Global radical Islamism projects: a SWOT analysis of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State strategies

This article is devoted to the political projects of radical Islamism aimed at establishing a global «Islamic» state. The study focuses on two different strategies that most clearly demonstrate the split between the two projects of global Islamism. These projects include the strategies of Al-Qaeda (a representative of the «old» jihadist organization) and the «Islamic State», which can naturally be described as a fundamentally new radical movement. The purpose of the work is to identify the strategies of these organizations, as well as their analysis from the point of view of the best adaptation to the realities of the present. In the course of the study, using the SWOT analysis method, the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies of both organizations were identified, as well as areas of threats and growth opportunities for each of them. Based on a number of documents emanating from the top leadership of Al-Qaeda and propaganda materials of the Islamic State, fundamental differences in the strategies of organizations, arising from their doctrinal and methodological basis, are noted. The withdrawal of the American contingent from Afghanistan, the rapidly changing situation in the zone of turbulence in the Islamic world provide radical organizations with a wide field for the implementation of their political projects. The study of the strategies of radical Islamism makes it possible to predict the further actions of terrorist organizations.