Vendetta and Jihadist Infighting

Reflecting on the rise of jihadist groups across the world, the burgeoning literature has focused on the threat posed by such groups to their non-jihadist adversaries, while paying less attention to the widespread incidents of jihadist infighting. According to various estimates, thousands of jihadists have been killed in inter-jihadist civil wars since 2014 alone. While the extant research has interpreted these clashes as a consequence of power outbidding, sectarian splits, and political competition, the driving incentive behind jihadist infighting has so far escaped scholarly attention. This article is the first in the literature to explain jihadist infighting as a consequence of deeply embedded sociocultural norms, namely, of the custom of vendetta.

This article has been enabled by a research grant from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic,21–14872S, “Fratricidal Defection: How Blood Revenge Shapes Anti-Jihadist Mobilization.”