{"product_id":"strategic-culture-violent-nonstate-act","title":"Strategic Culture \u0026 Violent Nonstate Act","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis book applies strategic culture concepts to violent non-state actors (VNSAs) in a comparative analysis. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn recent years, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has become notorious for kidnapping Western hostages in north-western Africa and for its role in the short-lived Islamist takeover of Mali. The group, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, rebranded itself as an Al-Qaida franchise in 2007, leading to speculation of a change from its Algeria-centric agenda to an anti-Western one. This study compares and contrasts the ideas and behaviour of these two groups, using a strategic-cultural approach, and finds that, despite some commonalities, AQIM has a distinct strategic culture from Al-Qaida central, thereby debunking the notion of Al-Qaida as a monolithic movement. This is the first comparative analysis of violent non-state actors to employ a strategic-cultural approach and the first such study on AQIM. While strategic culture has traditionally been applied to states, this work adds to the emerging literature applying such approaches to non-state armed groups, and employs a novel conception of strategic culture consisting of narratives and practices.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book will be of much interest to students of strategic culture, political violence, Middle Eastern politics and Security Studies in general.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57310427545982,"sku":"NW9780367223632","price":131.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780367223632.jpg?v=1778582529","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/strategic-culture-violent-nonstate-act","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}