The recent attacks in Paris have prompted wide ranging discussions over the domestic security policies of Francois Hollande’s government. However, it is also worth considering these in the context of French foreign policy towards global terrorism. The last time France hit the front pages for reasons of international terrorism, was surrounding the military operation to oust Islamic militants in Northern Mali in 2013. This mission was known as Operation Serval and finished in July 2014. On July 19 2014, President Francois Hollande announced a ‘new phase’ in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism in Africa, it takes the form of Operation Barkhane.
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A few months ago Islamic State (IS) announced that it was to start minting its own coins. The production of gold, silver and copper coins is a move that is part of a number of state-making practices conducted by IS in Northern Iraq and Syria. Whilst much reporting has dismissed this act as dysfunctional and non-workable, is raises important questions about the role of currency as a geopolitical agent in the 21st Century. This article seeks to explain how the Islamic ‘dinar’, as it is to be known, is geopolitically productive as an object of resistance, and as an evocation of the past.
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August 2015
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