Innovation is key to military success, as Ahmed S. Hashim explains in his study of how Islamic State functions as a fighting, social media, and administrative entity.

1.Understanding the "Islamic State" -- 2. "The unlucky country" : a historical and political survey of Iraq -- 3. "Why they fight" : ideology and goals -- 4. From network to organization : the structure of the Islamic State and its predecessors -- 5. "Organizing to fight" : the evolution of the Jihadist way of war in Iraq -- 6. Organizing to build caliphate 3.0 : state-formation and nation-building under the Islamic State.