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The Transformation Of The Pkk (Kurdistan Workers' Party): Exploring Domestic, Regional, And Global Dynamics, Akin Guneri

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The main purpose of this study is to explore the underlying factors behind the political and ideological transformation of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since its foundation. Through the detailed analysis of the role of Turkey's internal versus external factors on the evolution of the PKK over time, this work finds that changing political developments in the Middle East were more influential than Turkey's shifting domestic political environment. Hypothesis testing revealed that the 1991 Gulf War, 2003 Iraq War, changing political dynamics of the Middle East following Syria's Arab Spring, and policy changes worldwide implemented after the 9/11 terrorist attacks …

Islamic History & Al-Qaeda: A Primer To Understanding The Rise Of Islamist Movements In The Modern World, Andrew M. Bennett

Pace International Law Review Online Companion

A decade following the 9/11 attacks, the objectives and motivations of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda remain largely unknown to the American public. Since the mission of Al-Qaeda is embedded in its interpretation of the history and traditions of Islam, increased analysis on the intellectual framework of Al-Qaeda provides valuable insight into this dangerous ideology that will remain a strategic threat to the United States for the foreseeable future. While more recent successes against the Al-Qaeda organization have encouraged talk of “the end of Al-Qaeda,” the broader ideology remains alive and well. The rise in support for the Islamist groups …

Banlieues FrançAises Et Jeunes Issus De L'Immigration Religion Et Violence, Abeer I. Aloush

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In France, 1995 marked the year of a series of bombs exploded in public areas including but not limited to crowded subway stations in both Paris and Lyon. The series of bombings testifies to France’s lack of immunity in the postcolonial struggle over the future of its former colonies. Moreover, they renewed widespread fears that France’s large Algerian immigrant population represented a fifth column of a global Islamist insurgency that stretched from Kabul to Peshawar to Algeria to the United States to France’s own working-class suburbs called les banlieues. Moreover, Second generation immigrants in France have experienced cumulative negative social …

Developing An Explanatory Model For The Process Of Online Radicalisation And Terrorism, Robyn Torok

Research outputs 2013

While the use of the internet and social media as a tool for extremists and terrorists has been well documented, understanding the mechanisms at work has been much more elusive. This paper begins with a grounded theory approach guided by a new theoretical approach to power that utilizes both terrorism cases and extremist social media groups to develop an explanatory model of radicalization. Preliminary hypotheses are developed, explored and refined in order to develop a comprehensive model which is then presented. This model utilizes and applies concepts from social theorist Michel Foucault, including the use of discourse and networked power …

Al-Shabaab's American Recruits: A Comparative Analysis Of Two Radicalization Pathways, Matthew Wade Richardson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

From 2005 to 2011, at least 41 Americans joined, or attempted to join, al-Shabaab, Somalia's preeminent terrorist organization. This thesis examines the radicalization process for al-Shabaab's American recruits by dividing the sample into two groups: non-Somali and Somali. The author employs causal flow diagramming as a means of visualizing each group's unique radicalization pathway. While most of the non-Somali recruits were motivated by political grievances and Salafism, most of the Somali recruits were motivated by identity conflict and nationalism. Considering al-Shabaab is both a religious and an ethno-nationalist terrorist organization, these results make sense. Radicalization within diaspora communities is a …

Societal Integration And Radical Islam Among Muslim Immigrants In Europe And The United States, Ghada Wahdan

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Little research has been done using Social Disorganization Theory to explain the radicalization of Muslim immigrants in Europe and the United States. The author's intention is to offer a concise and clear comparison between the relationship of societal integration and radical Islam among Muslims living in Europe and the United States. The research modeled the application of Social Disorganization Theory which is seated in the idea that social disorder in communities creates disagreements in fundamental values, norms with behavioral irregularity and deviance. Radicalization of Muslim immigrants living in non-Muslim countries exists when there is a low degree of internal bonding …

American Graffiti: Musings On The Ground Zero Mosque, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses reactions and parallels to a mosque proposed near the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in public discourse.

An Analysis Of The Vulnerability To Terrorist Radicalization In Great Britain, Teddy Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To understand the conditions and experiences that might make an individual more vulnerable to terrorist radicalization, this study examines a sample group of Muslim's in Great Britain to determine if responses to survey questions on a range of issues and perceptions can provide indications of an individual's vulnerability to terrorist radicalization. Key to this process was the development of a vulnerability to radicalization score that allowed for an analysis of the relationship between this score and different independent variables. The dataset for this study was obtained using the Pew Research Center's Spring 2006 Global Attitudes Project 15 Nation Survey. This …

Saudi Arabia And Expansionist Wahhabism, Samiah Baroni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the development of Wahhabism as an ideology into a rapidly expanding, transportable, contemporary Islamic political system. Serving as the territorial foundation, individuals maintain allegiance to Makkah, the center of the Islamic world, through symbolic Islamic prayer. Along with a central, globally financed economic distributive mechanism, and Wahhabi social and educational institutions emerging from the traditional mosque, Wahhabism serves the demand for an Islamic political system in a late capitalist world. Wahhabism is fluid within contemporary dynamic political systems and rapidly changing international relations. Wahhabism continues to expand at a global level, at times, providing a foundation for …

Reading, Writing, And Radicalism: The Limits On Government Control Over Private Schooling In An Age Of Terrorism., Avigael N. Cymrot

St. Mary's Law Journal

There are constitutional limitations that govern attempts to regulate the teaching of terrorism-encouraging ideologies. According to a 1999-2000 study by the National Center of Education Statistics, there are 152 full-time Islamic schools in the United States, schooling about 19,000 students. The primary concern is not that children will be instructed to immediately engage in terrorist acts, but that the teaching of a radical Islamist ideology will predispose them to join radical Islamist terrorist movements and engage in violence. The Free Exercise Clause and parental rights doctrine, however, might not by themselves bar the state from interfering in private education to …

Saudi Arabia: Islamic Threat, Political Reform, And The Global War On Terror, Sherifa D. Zuhur Dr.

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

This monograph examines the convergence of the war on terror on Saudi soil, calls for and modest programs of political reform, and heightened post-9/11 tensions with the United States. Saudi Arabia has been condemned for its Wahhabist version of Islam, and linked to the growth of salafist extremism operating locally, regionally, and internationally. This monograph more clearly defines the background and nature of today's Islamic threat in Saudi Arabia, and argues for continuing counter- and anti-terrorist measures but also for political reform and development.

Islamic Rulings On Warfare, Sherifa D. Zuhur Dr., Youssef H. Aboul-Enein Ltcdr

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

The global war on terror (GWOT) and the battles with specific Islamist groups is, to some degree, a war of ideas. With a better understanding of Islamic concepts of war, peace, and Muslim relations with non-Muslims, those fighting the GWOT may gain support and increase their efficacy. The authors explain the principles of jihad and war and their conduct as found in key Islamic texts, the controversies that have emerged from the Quranic verses of war and peace, and the conflict between liberal or moderate Islamic voices and the extremists on matters such as the definition of combatants, treatment of …

“Bin Laden’S Brain”: The Abrasively Negativistic Personality Of Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Aubrey Immelman, Kathryn Kuhlmann

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network at the time of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States and allegedly chief strategist for al-Qaida operations and personal physician to Osama bin Laden.

Al-Zawahiri’s primary personality patterns were found to be Contentious/oppositional and Dominant/controlling, with secondary features of the Dauntless/dissenting and Ambitious/self-serving patterns.

The amalgam of Contentious (negativistic, or passive-aggressive) and Dominant (aggressive, or sadistic) patterns in al-Zawahiri’s profile suggests the presence of the “abrasive negativist” syndrome. For these personalities, minor frictions easily …

Psychological Profiling Of Terrorists: Recent Findings From Singapore On Jemaah Islamiyah, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article reviews the contemporary history of psychological profiling of terrorists and then relates this history to recent psychological profiling data on detainees who are allegedly members of a group that allegedly engages in terrorist behavior.

The “Great Game” For The Twenty-First Century: Islamic Extremism And Central Asia, Ian Sethre

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban Movement in Afghanistan by Michael Griffin. London: Pluto Press, 2001. 272pp.

and

Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. 281pp.

and

Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. 274pp.

The George-Anne, Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne

• September 11 2002
• Opinions
• With the Shock Worn off, University Students are Looking to the Future
• Perspectives
• Sports
• Classifieds

The Personality Profile Of Al-Qaida Leader Osama Bin Laden, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Osama bin Laden, founder and leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States.

Bin Laden’s primary personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/exploitative and Dauntless/dissenting, with a secondary Distrusting/suspicious orientation, and subsidiary Dominant/controlling and Conscientious/dutiful features.

Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect others to recognize their special qualities, and often act as though entitled. Dauntless individuals are bold, courageous, and tough; minimally constrained by the norms of society; routinely engage …

The Personality Profile Of September 11 Hijack Ringleader Mohamed Atta, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of a posthumous, indirect assessment of the personality of Mohamed Atta, apparent ringleader in the September 11, 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, from the conceptual perspective of Theodore Millon.

Information concerning Mohamed Atta was collected from media reports in the one-month period following the attack and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM-IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the …

Report, Report To President Betty Castor, University Of South Florida In Regards To Usf/World And Islamic Studies Enterprises, Inc. Relationship And Related Matters, May 1996, William Reece Smith

USF University Archives and Documents

A report written by William Reece Smith for the University of South Florida (USF) about the relationship between USF and their Middle East Studies Committee and the World and Islamic Studies Enterprises, Inc. (WISE) off-campus organization. The study and subsequent report was conducted because of media reports that a USF professor "was associated with Middle East terrorist activities and that a University entity was connected to an off-campus organization which was, in turn, also allegedly linked with Middle East terrorism."