Machiavelli and ISIS

The most recent “beheading video” released by ISIS showing the execution of an accused Russian spy has understandably stirred yet another round of outrage and condemnation.

These videos have been explained as both a means to provoke disgust, with the vague goal that this savagery will discourage further foreign intervention, and as a recruitment tool sold to alienated Muslims who view them as pious depictions of justice in action.

{mosads}While the barbarity of beheadings broadcast on the Internet does invoke the desired feeling of repulsion, they seem an unlikely influence on military strategy. And, in what has become unfortunate but accepted logic, the shock value of these scenes diminishes with each iteration in the same way far deadly suicide bombings in Kabul and Baghdad now rarely make the nightly news.

The second goal of recruitment seems a more likely motivation. However, there is an ongoing debate about why these videos are so effective.

Some analysts argue that the specific appeal of these scenes of decapitation stems from their association with Islamic scripture and law. For example, after the streaming video execution of Daniel Pearl in 2002, the historian Timothy R. Furnish noted that the “video catalyzed the resurgence of this historical Islamic practice.” While calling it a “new fad in terrorist brutality,” Furnish also explains that the act itself is based on particular passages from the Qur’an and related commentary. Beyond mere spectacle, these videos provide proof that the Islamic State is serious and capable of applying Sharia law even its most unpalatable elements, attracting fundamentalist adherents from around the world.

Of course, if one seeks it out, similar endorsements of beheading can be found in Rabbinical literature and equally bloody acts can be pulled from the history of the crusades. The Roman Empire and the Reign of Terror can be added as further examples to highlight there is nothing particularly unique about this kind of violence.

Leaving aside its theological and historical origins, the simpler criticism may be that ISIS is committing these acts in violation of contemporary conventions of human rights and international law. But, the very same criticism can be levied against Saudi Arabia, which regularly carries out capital punishment by public beheading for crimes such as adultery.  

This comparison, however, speaks to what may be a third and perhaps better explanation for the resurgence of this practice, particularly in the so-called Islamic State. Rather than a warped love of violence or a propaganda tool, these executions made in the public square or streamed online are an attempt to assert sovereignty over a people and a place. Along the lines of Machiavelli’s infamous advice that “It is far better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both,” ISIS is showing its future citizens that it can maintain a monopoly on the use of force. From here, we might view Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a modern day Cesare Borgia, known for cruelty “by making an example of a few people” but on his way to bringing peace and loyalty to a lawless region.

Looking through the same realist lens, the legitimacy of this violence will depend upon how capable the Islamic State is of stopping factionalism within its own ranks and defending itself against its many external enemies.      

The benefit of this amoral view is that it allows us to see these beheadings in the context of the history of state violence. To simply dismiss them as acts of evil is to misunderstand the real motivation behind them.

Tabachnick is a professor of Political Science at Nipissing University and has published scholarly articles and books in the area of global politics and the philosophy of technology. 

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