International Relations Commons^™

Understanding The Sunni Awakening With Complexity Theory, Diane Maye Zorri

Publications

Concurrent to the surge of U.S. forces in Iraq between 2006 and 2008, Sunni tribesmen in the U.S. Marine‐controlled western Anbar province of Iraq experienced an “awakening” movement, which led them to side with U.S. and coalition forces. The Sunni Awakening demonstrates that individuals will often realign because of betrayal and opportunities for advancement. It also demonstrates that individual motives can have macrolevel social consequences. Complexity theory suggests that political factions will realign based on individual considerations that then develop into macrolevel movements. Complexity theory also combines both agency (in terms of microbehaviors) and structure (in terms of initial conditions). …

One Swallow Does Not Make Spring: A Critical Juncture Perspective On The Eu Sanctions In Response To The Arab Spring, Andreas Boogaerts, Clara Portela, Edith Drieskens

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article examines to what extent the Arab Spring constitutes a critical juncture – a major turning point – for the EU’s sanctions policy towards Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia. Based on a multidimensional critical juncture operationalization, we find that the Arab Spring only constitutes such a turning point for the EU’s sanctions policy towards Syria. Both the level and nature of measures differ substantially from previous years. By contrast, the EU’s sanctions practice towards Libya, Egypt and Tunisia shows more resilience. More generally, changes in the nature of the measures are prominent, whereas changes in the level of the …

The Economic Impact Of Lifting Sanctions On Iran: How The Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action Will Affect The Economy Of Iran, Ryan Foley

Washington Semester Program

During the second term of the Obama Administration, the United States and the European Union negotiated a deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding their nuclear program. These negotiations encompassed the relaxing of sanctions on the Iranian economy in exchange for concessions on the part of their nuclear program. This thesis investigates how the deal will affect the economy of Iran and the international oil market, two entities which are deeply intertwined. The findings suggest that the opening of Iran’s economy will almost certainly lead to a strengthening of their domestic economy in the short-term, but that the government …

The Hashemite Kingdom Of Jordan And Its Role In Middle Eastern Geopolitics, Elizabeth Heckmann

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Middle East is notorious for the seemingly endless series of conflicts, instances of internal unrest, and political insurrections it witnesses. From the Gulf Wars in the late 20th Century, to the Arab Spring that began in 2010, to the rise of the Islamic State in 2013, it appears that almost every state in the region is inescapably engulfed in violence and instability. However, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has proven itself to be the exception to that rule over the years. While Jordan is not unfamiliar with domestic conflict and political unrest, the kingdom has demonstrated a remarkable resilience …

Private Military Contractors, Security Forces, And Mercenaries, Naomi Pearson

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Baghdadi’S Bunker: Five Essential Tasks For Which The World Should Now Prepare, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: The Islamic State Organization (ISO) will be defeated. That defeat will occur sooner rather than later. The nature of this terrorist organization suggests that preparations should now be made to minimize the carnage, loss of irreplaceable life, and cultural treasures that may without sufficient preparation accompany the final days and aftermath of ISO.

In Search Of Peace: Restructuring The Us-Iran Relationship In Light Of The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action, Samuel E. Winkler

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to ask how the United States should conduct foreign policy towards Iran given the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed to on 14 June 2015. The 2015 JCPOA initiated a drastic shift in US foreign policy toward Iran. It is now up to US policy makers to craft a coherent Iran foreign policy moving forward from the agreement. In order to accomplish this, the vitriolic relationship between Iran and the United States, which contains two concurrent narratives, must be examined. The dual narratives are the history of the successive US Presidential administrations’ relations with Iran, and …

The History Of Us-Iran Relations And Its Effect On The Jcpoa Negotiations, Chase Mccain

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Relations between the United States and the Islamic Republic have ranged from limited to non-existent over the past 36 years, and have been impeded by threatening rhetoric and perceived betrayals on both sides. The elections of Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani allowed for relations to move forward, but both presidents are hampered by people within their governments who are unwilling to let go of ingrained threat perceptions and distrust of the other. Despite these challenges, the P5+1 and Iran managed to create the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for Iran’s nuclear program, which can be used as a starting point …

Deal With Iran's Nuclear Issue, Khadijeh Salimi, Regina Karp

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

In December 2006, the UN announced the first resolution against Iran's nuclear activities. After many sanctions and negotiations, there still exists no definite agreement between parties over Iran's nuclear program. The objective of this study is to determine whether Iran's nuclear program has become Iran's identity. It is assumed that if the nuclear issue has not become Iran's identity, negotiation would be a useful threat. The Constructivists' approach for shaping states' identities was used in this study to analyze Iran's behavior toward the nuclear issue. Iran has a long history of civilization. Iranians can trace heritage back to The Persian …

Corporate Complicity In Human Rights Violations Under International Criminal Law, Danielle Olson

International Human Rights Law Journal

This paper examines the main legal elements of corporate criminal responsibility for involvement in serious human rights violations, focusing specifically on the mens rea, or mental element requirement of a crime. It analyzes in detail what it means for a business to be complicit, the degree of knowledge corporations and their officials must have to be implicated in accomplice liability, and a case study demonstrating the consequences of such liability on corporations.

The Temporary Permanence Of Syrian Refugees In Jordan, Charles Edward Davidson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of the 2011 Syrian Civil War, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to neighboring Jordan. The government of Jordan received them and along with NGOs from around the world, provided for some of their most basic needs including food, education and healthcare. In the summer of 2014 I travelled to Amman and Mafraq, Jordan in order to learn more about the work being done among the Syrians by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). What I found was a variety of short-term aid projects designed by the NGOs to meet the various needs of the refugees. I learned of no …

A Path To Peace: Reconciling The Sunni-Shi’A Conflict In Iraq, Kelsey L. Modica

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Iraqi state has a long history of division between Sunnis and Shiites. This conflict has often been violent and continues even today. Ultimately, this division dates back to the seventh century after the death of Muhammad. In order to better understand why there is a conflict between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq and not other countries, it is essential to understand the similarities and differences between their ideologies but also how they have been rooted against each other throughout history. Therefore, I begin with a description of the similarities and differences between Sunnis and Shiites to show the common …

The End Of The Means: Using The Arab Spring Revolutions As A Case Study For Machiavelli’S The Prince, Conor Sullivan

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This study sets out to examine if Machiavellian, realpolitik, style repression of unrest by autocratic regimes is still a viable tactic. To accomplish this, the Arab Spring revolutions in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria will be used as a case study. As the revolts were for similar economic and political reasons in a similar population, they present excellent case studies. The Prince itself will be used to develop a “Machiavellian regime,” encompassing a summary of Machiavelli’s prescriptions for rulers. This is done to avoid propagating clichéd or incorrect generalizations of Machiavelli’s work. The result of the study was not …

Afghan Narcoterrorism: The Problem, Its Origins, And Why International Law Enforcement Should Fight It, Steven Fantigrossi

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper provides insight into the issue of opium trafficking in Afghanistan. In 2014, despite U.S., Afghan, and international efforts since 2001, poppy-opium cultivation in Afghanistan reached an all-time high. The Afghan opium trafficking industry provides funding to terrorist groups and transnational crime organizations and is responsible for the continued corruption of government officials, police officers, and intelligence agents in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and other nations. Aside from increased corruption and funding of terrorists and criminals, the opium trade creates opium and heroin addicts out of men, women, and children across the globe. The history of how the opium problem …

A Comparative Study Of Middle Eastern Foreign Policy: How Middle Eastern Intelligence Agencies Shape Current Events, Megan A. Fink

Honors Theses

This study monitored the intelligence and foreign policy actions of Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia from August 2013 to August 2014. Data was collected from coverage by Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, and Al-Jazeera, three reliable and respected news sources that cover global events. The actions taken by foreign policymakers in these countries were recorded throughout the study period.

These actions were organized into a taxonomy based on whether they were intelligence-based or non-intelligence based. Within those broad categories, more distinguishing characteristics were analyzed to show patterns of behavior within national intelligence services of the nations studied. These patterns …

Improving U.S. State Department Cultural Exchanges With The Middle East: A Case Study Comparison Of Iraq And Jordan, Irene K. Gibson

Political Science Honors Projects

The U.S. State Department conducts cultural exchanges with the purpose of encouraging participants to instigate changes in their home countries. Despite extensive efforts by programs to measure their impact on participants, these effects are only indirect correlates or background variables for the ultimate goal of direct action. This thesis explores the impact of State Department cultural exchanges with the Middle East by drawing on eight interviews with exchange administrators of numerous programs in Iraq and Jordan. The case studies of Iraq and Jordan allow more careful scrutiny of the types of factors, both internal and external to programs, that affect …

Jordan: A Negative Case In A Tumultuous Region, Ann Marie Margaret Hager

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

International media brings attention to the worst conflicts worldwide. When ISIS beheads journalists, like Foley and Sotloff (Vourvoulias, 2014) journalists around the globe turn their editorial dockets to these heinous actions. Yet, it is easy to pay attention to conflict when it becomes severe, i.e., escalates to the level of war. It’s no wonder that the Arab/Israeli conflict has such a plethora of literature and media attention while tensions in places like Jordan, right next door, have not. However, Jordan is an example of a negative case: a country that has, despite its significant tensions, not experienced large-scale violence in …

Muslim Women Political Leaders And Electoral Participation In Muslim-Majority Countries, Abby M. Rolland

What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World

This paper focuses on Muslim women political leaders and their agency in the modern world. While some Muslim women have a difficult time participating politically, others actively act in policy and government. Culture, identity, location, and political parties are some of the factors leading to different levels of participation from Muslim women in various countries.

The Responsibility To Protect: Emerging Norm Or Failed Doctrine?, Camila Pupparo

Global Tides

This paper seeks to investigate the current shift from the non-intervention norm towards the “Responsibility to Protect,” commonly abbreviated as “RtoP,” which actually mandates intervention in cases of humanitarian intervention disasters. I will look at the May 2011 application of the R2P doctrine to the humanitarian crisis in Libya and assess whether it was a success or a failure. Many critics of the “Responsibility to Protect” norm consider it to be yet another imperial tool used by the West to pursue national interests, so this paper analyzes this argument in detail, referring to case study examples, particularly in the Middle …

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 …

Becoming A State: Zionist And Palestinian Movements For National Liberation, Martin S. Widzer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the road to statehood for the Zionist and Palestinian movements. There are three components which frame this investigation: 1. social movements and the practices in which they engage that are aimed at establishing statehood for a people; 2. distinctive configurations of the international system and the manner in which both the material and ideational foundations of that system pulls units towards conformity and predictable behavior; and finally, 3. the role of agency, that is, the way in which instrumentally rational individuals attempt to push the structure in which they are embedded towards a configuration that is better …

New Middle East Cold War: Saudi Arabia And Iran's Rivalry, Tali Rachel Grumet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The competing powers of Saudi Arabia and Iran continue to redress and reverse the strategic imbalance and direction of the Middle East’s regional politics. The 1979 Iranian Revolution catapulted these two states into an embittered rivalry. The fall of Saddam Hussein following the 2003 U.S. led invasion, the establishment of a Shi’ite Iraq and the 2011 Arab Uprisings have further inflamed tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Iran and Saudi Arabia have not confronted each other militarily, but rather have divided the region into two armed camps on the basis of political and religious ideology in seeking regional allies and …

The Tragedy Of American Supremacy, Dante R. Toppo

CMC Senior Theses

Why has the United States, given its status as the sole remaining superpower following its Cold War victory, been unable to translate its preponderance of power into the outcomes it desires? The system established by the United States over the course of the Cold War does not effectively translate its power into influence in the post-Cold War world. In fact, the way US-Soviet competition shaped global affairs created systemic problems, weak and failing states, terrorism, autocracy and human rights abuse, that cannot be solved by the mechanisms of influence the US relied upon to win the Cold War. However, precisely …

Against The Grain: The Imf, Bread Riots, And Altered State Development In The Hashemite Kingdom Of Jordan, David M. Leathers

CMC Senior Theses

Since the end of World War II, and especially over the past three decades, there has been a dramatic increase of interactions between international financial institutions (IFIs) and states. This paper will explore these interactions by examining the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This paper rests on the assumption that the complex implications of these interactions are not yet comprehensively understood and will move towards that goal by setting forth a collection of new approaches to further understand IFI-state interaction. It will discuss Jordan’s economic and political history, structural adjustment policies implemented by the IMF, …

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 …

Has Adam Gadahn Forsaken The Lawful Jihad For Anti-Americanism? A Case Study Of Ideological Contradictions, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Faculty Works

Despite his importance as a senior Al-Qaeda spokesman, no detailed examination exists of Adam Yahiye Gadahn’s employment of fiqh al-jihad—that branch of Islamic jurisprudence regulating the lawful waging of jihad—to condemn or condone violence committed in the name of Al-Qaeda. This article first provides a detailed exposition of Gadahn’s sharia-based critique of affiliates’ conduct deemed by him in violation of Islamic law and involving the commission of major sins. Second, Gadahn’s conception of fiqh al-jihad is contextualized and contrasted with the comprehensive fiqh al-jihad-based critiques produced by respected militant Islamist scholars. A key finding here is that Gadahn (unlike these …

Yom Kippur War (October 6-25, 1973), Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Reviews and analyses U.S. and Soviet policymaking during the Yom Kippur War between Israel and various Arab countries during October 1973.

Iranian Nuclear Proliferation And Sanctions, Bailey Nicole Burlingame

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project will involve the current problem of nuclear development in the nation of Iran. The question involved in the election studies was, “Should we try to stop Iranian Nuclear Development by increasing sanctions, yes or no?” According to the US Department of State website, they are attempting to increase these sanctions against individuals or cooperations who can be proven to have provided aid, information, or mechanical aspects to assist the goal of Iranian nuclear proliferation. The website provides identifying information for the individuals involved. The answer to this question I believe will be determined the amount of news information …

A Strategic Alliance: An Exploration Of Israeli-Russian Relations, Megan Bailey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper offers an exploration of various facets of the Israeli-Russian political relationship. The positive relationship between the two states seems unlikely considering each state’s history and strategic alliances, though Israel and Russia have endeavored towards a strong working relationship since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. This paper first explores the history of the relationship between the former Soviet Union/Russia and Israel from the formation of Israel in 1948 to the present day. The historical arc is used in an attempt to explain the development of the current relationship. Next, this paper explains the current …

Hijacking The Syrian Revolution, Iman Khairat Nanoua

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The civil war in Syria (started in March 2011) marks one of the greatest tragedies in the Middle East during the twenty-first century, and a fear that its destructive consequences may affect the entire region. The Syrian crisis coincides with the democratic wave that shaped the Arab Spring. The thesis will discuss the decision-making system and the primary actors in the Syrian crisis within the framework of three distinct phases. Each phase contributed to the hijacking of the peaceful demonstrations that sought freedom in a democratic state and of the dramatic developments on the Syrian stage. The first stage of …