ISLAMIC STATE – FROM A UTOPIA TO A GORY DYSTOPIA

Abstract

Islamic State currently poses a global security threat and a challenge to the whole international community. At the same time, both ideologically and practically it sublimes Islamic tendencies expressed at the turn of this century culminating with the establishing of the government modeled after the orthodox caliphate from the 7th century A.D. Ever since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became a self-proclaimed caliph, in June 2014, the IS has been established as a centrally-run bureaucratic organisation with military and administrative authority as well as financial mechanisms to enable its functioning in occupied territories - parts of state territories of Iraq and Syria.

The governing structure is lead by the so-called Cabinet of ministers, which makes the most important decisions and which is run by al-Baghdadi with associates. Military authorities are superior to the civil ones. The organisation of civil affairs is divided into provinces- regions run by governors. Strict application of Sharia law is ensured on the entire territory of IS. This terrorist, parastatal organisation is funded form a variety of sources – oil and gas trading, smuggling, kidnapping, blackmailing, looting and drug trafficking. In 2015 alone, the funds collected in these ways exceeded 2 billion U.S. Dollars.

Can it really be a coincidence that at one moment this organisation changed its name from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ( ISIS) into Islamic State, with a tendency to present itself on the global political scene as a `state` with all the necessary legal elements-territory, population and sovereign power.

At one point, IS had a political, economic, security and military control and a sovereign power on the territory with a population of over four million people, far bigger than that of the UK.

The time will tell if this rudimentary, pseudo state with apocalyptic strategic aims calls for a synchronized, global, anti-terrorist coalition manifested through a doctrine of `global war against terrorism` or will it keep being a polygon for treacherous and cunning realisation of petty, partial, conflicting interests of major powers.

We will try to find answers to these and similar questions through the overview of organisation, functional, political, economic, military and administrative structure of the government of this parastatal formation since we believe that the international community ought to react to this security threat with a larger range of different measures than it has done so far.