6 - Islamic State

Summary

This chapter explores the foreign policy discourse of the old Anglosphere coalition during the third phase of the crisis and civil war in Syria. First, the chapter considers the Anglosphere response to the rise of Islamic State, as the Anbar Campaign saw the group seize territory in northern Iraq. Second, it analyses the re-working of discourses of the War on Terror to articulate and frame the new threat for Anglosphere audiences. Third, it explores the discursive war of position that structured foreign policy debates in the USA, UK and Australia. The chapter explores how, despite some resistance, the Anglosphere rallied against the new threat in contrast to the Syrian Civil War’s first two phases.