About the speaker:

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a research fellow at the Middle East Forum, a U.S. think-tank, and the Rubin Research Fellow at the Rubin Center of the IDC Herzliya in Israel. He focuses primarily on the Islamic State and other armed factions in the civil wars in Iraq and Syria. In October 2014 he testified before the UK Parliament’s Defence Committee on the Islamic State and the situation in Iraq. Widely quoted in major media outlets including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, he also has a column on the site Jihadology, focusing on archiving unseen Islamic State documents.

Synopsis:

Relying primarily on internal documentary evidence, this talk will trace the evolution of the Islamic State (IS) model from its first forebear claiming the statehood mantra (the Islamic State of Iraq)—in 2006 following the death of Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi, until the present day. Though the statehood system and bureaucracy are now ostensibly more complex than ever before, internal IS documents raise questions and nuances beyond the high quality visual propaganda and continual streams of daily media releases through its official channels. What, for example, does it mean to say that the IS provides public services and healthcare? Does the IS face the prospect of collapse from within? Further, this talk will discuss implications for policymaking and how the administration in “Islamic State central”- that is, Iraq and Syria- relates to its development as an international brand in the form of declared “provinces” from West Africa to Central Asia.

Contacts

For invitation enquiries please contact:-

Ms Yvonne Lee
Senior Administrative Executive
Tel: (65) 6790-6489
Fax: (65) 6792-8701
E-mail: [email protected]