The Implications of the Collapse of the Caliphate for Southeast Asia

Following the announcement of the establishment of a Caliphate in 2014, individuals and groups from all corners of the world pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State. Of particular interest to this study are violent terrorist groups based in Southeast Asia. The thesis focuses on this region as, despite obvious geographical constraints, local bay'ah pledges have allowed ISIS to suddenly emerge in the region with a large and well organised force allowing for an increase in terrorist activities and ultimately the capture of Marawi, the largest city to fall under the ISIS banner outside of Syria and Iraq. But a question remains too often unanswered - why do terrorist groups ally? While the dynamic is rare and paradoxical due to groups' illicit and clandestine nature, strategic alliances between terrorist groups are far from being a new phenomenon. While a handful of scholars dared to explore this complex field, it remains under-theorised to this day. This thesis uses an available list of studies and analyses on terrorist alliances and complements it with theories related to alliances between states in order to understand the rationale behind Southeast Asian Islamists alliance with ISIS. While there lacks a consensus as to why groups ally, the study finds it to be a multi-dimensional and mutually..