Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Communications, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-70).

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2006. / Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 254 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references.

September 11, 2001 presented the world with events that challenged its conception of reality and called into question current ideologies. In order to make sense of the attacks, people turned to the media for information and interpretation. My interest lies in the media’s role in shaping ideologies as a result of the events of September 11, 2001. I focus on the newspaper editorial because it, in particular, functions not only to report the news but also to interpret the news for the reader. My analysis is centred on the first reaction to the events in five ‘core’ editorials drawn, respectively, from an American, British, South African, Zimbabwean and Kenyan newspaper. The specific focus, in each case, is the representation and evaluation of social actors, the events themselves and the schematic structure of the editorial. I adopt a critical perspective through the use of Critical Discourse Analysis, supported by Systemic Functional Grammar and APPRAISAL. This perspective involves three inter-connected stages of analysis: a Description of the formal discourse properties of each editorial; an Interpretation of the prevailing situational context; and an Explanation of the sociohistorical context in each case. Language, being a form of social practice, is a means by which power relations in society are reproduced or contested (Janks 1997). By analysing the editorials’ discourse I identify whose interests are being served and how each text positions a reader’s attitudes and opinions. My analysis reveals the fact that the editorials distinguish between “us” and “them” groups for the purposes of advancing and confirming in-group ideologies and agendas. This is achieved in each case through comparing the paper’s ideology with the opposing ideology, which is presented as deviant and unsupportive of the in-group. My analysis of the African editorials, in particular, further reveals the exploitation of this division for the purposes of promoting and interpreting local political and social issues. Examination of the processes and conditions surrounding the production of the editorials shows how they are significantly influenced and constrained by the ideologies of both the writer and newspaper owner as well as by the situational context within which they were written. My analysis of the schematic structure of the editorials, in line with Bolivar (1994), reveals consistent use of three-part structures by which editorial opinions are evaluated. In concluding I provide suggestions, based on my research, for how critical language awareness can inform media education at high school level in South Africa. I argue that students should be equipped with tools, such as those I employed, to critically analyse and uncover how language is used to promote ideologies in the editorial of newspapers.

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This dissertation examines how different forms of state capacity affect the decision of terror groups to end their campaign. Building a theoretical framework about the relationship between state capacity and terrorist group termination, I address the following research questions: How do terror groups respond to the changes in non-repressive forms of state's capacity, such as bureaucratic capacity, extractive capacity, and how do those responses of terror groups affect the chance of their demise? How do the changes in non-repressive forms of state capacity affect the likelihood of termination of particular types of terror groups, specifically ethnic terror groups? And finally, how do security forces representing repressive capacity of states affect the probability of a terrorist group end? I argue that as the state fighting the terror group increases its capacity, that will generate an incentive for the terror group to respond to increasing state capacity to secure its survival and maintain its existence. As the terror group produces responses to increasing state capacity in terms of rebuilding its capacity to operate and keeping its popular support base intact, it will be less likely to end its terror campaign. This argument is particularly relevant for terror groups operating on behalf of a certain ethnic or religious group. I test this theory by doing a cross-national quantitative analysis as well as doing a qualitative analysis on the PKK's terror campaign in Turkey in the period of 1984-2013. I find that increasing extractive capacity and bureaucratic capacity of states encourages terror groups to engage in coercive and non-coercive actions to survive increasing state capacity, thereby reducing the chances of ending its terror campaign. I also argue that security forces, who represent repressive capacity of states, also play a role on the decision of terror groups to end their campaigns. By focusing exclusively on militarized law enforcement forces, I contend that the presence of these forces might either enhance the chances of survival of terror groups or increases the risk of the demise of these groups. Whether having these forces increases or decreases the likelihood of terror group end is a function of the capacity of the state to control the actions and behaviors of security forces. By constructing a time series cross-sectional data set on militarized law enforcement forces, I test these arguments and find that having militarized law enforcement forces decreases the risk of terror group end, but as the state's bureaucratic capacity increases, having these forces increases the likelihood that the terror group will decide to end its campaign. These empirical findings have several theoretical implications for the extant literature on state capacity and terrorism, and they also have implications for policymakers in terms of designing an effective counter-terrorism policy to deal with the threats from terrorist groups.

Anotation Diploma Thesis Terrorist profiling in Europe between 2004 and 2017 Bc. Kryštof Rygl Terrorism has never been so brutal and unexpected as it is now in the era of Islamic terrorism. This era initiated by series of attacks in the United States in 2001. Behind these attacks, as well as three years later during the bombings in Madrid in Spain, has been Al- Qaeda, the terrorist organization, headed by Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaeda maintained its importance on organizing of terrorist attacks until 2014 when the Islamic State, replaced Al- Qaeda's significance and dominated until 2017. Many academics have been devoted to research of Islamic terrorism and a wide range of studies have been written to explain this phenomenon from the perspective of ideology, possible causes, motivation of attackers, how to carry out attacks, the influence of socio-economic factors and many other factors causing, enhancing or suppressing the phenomenon. The aim of this work is to link the topics of the research that has been done, so far, by selecting several relevant categories that can influence the terrorist's profile or the nature of the attack. Based on the completion of these categories by the relevant data for each terrorist attack that was committed during the reference period between 2004 and 2017, a general profile of...

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On July 18, 1994, the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, was bombed in what has been called the worst terrorist attack on Argentina in history. The bombing killed an estimated 86 people and wounded over 200. The Argentine government began a judicial investigation and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Twenty years later, the case remains unresolved. The investigation has been marked by inefficiency and allegations of corruption. The recent, suspicious death of the lead prosecutor of the case has further called into question the legitimacy of Argentina’s government and justice system. This thesis examines the Argentine government’s response to the AMIA bombing in the context of Argentine politics. This thesis discusses Argentina’s democratic stability, political performance, history of corruption, and economic situation as key factors in understanding the government’s response to the AMIA attack and investigation. Argentina’s response does not fit within the established models of a democracy’s response to terrorism. Argentina’s response, or lack thereof, to this terrorist attack is perplexing, but this surprising outcome may be explained by the country’s political problems. The findings of this thesis support the conclusion that the Argentine government’s response to the AMIA case can be attributed to its functioning but flawed democracy and faulty political performance. Argentina has a history of political and police corruption and a weak judicial branch, which has hindered the effectiveness of the justice system and complicated the AMIA investigation. The extent to which these factors have allowed corruption and economic interests to derail the investigation is still debated and offers an area for future research.

This research explored how Arab American couples found the strength and resilience that empowered them to overcome the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the aftereffects that followed. Utilizing a family resiliency model grounded in systems theory and social constructionism, I interviewed 18 Arab American couples from the New York and New Jersey areas. I applied a phenomenological method of inquiry to gather the experiences of Arab American couples in order to understand the protective processes of resilience. Couples reported fear and caution because of incidents of threats and violence against Arabs in the United States. Some couples described incidents against them. Couples accessed a variety of resources to survive the aftereffect. These included coping skills developed during previous experiences of terror, American community support, determination, and religion. There were four major conclusions: resilient marriages, larger systems, process of identity, and religion: unify and identity. I discussed these conclusions in the context of the conceptual framework and made clinical and theoretical implications. / Ph. D.