Daesh ideology and women

Based on qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, such as group discussions, interviews and the analysis of data sets, Sadiqi examined the youth’s engagement with Daesh ideology in Morocco. An analysis of Daesh ideology is especially insightful, as women take on a specific role in the terrorist group. Daesh puts women in their front lines, for example by putting emphasis on their female suicide bombers and using women as prominent figures in their propaganda and recruitment campaigns. Individuals aged between sixteen and thirty years comprise the largest age group in Morocco, and their engagement with Daesh is, thus, of special interest. While the Moroccan youth itself is very heterogeneous due to differences in geographical origin and levels of education, many adolescents and young adults are currently confronted with new dimensions of uncertainties and dilemmas that are coupled with economic and political insecurities.

Youth’s reactions to uncertainties

Sadiqi described three different types of reactions youth have to emerging uncertainties and altered living conditions. At a political level, youth are not seeking power but instead aim to divide power through activism in civil society, emphasizing the importance of democracy and individuals’ rights. Furthermore, young people frequently posit demands at the legal level, actively challenging and changing previous legal regulations. An example of these changes are current adaptions of widespread inheritance systems with the goal of reducing women’s discrimination. Furthermore, Sadiqi argued that after the rise of political Islam no backlash of women’s rights took place but that instead youth are constantly engaged in public discourse and seek active confrontation with the present legal system. At the theological level, Morocco’s youth ask their religious thinkers for new theologies and additional progressive interpretations, calling for new lines of thought about Islam as a religion.

Responsibility and accountability as key concepts

Contrary to previous generations, contemporaryMoroccan youth are easily and frequently shifting their positions and alliances, resulting in a highly fluid political scene. Young adults directly challenge institutions of power, request a secularization on their own terms, and seek renewal from within their society. Sadiqi explained that it is highly problematic that little space seems to be left for the responsibility and accountability of some political and legal leaders currently in society. According to Sadiqi, the engagement of the youth with Daesh ideology stands in direct relation to these two concepts. The most appealing aspect of Daesh gender practices and performances for the youth is therefore located in the terrorist group’s responsibility and accountability. Actions announced and promoted by Daesh will be carried out by the terrorist leaders who ‘stick to their words’. Hereby the youth can observe actual change taking place and may be attracted to the accountability and responsibility of Daesh ideology.

Engagement with Daesh ideology

Moroccan youth are situated in a highly fluid and uncertain environment. Societal and political changes take place quickly in the young generation, altering values and attitudes. Based on her research, Sadiqi concluded that the main reason why young people are either attracted to ISIS or consider joining the terrorist group is embedded in the Daesh ideology. This ideology is based in propaganda tactics that present it as ‘reliable’ to some disillusioned youth. These aspects frame the ideology very attractively to the youth and enhance trust in the terrorist group. Thus, while young people overall do not agree with Daesh ideology and its atrocities, they are attracted by the well-calculated appearance of accountability and responsibility of the terrorist group. According to Sadiqi it is therefore necessary in future research to even more closely examine the links between Daesh ideology and the concepts of responsibility and accountability.