ABSTRACT
Is al Qaeda part of civil society? After all it is a non-state actor. It consists of a loose cross-border
network of self-organised groups held together by a common sense of mission-in this case, a commitment to the violent struggle of Global Islam against the materialist decadent West. The main contact points are training camps or sympathetic mosques. Its funds1 derive from voluntary contributions, either from rich individuals like Osama bin Laden himself,2 or his supporters mainly in Saudi Arabia, or from the funding efforts of local groups both legal and illegal. It uses the electronic media-Internet, video cassettes, radio and television-to promote its message often in spectacular ways. In other word, its horizontal form of organisation is very similar to a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
