Knowing the Enemy: Understanding the Islamic State and Principles for Defeating It

Abstract

The purposes of this Perspective are to help identify threats to U.S. interests posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), propose a context in which ISIL should be judged (particularly ISIL's character and motivations, as well as key regional and global issues that frame the context), provide an initial framework for interpreting these insights, and outline a way ahead for developing and assessing courses of action and generating concrete options. This paper does not attempt to develop discrete courses of action or critique current ones; rather, it seeks to outline general principles that U.S. policymakers must consider when conceiving and weighing appropriate strategies to combat ISIL.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2017
Accession Number
AD1084779

Entities

People

  • Barbara Sude
  • Ben Connable
  • James F. Dobbins
  • Terrence K. Kelly

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil War
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • Insurgency
  • Intelligence Community (United States)
  • Law
  • Middle East
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Public Policy
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Security
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Theoretical Analysis.