Negotiation and the need to identify an Ideology.

In some of my previous posts, i mentioned the importance of identifying an underlying ideology in the effort to challenge fundamentalist groups with a view of getting them into the negotiating room. While it may be often more convenient to think of your foe as a evil the manner in which he fights you means that you will never be in a position to win against him. This is what we have come to refer to as the unconventional war.

My reference in particular was to the Boko Haram group which i argued needed to be confronted about its Educational reform ideas. Because of the insistence that Western Education was forbidden, we needed to engage them about what they felt was lacking in local education systems. In a sense we needed to force them into a different battle field-that of the mind.

Now that the aforementioned group was seeking to form union with Al Quaeda and ISIS, this need is becoming more apparent. This is significant because even if the face of modern 'resistance' was changing, these groups were also feeding on each other and benefiting from the numerous research that was available on-line and with many media houses. While some groups (especially suicide bombers) were often encouraging their recruits to prepare for virgins in heaven, Boko Haram is instead creating a heaven on earth for its fighters by providing them young brides. This is a massive and notable change in Ideology. These shifts in thinking need to be exploited and utilized.

What these groups are saying, is that some of what was conventionally expected as heaven in its rewards can now be made available on earth. This is a two edged sword and can serve to fodder or prevent some of those who before were tempted to take their lives in acts of bravery. The downside of this though is that the same African (Nigerian Group) has also started using young girls to take part in acts of violence.