Defense and Security Studies Commons^™

The Importance Of Sunni-Iraqi Support In The Rise And Fall Of Isis In Iraq, Deja Meekins

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

ISIS, a Salafi-jihadist terrorist organization stationed in the Middle East, has had its fair share of "successes" and "failures," both of which have been present in Iraq. Toward the beginning of the development of ISIS, it garnered a very powerful supporter base in Iraq. However, that has changed since then; ISIS currently, in 2024, no longer has the support of the vast majority of the Iraqi people. What is the reason for this? This research paper will seek to analyze and answer two major questions: what role does the Iraqi Sunni population play in ISIS’s trajectory of successes and failures …

Why Islamism Failed In Syria, Ararat Kostanian

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The Arab Spring has not fulfilled the desires of millions of demonstrators in Middle East. The desires to see the expanded role of the civil society has been muted by the Islamists and particularly by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Article puts the focus on the failure of Islamism in Syria during the uprising for several reasons, such as the inability of the Muslim Brotherhood to shape a new leadership, and its rejectionist agenda that had nurtured skepticism by the opposition factions. Furthermore, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood had been unable to change its political motivation and kept insisted on shifting the …

The Path Of Securitization: Transformation Of Free Papua Movement (Opm) Terminology From Armed Criminal Groups To Separatist And Terrorist Groups, I Putu Hadi Pradnyana

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The purpose of this study is to analyze the pattern of securitization in Papua using the speech act framework. Regarding the response to the change in status or terminology of the Free Papua Movement or Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) to the Separatist Terrorist Group. The Securitization Theory of the Copenhagen School defines security as a social construction and process, not as an objective condition. This contrasts with the traditional security studies approach which defines security in terms of the threat, use, and control of military force by state actors. This research will focus on the pattern of securitization of the …

The Us War In Afghanistan And The War Powers Act: A Natural Experiment, Burrell Fletcher V

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

How Can the War Powers Act of 1972 be Reformed to Increase the Chances of Winning Wars?

This paper examines the effects of the War Powers Act of 1973’s Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF) system on the conduct of war, especially regarding the ongoing War on Terror. The War on Terror, began in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks when President Bush invaded Afghanistan. Congress, using the War Powers Act, passed the 2001 AUMF in the weeks after the attacks. The 2001 AUMF has been used in twenty-two countries to justify anti-terror operations thus far (Savell, …

Where The Border Ends: How Reactive Policies To Terrorism Became Conduits For Drone Technology And The Enclosure Of Wealthy Nations, Arron Mitchell

PPPA Paper Prize

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (1996) and the USA PATRIOT Act (2001) are two key examples of reactive policies enacted in response to terrorist attacks on American soil. Expedited passage of both pieces of legislation were reliant on the public’s support for government action in wake of recent atrocities. These acts gave particular attention to securing the nation’s borders, directing an increase in funding for Border Patrol in order to prevent future terrorist attacks. This essay will connect the increased funding for border security directed by Congress with the defense industry’s pursuit of funding and outlets for drone …

Racialization And International Security, Richard W. Maass

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Racialization—the processes that infuse social and political phenomena with racial identities and implications—is an assertion of power, a claim of purportedly inherent differences that has saturated modern diplomacy, order, and violence. Despite the field's consistent interest in power, international security studies in the United States largely omitted racial dynamics from decades of debates about international conflict and cooperation, nuclear proliferation, power transitions, unipolarity, civil wars, terrorism, international order, grand strategy, and other subjects. A new framework lays conceptual bedrock, links relevant literatures to major research agendas in international security, cultivates interdisciplinary dialogues, and charts promising paths to consider how overt …

Countering Terrorism On Tomorrow’S Battlefield: Critical Infrastructure Security And Resiliency (Nato Coe-Dat Handbook 2), Sarah J. Lohmann, Lucas M. Cox, Denise Feldner, Trevor P. Helmy, Frank J. Kuzminski, Marcus Mohlin, Aleksander Olech, Wuraola Oyewusi, Gabriel T. Raicu, Silke Ruhl, Sabrina Schulz, Máté Tóth, Megan A. Ward

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

Every day, malicious actors target emerging technologies and medical resilience or seek to wreak havoc in the wake of disasters brought on by climate change, energy insecurity, and supply-chain disruptions. Countering Terrorism on Tomorrow’s Battlefield is a handbook on how to strengthen critical infrastructure resilience in an era of emerging threats. The counterterrorism research produced for this volume is in alignment with NATO’s Warfighting Capstone Concept, which details how NATO Allies can transform and maintain their advantage despite new threats for the next two decades. The topics are rooted in NATO’s Seven Baseline requirements, which set the standard for enhancing …

Bureaucratic Resistance And The Challenge Of Implementing Asean Our Eyes: Case Study Of Jolo Church Bombing 2019, Chaula Rininta Anindya

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

Arus Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) memicu kekhawatiran dunia, termasuk negara-negara di Asia Tenggara. Pada tahun 2017, Indonesia mengajukan inisiatif “Our Eyes” untuk menciptakan sebuah wadah bagi negara-negara ASEAN untuk bertukar informasi intelijen guna memberantas kegiatan terorisme transnasional. Inisiatif tersebut kemudian diubah menjadi “ASEAN Our Eyes” (AOE). Tetapi, beberapa tahun setelah dibentuknya inisiatif tersebut, terjadi peristiwa pengeboman gereja di Jolo, Filipina. Inisiden tersebut menunjukkan hambatan untuk mengimplementasikan inisiatif AOE. Pelaku diidentifikasi sebagai Warga Negara Indonesia yang berhasil masuk ke Filipina berkat bantuan jaringan teroris lokal di Filipina. Idealnya, inisiatif AOE dapat mencegah serangan tersebut. Artikel ini akan mendiskusikan dinamika domestik di …

The Evolution Of United States - Central Asian Security Policy Post-9/11: Military, Terrorism, And Cyber-Security, Shamsuddin Karimi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rudyard Kipling once described and wrote about the Great Game as a way to outline 19^th century great power politics in the struggle for empire in Central Asia. While Kipling’s tale of spy-craft and espionage is fiction, the political philosophy behind the story has never lost relevance. The struggle for political dominance in Central Asia continued through the twentieth century in the Cold War as well as into twenty-first century after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Although the great power players may have changed over the past 120 years, the importance of Central Asia has not.

This …

Liberalism Versus Fundamentalism: The Ideological Conflict Between Tocqueville And Qtub, Mary Catherine E. Morris

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

This paper seeks to conclude whether Qtub has successfully discredited the values supported by Tocqueville to draw more Muslims to support an increased role of religion in society and influence the majority of Muslims to conduct violent jihad. It is hypothesized that Muslims agree with Qtub that Islam must be increasingly influential in society, but the majority do not seek to increase its role through, or for the purposes of, violent jihad. Differing in their views on freedom and liberty, freedom of religion and separation of church and state, and man-made laws but agreeing on the negative effects of materialism, …

Asymmetric Threats: Analyzing The Future Of Nuclear Terrorism & Cyber Attacks; The Value Of Deterrence Theory For Addressing The Challenges Of Nuclear Terrorism In The Age Of 21st Century Cybersecurity, Oliver Demmert-Shelfo

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Given the rapid development and ease of access to technology, the threat of extremist organizations utilizing cyberspace as a means to target critical American strategic infrastructure is of increasing concern. The risk posed by the acquisition of fissile material, sabotage, or use of a nuclear device by an extremist organization has been exasperated due to technological development outpacing strategy. Despite policy-makers’ attempts to protect the public from cyber-attacks and nuclear terrorism, the federal policies in place have failed to account for the continual evolution of technology and the gaps in security that this advancement brings. Through examining documents from congressional …

Mind Your Youth: Youth Unemployment And Islamic Radicalization, Caleb Ray

Honors Theses

This study examines the potential existence of a correlation between youth unemployment and Islamic Radicalization in the MENA using data from the World Bank, the Global Terrorism Database, and the Arab Barometer. It aims to add to the current body of research regarding socioeconomic drivers for radicalization and terrorism.

How Can Presidents Properly Calibrate The Terror Threat?, Gabriel Rubin

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Presidential rhetoric has minimally changed from the narrative set by George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks. Bush’s policies and agenda have also largely remained. This chapter provides proposals for change given the empirical and theoretical findings made in the book. The counterterrorist policy agenda needs to be narrowed and made more precise. The public needs to educate itself about the terror threat to understand that it is not a significant risk when weighed against others. Presidents need to be more careful with what words they use when describing America’s terrorist adversaries and with who they call terrorists. Recalibrating the …

A Relentless War: America, Israel, And The Fight Against Terrorism, Elyse Keener

Senior Honors Theses

For Israel, terrorism has plagued the nation since its beginning. Terrorism rears its ugly head in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons; however, in both the United States and Israel, Islamic extremism has presented itself as the largest threat. Since its birth as a nation, the United States has been involved in numerous conflicts, from the Revolutionary War to World War II and beyond. These wars were fought between nation-states and traditional powers, but since the attacks on 9/11, the United States finds itself in a new kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy. …

Understanding The Motivations And Pathways Of Women And Girls' Involvement In Terrorism In Nigeria, Peculiar M. Awa

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the experiences of 20 women and girls who lived in the Boko Haram camp in 2014-2018 and had varying levels of engagement in the organization's activities. The study employs a qualitative phenomenological in-depth interview methodology. Semi-structured interviews conducted in Nigeria and the United States yielded data on the experiences of the respondents before, during, and after their lives with Boko Haram. Based on the analysis of interview responses and field notes, several themes emerged. Overall findings suggest that family and community dynamics play a significant role in terrorism in Nigeria. The study found that early child marriage …

New Terrorism In New Zealand? The Psychology Of Censorship, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes the essentialness of information transmission for terrorism and some psychological findings on related censorship.

The Convergence Of The War On Terror And The War On Drugs: A Counter-Narcoterrorism Approach As A Policy Response, Lindsay Burton

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis investigates how and why U.S. policies and agencies are ill-equipped to respond to narco-terrorism and offers some policy recommendations for remedying that. Narco-terrorism is the merging of terrorism and drug trafficking. Terrorist organizations and narcotics traffickers each have much to offer the other; there is potential for symbiosis in the form of cooperation and even hybridization. Examination of the dynamics between terrorist organizations and drug traffickers, combined with an evaluation of the US responses to narcoterrorism in Colombia and Afghanistan, makes it clear that current US policy responses fail to recognize narcoterrorism as a unique challenge, and instead …

Counterterrorist Profiling, The Self, And The Problem Of Open And Quiet Skies, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Psychological profiling supporting counterterrorism may be based on an invalid presumption.

Terrorist Celebrity: Online Personal Branding And Jihadist Recruitment And Planning, Ari Weil

Pomona Senior Theses

Shifts in culture and technology have changed the manifestation of celebrity in modern society, culminating in the practice of internet microcelebrity, where one views followers as fans, produces content consistent with a personal brand, and engages in strategic interaction with devotees. This thesis examines how those effects have also changed how terrorists present themselves and operationalize celebrity status. An original typology of terrorist celebrity is presented: traditional, martyr, and internet micro-celebrity. Two in-depth case studies of terrorist micro-celebrities are analyzed: Anwar al-Awlaki of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Junaid Hussain of the Islamic State. The case studies are …

A Content Analysis Of Jihadist Magazines: Theoretical Perspectives, Catalina M. Udani

Honors Undergraduate Theses

During its violent spread across the Middle East, the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) amassed both a local and international following in large part due to its usage of emergent media distribution. Beginning in 2014, ISIS’s Ministry of Media published an English-language magazine, Dabiq, disseminating its issues through online platforms. Dabiq and its successor Rumiyah both serve as propagandistic recruitment material for ISIS’s international community as well as broadcasting the message of the jihadist movement to ISIS’s enemies. This study analyzed ISIS’s publications using a qualitative content analysis in order to identify jihadist recruitment strategies through the perspectives …

Two Awakenings, One Process: Implications From The Sunni Realignment In Iraq, 2006-2007, Diane Maye Zorri

Publications

There are several competing beliefs regarding how political factions at the sub-state level choose to align and realign during a state of armed conflict. This research draws upon current literature to provide a framework for comparing the Anbar and Baghdad Awakenings of 2006–2007. This research concludes that alignment and alliance building is a process based on structural constraints only at the point of institutional maturity, therefore the critical point in the realignment process for the U.S. military is at a point between an individual’s realignment and the wider community’s perception of their success.

The Future Of Nuclear Security: A Medical Physicist’S Perspective, Katharine E. Thomson

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Planning for the future of nuclear security is a vital and complex task, requiring cooperation and contribution from many disciplines and industries. This diversity of expertise should include the medical sector, which faces many of the same challenges as the nuclear industry: controlling access to dangerous material, creating a strong security culture, cooperating with the wider world and engaging the public.

Medical physicists, of which the author is one, oversee all aspects of small-scale radiation use. This paper discusses three key areas increasingly important to both medical and nuclear uses of radioactive materials: public engagement, prevention of nuclear and radiological …

State Sovereignty And Human Security: The Migration-Securitization Nexus In The Global South, Eugene R. Sensenig

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper deals with the issues of state sovereignty and refugee policy in insecure and marginalized regions of the Global South. Using the displaced Syrian populations (UN-recognized and undocumented) in Lebanon as a case in point, the attempt will be made to portray and discuss the responses of underdeveloped host communities to overwhelming increases in the size of their non-national population. Lebanon has faced various waves of refugees since its independence in 1943, making up between 2.5% (Iraqis) and 25% (Syrians) of the entire citizen population, currently estimated to be slightly over 4 million. Almost 500,000 Palestinian refugees are registered …

A Radical Idea: Applying Psychological Strategy To Combat Foreign Fighters Defending The Islamic State, David Michael Smaney

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis focuses on the necessity of psychological strategies to combat the Islamic State’s recruitment of foreign fighters. This thesis argues that psychological strategies are a primary weapon due to the psychological nature of the war against the Islamic State, which is a part of the overall war of ideas. This thesis does not consider psychological strategies for other aspects of U.S. counterterrorism strategy, nor does it reflect the difficulties involved with developing U.S. strategies in the U.S. federal government. Furthermore, this thesis only focuses on foreign fighter defending and supporting the Islamic State, which is the successor of Al …

Headhunting: Evaluating The Disruptive Capacity Of Leadership Decapitation On Terrorist Organizations, Ted Clemens Iv

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Leadership decapitation -- the practice of removing a leader from a position of authority through targeted killing (i.e. assassination) or arrest -- has long been a feature of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency strategies the world over. Still, how effective is the practice of leadership decapitation in actually bringing a halt to, or even impeding, terrorist activity? Can removing top leaders of terrorist enclaves from power disrupt their groups to the point of organizational degradation or dissolution? And lastly, because no two terrorist groups are the same; when a terrorist group experiences leadership loss, how can the group be expected to react? …

Defeating Isis: The Need For A Cooperative Effort, Sabrina Chikhi

Journal of Interdisciplinary Conflict Science

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a collective approach in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria also known as ISIS. The approach of the international community had been doomed to failure because it excluded key players in the region. In order to annihilate this terrorist group and the threat it poses to international security, this article proposes a revision of the approach to the resolution of this problem through the inclusion of all the parties susceptible to secure an efficient contribution to that endeavor before the situation becomes irremediable. In order …

Twelve Years Later: Afghan Humanitarian Aid Workers On War On Terror, Emmanuel C. Ogwude

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Using narrative research study founded in social constructionism, I explored the lived experiences of thirty Afghan humanitarian aid workers in Kabul, Afghanistan, to discover how they experienced the war on terror. Ten participants were individually interviewed and their stories, personal experiences, perceptions, and voices have been presented in this study. I also facilitated a focus group of twenty Afghan NGO directors, and their views are echoed in the study. The participants represented a diversity of different humanitarian service specialties that cater to Afghan individuals, communities, and government agencies in areas such as education, human rights and good governance, food and …

German Foreign Fighters In Syria And Iraq, Daniel H. Heinke, Jan Raudszus

Dr. Daniel H. Heinke

Factors That Shape U.S. Public Opinion On Foreign Policy, Julianne O'Connor

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Measuring public opinion is an undertaking requiring precise methods and a clear vision, and even then results can be inconclusive. Yet, understanding how and why a democratic public thinks the way it does, and to what extent those thoughts influence policymakers, is essential to a democracy. This paper will use data from the American National Election Survey to discuss the relationship between level of support for the war on terror and level of perceived effectiveness. Values, political sophistication, knowledge, and self-efficacy can each be used to predict the level of support an individual has for the war on terror, and …

Roundtable Discussion Transcript: The Legal And Ethical Limits Of Technological Warfare Symposium, February 1, 2013, University Of Utah, S.J. Quinney College Of Law, Amos N. Guiora, Harry Soyster, David R. Irvine, Geoffrey S. Corn, James Jay Carafano, Claire O. Finkelstein, Laurie R. Blank, Monica Hakimi, George R. Lucas, Trevor W. Morrison, Frederic Megret

All Faculty Scholarship

The Utah Law Review brought in a panel of experts for a symposium on the legal and ethical limits of technological warfare. This roundtable discussion crystalized the issues discussed throughout the symposium. The collective experience and diversity of viewpoints of the panelists produced an unparalleled discussion of the complex and poignant issues involved in drone warfare. The open dialogue in the roundtable discussion created moments of tension where the panelists openly challenged each other’s viewpoints on the ethics and legality of drone warfare. The discussion captured in this transcript uniquely conveys the diversity of perspectives and inherently challenging legal and …