What are the conceptual, socio-political, and strategic roots of al-Qaeda?

Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: 1,0, École des hautes études commerciales de Paris, course: Understanding the Middle East, language: English, abstract: Until today, scholars worldwide aim to reveal the 'real' nature of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. However, only in the rarest case an integrated approach is applied to analyze the root causes of its emergence, conceptual and strategic ideas. This essay argues that these considerations are essential to acquire a broader understanding. Therefore, I aim to contextualize al-Qaeda's emergence within the Middle Eastern socio-political landscape and explore the genesis of its conception and strategy applied today. In doing so, I furthermore illustrate the foundation of its call for the establishment of a new caliphate inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula within the tradition of fundamentalist Sunni Islam.