ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly introduces the topic and defines the research subject together with areas designed for research. For this reason, a considerable part is also dedicated to definitions of the key terms used in the book such as terrorism, insurgency, political regime, or guerrilla warfare. In line with the stated aims, research questions were formulated and placed within the structure of the book. The book is aimed at mapping the development of Daesh from terrorism to a totalitarian insurgency, and forming an analysis of the regime created and operated by Daesh. For this reason, the research questions were focused at analyzing the nature of the regime in order to reveal its authoritarian and totalitarian features. The book is considered as a qualitative case study using a theoretical background for a better understanding of Daesh. Part of the introduction refers also to linguistic and transliteration rules for translations from Arabic to English. In order to place this publication deeper into the context of existing research, an overview of existing literature is provided. Generally, the introduction presents a complex research design which is implemented in the following chapters and hopefully contributes to a better understanding of the phenomenon.
