Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons^™

Imagining Kurdish Identity In Mandatory Syria: Finding A Nation In Exile, Ahmet Serdar Akturk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation looks at the activities of the Kurdish nationalists from Turkey who were exiled in Syria and Lebanon during the period of the French mandate, and especially Jaladet and Kamuran Bedirkhan. Scions of a princely Kurdish family from the Botan region in Eastern Anatolia, the Bedirkhan brothers initiated a Kurdish cultural movement in exile following the failure of two armed rebellions against the new Turkish Republic in 1925 and 1930. Central to this cultural movement was the publication of journals in Damascus and Beirut, namely Hawar (1932-1943) Ronahi (1942-1945), Roja Nu/Le Jour Nouveau (1943-1946), and Ster (1943-1945).

This study …

Teachers' Perceptions Toward Implementing English As A Foreign Language At Kindergarten: What Can We Learn From The Case Of Kuwaiti Kindergarten Teachers?, Kawthar M. Habeeb

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The teaching of English as a foreign language has a promising outlook in the nation of Kuwait. Recent policy reflects language development theories that see early childhood as an especially good period for the learning of a foreign language. Thus, English is now taught at 30 public kindergartens in Kuwait. However, the program apparently was implemented quickly, with little consideration for how teachers and other stakeholders would respond to it. This paper explores that program in the context of the perceptions and views of teachers affected by it.

A review of the existing curriculum points towards deficiencies, and investigation of …

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 …

The History Of Nusayris ('Alawis) In Ottoman Syria, 1831-1876, Ali Capar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Syrian provinces of the Ottoman Empire experienced significant events, such as the Egyptian invasion, the Tanzimat Reforms and the increasing activities of Protestant missionaries between 1831 and 1876. In this thesis, I tried to analyze the course of the Ottoman-Nusayri relationship between 1831 and 1876, the treatment of the Ottoman government toward the Nusayris, outcomes of the Egyptians and the Ottoman reforms in the region and among the Nusayris, the reaction of the Nusayris to these reform policies, and the activities of the Protestant missionaries among the Nusayri community.

Woes Of The Arkansas Internationalist: J. William Fulbright, The Middle East, And The Death Of American Liberalism, Mitchell Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary scholarship has shown that J. William Fulbright's defeat in 1974 was due to a plethora of reasons including his opposition to America's involvement in Vietnam, lackadaisical attitude towards the monolithic threat of Communism, connection to the Washington establishment amidst the Watergate scandal, and old age. Scholars, however, have not paid enough attention to the role Fulbright's Middle Eastern stances played in his final election campaign. I seek to place the voice of Arkansans in the national and international political discussions and show that, despite their relatively unfocused interest in Middle Eastern affairs (and perhaps because of that lack of …

Considering Kranzhügeln: An Exploration Into The Structural Variation And Environmental/Spatial Distribution Of The Third Millennium "Kranzhügel" Sites, Elise Jakoby

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

First named by von Oppenheim over a century ago, the distinctive third millennium BC kranzhügeln, or "wreath-mound," sites of the Syrian Desert remain a poorly understood phenomenon. While archaeological investigations have been undertaken at a handful of kranzhügel-like sites including Tell Chuera, Tell al-Rawda, and Tell Beydar, the overall number, geographic distribution, and morphological variation of so-called "kranzhügel" sites remains largely unexplored.

1960s-era CORONA satellite imagery available through the CORONA Atlas Project (http://corona.cast.uark.edu/) now enables more systematic documentation of the kranzhügel sites and the production site-scale visual and quantitative analysis. Analysis of kranzhügel distribution and morphology …

The Consciousness Of Water: Narrative Flows, Environmental Change, And The Voice Of Yemen, Tricia Nellessen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Icebergs are melting in the Arctic. The Gulf of Mexico is warming and producing hurricanes such as Katrina. The delta of the southern United States is drying. And, Yemen will be the first country in modern history to experience a lack of accessible ground water, as soon as 2017 possibly. Yemen's situation has been tracked by scholars and governments since the 1960s. Despite this fact, cities have expanded in Yemen and the population has increased its use of water while little has been invested in desalination or infrastructure to offset growth. Climate change has affected humans for thousands of years; …

U.S. State Department International Law Internship And Employment Presentation And Discussion, Andrew A. Passen Famu Diplomat-In Residence

Environmental and Animal Law

The Center for International Law & Justice presents a discussion and presentation by Andrew A. Passen, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, who is currently serving as Diplomat-in-Residence covering the southeast U.S. and is based at Florida A & M University in Tallahassee.

Democracy, Identity And Anti-Americanism In Turkey: Implications For United States-Turkey Relations, Jeff Easterling '13

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

Global Futures And Government Towns: Phosphates And The Production Of Western Sahara As A Space Of Contention, Mark Drury

Publications and Research

The study of natural resources lends itself to theorizing the politics of nature and the politics of time. The space of Western Sahara, where both remain highly contested, provides an opportunity to consider the ramifications of resources in political conflict at different historical moments. Drawing from environmental histories of North Africa and the Sahara, as well as the anthropology of time, the author focuses on two historical moments. The first, from 1945 to 1972, concerns the discovery of phosphate deposits during the Spanish colonial period and the implications of this discovery for political authority in the Sahara more broadly. The …

Appendix 1: Selected, Allegedly Iran-Sponsored Attempts To Kill Iranian Expatriates, 1979-2012, Brian Champion, Lee Crowther

Faculty Publications

In “Appendix 1,” we document attempted killings that meet the following criteria: (1) The attempt was made against one or more Iranians. (2) The attempt took place outside of Iran. (3) Some allegation was made that the state of Iran was at least partially responsible for the attempt.

We are far from the first to document allegedly Iran-sponsored attempts to kill Iranian expatriates. However, we attempt to fill a gap in the literature by combining breadth, detail, and a thorough citation of sources consulted.

Our survey begins with the 1979 assassination of Shahriar Shafigh in Paris and continues up to …

Appendix 6: Selected Cases Of Targeted Killings And Attempted Killings Around The World, 1979-2012, Brian Champion, Lee Crowther

Faculty Publications

Appendix 6 documents selected instances for which some allegation exists that a state, at an official or quasi-official level, was responsible for an extraterritorial attempt (successful or otherwise) on the lives of citizens of other states.

Appendix 5: Selected Worldwide Expatriate Killings And Attempted Killings, 1978-2011, Brian Champion, Lee Crowther

Faculty Publications

Appendix 5 documents thirty-eight attempts (successful or otherwise) on fifty expatriates for which some allegation was made that the target's own state, at an official or quasi-official level, was responsible.

Appendix 3: An Interlinear Comparison Of Six Chronologies Documenting Allegedly Iran-Sponsored Extraterritorial Attempted Killings, 1979-1996, Brian Champion, Lee Crowther

Faculty Publications

In "Appendix 3," we compare six of the sources cited in "Appendix 1." While many of our sources focus on a single event, each of the six we investigate here alleges Iranian state responsibility for a pattern of attempted killings outside Iran. Due to the larger scope of the six sources, we here refer to them as chronologies.

Appendix 2: Selected, Allegedly Iran-Sponsored Attempts To Kill Iranian Expatriates, 1979-2010, By Locale, Brian Champion, Lee Crowther

Faculty Publications

In "Appendix 2," we compile geographic data from "Appendix 1." In "Appendix 1," we documented attempted killings which met the following criteria: (1) The attempt was made against one or more Iranians. (2) The attempt took place outside of Iran. (3) Some allegation was made that the state of Iran was at least partially responsible for the attempt. In "Appendix 2," we document locales, local in table 2.1 and by state in table 2.2, in which the 77 events documented in "Appendix 1" took place.

Islamic Political Thought: Reviving A Rationalist Tradition, Hazem Y. Salem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work develops the foundations of an Islamic argument for secular, liberal democracy from within the Islamic discursive tradition. First, it challenges the presentation of contemporary Islamic political thought as a unified, continuous development of the classical canon by showing the influence of the now marginalized medieval rationalists in the development of Islamic political thought. The classical rationalist concern with divine justice forced the founders of Sunni orthodoxy to state their epistemologies and their positions on ethical ontology. The orthodox positions, and their related methods of legal-juristic reasoning, are shown to be incapable of accommodating the modern Islamic positions on …

Covert: An Insight On The Politically Marginalized Armenian Minority In Iran During The 1979 Iranian Revolution, Arika Anastasia Khajetoorians

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to provide an insight of the politically marginalized Armenian minority in Iran based on the reporting of Alik.

Framing Resistance: How Hamas Uses Collective Action Frames To Attract And Maintain Human Resources, Thomas George Hagen

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of collective action framing mechanisms and processes by Hamas in order to aquire and maintain potential and existing human resources and to help researchers and scholars of contentious politics and social movement theory to gain a greater understanding of the role frames play in that decision by showing the ways social movement entrepreneurs use them to acquire, maintain, and motivate human resources for the purpose of collective action.

Sectarianism And External Intervention: The Us Occupation Of Iraq And The Rise Of Political Sectarianism In The Arab World, Gamal M. Selim, Dalia Rushdy

Political Science

منذ أن تبلورت في البلاد العربية ظاهرة الهوية، لم تكن تلك الهوية تمثل أي تعارض مع الدين أو المذهب. كما أن التعدد الثقافي العربي وبما تضمنه من تنوع طائفي وإثني ظل سمة أصيلة من سمات المجتمعات العربية لعقود طويلة، وكان مصدرا مهما من مصادر الثراء والتنوع الثقافي والحضاري. لكن هذا التعدد تحول منذ الغزو الأمريكي للعراق عام 2003 من مصدر لإثراء المجتمع إلى سبب لهدمه وتفكيكه، حيث برزت مسألة الطائفية السياسية بقوة، وأصبحت إحدى أكثر المشكلات التي يعاني الوطن العربي من ويلاتها. ورغم أننا لا يمكن أن ننكر أن ظهور الطائفية في الدول العربية سابق على الغزو الأمريكي للعراق، إلا …

January Roundtable: Responding To The Syrian Crisis, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes Julio

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The World Next Genocide” by Simon Adams. New York Times, November 2012.

and

“Syria is Central to Holding Together the Mideast” by Condoleezza Rice. Washington Post, November 2012.