Typological Varieties of Transnational Jihadism and Implications for Conflict Resolution

Conflicts involving transnational jihadist actors have been difficult to resolve. Are global jihadist groups uniquely resilient or conflict prone? In order to address this question, this article unpacks what we mean by global jihadism and evaluates how different aspects of transnationalism affect the prospects of conflict termination and disengagement from violence, drawing on existing arguments from both terrorism studies and peace studies. The article develops a new typology of armed Islamist groups, based on whether they have national or transnational goals, engage in national or transnational mobilization, and operate in one or multiple countries. Building on this typology, the article underlines three potential vulnerabilities of transnational armed actors: localization, fragmentation and public backlash. The empirical section illustrates these vulnerabilities and the tensions that can emerge between local and global imperatives in the case of the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah.