The Islamic State Healthcare Paradox: A Caliphate in Crisis

By Archit Baskaran
2015, Vol. 7 No. 07 | pg. 3/3 |

Turning the Tide: Exploiting Existing Social Dynamics to Degrade and Destroy the Caliphate

In Inside Rebellion, Jeremy Weinstein argues that terrorist organizations face a core dilemma when they attempt to govern: they cannot attain their goals if they do not govern; yet, they repeatedly fail at governance efforts, exposing their greatest weaknesses (Ross and Magen). This feature of the IS caliphate is a vulnerability that Western nations and the coalition must exploit in order to win this war. Rather than prescribing solely military solutions to extremist problems, nations must carefully examine local resistance and social dynamics to amplify group resistance against IS control. IS’s narrative is not a new phenomenon in history.

“One of the first groups to engage in anticolonial jihad and state-building was the fighters led by Abd al-Qadir, who challenged the French imperial invasion of North Africa in the 1830s and 1840s. Qadir declared himself “commander of the faithful” — the title of a caliph — and founded an Islamic state in western Algeria, with a capital in Mascara, a regular army and an administration that enforcedShariah lawand provided some public services (Motadel).”

Likewise, the Mahdist state in Sudan, led by the self-proclaimed leader Muhammed Ahmad, called for Jihad while establishing state structures under a Sharia Law framework (Motadel). Both conflicts had a common theme with IS today: a caliph, a theoretically disciplined state, and a social service apparatus. They all believed in militant Islamism and denounced modernity and alternate faiths. Nevertheless, they were both completely destroyed by Western nations—France and Britain. Here’s why:

“While jihadist networks or guerrilla groups are difficult to fight, a state, which can be invaded, is far easier to confront. And once there is a theocratic state, it often becomes clear that its rulers are incapable of providing sufficient social and political solutions, gradually alienating its subjects (Motadel).”

Now, the question is how to find a solution. Many Muslims living under the caliphate’s rule regard IS as the only option for them, and thereby those individuals tacitly consent to the systematic oppression and brutality. An extensive research study involving over one million interviews across Iraq both before and after IS assumed control and Syria found that “the Islamic State is ideologically incompatible with the many of the residents of the territory it now occupies (Al-Dagher).” Unlike Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in Palestine, which are sufficiently able to provide social services in areas that the government was unable to provide those same services (Al-Dagher), the Islamic State is widely disliked; survey results indicated that more than 90 percent of Sunni Muslims living under IS control view the Islamic State as a terrorist organization—not a state—and 80 percent of citizens support the international coalition effort to degrade and destroy IS (Al-Dagher).

In 2007, the United States combined extensive military operations and social service provisions in order to oust Al Qaeda in Iraq from Anbar Province during the Awakening.

“The silence of the population, of a substantial portion thereof, is critical for insurgencies. … For many years, the residents of Anbar governorate knew who the insurgents were but lacked either the will or violent capacity to resist them. American and Iraqi security forces had the combat power but not the required information [to defeat the insurgents] (Shaver and Tenorio).”

Coupling social services with militarism created that necessary solution. In order to replicate those same results on a grander scale, it is crucial that the United States begins to shift its operations to rationalize IS as a state and not as a military entity with traditional terrorist goals. As the IS power dynamics shift with growing resilience among Sunni Muslims under IS-control, and as new outbreaks of disease and maltreatment of medical professionals is exacerbated by greater violence, Western powers can begin framing discourse under a light of health and humanitarianism coupled with military decision-making, for in the words of Sun Tzu, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”


References

Abboud, M. (2014, August 19). ISIS militants threaten Mosul’s female doctors. Retrieved June 4, 2015.

AID AND THE ISLAMIC STATE. (2014, December 1). IRIN/HPG Crisis Brief, pp. 1-5. Retrieved June 4, 2015.

Alami, M. (2014, December 24). ISIS’s Governance Crisis (Part II): Social Services. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Al-Dagher, M. (2015, March 24). How Iraqi Sunnis really feel about the Islamic State. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Al-Jadda, S. (2014, January 17). Syrian Healthcare System in Danger. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Al-Tamimi, A. (2015, January 20). Aspects of Islamic State (IS) Administration in Ninawa Province: Part II. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Arango, T., Salhy, S., Chivers, C., Hubbard, B., Nordland, R., & Rubin, A. (2014, September 16). How ISIS Works. The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/16/world/middleeast/how-isis-works.html

Bacchi, U., & Limam, A. (2015, April 24). Isis mimics Britain's NHS with 'Islamic State Health Service ISHS' International Business Times. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-mimics-britains-nhs-islamic-state-health-service-ishs-1498183

Barrett, R. (2014). The Islamic State (pp. 1-58).

Barrett, R. (2014). The Soufan Group. The Islamic State (pp. 1-58).

Bennhold, K. (2015, March 22). Medical Students From Britain Are Sought in Syria. The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://nyti.ms/1xRyp2C

Cunningham, E. (2014, November 25). Islamic State imposes a reign of fear in Iraqi hospitals. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Cooper, C. (2015, January 15). Washington warns 'next Ebola' will strike in IS-controlled Iraq and Syria. The Independent. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Cunningham, E. (2014, November 25). Islamic State imposes a reign of fear in Iraqi hospitals. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Cunningham, E. (2014, November 26). Islamic State group issues ultimatum to doctors. Retrieved June 4, 2015.

Deutsche Welle. Documents reveal extensive bureaucratic structures in Islamic State. (2014, November 14). Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Diab, K. (2014, July 2). The Caliphate Fantasy. The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2015, from http://nyti.ms/1qxqg3P

Dreazen, Y. (2014, August 19). From electricity to sewage, U.S. intelligence says ISIS is fast learning how to run a country. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Fick, Maggie. U.N. Accuses Islamic State of Executions, Rape, Forced Child Recruitment in Iraq. (2014, July 18). The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://nyti.ms/1ldAO18

Friedland, E. (2015). Special Report: The Islamic State. The Clarion Project.

Gutman, R. (2015, February 11). In Recent Months, ISIS Targeted Hospitals, Doctors, Journalists. Retrieved June 4, 2015.

Halevy, D., & Yasher, A. (2014, June 7). Islamic State Executes Female Doctors and Politicians. Retrieved June 4, 2015.

Halevy, D., & Blank, C. (2014, December 18). Israel National News. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Hubbard, B., & Schmitt, E. (2014, August 27). Military Skill and Terrorist Technique Fuel Success of ISIS. The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2015, from http://nyti.ms/1tEDcVI

ISIS fighters hit by deadly 'flesh-eating' disease. (2015, April 6). Al Arabiya News. Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2015/04/06/ISIS-fighters-hit-by-deadly-disease.html

Islamic State Expands Its 'State' (2015, May 22). The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://nyti.ms/1ekrSdH

Islamic State releases video on new healthcare system. (2015, April 26). I24 News. Retrieved June 4, 2015, from http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/69086-150426-islamic-state-releases-video-on-new-

Johns Hopkins University. Syrian Medical Voices from the Ground: The Ordeal of Syria’s Healthcare Professionals. (2015). Retrieved June 4, 2015, from https://www.sams-usa.net/foundation/images/PDFs/Syrian Medical Voices from the Ground_F.pdf

Kakutani, M. (2015, April 2). Review: ‘ISIS: The State of Terror,’ by Jessica Stern and J. M. Berger, and ‘ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror,’ by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan. The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://nyti.ms/1DBweGT

Lister, C. (2014). Proling the Islamic State. Foreign Policy at Brookings, 13. Retrieved June 4, 2015, from http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2014/11/profiling-islamic-state-lister/en_web_lister.pdf?la=en

MACFARLANE, M. (2015, April 2). ISIS in danger of being wiped out - by deadly flesh-eating disease.

The Mirror. Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/isis-danger-being-wiped-out-5448779

Mahmood, M. (2015, February 17). Double-layered veils and despair … women describe life under Isis.

Mecham, Q. (2015, February 5). How much of a state is the Islamic State? The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Motadel, D. (2014, September 23). The Ancestors of ISIS. The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/opinion/the-ancestors-of-isis.html

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). Anatomy of a Crisis: A Map of Attacks on Health Care in Syria. (2015, April 1). PHR, pp. 1-3. Retrieved June 4, 2015, from https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_syria_map/findings.pdf

Porter, T. (2014, November 14). International Business Times. Isis Kills Six Doctors for Refusing to Treat Wounded Militants in Mosul. Retrieved June 17, 2015.

Reuters. Governments Should Talk to Islamic State to Get Aid Access: UNICEF. (2015, March 13). The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://nyti.ms/1BI4Sug

Ross, D., & Magen, A. (2014, July 18). The jihadist governance dilemma. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Rudaw. ISIS executes more doctors in Mosul. (2014, December 28). Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Shaver, A., & Tenorio, G. (2014, June 19). Want to defeat ISIS in Iraq? More electricity would help. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Siegel-Itzkovich, J. (2015, April 6). ISIS militants reportedly being attacked by serious skin disease. The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Sly, L. (2014, December 24). The Islamic State is failing at being a state. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Snyder, B. (2015, April 25). Islamic State Health Service? ISIS launch British-inspired NHS. Retrieved June 4, 2015.

Stewart, M. (2014). What’s so new about the Islamic State’s governance? (Vol. 9, pp. 32-33). Project on Middle East Political Science.

Umaña, F. (2015). The Islamic State: More than a Terrorist Group? E-International Relations Students.

Waugh, E. (n.d.). Religious Traditions and Healthcare Decisions. In The Islamic Tradition: Religious Beliefs and Healthcare Decisions.

Wellen, R. (2014, June 25). The Two Faces of ISIS: Summary Executions and Planting Flowers. Foreign Policy ‘in Focus. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Wyke, T. (2015, April 24). Islamic State unveils the ISHS - its own version of Britain's NHS: Islamists promote new health service with poster campaign nearly identical to the UK's. DailyMail. Retrieved June 5, 2015.

Zizek, S. (2014, September 3). ISIS Is a Disgrace to True Fundamentalism. The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://nyti.ms/1qyIP5q

Suggested Reading from Inquiries Journal

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (more commonly known as “ISIS,” but also referred to as the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” or simply “the Islamic State”) has been on a reign of terror in the Middle East for the past three years, and emerged seemingly out of nowhere. However, though... MORE»
Advertisement
In the past five years, millions of people have lost their homes, loved ones, and lives.2 The Syrian territory is now a battlefield, contested by multiple actors. The rise of the Islamic State underscores the hopeless nature of this bloody quagmire. The speed at which the Islamic State has captured and held territory, as well as... MORE»
The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – also known as ISIL, IS and Daesh – has during the last years disseminated videos throughout the Internet in a new recruitment and media strategy focusing... MORE»
The global network of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Daesh,2 is expanding rapidly. Southeast Asia is especially vulnerable because of its large Muslim population and its history of extremist groups. In fact, some experts predict that Daesh could establish a strong satellite presence in Southeast Asia within... MORE»
Submit to Inquiries Journal, Get a Decision in 10-Days

Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines.

Representing the work of students from hundreds of institutions around the globe, Inquiries Journal's large database of academic articles is completely free. Learn more | Blog | Submit

Follow IJ

Latest in Political Science

2022, Vol. 14 No. 09
This interdisciplinary paper investigates the shortfalls and obstacles to success currently facing the climate movement, examining issues represented by the disconnect between policy and electoral politics, the hypocrisy and blatant indifference... Read Article »
2022, Vol. 14 No. 06
Two of the most prevalent protest movements in recent history were the Black Lives Matter and the #StopTheSteal movements. While there are many differences between the two, one of the most prevalent is their use of violence. Whereas the BLM movement... Read Article »
2022, Vol. 14 No. 05
Strong linkages between autocrats and the military are often seen as a necessary condition for authoritarian regime survival in the face of uprising. The Arab Spring of 2011 supports this contention: the armed forces in Libya and Syria suppressed... Read Article »
2022, Vol. 14 No. 04
During the summer of 2020, two fatal shootings occurred following Black Lives Matter protests. The first event involved Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the second Michael Reinoehl in Portland, Oregon. Two shootings, each committed by... Read Article »
2022, Vol. 14 No. 02
In popular international relations (IR) theory, knowledge production is often dismissed as an objective process between the researcher and the empirical world. This article rejects this notion and contends that the process of knowledge production... Read Article »
2022, Vol. 14 No. 01
This article explores the political relationship between nation-building, ethnicity, and democracy in the context of Ethiopia. It traces Ethiopia's poltical history, explores the consequential role ethnicity has played in the formation of the modern... Read Article »
2022, Vol. 14 No. 01
The study examines the degree to which Xi Jinping has brought about a strategic shift to the Chinese outward investment pattern and how this may present significant political leverage and military advantages for China in the Indian Ocean Region (... Read Article »

What are you looking for?

FROM OUR BLOG

Finding Balance in Graduate School
The Career Value of the Humanities & Liberal Arts
What is the Secret to Success?