| dc.description.abstract | During the 20th century, Europe experienced regimes that spread their visions of a new organization of the world through the use of a new industrial violence. Millions of people lost their life under Hitler and Stalin’s implementation of totalitarian ideologies.
We have told ourselves, never again can we allow such violence and brutal domination to happen.
In Syria, the conflict have now lasted over four year. It started as part of the Arab spring, but soon saw itself falling into a dark and cold winter. Where it started out as civil uprising against an authoritarian dictator, the battlefield soon became highly complex with the entering of militant groups containing religious ideologies. Most were still seeking to overthrow the dictator, but we soon witness a group with much larger ambitions.
With the rise of Islamic State in Iraq and al-Shams. (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) we saw a group that not only wanted to depose Assad, but rather establish an Islamic State and expand it throughout the world.
Not only shocked their brutal violence, but also their ability to attract supporters. With means and visions similar to those we told ourselves never to allow to rise again, ISIS have been able to recruit and declare a so-called Caliphate that stretching itself across the border between Syria and Iraq.
This thesis therefore explore the propaganda and discourse ISIS use to legitimate and narrate their visions. Their English online magazine Dabiq is in this thesis analyzed to see if it can contain totalitarian elements. By understanding ISIS as a totalitarian movement, we then might learn from the history when seeking to degrade them. This thesis is then a contribution to the research of both totalitarianism, as well as ISIS. This as it can provide and understanding of the visions and aims of today’s most known and feared terror organization. | nb_NO |
