Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Qatari Foreign Policy And The Arab Spring: From Mediation To Intervention, Basma Mahmoud Eletreby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the controversial role that Qatar has been playing in the Arab Spring, specifically from 2011 to 2013. Evidently, Qatari foreign policy will be assessed to comprehend the power this small state has been gaining in Middle East politics in a region plagued by never ending manifestations of power struggles and turbulent developments. The case studies of Egypt, Libya and Syria in which Qatari foreign policy involvement deployed the same rationale will be investigated to examine the increasing involvement of Qatar in Middle East politics. It concludes that the foreign policy of Qatar was both opportunistic and pro-Islamist …

American Overreach: Strategic Interests And Millennial Ambitions In The Middle East, Asli Bâli, Aziz Rana

Aziz Rana

This article argues that American actions in the Middle East designed to advance democracy and/or ‘moderation’ tend to yield perverse outcomes that frustrate the aspirations of local actors while undermining the values purportedly being promoted by the US. In order to explain these contradictions, we emphasise the linkage between policies of democracy promotion and long-standing American commitments both to millennialism and geographical omnipresence. As a result of these policies and geopolitical vision, we argue that ‘democracy promotion’ often devolves into a simple defence of American interest – by producing electoral outcomes intended to strengthen local agents seen as compliant with …

Sensuality, Camels, And Islam: Disney Music And American Perception Of The Middle Eastern Experience, Laura Schildbach

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In a world that is constantly changing and becoming more open to diversity and equality, filmmakers are faced with the challenge of presenting films and characters that embrace the ever-evolving world around us. In particular, Disney has been presented with this challenge; as a cinema powerhouse with an audience primarily made up of children, there is a perception that Disney has a moral responsibility to present accurate and unbiased representations of all cultures. This paper will analyze how Disney musically represents the Middle East in two Disney feature films, Aladdin and Prince of Persia, and how the musical choices affect …

Global Climate Change: The Political Impact Of Global Warming On Developing Countries. The Case Studies Of Egypt And Oman, Eugene Thomas O'Neal

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The discourse of climate change has become important in the field of political science, as well as in the policy-making community. Climate change has become a political phenomenon that has and will greatly impact political stability regionally and globally. Using the ecological security theory as a framework, I explored the relationship between climate change and political stability in developing countries.

This study utilizes both qualitative and quantitative analyses to investigate the relationship between climate change and its effects on political volatility in developing countries. Using regression models, the author examined all non-OECD countries (140 countries) and their relationship to political …

Rachel Weeping: A Christian Pacifist Reluctantly Endorses Military Strikes Against Isis, Kerry S. Walters

Philosophy Faculty Publications

I'm haunted these days by a scene from Matthew's Gospel. Herod, learning that an infant has been born in Bethlehem who will become "King of the Jews," orders the slaughter of the town's male children two years old and under. Matthew captures the deed's mind-numbing horror by imagining that Rachel, one of the traditional Hebrew matriarchs, "weeps and laments and refuses to be comforted, because her children are no more."

How, I ask myself, would Jesus's followers have acted could they've been in Bethlehem on that frenzied day? Would they have remained silent? Would they have shielded the infants with …

Studying Diplomatic Negotiations: Integrating The Personal And Institutional Aspects, Egle Murauskaite

Peace and Conflict Studies

Following the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in 1991, the Arms Control and Regional Security (ACRS) working group was launched as the first and so far only official regional arms control negotiations. While there have been multiple attempts to distil the lessons of the ACRS process, the aspect of events most conducive to forging trust between the negotiators and their inter-personal dynamics has never been explored. This paper takes an inter-disciplinary approach to studying negotiations: it zooms in on the ACRS process, integrating Middle East studies, decision making processes and nonproliferation literature with negotiations theory and oral history techniques, …

The Classroom As A Peace Incubator: A Us-Gaza Case Study, Ian S. Mcintosh, Jamil Alfaleet

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper describes the design, implementation, and lessons from a case study in transforming two university classrooms into what we call an international “peace incubator.” In the besieged Gaza Strip, opportunities for normalization of relations with Israel are almost non-existent, and there is very limited desire or personal capacity among the student population of Gaza to do the work of peace-building. A semester-long videoconference class linking IUPUI and Gaza University students sought to address this deficit by developing a model for building ties of friendship and cooperation. West Bank peace activist Juliano Mer Khamis once spoke of a coming Third …

Strategic Insights: The U.S. Foray Into The Levant, Sami G. Hajjar

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

“In Light Of Real Alternatives”: Negotiations Of Fertility And Motherhood In Morocco And Oman, Victoria E. Mohr

Student Publications

Many states in the Arab world have undertaken wide-ranging family planning polices in the last two decades in an effort to curb high fertility rates. Oman and Morocco are two such countries, and their policies have had significantly different results. Morocco experienced a swift drop in fertility rates, whereas Oman’s fertility has declined much more slowly over several decades. Many point to the more conservative religious and cultural context of Oman for their high fertility rates, however economics and the state of biomedical health care often present a more compelling argument for the distinct differences between Omani and Moroccan family …

Religion Is Not The Answer: How To Turn Restlessness Into Meaningful Change - The Egyptian Conundrum, Alain C. Seckler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The situation in Egypt and elsewhere in parts of the Arab world is to some extent reminiscent of the situation that prevailed before 1914 in Europe, where a motley array of unharnessed popular micronationalisms (today, instrumentalized religious fervor) combined with big power politics and interests and led to the cataclysm of war. With regard to Egypt, there is also a huge generational gap, with 2/3 of Egypt's population below the age of 35 years. The so-called "solutions" of the past, whether religious or secular, will no longer work if the voice of the young people is not heard by their …

The Effects Of U.S. Middle East Foreign Policy On American Muslims: A Case Study Of Muslims In Tampa Bay, Mark G. Grzegorzewski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past thirteen years the United States has used military force against three different Muslim-majority nations. These conflicts have lead to the deaths of many Muslims, including many innocent civilians. Meanwhile, American Muslims have become conflicted about their identities as Muslims and Americans. However, this does not mean that they have become a fifth column within America. What it does mean is that they have felt anguish regarding the torment of their religious brethren, while at the same time retaining their American identity. Post-9/11, Muslim American groups have acknowledged their place in the racial ordering of America. Muslim Americans …

A Form In The Road: U.S. Foreign Policy And The Path Toward Globalization In The Middle East, 1945-2014, Joshua P. Brotka

History Theses

This thesis examines the history of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East since 1945. From the start of the Cold War immediately following the conclusion of WWII and up to the present day (2014), U.S. policy has been subject to many revisions and simultaneously, upheld national security measures. As the world heads toward an era where globalization is most prevalent, the United States will have to make drastic decisions regarding its foreign policy in the Middle East. Its alliance with Israel, oil interests, Islamic fundamentalism, an evolving Muslim society, and supporting a national security agenda has forced the United …

"Beirut Speaks": New Graffiti Sub-Cultures Of Beirut, Lebanon, Jaime Alyss Holland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modern graffiti is an ever-present part of urban space. It has become globalized and has adapted to different environments and social contexts. Today in Beirut, Lebanon a phenomenal street art movement is infiltrating public space. This particular movement questions the common understandings that have constructed Western graffiti artists and graffiti culture for so long. A new group of street artists is working to make the art form more inclusive of Beirut's many communities by writing messages that speak to the whole of Lebanon. They are making their work known in the presence of law enforcement, different sects, and generations. How …

Agricultural Productivity In The Greater Middle East, Zahra Tayebi

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this research is to determine TFP growth in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Syria considering weather as well as economic and social factors that might be affecting it. A translog production function was used to estimate TFP over the period 1980-2010. Precipitation, temperature, drought and irrigation were included in the analysis. The results show increasing agricultural productivity at the average rate of 2.66% during the period. Temperature and precipitation play a significant role in agricultural production and most frequent extreme drought episodes and irrigation affect, substantially, agricultural productivity growth in the region. The results highlight that respect …

Migrant Labor In The Arabian Gulf, Sara Hamza

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Post-Conflict Reconstruction Lessons In Technology, Kevin Wheeler

Senior Honors Theses

The United States of America has accomplished some advanced technological and developmental achievements recently. However, in order to better its abilities to reconstruct and stabilize nations in the future it must utilize the lessons it has learned from the past as well as these technological advancements. From both Africa and the Middle East, the United States has learned some valuable lessons in helping nations rebuild in the face of danger. Currently, the United States can use internet technologies to better educate those who would want to reconstruct their own nations as a united people group with as little foreign interference …

Opec And The International System: A Political History Of Decisions And Behavior, Reza Sanati

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The conventional understanding behind how the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has formulated its decisions and subsequently behaved in the international system has consistently centered on the role of market forces. Either proactively or reactively, it has been assumed that OPEC’s actions were merely engaging and responding to the supply and demand dynamics in the global economy. Though space was always given to the political considerations of certain OPEC Member States, and how that impacts the behavior of the Organization, inquiry into OPEC decision-making and behavior has generally centered on economic considerations, with politics playing an intermittent supporting role. …

The Art Of Remembering: Iranian Political Prisoners, Resistance And Community, Bethany Osborne

Publications and Scholarship

Over the last three decades, many women and men who were political prisoners in the Middle East have come to Canada as immigrants and refugees. In their countries of origin, they resisted oppressive social policies, ideologies, and various forms of state violence. Their journeys of forced migration/exile took them away from their country, families, and friends, but they arrived in Canada with memories of violence, resistance and survival. These former political prisoners did not want the sacrifices that they and their colleagues had made to be forgotten. They needed to find effective ways to communicate these stories. This research was …

Sovereignty And Intervention In The Middle East: From The Fall Of The Ottoman Empire To The Arab Spring, Raslan Ibrahim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research provides an institutional explanation of the practices of external intervention in the Arab state system from the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 to the Arab Spring.

My explanation consists of two institutional variables: sovereignty and inter-state borders. I examine the changes in regional and international norms of sovereignty and their impact on the practices of external intervention in the Arab state system. I also examine the impact of the level of institutionalization of inter-state borders in the Arab World on the practices of external intervention. I argue that changes in regional and international norms of sovereignty …

Peacebuilding In Lebanon Using A 'Serious' Game Intervention, Christina B. Gunther

Christina B. Gunther

The specific aims of this research are to provide an educational tool for non-governmental organizations to mitigate the effects of violence against women through peace promotion and education in lieu of state intervention.

The Pursuit Of Nuclear Weapons In The Middle East; Obstacles To A Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, Michael Chance

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

A Political And Historic Analysis Of The Relationship Between The United States And Saudi Arabia: How The Relationship Between The United States And Saudi Arabia Has Influenced U.S. Foreign Policy In The Middle East, Caitlin Baalke

Honors Projects

This research discusses the importance of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia and how this relationship has influenced and shaped U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. The relationship is framed by the international relations theory of neoclassical realism and the institutions theory of critical junctures. Through this framework, a historical and political case study is performed, analyzing the antithesis that the relationship has continued throughout history because of economic interests and oil. This paper discusses the alternative hypotheses and the other factors that have played an important role in U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, …