- 02 Mar 2023
[Book Talk] Global Jihad: A Brief History
(This event is organised by MEI Political Economy research cluster.)
Most violent jihadi movements in the twentieth century focused on removing corrupt, repressive secular regimes throughout the Muslim world. But following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a new form of jihadism emerged – global jihad – turning to the international arena as the primary locus of ideology and action. With his new book published with Stanford University Press, Glenn E. Robinson, a professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, develops a compelling and provocative argument about this violent political movement’s evolution. Global Jihad tells the story of four distinct jihadi waves, each with its own program for achieving a global end: whether a Jihadi International to liberate Muslim lands from foreign occupation; al-Qaida’s call to drive the United States out of the Muslim world; ISIS using “jihadi cool” to recruit followers; or leaderless efforts of stochastic terror to “keep the dream alive.” Robinson connects the rise of global jihad to other “movements of rage” such as the Nazi Brownshirts, White supremacists, Khmer Rouge, and Boko Haram. Against that backdrop, this book talk will discuss not only the history and the nature of the global jihad phenomenon, it will also question its future as a strategic threat from the Middle East to the Southeast Asian region.
This public talk was conducted both in-person and online via Zoom on Thursday, 2 March, from 4.00 pm to 5.15 pm SGT.
Image caption : Book cover of Dr Glenn E. Robinson’s book, Global Jihad: A Brief History, published by Stanford University Press, 2021.
Listen to the podcast here:
About the Speakers
Professor of Defense Analysis
Naval Postgraduate School
[Moderator] Dr Jean-Loup Samaan
Senior Research Fellow
Middle East Institute NUS
Glenn E. Robinson is Professor of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California, and is also affiliated with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He retired from NPS after 30 years in December 2021. He has authored or co-authored four books on Middle East politics as well as over 150 journal articles, book chapters, government reports and conference papers. His most recent book, Global Jihad: A Brief History, was named by both Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy as a “Best Book of 2021.” He has won awards for his teaching at both Berkeley and NPS. Robinson has been active in policy work, especially for USAID and DOD, and in his professional work for the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and (as a Founding Board Member and Treasurer) for the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies (AGAPS).
[Moderator] Dr Jean-Loup Samaan is a Senior Research Fellow specialising in Middle East strategic affairs, with a particular focus on Israel–Hezbollah conflict and the evolution of the Gulf security system. Prior to joining MEI, he held various positions in the policy sector. He worked as a visiting scholar with the RAND Corporation (2007-2008) and as an advisor at the directorate for strategic affairs of the French Ministry of Defense (2008-2011). He then gained extensive experience in the domain of military education and training, first as a deputy director for the Middle East Faculty of the NATO Defense College (2011-2016) and as an associate professor in strategic studies with the UAE National Defense College (2016-2021).
Event Details
29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Blk B #06-06 Singapore 119620
2. via Zoom
