By Anjana Nair

Mosul under ISIS: Eyewitness Accounts of Life in the Caliphate

Written by Mathilde Becker Aarseth

London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021, 208 pp.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was not the first group of its kind, but it was the wealthiest, with more resources and international support networks than any other jihadist group in history.[1] For this reason, ISIS was able to control the flow of information to the outside world, limiting our understanding of what life was like in the areas it controlled. To this day, scholars are still building a more comprehensive picture of life under the regime, and Mathilde Becker Aarseth’s Mosul under ISIS is a salient addition to this expanding literature.

Aarseth, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo in Norway, aims to fill the knowledge gap on ISIS governance “by looking at Mosul, the heart of the ‘caliphate,’ through a magnifying glass.”[2] ISIS forces first took control of Mosul on June 10, 2014. Almost exactly three years later, on July 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi claimed governmental victory over ISIS in the city.[3] Aarseth focuses on the lives of the civilians who lived in Mosul during this time, known as Maslawis, while emphasizing that the rebel fighters had put down roots in the city years before they invaded. She calls Mosul “the largest laboratory for ISIS[’s] state-building experiment.”[4] This was made possible by Iraqi state dysfunction and corruption, increasing conservatism and extremism, a Sunni-majority population, and the failed interventions and warfare conducted by the United States in Iraq in the early 2000s.[5] Aarseth uses an extensive methodology of interviews, administrative documents, and ISIS propaganda to contrast the image ISIS presented to the world with the experience of Maslawis who endured their rule.

The book covers different sectors of civilian life, from healthcare to education to policing, in order to detail a comprehensive view of what it was like to try to maintain normalcy under the constant threat of violence. Media portrayals of the regime often mimic ISIS propaganda in asserting that people prefer to live under predictable violence rather than instability and corruption.[6] Aarseth challenges this view. She dedicates much of the book to proving ISIS’s unpredictability, instability, and inefficiency in conducting their affairs. In her analysis, the divergence of the caliphate’s behavior from their self-described image is a fact that only civilian accounts could have brought to light. Her book highlights the importance of these accounts in understanding the true nature of insurgent governance and demonstrates how this empirical aspect has been missing from the existing literature.

Civilian stories also challenge binary characterizations of civilians as “either passive victims or supporters.”[7] Maslawis mounted a resistance to the regime, which forced ISIS leadership to confront a tradeoff between pure ideology and pragmatism. The resistance, in both its overt and subtle forms, delegitimized the new authority’s power by exposing fault lines in their operation. The regime was indecisive and inconsistent, unable to deliver education and healthcare to Maslawis. In turn, local teachers, doctors, and administrators took advantage of ISIS incompetence to protect their civic institutions. Aarseth reveals the contradictions of ISIS governance, and shows how ideology and violence were not enough to preserve their grip over the resilient Maslawis.

For each of Mosul’s vulnerabilities to ISIS rule, the city had just as many strengths that allowed it to survive. This struggle between fragility and power is emblematic of Aarseth’s overall narrative of the ISIS regime and Maslawis. The narrative can be difficult to follow at times, as the intricate weaving of backstory and interviewee accounts, coupled with the inconsistencies of ISIS governance, can make for a blurry picture of life under the caliphate. Yet that is essentially the book’s purpose: to illuminate the inaccuracies of our media-generated understanding of living under rebel control.

Aarseth wants us to understand that there is no single representative account of living in fear. People react differently when presented with threats to their survival. Some people acquiesce to the pressure, some resist, and some run. Ultimately, there is no one way to survive. The book is a reminder to reserve judgment when faced with incomplete information. Media coverage and academic studies of insurgent groups often focus on their shocking violence, which can overshadow the other dimensions of living under their rule. Aarseth avoids oversimplifying Maslawi stories for easier consumption. In this way, she does the people of Mosul justice. Aarseth manages to be both fair and critical, and implicitly encourages her readers to do the same.

About the Author

Anjana Nair is a M.A. candidate in Yale’s International and Development Economics program. She received her B.A. in International Studies and Political Science from Louisiana State University. At Yale, Anjana hopes to combine her knowledge of world affairs with her studies in economics to research how political institutions affect economic growth.

Endnotes

1. Mathilde Becker Aarseth, Mosul under ISIS: Eyewitness Accounts of Life in the Caliphate (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2021), p. 123.

2. Aarseth, Mosul under ISIS, 9.

3. John Caves, Cameron Glenn, Garrett Nada, and Mattisan Rowan, “Timeline: The Rise, Spread, and Fall of the Islamic State,” Wilson Center, October 28, 2019, https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/timeline-the-rise-spread-and-fall-the-islamic-state.

4. Aarseth, Mosul under ISIS, 47.

5. Aarseth, Mosul under ISIS, 17.

6. Aarseth, Mosul under ISIS, 68.

7. Aarseth, Mosul under ISIS, 127.