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Det vårades för Al-Qaeda – En studie av GSPC:s utveckling efter alliansen med Al-Qaeda

Augustinsson, Christian LU (2015) STVK02 20142
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Recent years has seen a growth of so-called ”Al-Qaeda franchises”, terrorist
groups who formally ally with Al-Qaeda. This study investigates the phenomenon
through how one such actor, the “Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat”
(GSPC), has developed after its alliance with Al-Qaeda in 2006 and rebranding as
”Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM). By analyzing GSPC before and after
the alliance, a comparison is made utilizing Peter Neumann´s theory of Old and
New terrorism. With text analysis and historical method supplemented with
descriptive statistics, available primary and secondary source material and the
“Global Terrorism Database”, are used to investigate the group´s development.
The results show that GSPC became... (More)
Recent years has seen a growth of so-called ”Al-Qaeda franchises”, terrorist
groups who formally ally with Al-Qaeda. This study investigates the phenomenon
through how one such actor, the “Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat”
(GSPC), has developed after its alliance with Al-Qaeda in 2006 and rebranding as
”Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM). By analyzing GSPC before and after
the alliance, a comparison is made utilizing Peter Neumann´s theory of Old and
New terrorism. With text analysis and historical method supplemented with
descriptive statistics, available primary and secondary source material and the
“Global Terrorism Database”, are used to investigate the group´s development.
The results show that GSPC became increasingly structurally networked but only
regionally diffused, with Algeria remaining the operational center of gravity.
GSPC also expanded its goals to a regional caliphate, becoming more brutal and
indiscriminate in their attacks, media aware and criminally motivated. This
created a backlash against the group, causing it to revert to more selective tactics,
such as the kidnapping of westerners. The study concludes tentatively, that only
the brutal, indiscriminate and media utilizing strategies can be attributed to the
alliance, other developments were gradual and derived from the hostile
environment the group operated in. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Augustinsson, Christian LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK02 20142
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), terrorism, islamism, Gammal och Ny terrorism, Peter R. Neumann, Al-Qaeda, Algeriet
language
Swedish
id
4914409
date added to LUP
2015-02-28 17:11:28
date last changed
2015-02-28 17:11:28
@misc{4914409,
  abstract     = {{Recent years has seen a growth of so-called ”Al-Qaeda franchises”, terrorist
groups who formally ally with Al-Qaeda. This study investigates the phenomenon
through how one such actor, the “Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat”
(GSPC), has developed after its alliance with Al-Qaeda in 2006 and rebranding as
”Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM). By analyzing GSPC before and after
the alliance, a comparison is made utilizing Peter Neumann´s theory of Old and
New terrorism. With text analysis and historical method supplemented with
descriptive statistics, available primary and secondary source material and the
“Global Terrorism Database”, are used to investigate the group´s development.
The results show that GSPC became increasingly structurally networked but only
regionally diffused, with Algeria remaining the operational center of gravity.
GSPC also expanded its goals to a regional caliphate, becoming more brutal and
indiscriminate in their attacks, media aware and criminally motivated. This
created a backlash against the group, causing it to revert to more selective tactics,
such as the kidnapping of westerners. The study concludes tentatively, that only
the brutal, indiscriminate and media utilizing strategies can be attributed to the
alliance, other developments were gradual and derived from the hostile
environment the group operated in.}},
  author       = {{Augustinsson, Christian}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Det vårades för Al-Qaeda – En studie av GSPC:s utveckling efter alliansen med Al-Qaeda}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}