Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East: Geopolitics, Ideology, and Strategy

Part I: Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East: A Conceptual and Analytical Framework
1. Introduction: The Phenomenon of Non-State Armed Actors and Patterns of Violent Geopolitics in the Middle EastMurat Yesiltas and Tuncay Kardas 

2. The Transformation of the Regional Order and Non-state Armed Actors: Pathways to the EmpowermentSaban Kardas
Part II: The Ethno-Secular Geopolitical Space in the Middle East

3. Understanding "Foreign Policy" of the PYD/YPG as a Non-State Actor in Syria and Beyond Berkan Ögür and Zana Baykal
4. The Kurdish Fight Against ISIS: Realizing the Virtual Kurdistan through Factionalized Politics in a Fragmented Homeland Galip Dalay
5. Global Politics of Image and the Making of a Legitimate Non-State Armed Actor: Syrian Kurds and 'the Secular West' in Kobane  Tuncay Kardas and Murat Yesiltas
Part III: The Rise of Sacred Political Space in the Middle East

6. Path to Become a State: From Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad to the Islamic State Recep Tayyip Gurler and Omer Behram Ozdemir
7. The New Middle East, ISIS and the 6th Revolt against the West Murat Yesiltas and Tuncay Kardas 
8. A New Controversial Actor in Post-ISIS Iraq: Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi (The Popular Mobilization Forces) Bilgay Duman and Göktug Sönmez
Part IV: New Methods in Old Bottles: The Strategy of Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East

9. Operationalizing the Vision of Building a New Caliphate: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State (IS) Farhad Rezaei 
10. The Making of Foreign Fighters in the Middle East: Identity, Social Media and Virtual RadicalizationTuncay Kardas and Omer Behram Ozdemir
11. What the ISIS Crisis Means for the Future of the Middle EastBurak Kadercan
12. Conclusion: The State of the Non-State Armed Actors in the Middle East Murat Yesiltas and Tuncay Kardas