RESEARCH PROPOSAL FOR 1196815:GLOBAL MARKETING AND AL-SHABAAB: HOW A SOMALI BASED PARAMILITARY GROUP HAS PACKAGED ITSELF TO “CONSUMERS” IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Research proposal I submitted (and then revoked) to the University of Birmingham (UK)

This is a partial copy:

Debra V. Wilson

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USA

Email: 

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ID-Number 1196815

RESEARCH PROPOSAL FOR 1196815

GLOBAL MARKETING AND AL-SHABAAB: HOW A SOMALI BASED PARAMILITARY GROUP HAS PACKAGED ITSELF TO “CONSUMERS” IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PROJECT

Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin or more commonly known as al-Shabaab (the Youth) was the militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts or (ICU).  By the end of 2006 ICU controlled Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia.  After the loss of most of its territorial holds in the battles of Baidao and Bandiradley the Somali Council of Islamic Courts fled in retreat and splintered.  The less militant members went onto form the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (in late 2007) whilst more militant members regrouped into several more combative prone alliances one of them being al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab is a paramilitary group with membership numbering somewhere in the thousands and with somewhat tenuous (often self proclaimed) links to al-Qaeda, believes itself to be a defender of Islam protecting the faith from a range of designated enemies some of them being the Western backed Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the African Union Mission to Somalia, (AMISOM), Western NGO’s operating in Somalia, the United Nations, the United States and the United Kingdom and even less conservative/les strict interpretations of Islam.   Members of al-Shabaab also wish to install Sharia law throughout Somalia. Their tactics have run the gamut from suicide bombings to stoning to forced amputations to charitable works in Somalia that include feeding the poor.  Al-Shabaab controls much of southern Somalia.

Until recently al-Shabaab was thought of as a Somali phenomena and problem with little possibility of paramilitary reach beyond its own borders.  That assumption has been proven erroneous.  In a leaked (via Wikileaks) US State Department Nairobi Embassy cable from 2009 the radicalization of UK nationals traveling to Somalia for ‘jihad’ is noted.  In March 2010 UK Home Office proscribed the Somali based group, al- Shabaab.   On 11^th July 2010 al-Shabaab took credit for the World Cup twin bombings in Kampala, Uganda.  And in September 2010 MI5’s Director General, Jonathan Evans warned of the threat of UK youth being radicalized by al-Shabaab and Mr. Evans went onto say that UK security services were aware of more than one hundred UK residents training and fighting in Somalia at the behest of al-Shabaab.

 Al-Shabaab’s violence has not only moved to the global stage so has their recruitment.  My research will explore al-Shabaab’s brand, marketing tools and how this paramilitary group of mostly young males is packaging itself to recruit UK residents.

QUESTIONING AL-SHABAAB’S MARKETING PLAN

1. How does al-Shabaab views itself (its brand) – domestically (in Somalia) and globally?
2.  What is al-Shabaab’s current presence on the internet and in print?  How does al-Shabaab utilise social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube? 
3. From the public’s perspective how does the al-Shabaab brand in Somalia differ from its brand in the in the United Kingdom? 
4. How does al-Shabaab use the global press, foreign security services and foreign governments to further globalise its brand?
5. What marketing tools (including imagery and language) does al-Shabaab’s use in reaching a foreign (UK) consumer base that is mostly young and male?
6. How does al-Shabaab’s select (and market to) the most receptive consumer base in the UK?