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ISIS and the Middle East What is ISIS doing between public atrocities? Plenty. And, says Feryaz Ocakli, that complicates matters for everyone in the region:
The Islamic State, or ISIS, is capturing media attention with sensational acts like beheadings and burnings. But more qui- etly it is establishing governance in the areas it has taken over. The longer it stays in power, the more entrenched and “normalized” its rule will become. ISIS is a brutal armed force that is trying to expand its ter-
ritory. At the same time, rather like the Taliban in Afghani - stan, it has established a religious police force and sharia courts. It is suppressing and killing religious minorities; Shi- ites and Yazidis have borne the brunt. The minorities who are spared and the Sunnis of the region are living under the group’s day-to-day authoritarian rule. Unlike some other Is- lamist groups, such as the civil and political arms of Hezbol- lah and the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS is not very good at
managing institutions or providing social services. But given time, it will likely get better.
While ISIS calls itself a “state,” its philosophy is strictly anti-statist. Since it views sovereignty as properly belonging only to god, nation-states that rely on international recogni- tion and the consent of the governed are incompatible with its vision. ISIS sees itself as the political and religious force that will “reunite” historically Islamic lands, stretching from Spain and Portugal to North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Central Asia. It has already made a point of publicly destroying boundaries, removing several signs and border stations between Iraq and Syria. Its aggressively revi- sionist outlook—its desire to eradicate borders and bring large swaths of land under its control—is very threatening to every state in the region.
It is important to remember that the Soviet Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran also had expansionist and maxim - alist ambitions after their respective revolutions. But they
16 SCOPE SPRING 2015
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