The Organic Intellectuals That Were Not and the Predicaments of the Islamic State

The role of the intellectuals in episodes of radical political mobilization is one of providers of leadership (moral, ideational, and programmatic) to a social formation to foster a given political project. In this article, I propose a Gramscian inspired analysis of the politics of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). I posit that its leadership sought to perform the role of “organic intellectuals” as theorized by Gramsci and thereby spur and sustain a radical political project along the lines of Jihadi-Salafi ideology and practice. I argue that the failure of ISIS leadership and cadres to perform the role of organic intellectuals for the social formation they were addressing and hoping to mobilize (the Sunni populations of Iraq and Syria) contributed to the demise of ISIS political project, as attested by the increasing unpopularity of its rule and governance once it was imposed on local contexts. I offer a Critical Discourse Analysis examination of two texts from prominent ISIS leaders, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Abu Muhammad Al-‘Adnani, as I focus on the intersection between ideology and practice in ISIS politics: ultimately, its project did not provide moral direction and political purpose which could galvanize and unify the people under its rule.