How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul

This article provides a first attempt at evaluating the performance of the German intelligence community when anticipating ISIS’ rise to power in Syria and Iraq and its reach into Europe in 2013–2014. It applies a new analytical framework for postmortem exercises after foreign policy crises, which c...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Michaels, Eva
Format: Article
Status:Accepted version
Publication date:2021
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repository:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/49084
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/49084
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2021.1985206
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Estat Islàmic (Organització)
Terrorisme -- Aspectes religiosos -- Islamisme
Terrorisme -- Orient Mitjà
Gihad
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author Michaels, Eva
author_browse Michaels, Eva
author_facet Michaels, Eva
author_role author
collection Repositorio Digital de la UPF
description This article provides a first attempt at evaluating the performance of the German intelligence community when anticipating ISIS’ rise to power in Syria and Iraq and its reach into Europe in 2013–2014. It applies a new analytical framework for postmortem exercises after foreign policy crises, which centres on nuanced discussions of surprise and contextualised assessments of performance. This article finds evidence of partial to significant surprise among German intelligence analysts vis-à-vis four key events. Their performance was hindered by diagnostic difficulties and structural constraints, which affected their ability to identify risks related to underlying vulnerabilities in Iraq and Syria.
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
format article
id ES_f269c50f5c4e44b518a8d0dfcb9c1907
institution Universitat Pompeu Fabra
instname_str Universitat Pompeu Fabra
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
oai_identifier_str oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/49084
publishDate 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Taylor & Francis
publisherStr Taylor & Francis
reponame_str Repositorio Digital de la UPF
spelling How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul Michaels, Eva Estat Islàmic (Organització) Terrorisme -- Aspectes religiosos -- Islamisme Terrorisme -- Orient Mitjà Gihad This article provides a first attempt at evaluating the performance of the German intelligence community when anticipating ISIS’ rise to power in Syria and Iraq and its reach into Europe in 2013–2014. It applies a new analytical framework for postmortem exercises after foreign policy crises, which centres on nuanced discussions of surprise and contextualised assessments of performance. This article finds evidence of partial to significant surprise among German intelligence analysts vis-à-vis four key events. Their performance was hindered by diagnostic difficulties and structural constraints, which affected their ability to identify risks related to underlying vulnerabilities in Iraq and Syria. The past support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (Grant ES/R004331/1) is gratefully acknowledged. Taylor & Francis http://hdl.handle.net/10230/49084 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2021.1985206
spellingShingle How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul
Michaels, Eva
Estat Islàmic (Organització)
Terrorisme -- Aspectes religiosos -- Islamisme
Terrorisme -- Orient Mitjà
Gihad
status_str acceptedVersion
title How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul
title_full How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul
title_fullStr How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul
title_full_unstemmed How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul
title_short How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul
title_sort How surprising was ISIS’ rise to power for the German intelligence community? Reconstructing estimates of likelihood prior to the fall of Mosul
topic Estat Islàmic (Organització)
Terrorisme -- Aspectes religiosos -- Islamisme
Terrorisme -- Orient Mitjà
Gihad
topic_facet Estat Islàmic (Organització)
Terrorisme -- Aspectes religiosos -- Islamisme
Terrorisme -- Orient Mitjà
Gihad
url http://hdl.handle.net/10230/49084
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2021.1985206