Maldives to join with Islamic State than from any other country. In total, this figure is estimated at 250 men and women from a…
Islamic State: women, justice, and a complex impasse
Islamic State: women, justice, and a complex impasse
Reporting that the government will repatriate Australian women and children from Kurdish-run detention camps in Syria is recognition that the current state of affairs could not…
Killing the al-Qaeda chief leaves endless questions
Killing the al-Qaeda chief leaves endless questions
Killing of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in a US drone attack inside Taliban-ruled Afghanistan at the weekend has been billed as a major win by the United States…
Foreign fighters: The question of justice
Foreign fighters: The question of justice
The legal fallout from Islamic State’s short but bloody existence is both complex and enduring. For those Westerners who travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the jihadist project,…