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Prof. Jeff Kenney Discusses Extremist Groups with Iranian News Agency

Prof. Jeff Kenney Discusses Extremist Groups with Iranian News Agency

September 8, 2014

MEC 025"An American political analyst said the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group takes advantage of regional crises to broaden its activities, saying the militants focus mainly on the regions over which the local governments have lost control," begins a story distributed by an Iranian news service. "In an interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Jeffrey Kenney, professor of religious studies at DePauw University, said the extremist groups operate 'within the context of failed nationalism'."

The article continues, "For instance, he said, the armed extremists started their activities in crisis-ridden Afghanistan and then shifted their operation to Syria when a civil war erupted in the Arab country. Similarly, the radical groups targeted Iraq following 'the Western intervention' and the consequent eruption of a civil war there, Kenney explained. What is clear is that extremist groups succeed whenever the 'modern nation states”' start to get weak or fall apart, he noted."

The professor explains, "And once there is no political coherency any longer, once the government cannot in any way control its territory, once citizens (are) divided over against each other, it is very easy for these groups to go in and to create even more problems and to associate themselves with one group over another."Muslim Rebels Jeff Kenney.jpg

Access the complete piece by clicking here.

Jeffrey T. Kenney, University Professor and professor of religious studies at DePauw University, is the author of Muslim Rebels: Kharijites and the Politics of Extremism in Egypt, and co-editor of Islam in the Modern World.  Learn more in this previous story.

Jeffrey M. McCall, professor of communication at DePauw and 1976 graduate of the University, discussed ISIL (also known as ISIS) last week with Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN-TV.  Access the segment here.

Source: Tasnim News Agency

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