ISIS and Reactionary Modernism

The radical groups like ISCS are emerged in a region of the world that their political agents have no modern experience of governance. In this situation, they applied incorrect policies, and this leads to more conflict and hostility in their country and region. Although these groups use the modern concepts, they cannot act according to the modern political language. The result is a kind of naïve and primitive nationalism that in companion with the recent changes in the world and in the Arab region (2011) has created big challenges for all actors. In fact, in the lack of modern political organizations some of these non-governmental groups try to stablish their own political order in the region and define new border for their existence. These groups define the modernism in a reactionary form. Some researchers may consider ISIS as a new generation of previous radical Islamist group, but it seems that it roots in modernism and postcolonialism. Based on these roots it can be known as a “reactionary modern” group. The main argumentation of this paper is based on this view that the ISIS is a modern group that emerged in modern situation and in reaction to it; so it cannot be considered as traditional movement. In a comparative method, ISIS will be studied with the example of Nazism. By outlining their differences and similarities we can reach to a better understanding of ISIS and whole Salafi group in the region.