This Master's thesis deals with the individual's motivations for participation in the Communist insurgency during the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949. More specifically, the thesis aims to analyse the motivations of those who joined the Communist guerrillas and at the same time originated from the population which came as Greek Christian refugees in 1920s to Macedonia, Northern Greece. The Master's thesis introduces several theoretical concepts which try to explain individual's motivations for mobilization in insurgency generally, including the "grievance versus greed" theory, the social networks and collective identity approach as well as coercion approach. The theories are then applied to the empirical case of Greek-speaking Pontic refugees from Anatolia and their participation in the Greek Civil War. The thesis introduces the background and experiences of the researched ethnic group throughout the interwar period up until the Greek Civil War. The analysis of the particular incentives which were behind the Greek refugee's participation is supported by the qualitative research in the form of interviews with 21 witnesses, who fall into the researched group of families who originate from the Pontos region in Anatolia and have family experience of mobilization in Communist Insurgency of 1946 to 1949. The thesis...

This master thesis deals with the Chinese counterinsurgency strategy in Xinjiang with particular attention paid to current situation and latest development. The studied phenomenon is explored using the "Three Pillars" framework authored by the counterinsurgency theorist David Kilcullen. The study concisely presents the concept of insurgency and counterinsurgency with special prominence given to counterinsurgency led by autocratic regimes. The thesis also presents the reader with a comprehensive of Xinjiang's geographic conditions as well as its historical and demographic development. By using the abovementioned framework, the thesis identifies basic characteristics of Chinese counterinsurgency strategy.

In four years, ISIS managed to conquer vast areas in both Iraq and Syria and have proven themselves capable of conducting sophisticated military operations. Using terrorism, they have also shocked the world numerous times, most recently in Sri Lanka during the spring of 2019, in an attack leaving more than 250 people dead. Even today there seems to be a discrepancy in how this organization should be defined. Therefore, this thesis examines ISIS through the years of 2010-2015. The ambition is to explain how this organization can be understood through the contrasting theories of hybrid warfare and insurgency from Frank G. Hoffman and David Galula respectively. This thesis concludes that while ISIS’s initial progression bore strong resemblance to the historically typical insurgent, like gaining publicity through terror and using guerilla warfare to acquire supplies and grow, they became something more. They evolved into a hybrid organization capable of mixing conventional combined arms warfare with the deadly effectiveness of irregular methods, essentially converging terrorism with their conventional units. Using modern technology, they managed to turn both social media and commercial products alike, into effective tools of war. This spectacular metamorphosis that is ISIS, illuminates the requirement for development of new theories, or at the very least, to expand on those present today.

From 1991 to 2002, the Sierra Leone government and the Revolutionary United Front waged war against each other, subjecting Sierra Leone to a civil war. This war devastated the nation and resulted in many human casualties. Although many researchers have investigated the role of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in counterinsurgency and conflict resolution, few studies have been conducted on the specific role of strategic processing tools used by ECOWAS during the Sierra Leone war to sustain a durable peace resolution in the country. Using Galula's conceptualization of counterinsurgency and conflict resolution as a guide, the purpose of this qualitative, I used an explanatory case study to determine the elements that made strategic processing tools effective. Data were collected through open ended interviews with 10 Sierra Leoneans that experienced the conflict, publicly available documents, and mass media reports related to the Sierra Leone civil war. All data were manually coded and then subjected to constant comparative analytic procedures. The key finding of this study was that conflict resolution was successful because intervention by ECOWAS was largely viewed by Sierra Leoneans favorably and legitimate. The ECOWAS use of force was vital for the peace process. However, there were occurrences of human rights violations that were not fully resolved through the procedural mechanisms in place at the time. The positive social change implications stemming from this study includes recommendations to ECOWAS to establish a disciplinary unit to oversee violations of international humanitarian law and other serious abuses by ECOWAS troops. These actions may advance peace among religions, political parties, and ethnic groups in the region.

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[pt] As tão propaladas reformas urbanas e urbanísticas são marcas indeléveis na produção do espaço urbano carioca. Foi assim ao final do século XIX e início do XX e tem sido assim no atual processo de metropolização que envolve o espaço urbano da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Através da OUCRPRJ – Operação Urbana Consorciada da Região do Porto do Rio de Janeiro, setor público e setor privado caminham de mãos dadas no intento de transformar a região portuária numa nova fronteira de investimentos. Novos empreendimentos foram planejados e outros já estão concluídos, consolidando a busca por uma nova paisagem – financeirizada e mundializada: arquitetura de assinatura, espigões espelhados, lajes corporativas, certificações triple A, eficiência ambiental etc. Destarte, tornase imprescindível compreender os caminhos em busca deste skyline global, o qual procura atender aos interesses do setor financeiro e que cada vez mais mobiliza a produção do espaço no ciclo de acumulação capitalista, agora sob o regime de acumulação financeirizado. Para tanto, o trabalho se debruça na compreensão das singularidades do regime de acumulação financeirizado e sua (re)produção do espaço urbano portuário carioca, o que nos conduz à análise das condições atuais do mercado imobiliário nestes específicos empreendimentos triple A. Os sinais de esgotamento do modo de produção capitalista são cada vez mais visíveis e as contradições resultantes da materialização financeira sobre o espaço geográfico sinalizam a abertura de frestas e fissuras, das quais os comuns urbanos poderão ser cada vez mais mobilizados para a luta anticapitalista. / [en] The so-called urban and urban reforms are indelible marks in the production of urban space in Rio. It was like this in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and has been so in the current process of metropolization that involves the urban space of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Through the OUCRPRJ - Consortium Urban Operation of the Region of the Port of Rio de Janeiro, public sector and private sector go hand in hand in the attempt to transform the port region into a new frontier of investments. New projects were planned and others are already completed, consolidating the search for a new landscape - financially and globally: signature architecture, mirror spikes, corporate slabs, triple A certifications, environmental efficiency, etc. Thus, it is essential to understand the paths in search of this global skyline, which seeks to meet the interests of the financial sector and that increasingly mobilizes the production of space in the capitalist accumulation cycle, now under the regime of accumulated financialization. In order to do this, the work is focused on the understanding of the singularities of the financially accumulated regime and its (re) production of the Rio de Janeiro urban space, which leads us to analyze the current conditions of the real estate market in these specific triple A ventures. Signs of exhaustion of the capitalist mode of production are increasingly visible and the contradictions resulting from the financial materialization of the geographical space signal the opening of cracks and fissures, from which urban commons can be increasingly mobilized for the anticapitalist struggle.

This project analyzes the relationship between military occupations and power vacuums. Specifically, it seeks to understand why some military occupations result in power vacuums while others do not. Pundits and policymakers have written extensively about the possibilities that the end of US occupations might yield dangerous power vacuums. These vacuums would create regional turmoil by inviting hostile actors and causing state failure. Based on these assumptions, many commentators caution against the withdrawal of forces. But what exactly is fearful about a power vacuum remains unclear. The concept of a power vacuum lacks defined parameters and scope, and why military occupations might lead to power vacuums is unknown. Much of the current analysis derives from familiar and recent cases of occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. David Edelstein has the most comprehensive work on military occupations, but his work does not directly address the outcome of power vacuums. This project uses a mix multimethod research design to examine which factors cause power vacuums to emerge following occupations. It uses a comprehensive dataset of occupations since 1943. It will begin with a medium-n QCA and then proceed with case studies. The ultimate goal is to identify the conditions likely to lead to power vacuums and develop policy recommendations about how to avoid them. This project theorizes that a high level of economic destruction inflicted by the occupying military is a necessary condition for the absence of a power vacuum in the occupied territory. Shortened, this project calls this theory total destruction equals total buy-in. High levels of economic destruction inflicted by the occupier pacify the occupied population, while simultaneously delegitimizing the occupied state's previous regime. High economic destruction, which is defined as the decline of a state's per-capita GDP and overall population, is not the sole factor in preventing a power vacuum. Combinations of other conditions help influence the advent or absence of a power vacuum, but economic destruction inflicted by the occupier is the only condition that must be present in order to prevent a power vacuum. / Doctor of Philosophy / This project examines how, when, and why power vacuums emerge at the end of military occupations. Power vacuums evoke fear from pundits and policymakers, as hostile actors can exploit power vacuums to sow instability. Yet there remains no clear definition of what constitutes a power vacuums or substantive research on their etiology and impact. Policy discussions typically look to recent US experience in Iraq and Afghanistan to evaluate how the end of military engagement and occupation can create power vacuums. Thus risk of a power vacuum is often cited as justification to prolong military operations. To rectify this, this project will complete a replication and extension using David Edelstein's seminal dataset on military occupations. The dataset includes well-known cases such as the Allied occupations of Western Germany and Japan and lesser-known occupations like the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia. Using a combination of within-case process tracing and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), the project seeks to elucidate what combination of conditions generate power vacuums following military occupations. The theory this project argues is that a high level of economic destruction inflicted by the occupying military is a necessary condition for the absence of a power vacuum in the occupied territory. The crux of this theory is that occupiers that engage in protracted conflict, inflicting widespread damage on a state before occupying it, are more likely to prevent a power vacuum from occurring. This widespread damage creates "breathing space" for the occupier to establish indigenous security forces (ISF) and a friendly government without having to worry about nationalist resistance from the occupied population.

Since the 1970s, a curious phenomenon has emerged, suggesting that resource rich countries are "cursed" by their resources. Over the last couple of decades, researchers have argued that rentier countries are more likely to have educational underachievement, the Dutch disease, corruption, slower democratization, and conflict. Although current research has proven helpful and productive, some aspects still remain contested in both theoretical and empirical terms. This dissertation aims to fill certain lacunae in this literature. My dissertation examines how ordinary citizens turn into dissidents and then to rebels in rentier states. I build and test an innovative theoretical argument, which focuses on individuals' daily lives, and explains how policies by rentier governments discourage merit-based employment. This, in turn, yields a high level of grievance among segments of the population. I also develop a comprehensive theory that combines macro-level and micro-level explanations of conflict onset in rentier states. Finally, I analyze an important, but previously neglected aspect of civil wars in rentier states: conflict outcomes. I suggest that the existence of abundant natural resources would have a significant impact on conflict outcomes. Accordingly, government victory would be more likely, and negotiated settlement would be less likely in rentier countries compared to non-rentier countries.

Thesis (Master of Military Studies)-Marine Corps Command and Staff College, 2008. / Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on: Jan 12, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Imperial powers have employed a range of strategies to establish and then maintain control over foreign territories and communities. As deploying military forces from the home country is often costly – not to mention logistically stretching when long distances are involved – many imperial powers have used indigenous forces to extend control or protect influence in overseas territories. This study charts the extent to which Britain employed this method in its informal empire among the small states of Eastern Arabia: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the seven Trucial States (modern day UAE), and Oman before 1971. Resolved in the defence of its imperial lines of communication to India and the protection of mercantile shipping, Britain first organised and enforced a set of maritime truces with the local Arab coastal shaikhs of Eastern Arabia in order to maintain peace on the sea. Throughout the first part of the nineteenth century, the primary concern in the Gulf for the British, operating through the Government of India, was therefore the cessation of piracy and maritime warfare. Later, British interests were expanded to suppressing the activities of slave traders and arms traffickers. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, Britain also sought to exclude foreign powers from gaining a foothold in the area. It was during this time that the British government assumed full responsibility for the external relations of these shaikhdoms and that Britain conferred the status of ‘protected state’ upon them. Up to this point, when Britain needed to protect these interests or use force to compel local rulers to comply with its wishes, naval power usually sufficed. By the midpoint of the twentieth century, Britain’s interests in the area had swelled and migrated inland – first because of the establishment of air stations servicing the imperial route to India, then as a result of oil exploration and production. At the same time, growing international opposition to colonialism and a steady reduction in Britain’s ability to project military power overseas made it more and more difficult for Britain to discharge it security duties in the Gulf. So how did Britain bridge this gap? Studies of British security policy towards the Gulf have focused almost exclusively on Britain’s formal military architecture. Using India Office records and British Government archival documents, this study provides a reinterpretation of the means by which Britain sought to maintain order, protect its interests in the region and discharge its defence obligations. The records, it will be shown, point to a broad British policy before 1971 of enhancing the coercive instruments available to the local rulers. Rather than having to revert to using its own military forces, Britain wanted the Gulf rulers to acquire a monopoly over the use of force within their territories and to be in a stronger position to defend their own domains against cross-border raiders and covetous neighbours. This policy was not always successful; Britain was progressively drawn into the internal security affairs of a number of ITS protégés, especially after the Second World War. The security forces that emerged – armed police forces, gendarmeries and militaries – varied considerably, as did Britain’s involvement in their establishment and running. Nevertheless, taken as whole, a trend emerges between 1921 and 1971 of Britain pushing the Gulf states to take over more and more of the security burden. Indeed, at a time when its traditional sources of global power were fading, indigenous security forces were an important tool in Britain’s pursuit of its interests before its military withdrawal from the Gulf in December 1971. This aspect of Britain’s approach to security in the Gulf has largely been overlooked.