The Geographical and Spatial Imaginings of Islamist Extremism/Terrorism

Abstract

The contemporary Islamist extremist/terrorist phenomenon has emerged as one of the most significant threats to both regional and international peace, security, and stability. As the international community struggles to develop a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon in its present context, the academic community should respond and discuss this subject from all relevant disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives. If effective and successful policies, strategies, and tactics are to be developed in order to adequately confront these transnational actors, all dimensions of the subject need to be explored. This thesis examines certain aspects of the under-theorized geographical dimension of Islamist extremist/terrorism. Focusing on Al Qaeda and other members of the Islamist extremist/terrorist constituency, this thesis explores the geographical and spatial imagination of the Islamist terrorist subject and deconstructs the geographical and spatial imaginings of Islamist extremism/terrorism through critically analyzing the diffuse international structure of Islamist terrorism and its related groups, the cultural ?space? Islamist extremist/terrorist actors occupy, and the function of landscape in the identity and subjectivity of Islamist extremist/terrorism.