Ever since the radical totalitarians of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant erupted into the consciousness of the world, with their lightning surge from Syria into Iraq, they have been much examined with a mixture of horror and fascination.
The ferocity of the fighters, switching between irregular and conventional warfare; the novelty of a jihadi group that is well armed, with self-sustaining funding and the ability to place itself at the head of a mass movement of disaffected Sunni; their acute media and propaganda skills alongside a sulphurous and savage sectarianism – all these facets of Isis have been duly noted.
What is under-examined is their political sophistication, which is gradually enabling them to damage the fragile cohesion of neighbouring states, giving them a reach beyond the swaths of territory they have grasped in Syria and Iraq.