ABSTRACT
Regimes employ a range of methods to neutralise the Islamist threat within their borders. However, the appeal and political assertiveness of Islamist movements is a region-wide phenomenon that goes beyond the domestic politics of individual states. Islamist ideology does not recognise state boundaries, which it sees as an artificial colonial legacy. Islamists have exploited this argument to expand their influence, and have used the regional nature of their movement to secure funding, for example from Islamic oil regimes and wealthy, sympathetic individuals.
