Islamic World and Near East History Commons^™

The Impact Of Cooperative Video Games On Team Cohesion, Greg Anderson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s economy, productivity and efficiency require collaboration between employees. In order to improve collaboration the factors affecting teamwork must be examined to identify where changes can be made in order to increase performance. One factor contributing to teamwork is team cohesion and represents a process whereby members are joined by a common bond in the pursuit of a common objective. A popular social bonding activity sweeping the world is playing cooperative video games. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of playing cooperative video games on team cohesion. Subjects (N=56) were randomly placed into 15 teams …

How To Make A Colony: Reform And Resistance In Russian Turkestan, 1865-1917, Matthew J. Thrasher

German and Russian Studies Honors Projects

This project analyzes the Russian colonization of Turkestan in the second half of the nineteenth century. Specific attention is given to a group of Russian bureaucrats and military personnel who sought to reform the Tsar’s administration of the region. By outlining the debate surrounding economic and political reform, as well as the controversy circulating around Russian ethnographic practice, this project discusses the myriad ways in which the local population of Turkestan negotiated new forms of anti-colonial resistance within their rapidly changing social environment.

The Potential Return Of Nationalism In Iraq, Jeffrey Knapp

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Over the past decade, Iraq has experienced a tremendous amount of change from once being a dictatorial regime to becoming a new and developing democracy. Iraq is dominantly composed of three main and distinct groups known as the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. This paper attempts examine whether or not, Iraqi individuals see themselves first and foremost as Iraqis or as being Muslims first. There has been little research conducted that specifically examines the relationship between nationalism and ethnic identity in Iraq. However, some research suggests that most Iraqis see themselves as being Iraqi first instead of being Muslim first. This …

Do Muslims Vote Islamic?, Charles Kurzman, Ijlal Naqvi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Islamic parties have won parliamentary elections in several countries in recent years, leading some observers to speculate that Muslims vote Islamic whenever they are given the chance. However, a review of every parliamentary election in Muslim societies over the past 40 years shows that Islamic parties often compete and rarely win—and the freer the election, the worse these parties perform. In addition, an unprecedented collection of Islamic party platforms shows that Islamic parties have transformed since the 1980s, publicly endorsing democracy and women's rights and de-emphasizing shari'a and jihad. This record suggests that Islamic parties have embraced elections more than …

The Conflicts Of Secularization And Islam In Turkey, Emily Jones

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

An examination of the religion of Islam and its unique characteristics, especially those that may relate to the politics and government of the Republic of Turkey, assist in understanding the relationship between the two. The 99% Muslim population affects the country politically and socially. There are many aspects of Sunni Islam, the majority in Turkey, that conflict with the secular nature of Turkey. Despite its apparent differences with the manner in which Turkey is governed, Islam has been able to exist in the country. Although religion is a personal matter, it becomes a concern if one is unable to practice …

Kibrisli Rumlarin Turk Kurtulus Savasi'ndaki Etkinlikleri (Greek Cypriots Turkish Liberation Events In War), Engin Berber

Center for Turkish Studies Occasional Paper Series

In this paper, Dr. Engin Berber discusses the history and politics of Cyprus.

The text of the paper is in Turkish.

The End Of The Miḥna, John P. Turner

Faculty Scholarship

Why did al-Mutawakkil end the Miḥna? The usual answer to this question assumes that he was acknowledging the inevitable victory of the ulamā. He is seen to be `cutting his losses' by restoring and enforcing orthodoxy as the traditionalist ulamā saw it. In this article I offer a different answer. Al-Mutawakkil ended the Miḥna as one part of his broader effort to establish his position as sovereign and independent of the individuals and structures that had carried over from al-Wāthiq's reign. Eliminating the Miḥna was one strategy deployed in undermining and eliminating the “kingmakers” who had placed him on the …

Ruling With Rules: Electoral Institutions And Authoritarian Resilience In The Middle East, Andrew Barwig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What explains the resilience of authoritarian regimes in the face of regular competitive elections that ostensibly should promote democratic transitions? This dissertation examines both why and how parliamentary elections in Jordan and Morocco have served to reinforce these two Arab monarchies. In doing so, it develops a framework in which the degree of cohesion among incumbent and opposition elites shape electoral system design and, in turn, particular electoral rules structure mass political attitudes and elite configurations. The main argument is that lower electoral thresholds generate unique electoral environments in which patronage politics thrive and opposition-based politics falter, thus producing a …

The Ottoman Gunpowder Empire And The Composite Bow, Nathan Lanan

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

The Ottoman Empire is known today as a major Gunpowder Empire, famous for its prevalent use of this staple of modern warfare as early as the sixteenth century. However, when Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq visited Constantinople from 1554 to 1562, gunpowder was not used by the Sipahi cavalry who stubbornly, it seems, insisted on continuing to use the composite bow that the Turks had been using for centuries. This continued, despite their fear of European cavalry who used “small muskets” against them on raids. Was this a good idea? Was the composite bow a match or contemporary handheld firearms? Were …

Budaya Berfikir Kritis: Kajian Di Era Pemerintahan Khalifah ‘Umar Bin ‘Abd-‘Al-Aziz (99-101h)., Norafifah Abd Hamid

Student Works (2010-2019)

The citical thinking culture is not an accustomed method of thinking in fact Islamic teachings do stress in critical thinking aspect. Al-Quran and Al-Sunnah also emphasize on critical thinking. Moreover, the critical thinking culture has been practiced during the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w’s, Khulafa’ al-Rasyidin’s and tabi’in’s era. This research sift through the instilation of critical thinking culture in the Caliph ‘Umar bin Abd al-‘Aziz’s administration era. Generally this research carried out to examine how far Caliph ‘Umar bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz has been trained to practice this culture before he mastered it. Besides, this research also examine how far this critical …

The Islamists Are Not Coming, Charles Kurzman, Ijlal Naqvi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Do Muslims automatically vote Islamic? That's the concern conjured up by strongmen from Tunis to Tashkent, and plenty of Western experts agree. They point to the political victories of Islamc parties in Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey in recent years and warn that more elections across the Islamic world could turn power over to anti-democratic fundamentalists.