ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the content of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) Inspire magazine and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) Dabiq and Rumiyah. It describes the prevalent themes in the publications and their changes over time. The chapter discusses the theoretical and methodological conceptualization of the project. It focuses on the findings pertaining to each individual magazine and summarizes with cross-case comparisons between Inspire, Dabiq, and Rumiyah and offers policy recommendations. Terrorist groups such as AQAP and the ISIS have published online magazines to spread their ideologies, define their enemies, construct in- and out-group identities, and to recruit followers. Indeed, in terms of national security, actions of terrorist organizations offer valuable insights into the working of such groups, while terrorist rhetoric and narratives can be misleading. AQAP’s Inspire magazine is a product of a creative partnership between Samir Khan and Anwar al-Awlaki. The magazines contain a large amount of detail on the groups’ enemies and competing groups.
