Description
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: The Phenomenon of Non-State Armed Actors and Patterns of Violent Geopolitics in the Middle East .- 2. The Transformation of the Regional Order and Non-state Armed Actors: Pathways to the Empowerment .- 3. Understanding “Foreign Policy” of the PYD/YPG as a Non-State Actor in Syria and Beyond .- 4. The Kurdish Fight Against ISIS: Realizing the Virtual Kurdistan through Factionalized Politics in a Fragmented Homeland .- 5. Global Politics of Image and the Making of a Legitimate Non-State Armed Actor: Syrian Kurds and ‘the Secular West’ in Kobane .- 6. From Al-Qaeda to Post Qaeda: The Evolution of ISIS .- 7. The New Middle East, ISIS and the 6th Revolt against the West .- 8. A New Controversial Actor in Post-ISIS Iraq: Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi (The Popular Mobilization Forces) .- 9. Operationalizing the Vision of Building a New Caliphate: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State (IS) .- 10. The Making of Foreign Fighters in the Middle East: Identity, Social Media and VirtualRadicalization .- 11. What the ISIS Crisis Means for the Future of the Middle East .- 12. Conclusion: The State of the Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East.