IngentaConnect Looking for the Pattern: Al Qaeda in Southeast Asia--The Genealog...

Authors: JONES D.M.¹; SMITH M.L.R.²; WEEDING M.¹

Source: Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Volume 26, Number 6, November-December 2003 , pp. 443-457(15)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to analyze the process by which Al Qaeda has sought to co-opt essentially localized struggles in Southeast Asia into an evolving network of worldwide jihad. The article illustrates how, long before it was appropriate to speak of an entity called Al Qaeda, Islamists have been thinking transnationally since the 1980s. The argument attempts to piece together available evidence to reveal a plausible explanation of the origins, growth and direction of the main Islamist grouping in Southeast Asia, Jemaah Islamiyah, and its deepening relationship with Al Qaeda. The article suggests that the roots of a Southeast Asian terror network can be traced to two geographically separate ethno-religious struggles in the Philippines and Indonesia. The analysis demonstrates that these guerrilla groups orchestrating their distinct struggles were eventually combined through the auspices of Al Qaeda and the globalized franchising opportunities it exploited from the early 1990s.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/10576100390248284

Affiliations: 1: School of Government, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia 2: King's College, University of London, Strand, London, United Kingdom

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Looking for the Pattern: Al Qaeda in Southeast Asia--The Genealogy of a Terror Network