When Transnationalism is not Global: Dynamics of Armed Transnational Shi‘a Islamist Groups

Studies of armed Islamism have had a strong interest in “transnational jihadism”, “global jihad”, al-Qaeda and—more recently—Islamic State. In discussions, these three features—transnationalism, global jihad, and al-Qaeda/Islamic State—are highly entangled. This article challenges the (implicit) assumption that armed transnational Islamism is necessarily global, Sunni and mainly concerns al-Qaeda or Islamic State. First, it shows how scholarship on armed transnational Islamism, although sophisticated and multifaceted, is narrow in the sense of typically conflating “transnational” with “global” and ignoring armed transnational Shi‘a Islamists operating regionally. Second, the article demonstrates how bringing the “other Islamists” (back) in changes the broader debate about armed transnational Islamism in three important ways. It fundamentally changes the narrative of the origins, evolutions and spread of armed transnational Islamism, and which key warscapes and events shaped it (when and where). It adds important, hitherto largely overlooked causal mechanisms (how and why). And it introduces a number of conceptual innovations and nuances, which challenge existing typologies (what). Drawing on the warscapes literature, the article shows the importance of going beyond methodological nationalism to trace transnational flows and networks, extending the focus temporally to before and after conflicts formally end, and considering how different warscapes spill over into each other. It contributes to the warscapes literature by emphasizing the importance of regional “-scapes” and transnational organizations in shaping warscapes.