Professor Sara Cobb discusses different narratives in the fight against ISIS. (Tal Axelrod/MNS)
WASHINGTON – A conflict expert on Monday urged the U.S. to find an alternative narrative to combat the violent one being pushed forward by the Islamic State.
The American narrative of denying blame and placing it on the enemy will not work in this battle, said Sara Cobb, a professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.
Cobb argued the Islamic State’s narrative is largely based on a sense of honor and community, using English-speaking members to appeal to Westerners to join a movement for a sense of belonging. However, the narrative is oversimplified. She said.
“These conflict narratives lack complexity, history, temporality, it’s just a description of what’s happening now,” she said. “They’re blame-focused, lack a clear vision of the future. They have very fixed characters. It’s a very problematic plot.”
Cobb spoke to the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, a nonpartisan educational organization, about ways to counter the rhetoric of ISIS.
The professor suggested the best way to oppose this narrative might be to question and poke holes, not to react and place blame. Rejecting the message may provide a sense of closure and justification to the contrasting rhetoric.
“What we do when we do a counter-narrative is a justification, denial, excuse or counter-accusation. Most of the work today is a counter-accusation. It just bounces right off…it’s not going to hold,” Cobb said. “The only way to change a narrative is to ask interesting questions that open it up.”
Cobb emphasized that a new narrative must encourage political and religious leaders in the Arab world to create change from inside their communities and then spread that learning throughout the region.
For this new narrative to be successful, however, she urged leaders to reach out to all parts of society. “Let’s go local, let’s build relations within our community, let’s reach out to isolated people in [their] community and see what’s going on,” she said.
That may be easier said than done, as many Arab nations are in the midst of deep-rooted sectarian conflicts, as seen in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Furthermore, the concept of transforming the narrative may not be aligned with the administration’s immediate strategy. President Barack Obama asked Congress for authorization of military action against ISIS earlier this month. But Cobb insists that solely armed actions will not improve the situation.
“The ideology…of let’s go kill them or put them in jail or have our allies kill them or do something like that is ubiquitous and very hegemonic. That’s very problematic in my view,” she said. “As we think about what to do about the others, that requires us to think through the stories we’re telling.”
