Life under ISIS

Abstract One of the most asked questions about ISIS during its occupation of large swathes Iraq is this: What was it like to live under the governance of the group? Using data collected from ordinary Iraqis, the chapter attempts to give a picture of everyday life in ISIS-occupied Iraq. Most Sunni Iraqis who experienced the arrival of ISIS, particularly in Mosul, say the group was largely accepted at first, as an alternative to what was viewed as a corrupt, abusive, and sectarian Iraqi state. In retrospect, however, many of the people interviewed about ISIS’s governance thought that although ISIS was superior in some aspects of governance to the Iraqi state, the group largely wore out its welcome through its brutal imposition of an interpretation of sharia that was far more extreme than even relatively conservative Sunni Iraqis were willing to accept.