The Treachery of Images: Visualizing “Statehood” as a Tactic for the Legitimization of Non-State Actors

Aaron Anfinson

Terrorism and Political Violence, 2021, vol. 33, issue 4, 720-742

Abstract: This article establishes that visual displays of sovereignty were central to the escalation and projected legitimacy of a violent non-state actor. Contrary to conventional perspectives, it details that the unprecedented appeal of the so-called Islamic State was tied to a visual projection of statehood. Through an innovative methodology, this study conducts a qualitative, affordance-driven analysis of the global visual politics of Dabiq. It details how photographs taken by Islamic State militants and downloaded from a variety of sources online were strategically utilized as “evidence” of the constitutive criteria of statehood: of a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. It demonstrates that this violent non-state actor utilized the affordances of digital visualizing technologies in order to position itself as a viable and competitive alternative to existing nation-states—as both a destination for migration and a legitimate threat to the established political order. This realization has implications for terrorism studies as well as for the visual politics of non-state actors operating in an era of intense mediatization.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2019.1585818

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