The Challenge to State-Based Global Media Systems

Chapter 1 begins by profiling Ahmad Abousamra and Samir Khan, two young males born in the United States who emerged as major national security threats to their homeland by writing online publications in support of al-Qaeda and ISIS. Recognizing the opportunity that online environments open for extremist groups to reach global audiences, it itemizes the standard state-based rubrics for evaluating media systems, defines the rising phenomenon of proto-states, and explores why state-based models are insufficient, if not misguided, for understanding proto-state media systems. It then draws on theories of constitutive rhetoric and online networks to identify key foundations of an alternative, identity-based approach. It concludes by naming al-Qaeda and ISIS as case studies and by illustrating how both serve as exemplars of proto-states in the contemporary environment.