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Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons

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Examining The Intersection Of Refugee Policies And Contemporary Protracted Displacement, Christopher M. Owens 2017 Clark University

Examining The Intersection Of Refugee Policies And Contemporary Protracted Displacement, Christopher M. Owens

Sustainability and Social Justice

Article 33 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees states that host nations shall not expel or return a refugee to their home nation ‘where his life or freedom would be threatened.’ However, as demonstrated in three contemporary case studies in protracted displacement the interests of the sovereign state drive nations to craft strategies to limit cross-border refugee mobility. The refoulement of refugees escaping drug cartel violence throughout the Americas, internally displaced Haitians, and Syrian refugees in Jordan are all ‘managed’ by one of two methods. First, some destination nations either strategically blur refugees into other mobility …


Challenging Structures: A Case Study Of Middle East And North African States In The United Nations System, Emilie Scardilla 2017 Syracuse University

Challenging Structures: A Case Study Of Middle East And North African States In The United Nations System, Emilie Scardilla

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This project consists of two complementary studies exploring structural challenges of the United Nations through a case study of the Middle East and North African states. The research focuses on the major organs of the General Assembly, Security Council, Peacebuilding Commission, and Human Rights Council to analyze and assess their representativeness and legitimacy. The project is framed as supportive of increased diverse representation in order to provide legitimacy to organs and policies within the United Nations.


Modern Palestinian Filmmaking In A Global World, Sarah Frances Hudson 2017 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Modern Palestinian Filmmaking In A Global World, Sarah Frances Hudson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs a comprehensive approach to analyze the cinematic accent of feature length, fictional Palestinian cinema and offers concrete criteria to define the genre of Palestinian fictional film that go beyond traditional, nation-centered approaches to defining films. Employing Arjun Appardurai’s concepts of financescapes, technoscapes, mediascapes, ethnoscapes, and ideoscapes, I analyze the filmic accent of six Palestinian filmmakers: Michel Khleifi, Rashid Masharawi, Ali Nassar, Elia Suleiman, Hany Abu Assad, and Annemarie Jacir. After a detailed examination of each filmmaker’s body of work, I examine the trends that occur across the genre that have the greatest impact on the Palestinian filmic …


Factors Influencing Distribution Of Prosthetic Devices In Iran: An Economic Analysis, Sarah Tensen 2017 Virginia Commonwealth University

Factors Influencing Distribution Of Prosthetic Devices In Iran: An Economic Analysis, Sarah Tensen

Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Conference

An estimated 177,622 Iranians have suffered an injury resulting in amputation. Prosthetic devices in Iran are scarce due to wealth disparity, wars, and lack of vital resources. Without prosthetic devices, amputees face unemployment, homelessness, a lowered self-esteem and cannot fully participate in society. I examined economic factors influencing the distribution of prosthetic devices and reviewed articles that focus on healthcare costs, distributions and services, relationships between Iran and other countries, etiology of amputation to find a solution for the prosthetic distribution issues. I concluded issues resulted from high costs, unequal distributions of wealth and resources, unsafe conditions, and a deficit …


Funding Terror: An Overview Of Financing Methods, John Robert Flores Jr. 2017 Liberty University

Funding Terror: An Overview Of Financing Methods, John Robert Flores Jr.

Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Conference

Terrorism in the Middle East has plagued the United States for over a decade and groups, like ISIS, show that terrorism can be well organized and financed. From a homemade bomb to a small army, each act of terrorism requires funding to turn hateful speech into an action. In the Middle East, funding for terrorism falls into three major categories: criminal, legal, and charity from like-minded individuals. Despite public disdain for global terror there are still some individuals, both foreign and domestic, who seek to fund terrorist attacks. Finding the sources of this funding is essential in order to stem …


Rethinking Baloch Secularism: What The Data Say, C. Christine Fair, Ali Hamza 2017 Georgetown University

Rethinking Baloch Secularism: What The Data Say, C. Christine Fair, Ali Hamza

Peace and Conflict Studies

Since 1947, Baloch have resisted inclusion into the Pakistan and have waged several waves of ethno-nationalist insurgency against the state. Scholars and Baloch nationalist leaders alike generally assert that Baloch are more secular than other Pakistanis, more opposed to the political Islamist policies pursued by the state, and less supportive of Islamist militancy in the country. However, these claims lack empirical support. We employ data derived from a large national survey of Pakistanis from 2012 to evaluate these conventional wisdoms. Contrary to claims in the literature, we find that Baloch resemble Pakistanis generally with few important exceptions.


Czech Artivism: The Function Of Activist Art In Czech Political Culture, Kristen Fontaine 2017 SIT Study Abroad

Czech Artivism: The Function Of Activist Art In Czech Political Culture, Kristen Fontaine

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research endeavors to explore the ways in which activist art functions within the context of the Czech Republic’s political culture. In a society where art had such a significant influence during the transition to democracy, the activist role of art is emphasized minimally in terms of contemporary culture. The main objective of exploring this function results in a threetiered methodology, utilizing secondary sources, direct observation, and interviews with activist artists themselves. The relevant scholarly literature discusses activist art both in the general sense, as well as within the context of post-communist countries. However, individual interviews with local activist artists …


Eng 100: Filthy, Ryan Courtney 2017 Western Kentucky University

Eng 100: Filthy, Ryan Courtney

English 100-200-300 Conference

No abstract provided.


The Relationship Between President Obama's Foreign Policy Decision Making Process, Public Opinion, And International Pressure: Guantanamo Bay, Intervention In Libya, And The Drone Program, Emily Harmon 2017 University of Lynchburg

The Relationship Between President Obama's Foreign Policy Decision Making Process, Public Opinion, And International Pressure: Guantanamo Bay, Intervention In Libya, And The Drone Program, Emily Harmon

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This study utilizes Robert Putnam’s “Two Level Game Theory” to understand whether public opinion influenced President Obama's first-term administration when confronted with foreign policy decisions. Some scholars argue that there is an overall lack in understanding of how public opinion affects American foreign policy because the public is disengaged and uneducated on foreign issues and that the role of media influences the public’s attitude towards a certain issue. Accordingly, it is hypothesized here that public opinion was not a factor in this process. To test this proposition, the study evaluates three cases: the “closing” of Guantanamo Bay, the United States’ …


Schisms: The Inherent Dangers Of Religious Variance Within A Single Faith – An Analysis Of Intra-State Conflict In The Modern World, Benjamin E. Hazen 2017 Gettysburg College

Schisms: The Inherent Dangers Of Religious Variance Within A Single Faith – An Analysis Of Intra-State Conflict In The Modern World, Benjamin E. Hazen

Student Publications

This essay explores the relationship between religious variance within a single faith and the frequency of intra-state conflict. Specifically, an emphasis is placed on Sunni and Shia conflict within the overarching umbrella of Islam. Utilizing the most recent empirical data in conjunction with other scholarly research, it can be hypothesized that the more diverse a state is within a single subset of one particular religion, the more frequent the incidence of intra-state conflict is as well.


Twisting The Tap: Water Scarcity And Conflict In The Euphrates-Tigris River Basin, Samantha Glass 2017 SIT Study Abroad

Twisting The Tap: Water Scarcity And Conflict In The Euphrates-Tigris River Basin, Samantha Glass

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Is water a target or an instrument of violence? Is it an amplifier of conflict or a means for cooperation, a source of growth or a force of destruction? The purpose of this report is to determine how threats of water shortage and the lack of a trans-boundary management plan has prompted states in the Euphrates-Tigris River Basin to leverage the shared resource as a political weapon to preserve national interests and ascertain regional authority. The scope of this report examines the domestic policies, economic objectives, and foreign-policy interests that compose Turkey, Syria, and Iraq’s national stakes in the trans-boundary …


Rulers, Religion, And Riches: Why The West Got Rich And The Middle East Did Not, Jared Rubin 2017 Chapman University

Rulers, Religion, And Riches: Why The West Got Rich And The Middle East Did Not, Jared Rubin

Economics Faculty Books and Book Chapters

For centuries following the spread of Islam, the Middle East was far ahead of Europe. Yet, the modern economy was born in Europe. Why was it not born in the Middle East? In this book Jared Rubin examines the role that Islam played in this reversal of fortunes. It argues that the religion itself is not to blame; the importance of religious legitimacy in Middle Eastern politics was the primary culprit. Muslim religious authorities were given an important seat at the political bargaining table, which they used to block important advancements such as the printing press and lending at interest. …


Feminism In Pakistan: Dialogues Between Pakistani Feminists, Annie Serez 2017 Wilfrid Laurier University

Feminism In Pakistan: Dialogues Between Pakistani Feminists, Annie Serez

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.


The Al-Qaeda Organization And The Islamic State Organization: History, Doctrine, Modus, Operandi, And U.S Policy To Degrade And Defeat Terrorism Conducted In The Name Of Sunni Islam, Paul Kamolnick 2017 East Tennessee State University

The Al-Qaeda Organization And The Islamic State Organization: History, Doctrine, Modus, Operandi, And U.S Policy To Degrade And Defeat Terrorism Conducted In The Name Of Sunni Islam, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Authors Bookshelf

The al-Qaeda Organization (AQO) and the Islamic State Organization (ISO) are transnational adversaries that conduct terrorism in the name of Sunni Islam. It is declared U.S. Government (USG) policy to degrade, defeat, and destroy them. The present book has been written to assist policymakers, military planners, strategists, and professional military educators whose mission demands a deep understanding of strategically-relevant differences between these two transnational terrorist entities. In it, one shall find a careful comparative analysis across three key strategically relevant dimensions: essential doctrine, beliefs, and worldview; strategic concept, including terrorist modus operandi; and specific implications and recommendations for current USG …


Visual Communication & Typography: Study In The History Of Hebrew Letterforms And The Work Of Israeli Designer, Yaakov Stark, Shayna Tova Blum 2017 Xavier University of Louisiana

Visual Communication & Typography: Study In The History Of Hebrew Letterforms And The Work Of Israeli Designer, Yaakov Stark, Shayna Tova Blum

Faculty and Staff Publications

The article reviews the history of letterforms and typographic design by discussing inventions in scripts, tools, and technology which impact the evolution of visual language and writing systems. Principles and elements of typography are analyzed using the Hebrew alphabet as an example in letterform design by exploring the work of Israeli designer, Yaakov Stark, who as an Israeli immigrant from Eastern Europe projects centered on Hebrew typography and the hybridization of Ashkenazi and Mizrahi scripts. Through an archive of work produced while a student at the Bezalel Academy of Art, Jerusalem in 1906, Stark has influenced generations of Israeli designers, …


Hebrew Typography: A Modern Progression Of Language Forms, Shayna Tova Blum 2017 Xavier University of Louisiana

Hebrew Typography: A Modern Progression Of Language Forms, Shayna Tova Blum

Faculty and Staff Publications

Influenced by studies in traditional Ashkenazi and Sephardi scripts. The typeface had been designed for the printing of the Koren Tanakh, a first edition printed Jewish Bible processed through an all-Jewish collaboration for the first time in centuries. Koren’s project was inspired by the revival of Hebrew initiated by Haskalah writers in the 18th century. Haskalah writers utilized the language and scripts of written and printed literary texts. Influenced by philosophical and political ideologies of the European Enlightenment, the Haskalah explored Jewish identity through language by defining the secular context through traditional Jewish symbolism and narratives. The Zionist movement of …


Realizing An Opportunity: Limiting The Power Of The Executive In The Iraqi Constitution, Cory Kopitzke 2017 Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Realizing An Opportunity: Limiting The Power Of The Executive In The Iraqi Constitution, Cory Kopitzke

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

In the summer of 2015, Iraqi citizens took to the streets in protest. After going without essential services, such as electricity, in the sweltering heat and after enduring corruption that undermined Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State, these citizens called for meaningful changes in the management of the Iraqi government and for the fulfillment of “democratic aspirations” enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution. In response to these protests, Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, proposed sweeping reform measures to combat the decisive divides in the current administration. These reforms called for drastic change—including the elimination of the vice-president and deputy prime minister …


Politicizing Muslims: Constructing A 'Moderate' Islam, Lamiya Khandaker 2017 Connecticut College

Politicizing Muslims: Constructing A 'Moderate' Islam, Lamiya Khandaker

Global Islamic Studies Honors Papers

No abstract provided.


Rapport Development And Native Language Use Between U.S. Advisors And Afghan Counterparts, Sean Ryan Ryan 2017 Walden University

Rapport Development And Native Language Use Between U.S. Advisors And Afghan Counterparts, Sean Ryan Ryan

2017 Program & Posters

This phenomenological symbolic interactionism study of rapport and native language use between 15 Afghan counterparts and their U.S. advisors involved semi-structured interviews informed by social exchange theory, servant leadership theory, role theory, and the Army conceptual rapport framework. Native language appeared to contribute to perceptions of respect, understanding, commitment, and trust supporting rapport.


Desconocido: Conversion To Islam In México, Ashley E. Dunn 2017 Macalester College

Desconocido: Conversion To Islam In México, Ashley E. Dunn

International Studies Honors Projects

Unless proven otherwise, subaltern subjects are assumed to lack agency. Through an exploration of conversion to Islam in México in the southern state of Chiapas, in the north along las fronteras, and in Mexico City, this project intervenes in discourses that deny the subaltern agency. Through the analytical frameworks of coloniality, this project redefines the choices that converts make and their expressions of faith as acts of creation, as inherently authentic, and as articulations of their desires. Converts to Islam in México serve as a case study of modes of resistance against the epistemological powers of coloniality.


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