Brynjar Lia
Biographic Data
| ID | 1402879 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brynjar Lia |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brynjar |
| FAMILY NAME | Lia |
| SIGNATURE | LIA B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 28 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1970 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Fra militsstyre til stat: I hvilken grad har Syria lyktes med å integrere landets mange militser og opprørsgrupper
Maktskiftet i Damaskus 8. desember 2024, da det brutale regimet til diktatoren Bashar al-Assad ble veltet av en allianse syriske opprørsgrupper, markerte slutten på den 14 år lange borgerkrigen i Syria. I spissen for de nye makthaverne stod opprørsgruppen Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, «Organisasjonen for frigjøring av Levanten»). Den hadde styrt i Idlib-provinsen i nordvestlige Syria siden 2017 og var en terrorlistet islamistisk bevegelse hvis forl…
Al-Qaʿida Revisited
This essay addresses the history of Usama bin Laden’s al-Qaʿida and the U.S.’s global war on terror through the prism of two new books by leading experts in the field. Nelly Lahoud’s book makes important use of new documents seized at bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad. Peter Bergen explores the relationship between Pakistan, al-Qaʿida, and the American war on terror. Both of these books add to the scholarly literature and shed light on existing …
Crusader Hirelings or Loyal Subjects? Evolving Jihadist Perspectives on Christian Minorities in the Middle East
In contrast to common assumptions, jihadist movements’ view of Christian minorities in the Middle East has been neither unambiguous nor static. It changes according to the overall political conflict in the region and is characterized by specific, unpredictable struggles that arise locally. By studying the official statements of al-Qaeda and ISIS, their ideological and strategic writings and their conduct vis-à-vis indigenous Christians in the Mid…
Who Supported the Early Muslim Brotherhood
Scholarship on political Islam suggests that support for early Islamist movements came from literate merchants, government officials, and professionals who lacked political representation. We test these claims with a unique tranche of microlevel data drawn from a Muslim Brotherhood petition campaign in interwar Egypt. Matching the occupations of over 2,500 Brotherhood supporters to contemporaneous census data, we show that Egyptians employed in c…
A Kurdish al-Qaida? Making Sense of the Ansar al-Islam Movement in Iraqi Kurdistan in the Early 2000s
Initially construed as the vital link between Saddam Husayn's Iraq and al-Qaida in the runup to the Iraq war, the Ansar al-Islam (AI) group formed in Iraqi Kurdistan in December 2001 has been the subject of intense debate and huge media coverage. In academic research, however, its history, evolution and affiliation have received surprisingly little academic scrutiny. Commonly depicted as an al-Qaida affiliated group or a sub-group controlled by a…
Rebel governance and kinship groups in the Middle East and Africa
Since the 2010s, the Middle East and Africa have witnessed a sharp proliferation of insurgent proto-states – territorial enclaves controlled by insurgent groups. Gathering six ethnographic accounts from these regions, this volume seeks to answer the following: How do rebel governments and kin-based forms of socio-political organisation shape and influence one another? When rebels establish territorial control, their emerging proto-states will be …
The Islamic State's tribal policies in Syria and Iraq
The surprising ability of the jihadist organisation “the Islamic State” to capture and hold large territories in Syria and Iraq raises important questions regarding rebel governance in civil wars. One understudied aspect in the growing literature on rebel rule is insurgents’ relations to kinship organisations. This article offers a detailed empirical exploration of ISIS’ tribal policies in the mid-2010s. It argues that ISIS’ relative success in m…
The Jihādī Movement and Rebel Governance: A Reassertion of a Patriarchal Order
The rise of ISIS has drawn scholarly attention to militant Islamist movements as quasi-state actors, embracing governance as a core area of legitimation. Due to their commitment to conservative, literalist interpretations of Shara, jihd movements have gained a reputation for being patriarchal, misogynist, and ultra-masculinist. This article seeks to qualify this perception, arguing that the social and political order established in jihd proto-sta…
Middle Eastern Patriarchy in Transition
The Islamist Uprising in Syria, 1976–82: The History and Legacy of a Failed Revolt
The Islamist Uprising in Syria between 1976 and 1982 remains understudied in view of the growing availability of new primary sources on the subject. The present article explores the unfolding of the Revolt, examining the causes for its eventual defeat and the long-term legacy of the Uprising. It argues that the Islamist Uprising in Syria failed for a variety of reasons, first and foremost internal disunity and indecisiveness, leading to a lack of…
Jihadism in the Arab World after 2011: Explaining Its Expansion
One of the most puzzling developments since the watershed event of 9/11 and the onset of the U.S.-led Global War on Terror (GWOT) is the expansion of the jihadi movement in the Arab world. This has taken place despite serious efforts to prevent it from happening. Massive investments in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency by a U.S.-led international coalition, in cooperation with regional partners, have included the entire spectrum of instrumen…
John Mackinlay: The Insurgent Archipelago
Doctrines for Jihadi Terrorist Training
Based on an in-depth review of jihadi discourse on terrorist training and preparation, this article finds considerable differences between leading jihadi theorists on issues such as how training should be defined, its ultimate purpose, and where and how to prepare jihadi fighters. However, they all agree on the importance of training, and that ideological indoctrination and spiritual preparation should take precedence over physical and military t…
Globalisation and the Future of Terrorism: Patterns and Predictions
This new study is devoted to understanding how international terrorism is shaped, how it evolves and what we can expect in the future. Drawing upon research and methods outside the traditional focus, and by taking both a theoretical approach and a new practical predictive perspective, it delivers a fresh and fascinating contribution to terrorism studies. While predicting terrorism is a highly speculative business, there are ways of identifying ce…
Globalisation and the Future of Terrorism: Patterns and Predictions
Jihadi Strategic Studies: The Alleged Al Qaida Policy Study Preceding the Madrid Bombings
This article analyzes an Al Qaida strategy document about Iraq that received considerable attention after the Madrid bombings because of its references to the Spanish elections. The current article discusses the origin, content, and significance of the document and argues that it represents a hitherto unidentified genre in radical Islamist literature, namely "jihadi strategic studies." The text, which is secular in style, analytical in its approa…
Contemporary Terrorism from A to Z
Book Notes
Mot nye og farlegare formar for terrorisme? Trendar og utviklingstrekk ved moderne terrorisme
The establishment of a Palestinian police force in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
Islamist perceptions of the United Nations and its peacekeeping missions: Some preliminary findings
The portrayal of Islamic fundamentalism (Islamism) as the new security threat to the West has coincided with a considerable build‐up of Western military capacity for humanitarian interventions and peacekeeping. Presumably, the juxtaposition of these trends adds to the legacy of Western domination and will affect negatively Western participation in peacekeeping in the Muslim world. To address this issue, this article discusses Islamist perceptions…
Autobiography or Fiction? Ḥasan al-Bannā’s Memoirs Revisited
Scholars dealing with the rise of contemporary Islamism and the Muslim Brothers’ early history frequently turn to Ḥasan al-Bannā’s autobiography, Mudhakkirāt al-Daʿwah wa’l-Dāʿiyah (Memoirs of the Call and the Preacher) as one major source of information about the movement’s origin. Despite the centrality of this autobiography and the abundance of references to it in Islamist literature, it remains poorly understood. Drawing upon a range of under…
Jihadism in the Arab World after 2011: Explaining Its Expansion
One of the most puzzling developments since the watershed event of 9/11 and the onset of the U.S.-led Global War on Terror (GWOT) is the expansion of the jihadi movement in the Arab world. This has taken place despite serious efforts to prevent it from happening. Massive investments in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency by a U.S.-led international coalition, in cooperation with regional partners, have included the entire spectrum of instrumen…
The Jihādī Movement and Rebel Governance: A Reassertion of a Patriarchal Order
The rise of ISIS has drawn scholarly attention to militant Islamist movements as quasi-state actors, embracing governance as a core area of legitimation. Due to their commitment to conservative, literalist interpretations of Shara, jihd movements have gained a reputation for being patriarchal, misogynist, and ultra-masculinist. This article seeks to qualify this perception, arguing that the social and political order established in jihd proto-sta…
The Islamic State's tribal policies in Syria and Iraq
The surprising ability of the jihadist organisation “the Islamic State” to capture and hold large territories in Syria and Iraq raises important questions regarding rebel governance in civil wars. One understudied aspect in the growing literature on rebel rule is insurgents’ relations to kinship organisations. This article offers a detailed empirical exploration of ISIS’ tribal policies in the mid-2010s. It argues that ISIS’ relative success in m…
Doctrines for Jihadi Terrorist Training
Based on an in-depth review of jihadi discourse on terrorist training and preparation, this article finds considerable differences between leading jihadi theorists on issues such as how training should be defined, its ultimate purpose, and where and how to prepare jihadi fighters. However, they all agree on the importance of training, and that ideological indoctrination and spiritual preparation should take precedence over physical and military t…
Jihadi Strategic Studies: The Alleged Al Qaida Policy Study Preceding the Madrid Bombings
This article analyzes an Al Qaida strategy document about Iraq that received considerable attention after the Madrid bombings because of its references to the Spanish elections. The current article discusses the origin, content, and significance of the document and argues that it represents a hitherto unidentified genre in radical Islamist literature, namely "jihadi strategic studies." The text, which is secular in style, analytical in its approa…
Who Supported the Early Muslim Brotherhood
Scholarship on political Islam suggests that support for early Islamist movements came from literate merchants, government officials, and professionals who lacked political representation. We test these claims with a unique tranche of microlevel data drawn from a Muslim Brotherhood petition campaign in interwar Egypt. Matching the occupations of over 2,500 Brotherhood supporters to contemporaneous census data, we show that Egyptians employed in c…
The Islamist Uprising in Syria, 1976–82: The History and Legacy of a Failed Revolt
The Islamist Uprising in Syria between 1976 and 1982 remains understudied in view of the growing availability of new primary sources on the subject. The present article explores the unfolding of the Revolt, examining the causes for its eventual defeat and the long-term legacy of the Uprising. It argues that the Islamist Uprising in Syria failed for a variety of reasons, first and foremost internal disunity and indecisiveness, leading to a lack of…
Crusader Hirelings or Loyal Subjects? Evolving Jihadist Perspectives on Christian Minorities in the Middle East
In contrast to common assumptions, jihadist movements’ view of Christian minorities in the Middle East has been neither unambiguous nor static. It changes according to the overall political conflict in the region and is characterized by specific, unpredictable struggles that arise locally. By studying the official statements of al-Qaeda and ISIS, their ideological and strategic writings and their conduct vis-à-vis indigenous Christians in the Mid…
Islamist perceptions of the United Nations and its peacekeeping missions: Some preliminary findings
The portrayal of Islamic fundamentalism (Islamism) as the new security threat to the West has coincided with a considerable build‐up of Western military capacity for humanitarian interventions and peacekeeping. Presumably, the juxtaposition of these trends adds to the legacy of Western domination and will affect negatively Western participation in peacekeeping in the Muslim world. To address this issue, this article discusses Islamist perceptions…
Autobiography or Fiction? Ḥasan al-Bannā’s Memoirs Revisited
Scholars dealing with the rise of contemporary Islamism and the Muslim Brothers’ early history frequently turn to Ḥasan al-Bannā’s autobiography, Mudhakkirāt al-Daʿwah wa’l-Dāʿiyah (Memoirs of the Call and the Preacher) as one major source of information about the movement’s origin. Despite the centrality of this autobiography and the abundance of references to it in Islamist literature, it remains poorly understood. Drawing upon a range of under…
Islamist perceptions of the United Nations and its peacekeeping missions: Some preliminary findings
The portrayal of Islamic fundamentalism (Islamism) as the new security threat to the West has coincided with a considerable build‐up of Western military capacity for humanitarian interventions and peacekeeping. Presumably, the juxtaposition of these trends adds to the legacy of Western domination and will affect negatively Western participation in peacekeeping in the Muslim world. To address this issue, this article discusses Islamist perceptions…
The establishment of a Palestinian police force in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
Mot nye og farlegare formar for terrorisme? Trendar og utviklingstrekk ved moderne terrorisme
Book Notes
Contemporary Terrorism from A to Z
Jihadi Strategic Studies: The Alleged Al Qaida Policy Study Preceding the Madrid Bombings
This article analyzes an Al Qaida strategy document about Iraq that received considerable attention after the Madrid bombings because of its references to the Spanish elections. The current article discusses the origin, content, and significance of the document and argues that it represents a hitherto unidentified genre in radical Islamist literature, namely "jihadi strategic studies." The text, which is secular in style, analytical in its approa…
Globalisation and the Future of Terrorism: Patterns and Predictions
This new study is devoted to understanding how international terrorism is shaped, how it evolves and what we can expect in the future. Drawing upon research and methods outside the traditional focus, and by taking both a theoretical approach and a new practical predictive perspective, it delivers a fresh and fascinating contribution to terrorism studies. While predicting terrorism is a highly speculative business, there are ways of identifying ce…
Globalisation and the Future of Terrorism: Patterns and Predictions
Doctrines for Jihadi Terrorist Training
Based on an in-depth review of jihadi discourse on terrorist training and preparation, this article finds considerable differences between leading jihadi theorists on issues such as how training should be defined, its ultimate purpose, and where and how to prepare jihadi fighters. However, they all agree on the importance of training, and that ideological indoctrination and spiritual preparation should take precedence over physical and military t…
John Mackinlay: The Insurgent Archipelago
The Islamist Uprising in Syria, 1976–82: The History and Legacy of a Failed Revolt
The Islamist Uprising in Syria between 1976 and 1982 remains understudied in view of the growing availability of new primary sources on the subject. The present article explores the unfolding of the Revolt, examining the causes for its eventual defeat and the long-term legacy of the Uprising. It argues that the Islamist Uprising in Syria failed for a variety of reasons, first and foremost internal disunity and indecisiveness, leading to a lack of…
Jihadism in the Arab World after 2011: Explaining Its Expansion
One of the most puzzling developments since the watershed event of 9/11 and the onset of the U.S.-led Global War on Terror (GWOT) is the expansion of the jihadi movement in the Arab world. This has taken place despite serious efforts to prevent it from happening. Massive investments in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency by a U.S.-led international coalition, in cooperation with regional partners, have included the entire spectrum of instrumen…
The Jihādī Movement and Rebel Governance: A Reassertion of a Patriarchal Order
The rise of ISIS has drawn scholarly attention to militant Islamist movements as quasi-state actors, embracing governance as a core area of legitimation. Due to their commitment to conservative, literalist interpretations of Shara, jihd movements have gained a reputation for being patriarchal, misogynist, and ultra-masculinist. This article seeks to qualify this perception, arguing that the social and political order established in jihd proto-sta…
Middle Eastern Patriarchy in Transition
Rebel governance and kinship groups in the Middle East and Africa
Since the 2010s, the Middle East and Africa have witnessed a sharp proliferation of insurgent proto-states – territorial enclaves controlled by insurgent groups. Gathering six ethnographic accounts from these regions, this volume seeks to answer the following: How do rebel governments and kin-based forms of socio-political organisation shape and influence one another? When rebels establish territorial control, their emerging proto-states will be …
The Islamic State's tribal policies in Syria and Iraq
The surprising ability of the jihadist organisation “the Islamic State” to capture and hold large territories in Syria and Iraq raises important questions regarding rebel governance in civil wars. One understudied aspect in the growing literature on rebel rule is insurgents’ relations to kinship organisations. This article offers a detailed empirical exploration of ISIS’ tribal policies in the mid-2010s. It argues that ISIS’ relative success in m…
Crusader Hirelings or Loyal Subjects? Evolving Jihadist Perspectives on Christian Minorities in the Middle East
In contrast to common assumptions, jihadist movements’ view of Christian minorities in the Middle East has been neither unambiguous nor static. It changes according to the overall political conflict in the region and is characterized by specific, unpredictable struggles that arise locally. By studying the official statements of al-Qaeda and ISIS, their ideological and strategic writings and their conduct vis-à-vis indigenous Christians in the Mid…
Who Supported the Early Muslim Brotherhood
Scholarship on political Islam suggests that support for early Islamist movements came from literate merchants, government officials, and professionals who lacked political representation. We test these claims with a unique tranche of microlevel data drawn from a Muslim Brotherhood petition campaign in interwar Egypt. Matching the occupations of over 2,500 Brotherhood supporters to contemporaneous census data, we show that Egyptians employed in c…
A Kurdish al-Qaida? Making Sense of the Ansar al-Islam Movement in Iraqi Kurdistan in the Early 2000s
Initially construed as the vital link between Saddam Husayn's Iraq and al-Qaida in the runup to the Iraq war, the Ansar al-Islam (AI) group formed in Iraqi Kurdistan in December 2001 has been the subject of intense debate and huge media coverage. In academic research, however, its history, evolution and affiliation have received surprisingly little academic scrutiny. Commonly depicted as an al-Qaida affiliated group or a sub-group controlled by a…
Al-Qaʿida Revisited
This essay addresses the history of Usama bin Laden’s al-Qaʿida and the U.S.’s global war on terror through the prism of two new books by leading experts in the field. Nelly Lahoud’s book makes important use of new documents seized at bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad. Peter Bergen explores the relationship between Pakistan, al-Qaʿida, and the American war on terror. Both of these books add to the scholarly literature and shed light on existing …
Fra militsstyre til stat: I hvilken grad har Syria lyktes med å integrere landets mange militser og opprørsgrupper
Maktskiftet i Damaskus 8. desember 2024, da det brutale regimet til diktatoren Bashar al-Assad ble veltet av en allianse syriske opprørsgrupper, markerte slutten på den 14 år lange borgerkrigen i Syria. I spissen for de nye makthaverne stod opprørsgruppen Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, «Organisasjonen for frigjøring av Levanten»). Den hadde styrt i Idlib-provinsen i nordvestlige Syria siden 2017 og var en terrorlistet islamistisk bevegelse hvis forl…
Political science (18 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Politics (12 works) · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence (10 works) · History (9 works) · Political economy (9 works) · Ideology (7 works) · Islamic Studies and History (7 works) · Law (7 works)