Islamic State, Biopolitics and Media Governmentality: The Dispositif of Terror

This book examines the Islamic State's media and governance strategy from a critical media and cultural studies perspective, using Deleuze and Guattari's concept of assemblage and Foucault's theories of dispositif and biopower to understand how the group governed its subjects during the caliphate. It analyzes official IS administrative documents, media produced by the group's English-language media wing, and IS Twitter activity, including the use of nonhuman bots, to reveal the resonance between IS's media and governmental discourses and to argue for more context-specific formulations of biopolitics.

Format: Hardback
Length: 122 pages
Publication date: 06 February 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into the intricate realm of the Islamic State (IS) media and governance strategy, offering a critical media and cultural studies perspective. By employing the concepts of assemblage and dispositif from Deleuze and Guattari and Foucault's theories of dispositif and biopower, the author aims to unravel the complex ways in which IS governed its subjects during the era of its so-called 'caliphate'. This theoretical triangulation serves as a means to position the group beyond mere categorization as a terrorist organization, revealing its amorphous nature and tendencies towards governance.

The analysis of globally fluid and interconnected terrorist strategies executed through media, governance, and conduct, as part of and produced by IS's dispositif, manifests in the group's epistemology, discourse, and social ontology. To explore these processes, the book employs a dispositif analysis of official IS administrative documents, media produced by the group's English-language media wing (al-Hayat Media Center), and IS Twitter activity, including the use of nonhuman bots. Through this comprehensive approach, the book seeks to unveil the resonant connections between IS's media and governmental discourses, advance the development of dispositif theory, and advocate for more context-specific formulations of biopolitics.

This book holds immense appeal to students of Critical Terrorism Studies, social theory, media theory, and International Relations, as it provides a profound understanding of the complex dynamics between media, governance, and terrorism. By delving into the strategies employed by IS, this book sheds light on the broader implications of media and cultural studies in the study of contemporary geopolitical phenomena.

Weight: 394g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032353159