MES Research Talk-Dr. Jason Warner, The Islamic State’s Expansion in Africa

In 2019, Islamic State’s setbacks in Syria and Iraq seemed to herald the organization’s death knell. Yet, its affiliates continue to endure and even thrive, particularly those in Africa. Indeed, many of its African affiliates have been reinvigorated and have reaffirmed their loyalty and ties to the central leadership. This lecture will explore the history, evolution, and expansion of Islamic State’s African affiliates and discuss how they have evolved mostly autonomously, using the “Islamic State” brand as a means for accruing power while receiving relatively little, if any, direction or material support from the core organization’s leadership. Given this pattern, Islamic State Central’s relative decline in the Middle East has had little impact on its African affiliates, which are likely to remain committed to the “Caliphate’s” cause for the foreseeable future, posing a unique security challenge to the United States and its allies.

Dr. Jason Warner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) and leads Africa research at the Combating Terrorist Center, also at West Point. He holds a Ph.D. in African Studies from Harvard University. He is the co-author of The Islamic State in Africa: The Emergence, Evolution, and Future of the Next Jihadist Battlefront (Oxford University Press, 2022). Click here for more info on Dr. Warner: https://www.westpoint.edu/social-sciences/profile/jason_warner