SJS3- “ISIS and the Third Wave of Jihadism

Source: Gerges, Fawaz A. “ISIS and the Third Wave of Jihadism.” Current History, vol. 113, no. 767, Dec. 2014, pp. 339-43.

Author Credentials: Fawaz A. Gerges is qualified to talk about the Middle East, especially ISIS and Jihadism because he held the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Chair in Middle Eastern Studies and International Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College. This shows that Gerges has knowledge of the Middle East. Geres also wrote numerous books about Jihadism which means that he has a mass amount of knowledge on Jihadism. Lastly, Geres has done research in Middle Eastern Countries about topics such as Jihadist groups.

Summary: Gerges argues that ISIS is part of the third jihadist wave. Gerges also argues that ISIS will not thrive once the Syrian civil war ends. Gerges says that ISIS lacks ideas and “leave deep scars on the consciousness of Arab and Muslim youth.” In addition, ISIS wants to wreak havoc to try and impress recruits and have more people join the group. Lastly, Gerges argues that we can weaken ISIS by working with the Sunnis. Gerges says that the Sunnis have been protesting the discrimination that they have dealt with, however nobody, including the United States seem to care. This allowed ISIS to intervene with the Sunni.

Analysis: For the most part the article was very well written. Gerges brought up a variety of different points about ISIS. Gerges included many details and explanations about some of the potential reasonings for ISIS’s actions as well as how he thinks ISIS can be weakened. In particular, Gerges did a great job explaining the Sunni involvement. In the beginning of the article I did not know that the Sunnis were involved, but by the end it was very clear as to why the Sunni and Shia are involved. It would have been nice if Gerges would have included a little bit of information about how the Sunnis have been ignored, however that was not that main focus of the article. Gerges could have explained the Jihadism factor a little bit more. After reading the article several times, I was still confused about what role Jihadism played with ISIS. Overall, “ISIS and the Third Wave of Jihadism” was a well written article. I think that this author is a reliable source because of all of his knowledge of the Middle East and jihadism.