This paper examines how former Islamic State foreign fighters describe internal hierarchy, unequal sacrifice and their treatment as expendable members of the organisation. Research on disengagement from violent extremist groups has often focused on ideological disillusionment, exposure to violence, coercion and failed expectations. Less attention has been given to the way internal inequality shapes loyalty inside militant organisations. This paper addresses that gap and asks how former foreign fighters interpreted differences in status, access to resources, protection and exposure to danger within ISIS.
The study uses a secondary narrative analysis of publicly available media interviews with former ISIS members. It focuses on how interviewees describe their position inside the organisation and how they explain changes in their loyalty over time. The analysis pays close attention to accounts of leadership privilege, unequal treatment and the allocation of dangerous roles. It also examines statements suggesting that foreign recruits were valued for propaganda and military purposes while being treated as replaceable.
The paper argues that unequal sacrifice weakened loyalty when former fighters understood organisational hierarchy as a betrayal of ISIS’s claim to Islamic brotherhood and equal membership in the caliphate. Interviewees often described a shift from seeing themselves as members of a shared religious project to viewing themselves as tools used by senior figures. This change affected trust in leadership and weakened identification with the organisation. The findings suggest that perceptions of unequal sacrifice reshaped the meaning of organisational membership. Foreign fighters described a growing gap between ISIS's claims of religious brotherhood and their lived experiences of hierarchy, privilege, and unequal exposure to danger. As this gap widened, trust in leadership declined and organisational loyalty weakened.The paper develops the concept of expendable membership to describe a form of belonging where individuals are formally included in an ideological community but receive limited protection or voice and face greater exposure to harm. The study contributes to research on militant organisations by showing how internal inequality can weaken loyalty from within.
