I appreciate @shadihamid noting the importance of ISIS governance and @MaraRevkin supplying data about said governance. But I disagree with the conclusions they draw, in part b/c they empower the worst sort of misleading media narrative that ISIS aimed to feed at its height. 1/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin Here's Shadi's Atlantic piece and Mara's paper that I'm referring to. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… and papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… 2/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin In no particular order, here are some concerns. ISIS has always argued that ideological purity was more important than governance. In 2006, when they tried governance the 1st time, they argued: "[the people's] condition is less important than the condition of their religion." 3/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin The point being: they understood that there would sometimes be a tradeoff btw governance and ideology...and they were clear on who they are. We should take them at their word. 4/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin Conflating ISIS governance with the Taliban is misleading. The Taliban were always willing to make more sacrifices to local traditions and structures than ISIS. They conceptualized themselves as 'of' their population. ISIS always aimed to impose a 'truth' on their population. 5/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin That's no defense of the Taliban, but it's an important difference from ISIS. It's misleading to use those two examples as part and parcel of the same argument. 6/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin I'm struck by how tremendously low the bar is in this argument. Imagine if we judged other political movements by whether 16% or 34% thought they were better than the predecessor. It would be laughable. 7/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin Both @shadihamid and @mararevkin can rightly retort that they aren't arguing that ISIS actually had a popular mandate--only that they were able to use governance to build some popular support. Fair enough. But here's my concern... 8/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin That nuance gets lost. That nuance gets lost. That nuance gets lost... And what gets heard & reflected in the media is that "ISIS governs," "ISIS has a medical system," "ISIS media is so sophisticated" etc...and that turns into headlines that directly advance ISIS propaganda. 9/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin Indeed, I think you can make an argument that...This is a PRIMARY purpose of that propaganda--not to reach an audience directly, but to impact mainstream coverage. It works...in large measure because we lower the bar so far in order to portray the group as 'sophisticated.' 10/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin Because that coverage doesn't focus on broad realities. It focuses on anecdotes about record keeping, the propaganda itself, & reflects "surprise" that small percentages of a population support the group. 11/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin I react strongly because I strongly think that ISIS instrumentalized the media's "surprise" at its strength, governance-focus, and bureaucratization from 2013-2016 to advance its overall narrative. They played us. 12/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin I'm obviously even more frustrated by this because NONE of this should have been a surprise. The governance-focus and bureaucratization were hallmarks of the group for YEARS before then. And the group was growing stronger from the latter half of 2010. 13/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin But ISIS used these "surprises" to garner neutral-to-positive coverage...and that was more powerful propaganda than anything they could have generated on their own. 14/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin Of course we should study and understand ISIS' governance model, and compare it to other rebel groups', including the Taliban. But we absolutely always have to keep front-and-central the notion that these groups used these efforts as propaganda. 15/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin So, lets not treat any of this as a 'surprise', not lower the bar for what constitutes effective governance, and make sure to emphasize that when 16% of a population approves of something ISIS did, that means 84% did not. That should be the headline: Mosul Rejects ISIS. 16/n
@shadihamid @MaraRevkin None of this is an argument against the importance of improving governance as a strategy to undermine extremist groups. Of course we must. But we can emphasize that point without inadvertently advancing a narrative that ISIS wants. 17/n
