College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
US Army War College
Universitas Indonesia
University at Albany, State University of New York
Beyond The Legal Black Hole: Hyper-Legality, Deferral, And Detention In Northeast Syria,
2027
The American University in Cairo AUC
Beyond The Legal Black Hole: Hyper-Legality, Deferral, And Detention In Northeast Syria, Grace T. Harmon
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis examines the detention of suspected ISIS affiliates and their family members held in facilities administered by the Kurdish-led authorities in North-East Syria. Thousands of foreign nationals remain detained without trial, without repatriation, and in conditions widely criticized as inhumane. Existing scholarship and political discourse often describe these facilities as legal voids, limbo, or black holes where law has broken down or ceased to apply. This thesis challenges that characterization. Rather than existing outside the law, the facilities are governed through overlapping frameworks of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, counterterrorism security resolutions, and domestic laws. I argue …
Regulating Religious Coexistence : The Intricacies Of Interfaith Cooperation In Coastal Kenya,
2026
Ohio University
Regulating Religious Coexistence : The Intricacies Of Interfaith Cooperation In Coastal Kenya, Erik Meinema
Ohio University Press Open Access Books
Regulating Religious Coexistence offers a compelling ethnographic analysis of how Muslims, Christians, and practitioners of indigenous African religions negotiate coexistence in Kenya’s coastal region. The book conceptualizes religious diversity as a dynamic field shaped by multiple partly intersecting and partly conflicting models of interaction. These include the political secularism promoted by the Kenyan state and civil society organizations focused on interfaith harmony, forms of competition between religious groups, and pluralistic practices in which individuals draw on multiple traditions to meet spiritual needs.
Through a close examination of civil society initiatives funded by Western donors to foster peacebuilding and to counter …
From Monopoly To Orchestration: The Hilltop And Farm Youth And The Changing Organization Of State Coercion - The Israeli Case,
2026
Mississippi State University
From Monopoly To Orchestration: The Hilltop And Farm Youth And The Changing Organization Of State Coercion - The Israeli Case, Idan Yaron
Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis
Drawing on more than a decade of ethnographic fieldwork – as a social anthropologist, studying the Far Right in Israel, on the ground, and through intimate and prolonged relationships with opinion leaders and rank-and-file activists – this essay examines the Hilltop and Farm Youth in the West Bank to reconsider Charles Tilly's influential account of state formation and the organization of coercion. It asks a simple but troubling question: why would a powerful modern state, fully capable of suppressing autonomous violent actors, sometimes allow them to persist? I argue that Tilly's theory should be confirmed, adapted, and amended. His fundamental …
“As The Developing Situation Warrants”: U.S. Counterterrorism Policy Considered Through The 1994 Gerry Adams Visa Debate,
2026
Wake Forest University
“As The Developing Situation Warrants”: U.S. Counterterrorism Policy Considered Through The 1994 Gerry Adams Visa Debate, Olivia T. Sullivan
Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal
This thesis analyzes the 1994 U.S. decision to grant Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams a visa and what it reveals about American counterterrorism policy in the immediate post–Cold War period. Long suspected of senior involvement in the Provisional Irish Republican Army during the Troubles (1968–1998), Adams had previously been denied entry under terrorism-related immigration provisions. His case became a flashpoint inside the U.S. government: officials debated whether diplomatic opportunity, domestic political incentives, and momentum toward peace in Northern Ireland warranted a departure from the prior “no concessions” posture toward IRA-linked figures. Situating the controversy within U.S. terrorism discourse from the …
Nihilistic Violence Aesthetics In Public Online Communication,
2026
Walden University
Nihilistic Violence Aesthetics In Public Online Communication, Heath Nicholas Landress
Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences
Public online communication has increasingly included violence-related content that is meme-based, ironic, visually stylized, multimodal, and only partially ideological. This comprehensive literature review synthesized research on online extremism, extremist memes, toxic multimodal content, dehumanizing digital communication, nihilistic violent extremism, warning behaviors, platform affordances, and youth-facing online environments. The purpose was to clarify what the literature had established; identify where the scholarship remained fragmented; and map research domains relevant to social, behavioral, public safety, and human services scholarship. The review used a structured, comprehensive literature review strategy supported by integrative synthesis procedures. The final corpus contained 34 scholarly sources, including 32 …
Parameters Autumn 2026,
2026
US Army War College
Parameters Autumn 2026, Usawc Press
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
No abstract provided.
Jihad As Discourse: The Houthi Movement's Official Rhetoric On The 2023–2024 Red Sea Attacks,
2026
Universitas Airlangga
Jihad As Discourse: The Houthi Movement's Official Rhetoric On The 2023–2024 Red Sea Attacks, Moh. Iqbal Bulgini, Imam Khomaeni Hayatullah
Journal of Terrorism Studies
This study examines how Ansar Allah (the Houthi movement) constructs and legitimises a jihad discourse through official speeches and formal statements issued by military spokesperson Yahya Sarea and the movement's official platforms during the 2023–2024 Red Sea attacks. Employing Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework—integrating textual analysis, discursive practice, and sociocultural context—the study analyses a purposive corpus of 45 verified institutional texts. Three dominant and mutually reinforcing discursive formations are identified: (1) the Humanitarian-Juridical Discourse, which reconstitutes armed attacks as legally and morally obligatory acts of protection; (2) the Anti-Hegemonic Resistance Discourse, which constructs the movement as a …
Indonesia And The Global Maritime Fulcrum: Structural Crisis Of The Four Pillars Of Maritime Power,
2026
Kedeputian Hanneg dan Kesbang Kemenko Polkam
Indonesia And The Global Maritime Fulcrum: Structural Crisis Of The Four Pillars Of Maritime Power, Frisca Ayu Suciandika
Journal of Terrorism Studies
This article critically examines Indonesia’s position in realizing its vision as a Global Maritime Fulcrum through an analysis of four main pillars of maritime power: maritime science, financial strength, maritime industry, and naval defense. The study is motivated by the paradox between Indonesia’s vast geographical and historical potential as an archipelagic state and its limited structural capacity to build modern maritime power. This research employs a qualitative descriptive approach using library research and critical analysis of academic literature, international data, and Indonesian maritime policy documents. The findings show that Indonesia still faces an epistemic deficit in maritime science due to …
Critical Geopolitics And The Reconstruction Of Meaning: A Discourse Analysis Of The 'Terrorism' Label Applied To Hamas By Western Hegemony,
2026
Universitas Indonesia
Critical Geopolitics And The Reconstruction Of Meaning: A Discourse Analysis Of The 'Terrorism' Label Applied To Hamas By Western Hegemony, Cahaya Mulyani Sakti, M.Hamdan Basyar
Journal of Terrorism Studies
The emergence of Hamas in 1987 cannot be separated from the configuration of modern colonialism and the continuity of occupation that shaped the political reality. Hamas’s early phase was rooted in socio-religious activities through education and community empowerment programs, before evolving into armed resistance against the occupation. The labeling of Hamas as a “terrorist” organization began in the mid-1990s in U.S. legal documents, which subsequently generated debate and gave rise to counter-narratives. This study employs the frameworks of critical geopolitics (Ó Tuathail & Agnew) and the Discourse-Historical Approach (Wodak) to analyze the labeling of Hamas as “terrorist” by Western hegemony. …
Governance Structures And Conflict Mitigation Strategies In Food Supply Chains: Evidence From Niger State, Nigeria,
2026
Federal University of Technology Minna
Governance Structures And Conflict Mitigation Strategies In Food Supply Chains: Evidence From Niger State, Nigeria, Araoye Olarinkoye Ajiboye, Aminu Kandi Suleiman, Habila Daniel Diko, Tayo Moses Adebayo
Journal of Terrorism Studies
Food supply chains in fragile and semi-institutionalised economies continue to experience persistent instability driven by weak governance structures and recurring conflicts among market actors. However, despite extensive studies on food system challenges in Nigeria, there remains limited empirical understanding of how governance structures interact with conflict mitigation mechanisms to shape system stability at the local market level. Available literature tends to treat governance and conflict management as separate processes, thus overlooking their interdependent dynamics within everyday market operations. This study addresses this gap by examining governance structures and conflict mitigation strategies in food supply chains in Niger State, Nigeria. Anchored …
The Effect Of Incompatibility Types On The Escalation Of Global Armed Conflicts,
2026
Master of Medical Intelligence Program, College of Medical Intelligence, Jakarta
The Effect Of Incompatibility Types On The Escalation Of Global Armed Conflicts, Michael Haratua Rajagukguk, Ruben Cornelius Siagian Rcs
Journal of Terrorism Studies
Global armed conflicts show variations in intensity influenced by the type of issue incompatibility. This study aims to analyze the influence of territorial, ideological, and combined incompatibilities on the probability of high-intensity conflict escalation, as well as its implications for conflict mitigation strategies. Global conflict dyadic data were analyzed using a multilevel logistic regression model with controls for time, region, and conflict type. The results show that ideology-based conflicts have a lower probability of reaching high intensity than territorial conflicts (OR ≈ 0.51, p < 0.05), while conflicts with a combination of ideology and territory tend to be at greater risk of high escalation (AM effect ≈ +26.6 points), although the effect is not yet statistically significant. Temporal analysis shows a downward trend in conflict intensity over time, especially in the post-Cold War period, while regional effects and conflict types show significant variation. These findings fill a gap in the literature on the dual interaction of ideological and territorial claims, showing that the highest escalation of violence occurs when symbolic and material dimensions are intertwined. In conclusion, conflict escalation is more influenced by a combination of issues and structural characteristics of conflict than by ideology alone. The novelty of this research lies in the identification of the strengthening effect of dual incompatibility and the downward trend in conflict intensity after the Cold War, which emphasizes the importance of a relational and temporal context-based mitigation approach in global conflict management.
Hybrid Threats In The Lake Chad Basin: The Nexus Between Terrorism, Illicit Wealth, And Transborder Crime,
2026
Nigeria Police Academy Kano, Kano State, Nigeria
Hybrid Threats In The Lake Chad Basin: The Nexus Between Terrorism, Illicit Wealth, And Transborder Crime, Cletus C. N. Nwadiogbu
Journal of Terrorism Studies
Threats to security in the Lake Chad Basin have changed over the years and hybrid elements have become interweaved. Sustained Boko Haram and ISWAP activities have increased the insecurity in the region, enabling the mixing of armed insurgency and organized criminals, including narcotics dealers, extortion rackets, arms trafficking, drugs production and smuggling, kidnapping and fuel smuggling among Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon states. Nexus elements of illicit wealth, illicit transborder crime and terrorism were thus analysed as interdependent and contributing elements to Hybrid threats in the Basin. The study used a hybrid design (qualitative-quantitative) documenting data from the following institutions: …
The Monopoly Of Violence In Iraq: The Emergence Of The Islamic Resistance Of Iraq, Mobilization Of The Pmf, And The Future Of State Stability,
2026
Pepperdine University
The Monopoly Of Violence In Iraq: The Emergence Of The Islamic Resistance Of Iraq, Mobilization Of The Pmf, And The Future Of State Stability, Alexis Thomas
Pepperdine Policy Review
Iraq's fragile state faces threats from multiple factors including Iranian influence within the Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraq's political system, the decentralized nature of the PMF, and potential violence surrounding critical national elections. Formed during the 2014 ISIS war, the PMF is an umbrella organization consisting of various militias broadly aligned with Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Muqtada al-Sadr, or former Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei. Since October 7, 2023, Iranian-backed PMF militias operating under the Islamic Resistance of Iraq have conducted attacks against Israeli and American targets, threatening to drag Iraq into regional conflict. PMF-affiliated parties achieved considerable success in the 2025 …
The Making Of An Extremist: How Do We Become Someone Else’S Nightmare?,
2026
Lindenwood University
The Making Of An Extremist: How Do We Become Someone Else’S Nightmare?, María Paula Morales
The Confluence
This article explores how ordinary people can be pulled into extremist movements and what psychological forces drive that process. It looks at three perspectives: social identity theory, which explains how group belonging shapes behavior, identity development, which shows how people searching for meaning may find it in extremist causes; and social neuroscience, which connects radicalization to brain activity linked to fear, loyalty, and moral judgement. Together, these approaches show that radicalization is not simply about ideology but about identity, emotion, and belonging. By understanding these dynamics, we can find better ways to prevent extremism and promote healthier, more inclusive communities.
Treatment Of Different Non-State Actors In Detention: A Legal, Moral, And National Security Analysis,
2026
James Madison University
Treatment Of Different Non-State Actors In Detention: A Legal, Moral, And National Security Analysis, Alison P. Raedel
Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current
This thesis analyzes state behavior regarding the treatment of non-state actors through three major frameworks: international law, ethical theory, and national security. Two cases are compared: the treatment of al-Qaeda detainees by the United States after the attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the treatment of the Angolan liberation movements by the Portuguese during the Angolan War of Independence. These cases were chosen to assess how the three frameworks apply across different non-state actors, which include terrorist organizations and liberation movements. International law provides a baseline for rights and protections, but it is often selectively interpreted. Just war theory gives …
From The Editor In Chief,
2026
US Army War College
From The Editor In Chief, C. Anthony Pfaff
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
Welcome to the Summer 2026 issue of Parameters, which consists of two In Focus special commentaries, three forums (Indo-Pacific, Strategy, and Historical Studies) and the Strategic Competition Corner.
Turning Tactical Victories Into Strategic Success: Counterinsurgency In The Irish Civil War, 1922–23,
2026
US Army War College
Turning Tactical Victories Into Strategic Success: Counterinsurgency In The Irish Civil War, 1922–23, Gareth Prendergast, John A. Nagl
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
The fundamentals the Irish National Army used in the Irish Civil War (1922–23) are a model for the successful application of a classic counterinsurgency which, if understood earlier, could have made a difference in the United States’ most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Irish Civil War has not been examined in-depth through the lens of modern counterinsurgency doctrine. This article draws on military history and recent counterinsurgency doctrines to provide US policymakers and military practitioners practical guidance for how counterinsurgent forces can foster trust and use appropriate tactics that lead to strategic success.
Parameters,
2026
US Army War College
Parameters, Usawc Press
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
No abstract provided.
A New Security Framework For Nato’S Eastern Flank,
2026
US Army War College
A New Security Framework For Nato’S Eastern Flank, Matthew J. Kukla, Anna Batta
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
This article argues for a NATO-EU–led security strategy to achieve long-term deterrence in Ukraine after the end of the Russia-Ukraine War. Unlike existing analyses, this article straddles the strategic level of deterrence, outlining an operational road map. Its historical example of the Iraq War shows that long-term security requires the development of plans before a conflict ends, long-term commitments, and multilateral—not unilateral—security efforts. The proposed solution provides strategic planners and policymakers with a low-risk, high-reward approach that leverages burden sharing through a multinational framework.
Rethinking Power: E. H. Carr’S Enduring Lessons For Modern Strategists,
2026
US Army War College
Rethinking Power: E. H. Carr’S Enduring Lessons For Modern Strategists, Brian J. Hasse
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
This article argues E. H. Carr’s classic conception of power provides enduring lessons for national security, but these lessons are easily lost in application. Unlike much of the existing literature, this article emphasizes how modern conceptions of power convey an illusion of balance, while the national security bureaucracy constrains the effective synchronization of power. The analysis leverages both historical and contemporary case studies to identify what a balanced conception of power looks like in practice, with the hope of informing US national security strategy and policy in today’s complex security environment.
