Irregular war : ISIS and the new threat from the margins

Summary: To what extent does ISIS pose an existential danger to our world? Or is it merely a threat from the margins of inherently unstable states in faraway places? Should ISIS be feared because of its future access to weapons of mass destruction? Or is it simply adept at grabbing land as well as headlines? ISIS (or the Islamic State) is the most dramatic expression of a new era in international politics: uprisings which transform into "irregular warfare". ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shabab, the Taliban are all separate manifestations of a new non-state dynamic which has begun to drive international conflict and which now represents a new form of asymmetric and hybrid warfare. In this important and original new analysis, Paul Rogers, the distinguished global security specialist, provides a much-needed account of the rise of such global terrorist movements from the margins and presents a new argument as troubling as it is compelling: if the rise of ISIS can overthrow powerful states in a matter of weeks, what kind of a secure future can the world expect?