Post-national brand utopias: Islamic State and the Good Country as challengers to the nation-state

Abstract

This study presents a critical discourse analysis of two ideological challengers to the nation-state: (1) Islamic State, which declared a Caliphate in 2014, and (2) the Good Country, a virtual state founded in 2018. While rooted in dramatically different ideologies, both projects explicitly reject nationalism and rely on media and promotional discourses to build support for their post-national utopias. The study addresses three research questions: (1) How does each project challenge nationalism and the nation-state? (2) What alternative utopia does each articulate? (3) How does promotional discourse shape their respective challenges and utopias? The analysis finds significant differences in the challenges, but also important similarities in the utopias, namely, (1) a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial vision of post-national collectivities; (2) a devaluing of the importance of bounded territorial sovereignty; and (3) an emphasis on individualization and taking personal action to ‘opt into’ a post-national state based on shared values.