Thesis (M.B.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2003. / "MBA professional report"--Cover. Thesis advisor(s): David R. Henderson, Don E. Summers. Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-55). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Neil C. Rowe, Dorothy E. Denning. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-70). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Robert Simeral, Robert Looney. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-111). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri State University, 2009. / "May 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-86). Also available online.

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What conditions give rise to and nurture ethno-nationalist terrorist movements in India? Specifically, can geography create grievances and be beneficial in a terrorist campaign? I investigate how geography prevented historical development in certain locations in India. I theorize that rugged geographic features prevented economic, social, and political development. Underdevelopment and isolation created grievances in the population. Aggrieved groups then utilized the same geographic features that prevented development to launch effective terrorist campaigns. I conduct a district level analysis of terrorism in India using statistical and GIS analysis. I supplement the analysis with case studies from the Indian states of Uttarkhand, Tamil Nadu, and Assam. I also include a case study from Nigeria to demonstrate the applicability of my theory outside of Asia. I find that geographic features, specifically forested terrain, and proximity to international borders impeded development and increased the likelihood of terrorism.

The main aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the female revolutionary is no different from her male compatriot. She enters the organisation in the same manner; she shares the same ideology; she participates equally within the revolutionary organisation; and, if she leaves the struggle, she does so in much the same way as her peers. The thesis uses a framework based upon New Social Movement theory to establish the social and historical context of the women by comparing the following five aspects of a new social movement: historical context, leadership, membership, collective action and group ideology and the revolutionary dimension. Before the three historical narratives on the American Movement, the West German student movement and the Palestinian Resistance Movement are undertaken, a literature review covers Social Movement theory, New Social Movement theory, theories on Violence and Terrorism Studies. The thesis also looks at how women have been gendered in criminology and war and how this gendering has influenced some of the leading research on the female terrorist. In order to show that the female revolutionary is very similar to the male, this thesis examines the three historical narratives mentioned above. After reviewing the social and historical context, the respective new social movement, the role of women in the revolutionary organisations (the Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction and Fateh and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) are reviewed in depth by studying their entry, ideology, group dynamics and exit.

Violence in Russia’s North Caucasus region has not been limited to Chechnya since the early 2000’s. The generally accepted theory on violence in other North Caucasus republics is that it has spilled over from Chechnya and is associated with religious extremism and poverty. There may be other reasons, however, for outbreaks of violence in other North Caucasus republics such as Ingushetia and North Ossetia. The North Ossetians and Ingush have had a tense relationship since the late Tsarist period. Disputes over a region known as the Prigorodny region has fueled ethnic hatreds and resulted in an armed conflict between the two republics in 1992. The relationship remains tense to this day. The conflict may be playing a role in the outbreak of violence in the two republics. Studies have shown that terrorism, while an extreme tactic, is in many cases associated with moderate political demands shared by the terrorists’ community. Additionally, terrorism appears to be often connected with lack of economic opportunity and the need for solidarity rather than simple poverty. The driving forces behind conventional terrorism suggest that Russian policymakers may be misguided in their attempts to combat terrorism in Ingushetia and North Ossetia. Terrorist violence in the region may be an Ingush continuation of ethnic battles fought in 1992, but utilizing extreme guerrilla methods. Exploring the violence in the two republics in the context of an ongoing ethnic conflict may enable policymakers to better tailor anti-terrorism policies in the region. / text

This thesis finds that the term ‘terrorist financing’ is a misnomer in that much of the activity encompassed by that term involves neither terrorism nor money. Instead, terrorist financing more accurately refers either to the flow of economic and material value to ‘terrorist’ actors or specific material expressions of support to ‘terrorism,’ however that contested term is defined. This finding not only directly challenges the dominant ways terrorist finance is now conceptualized, but also provides the first unified coherent conceptual framework capable of supporting systematic analysis of the topic. This thesis arrives at this conclusion by first critically examining the various – and often contradictory or incoherent – normative, legal, and political contexts that dominate ‘orthodox’ thinking on terrorism and terrorist finance, and then relocating the financing of terrorism squarely in context of the everyday realities of how terrorism and terrorist actors interact with global and local political economies. This thesis goes beyond existing critical works on terrorist financing, and constructs the necessary conceptual foundation for a vastly more coherent, systematic, and ultimately useful understanding of the financial and economic dimensions of terrorism.

The phenomenon of Terrorism has perplexed and fascinated policy makers and scholars. While there has been significant amount of research on Terrorism, the dynamics or Pathologies of Terrorist Target Selection have received less attention, with few comprehensive treatises on the subject. In this paper, I review and critique existing literature on the subject, while offering a different perspective and model for this dynamic. First, I introduce a contemporary definition of terrorism and establish a framework for the analysis of Terrorist Target Selection. In Chapter 2, I posit that accurate Target Selection Forecasting Techniques need to account for the Adaptive Learning Mechanisms that Terrorist Groups adopt and existing case studies on the subject. Chapter 3 undertakes a critical literature review of Target Selection Case Studies. In Chapter 4, I suggest new research proposals that adopt this theme. In conclusion, I offer what we believe is a novel approach to understanding Terrorist Target Selection and argue that such a model should be flexible enough to work across the various Ideological Silos that Terrorist movements are bracketed into in the current Geo-Political Environment. / text