Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Analysis Of Non-Conventional Radiological Terrorism, James N. Padgett

Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear terrorism has been a risk since the dawn of the first atomic bomb. Though state sponsored nuclear weapons development is of concern for countries, non-state sponsored terrorism with radiological material can be of even greater concern. This stems from the fact that the material is under less stringent or no safeguards and can readily change hands between different terrorist groups or innocent civilians may accidently come into contact with the material.

Within this paper an analysis of previous accidents using orphan radiological sources, malicious use of orphan radiological sources, and how these sources could be used by terrorists is …

Law Enforcement Intelligence Recruiting Confidential Informants Within “Religion-Abusing Terrorist Networks”, Hursit Ucak

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the motivation factors that make some individuals (terrorists) confidential informants. The study is based on the assumptions of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theories. Accordingly, main assumption of the present study is that some individuals with unsatisfied needs in religion-abusing terrorist (RAT) networks choose to become confidential informants to satisfy their predominant needs. The main hypothesis for the purpose of this study is “The individuals’ decision-making processes to cooperate with law enforcement intelligence (LEI) as a confidential informant is affected by some motivation factors during recruitment process.” The present study tests 27 hypotheses in order …

The Nexus Between The Ballot And Bullet: Popular Support For The Pkk And Post-Election Violence In Turkey, Nadir Gergin

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between popular support for the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK), which is an ethnic insurgent and terrorist organization mainly operating in Turkey, and its terrorist activities during the pre-and post-election periods in Turkey . Popular support has been measured through popular votes for the political party affiliated with the PKK in 1999 general, 2004 local and 2007 general elections. Two leading theories of social movements, Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT) and Relative Deprivation Theory (RD), were used as theoretical approach. The study uses secondary data and constructs a longitudinal design. An advanced statistical analysis technique, a generalized …

Patterns Of Differential Involvement In Terrorist Activities: Evidence From Dhkp/C And Turkish Hezbollah, Ismail Yilmaz

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the patterns of involvement in terrorist activities for the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) and Turkish Hezbollah members. The study is based on the assumption that terrorists differ in terms of their involvement in terrorist activities. In this sense, there are full-time and part-time terrorists. Full-time terrorists act professionally and do the assignments given by their commanders. Part-time terrorists, on the other hand, act on a non-professional basis and have their own motivations to participate in terrorist activities. For part-timers, there are various factors that may have an effect on their degree of involvement in terrorist activities. …

An Application Of Anomie And Strain Theories To Terrorism: Suicide Attacks In Turkey, Ozgur Nikbay

Theses and Dissertations

A suicide attack is an extreme modus operandi of terrorism. This research examines the application of two similar sociological theories to terrorism and specifically, to suicide terrorism. Three models are built to test if Merton‘s strain theory can explain the propensities of provinces to produce terrorists and suicide bombers in the first phase. Next, in Phase 2 one model is built on a combination of altruistic and fatalistic type variables to test if Durkheim‘s anomie theory can explain the probability of a terrorist to become suicide bomber or not. The analyses of models 1, 2, and 3 are performed in …

Poverty, Inequality & Terrorism Relationship In Turkey, Mutlu Koseli

Theses and Dissertations

Poverty, Inequality & Terrorism Relationship in TurkeyUsing empirical evidence criminological studies have identified a relationship between poverty and crime and many studies have concluded that a high crime rate is associated with a higher poverty rate. Other studies indicate that inequalities are a better determinant of crime than absolute poverty. Social disorganization theory, anomie strain theory and Marxist theory have been used to explain the phenomenon. Guided by the aforementioned theories and previous literature on crime, this study looks at the terrorism issue and explores whether a relationship exists between poverty, inequality and terrorist incidents. The main hypothesis of this …

Modeling Transnational Terrorists' Center Of Gravity: An Elements Of Influence Approach, Cheryl L. Hetherington

Theses and Dissertations

Since the September 11th terrorist attack, there has been an increased emphasis on understanding and modeling terrorists groups. While several efforts have focused on identifying transnational terrorists' centers of gravity (COGs), most of these efforts have proposed COGs using a traditional nation-state paradigm. In today's "global village", terrorist groups are no longer limited by locality and national boundaries. With the increasing threats from transnational terrorist groups, new paradigms and models are necessary to properly analyze today's, and tomorrow's, conflict. Analysis should be based on the identified and quantified transnational terrorists' COGs and their associated interactions. Unfortunately, not all of the …