Islamic States Pros And Cons

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also translated as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or al sham (ISIS) and known in Arabic by the acronym Daʿesh is an anti-Shi'ist unrecognized Islamic state in Iraq and Syria. Being unrecognized by the international community, it is difficult to accurately classify the organization/state and therefore difficult to rate in terms of power.1 However, ISIS itself claims sovereignty and statehood and has proven that it is capable of forming a government and managing the territory it controls. Assuming that ISIS is a state in the international community it would be classified as a pre-modern state, unable to maintain complete self-sufficiency with power mainly in the form of hard military and
law enforcement. It lacks Diplomacy and more subtle means of population control.2 In relation to its neighbors, ISIS remains a powerful suitor to claim the territory and a substantial military power, but also uses smart powerful negotiations with many groups and states in their location.
In a power rating out of 10, ISIS can muster a 6 among the world, due not only to its surprising military success but its potential for economic prosperity. While it contains a great deal of industry and infrastructure allowing maintaining self-sufficiency, the current state is not responsible for the formation of the aspects or a more modern state. Instead ISIS relies on the backbone of systems set in place by the regimes that ruled over the area before ISIS’s rise to power. Therefore ISIS still remains reliant on other states to function and has yet to prove substantial ability to maintain and advance such necessities. Its sources of military power come from a strong and
trending ideology that pulls in supporters from all over the world and gives the state an almost endless supply of man power. The remaining government of Iraq has stated that the state may have over 100,000 troops at its disposal.3 That is half the amount of nearby Turkey and would put ISIS into the top 25 largest militaries on earth.4 Another source of power in the area is the natural resources. Bother Syria and Iraq the countries occupied by ISIS has tremendous reserves of oil.5 Possibly the most sought after natural resource of our time, the occupied area makes op a large part of the world’s oil reserve. If ISIS establishes itself as a legitimate state and is able to capitalize on its oil wealth it would also be able to pick up the trade relations that Syria and Iraq already maintained with many major states in the international system. A place where ISIS still lacks is access to the sea. While both Iraq and Syria have coastline and ports, ISIS is unable to maintain control of sea access for extended periods of time. Without substantial sea access the Islamic State could see itself cut off from much needed resources and restricted to what it can produce within its area of influence alone.
We will be looking at the instruments of power ISIS has which has seven different categories those being, Diplomatic, Information, Military, Economic, Financial, Intelligence, and Law enforcement. First let’s take a look at the areas ISIS controls. First being Iraq. Iraq is a country in the Middle East with a 80 percent being Arab and the other 20 percent being Kurdish. The two major religions in Iraq at this time are Muslim and Christian.6 The predominate language is Arabic and Kurdish, and the country has a population of about 32 million.7 The other country ISIS has a big foot hold in is Syria. Some background information on Syria is, the country is 90 percent Arab. The two main languages are Arabic and Kurdish, and the top two religions are Muslim and Christianity The country has a population of about 17 million.8 Now let’s talk about their instruments of power. When it comes to diplomacy ISIS really has none. They are not interested in finding a peaceful resolution they just want to continue their bloody rampage in the Middle East.
Although they fore other countries to be diplomatic to find a solution to get rid of ISIS as you can see in this quote from the U.N. “It called on Member States to take national measures to prevent fighters from travelling from their soil to join the groups.”9 The next subject is Information this is one of ISIS’s strong suits. As a whole their organization is very well informed. They have a very big communication network all over the world giving them up to date information which allows them to be better informed about what’s happening around them. The next subject is Military power. This is where ISIS really shines, because they are nothing but a military “state” if you will everything they do is through their fighting organizations. The only way ISIS has gained any territory is through a violent take over which usually includes widespread fighting and sometimes mass executions. For a terrorist organization they are very well equipped and trained. They are well armed having a large number of small arms. They also have a very large motor pool of vehicle, some new pickup truck as we have seen in many pictures as well as many heavy military vehicles like tanks they capture as they advance their territory. They also have more military type training than most terrorist organization and all these factors are what make them more like a formal military than a band of fighters. Even top U.S. military officials think so as we can see in this quote, "They're incredible fighters. ISIS teams in many places use special operations TTPs," said the second official, who has considerable combat experience, using the military term for "tactics, techniques and procedures." ISIS has accomplished most of its goals through military force. I’m going to combine the next two types of power because they are very similar those being economics and financial power. This is another big area for ISIS which also separates them from normal terrorist groups. ISIS is very well of financially for a couple reasons. One ISIS earns about three million dollars a day from a couple different avenues. The biggest being the sale of oil as we can see in these quotes, “Their principal source of income is the oil produced by the installations situated in the east of Syria.”10 “After all, the terrorists sell their crude oil at a bargain price – between 15 and 40 dollars per barrel, compared to an international quotation on the market of about 100 dollars.”11 This shows how organized they are economically. They also make money by collecting taxes in the areas they control as well as through kidnappings of foreign diplomats. The next subject is Intelligence, again as with the information ISIS is very well informed they use drones to survey their territories and gather info on their enemy’s they have scouts as well. Just like a real military they have their own Intel networks which is one reason thy fight so effectively and can take over areas so quickly. The last type of power is Law enforcement; this is very similar to their military power they rule with an iron fist they keep control over their territories by intimidation and if people don’t obey they kill them they are truly ruthless.
What approach ISIS uses in the international system, might be. They would use hard power because that seems to be their nature to throw around their military strength but they surprisingly don’t use hard power. ISIS use Smart powers the most when interacting with other nations. I say this because as I mentioned in a previous paper they know how to interact with western nations by acting refined and somewhat civilized but when they interact with its surrounding neighbors they try to appear as violent and blood thirsty as possible. That’s why they use Smart power because they have specific tailored designs for each country they deal with.
The Islamic State is a certainly controversial and debated institution, but due to its military power and its ability to maintain its land it shows potential to outlast the coalition’s waging war against it. While it is currently dependent on the infrastructure of its predecessor states, if it were to become a recognized state the land it wishes to encompass in a caliphate is rich in resources and religious national fervor. It is an easy movement from its current position to modern self-reliant state if they are to win the war. While it is not recognized and currently despised by its surrounding nations it has a power rating of 6 out of 10 due to its impressive military success and its large possibility for economic gain.