Schmid Alex P., Hindle Garry F. (eds.) After the War on Terror: Regional and Multilateral Perspectives on Counter-Terrorism Strategy

RUSI Press, 2009. — 158 p.Dr. Alex Schmid dissects the nature of Al Qaeda’s propaganda strategy by looking how it incorporates in its ideological narrative Islam’s sacred texts and traditions and how it manages to link these to widespread contemporary grievances in the Muslim world. Al Qaeda’s survival is tied to the credibility of its narrative “story” rather than the physical survival of its leadership. The Research Paper discusses mainly American and British efforts to challenge the integrative narrative of Al Qaeda. Current counter-narratives often fall short of reaching objectives due to a lack of credibility – a result of the gap between official Western declaratory policies and actual policies on the ground. Efforts to sell “hearts and minds” products often floundered on policies that lack legitimacy or stood in stark contrast to professed values like adherence to human rights standards, thereby creating perceptions of double standards and hypocrisy. While Al Qaeda’s policies exhibit similar, and in some areas even greater, discrepancies between what is being said and what is being done, these have not been fully exploited.