Abstract
Although scholarship has been gradually produced on the Yazidi Genocide since it began on August 3, 2014, much remains unknown regarding the Islamic State (IS)’s planning and decision-making process behind the atrocity. My thesis attempts to address this lack of knowledge by investigating the following research questions: (1) Who were the Islamic State elites and lower-level perpetrators who made the Yazidi Genocide possible? (2) What roles did IS elites play in planning and perpetrating the genocide? (3) How did perpetrators on the ground implement or ignore their leaders’ commands? My thesis will answer these questions by analyzing the key IS religio-political leaders who organized and justified the Yazidi Genocide, as well as how IS commanders and jihadists either implemented or disobeyed their superiors’ orders on the ground. I define “disobedience” not as a positive moral act, such as disobeying genocidal orders, but rather as the individual perpetration of worse atrocities beyond the intent of IS’s elite. My thesis seeks to provide a clearer picture of the religious, political, and social dynamics within and surrounding IS that led to the Yazidi Genocide.