How do Islamists represent nation state? A comparative studies of the Islamic state and Taliban based on a quantitative text analysis

This article compares the evolving perceptions of modern states and nationalism held by two Islamist organizations—the Islamic State (IS) and the Taliban—both of which aim to establish an Islamic state. Using a quantitative text analysis, the study examines the factors shaping non-state actors’ views of the state and how these views change over time. A corpus consisting of the Taliban’s journal al-Sumud and IS’s journal al-Nabaʾ was compiled, and the Latent Semantic Scaling (LSS) algorithm was applied to assess the extent to which each organization expresses positive or negative attitudes toward modern statehood and nationalism. The findings indicate that the Taliban exhibits a more positive orientation toward the modern state than IS, while IS’s negative stance appears driven by its antagonism toward the Taliban. This study demonstrates that changes in Islamist organizations’ perceptions of the state are influenced not only by external socio-political developments but also by internal dynamics and rivalries within Islamist movements.