Can (Salafi) jihadi insurgents politicise and become pragmatic in civil wars? Social movement restraint in Ahrar al-Sham in Syria

ABSTRACT Most research on jihadi groups examines their violent radicalisation. Insurgents that politicise in civil wars and become more pragmatic without renouncing violence are less understood. This article defines jihadi groups’ politicisation as the development of realistic tactical and strategic objectives, durable alliances with other actors including foreign states and non-state armed groups, and normalisation of their interactions with the population. This article argues that politicisation is not merely the outcome of armed groups’ independent ideological revisions. Politicisation results from a combination of several factors that restrain jihadi insurgents in civil wars. In Syria, the empirical analysis of Ahrar al-Sham demonstrates that the group was restrained by (1) its decentralised organisational structures and (2) interactions with other actors including other insurgents, the population, and foreign states. This article is based on extensive field research conducted in Syria and Turkey with Syrian insurgents across the spectrum.