This dissertation operates on the idea that, as conflict researchers, we can look to Islamic State’s (referred to from here on as ‘Daesh’) own recruitment propaganda to identify the best people to counter Daesh’s violent rhetoric. This project analyzes Daesh’s main print publication, Dabiq, to catalogue and classify the types of people and institutions Daesh targets most, and which types of arguments Daesh uses to attack those targets. It uses this information to test the Co-Religionist Hypothesis, which predicts that the most effective peaceful interveners in a religious conflict will be of the same religion as the belligerents. Conventional wisdom holds that Daesh, in choosing targets to fight both on the battlefield and in its recruitment propaganda, prioritizes groups that are less similar to it – for example, Jews and Christians. My analysis upends this conventional wisdom, and in fact shows that the binary assumption of the Co-Religionist Hypothesis itself is too simplistic. This dissertation finds, rather, that the most effective intervenors are found along a Religious Continuum that identifies not only co-religionists, but also co-sectarians and co-fundamentalists, and, further, non-co-religionists who are of different, but similar religious traditions. These findings can help inform future peaceful counterpropaganda campaigns that focus on religious conflict.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation operates on the idea that, as conflict researchers, we can look to Islamic State’s (referred to from here on as ‘Daesh’) own recruitment propaganda to identify the best people to counter Daesh’s violent rhetoric. This project analyzes Daesh’s main print publication, <em>Dabiq</em>, to catalogue and classify the types of people and institutions Daesh targets most, and which types of arguments Daesh uses to attack those targets. It uses this information to test the Co-Religionist Hypothesis, which predicts that the most effective peaceful interveners in a religious conflict will be of the same religion as the belligerents. Conventional wisdom holds that Daesh, in choosing targets to fight both on the battlefield and in its recruitment propaganda, prioritizes groups that are less similar to it – for example, Jews and Christians. My analysis upends this conventional wisdom, and in fact shows that the binary assumption of the Co-Religionist Hypothesis itself is too simplistic. This dissertation finds, rather, that the most effective intervenors are found along a Religious Continuum that identifies not only co-religionists, but also co-sectarians and co-fundamentalists, and, further, non-co-religionists who are of different, but similar religious traditions. These findings can help inform future peaceful counterpropaganda campaigns that focus on religious conflict.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Elliott, Joel"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy in International Conflict Management (Ph.D. INCM)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Conflict Management","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Christopher Pallas","Joseph Bock"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-05-05T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-05-05T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:42Z","subjects":["Islamic State","propaganda","conflict management","peacebuilding","religious fundamentalism","Daesh","Defense and Security Studies","International and Intercultural Communication","International Relations","Mass Communication","Near and Middle Eastern Studies","Peace and Conflict Studies","Social Influence and Political Communication","Terrorism Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/incmdoc_etd/32","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Christopher Pallas","Joseph Bock"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Elliott, Joel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-05-05T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Conflict Management"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy in International Conflict Management (Ph.D. INCM)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Islamic State","propaganda","conflict management","peacebuilding","religious fundamentalism","Daesh","Defense and Security Studies","International and Intercultural Communication","International Relations","Mass Communication","Near and Middle Eastern Studies","Peace and Conflict Studies","Social Influence and Political Communication","Terrorism Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/incmdoc_etd/32"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation operates on the idea that, as conflict researchers, we can look to Islamic State’s (referred to from here on as ‘Daesh’) own recruitment propaganda to identify the best people to counter Daesh’s violent rhetoric. This project analyzes Daesh’s main print publication, Dabiq, to catalogue and classify the types of people and institutions Daesh targets most, and which types of arguments Daesh uses to attack those targets. It uses this information to test the Co-Religionist Hypothesis, which predicts that the most effective peaceful interveners in a religious conflict will be of the same religion as the belligerents. Conventional wisdom holds that Daesh, in choosing targets to fight both on the battlefield and in its recruitment propaganda, prioritizes groups that are less similar to it – for example, Jews and Christians. My analysis upends this conventional wisdom, and in fact shows that the binary assumption of the Co-Religionist Hypothesis itself is too simplistic. This dissertation finds, rather, that the most effective intervenors are found along a Religious Continuum that identifies not only co-religionists, but also co-sectarians and co-fundamentalists, and, further, non-co-religionists who are of different, but similar religious traditions. These findings can help inform future peaceful counterpropaganda campaigns that focus on religious conflict.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Taking Terrorists at Their Word: Testing the Co-Religionist Hypothesis in Islamic State Propaganda"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Christopher Pallas","Joseph Bock"],"dc:creator":["Elliott, Joel"],"dc:date.available":["2022-05-05T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation operates on the idea that, as conflict researchers, we can look to Islamic State’s (referred to from here on as ‘Daesh’) own recruitment propaganda to identify the best people to counter Daesh’s violent rhetoric. This project analyzes Daesh’s main print publication, Dabiq, to catalogue and classify the types of people and institutions Daesh targets most, and which types of arguments Daesh uses to attack those targets. It uses this information to test the Co-Religionist Hypothesis, which predicts that the most effective peaceful interveners in a religious conflict will be of the same religion as the belligerents. Conventional wisdom holds that Daesh, in choosing targets to fight both on the battlefield and in its recruitment propaganda, prioritizes groups that are less similar to it – for example, Jews and Christians. My analysis upends this conventional wisdom, and in fact shows that the binary assumption of the Co-Religionist Hypothesis itself is too simplistic. This dissertation finds, rather, that the most effective intervenors are found along a Religious Continuum that identifies not only co-religionists, but also co-sectarians and co-fundamentalists, and, further, non-co-religionists who are of different, but similar religious traditions. These findings can help inform future peaceful counterpropaganda campaigns that focus on religious conflict.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/incmdoc_etd/32"],"dc:subject":["Islamic State","propaganda","conflict management","peacebuilding","religious fundamentalism","Daesh","Defense and Security Studies","International and Intercultural Communication","International Relations","Mass Communication","Near and Middle Eastern Studies","Peace and Conflict Studies","Social Influence and Political Communication","Terrorism Studies"],"dc:title":["Taking Terrorists at Their Word: Testing the Co-Religionist Hypothesis in Islamic State Propaganda"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Conflict Management"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy in International Conflict Management (Ph.D. INCM)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:42Z"}