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The Green Movement of 2009 was a moment where the Iranians took to the streets and protested for democracy. This is nothing new, throughout the whole 20th century gave Iranian people many different options of their country. This thesis examines those moments and differentiates the Green Movement as an event that is unique in that it has not yet led to top-down reforms. Previous literature has yet to incorporate the Green Movement in contemporary analysis of Iranian history.

This thesis is intended to be an analysis of a book entitled "Important Counsels to Kings and Imams." It is, in the same time, a research on the book's author, named Alwan Ibn Atiyyah al-Hamawi. Alwan was a Syrian muslim scholar, who lived in the sixteenth century. Alwan witnessed the Ottoman conquering of Syria, so, he wrote his book, Important Counsels to Kings and Imams, as a reflection of his views toward the Ottoman regime. Alwan addressed his book to Sultan Selim I, encouraging him to establish justice through the religious law, the Sharia. The thesis is composed of four main sections; which are the following: The Middle East in the time of Alwan. This section contains a short history of the Islamic states and the political relations among them. Those states were the Ottoman Turks in Anatolia, the Safawid Dynasty in Persia and the Mamluks' State in Egypt. Life and career of Shaykh Alwan, his education and his influence upon his society and students. Analysis and commentaries on the manuscript, “Important Counsels to Kings and Imams.” This section discusses the causes and goals of writing the book, the issues, which Alwan talked about, and finally the style of writing and organizing of the book. Complete English translation of the Arabic copy including all those chapters which are arranged by the author of the book, Shaykh Alwan. The writer of this thesis has faced several problems with collecting information about Alwan's life, tracing prophetic hadiths and Quranic ayats, that Alwan included in his book, also translating an old manuscript, written in a classic language. Although, Alwan was one of the leading sixteenth century scholars and mystics, he has not been well-known to editors and publishers in this time in the Arab world. Only two books, out of twenty-four books and essays, are published. All those references which I have used at Portland State University Library and al-Zahiriyya Library in Damascus, mention little information about the life and career of Alwan; especially his family and early life. As for Quranic ayats and prophetic hadiths, which Alwan included in his book, all were mentioned without references or footnotes. Therefore, the writer footnoted every aya, but in the case of those hadiths, it was almost impossible to trace every hadith used in Alwan's book, and evaluate them according to texts, because of the writer's limited knowledge of the "Science of Hadith." Alwan's book, which exists in manuscript form only, is grammatically correct in language, and the style of writing is generally good. However, the translation was difficult because some ideas are not clear and some classic Arabic words must be fully understood by using old Arabic dictionaries, then English dictionaries. It seems that Alwan penned his thoughts haphazardly because the book seems rather unorganized in its contents. Alwan divided his book into twenty-seven chapters. In fact some of those chapter titles are not necessary. He, sometimes, discussed some issues more than once, such as alcohol and adultery. Alwan in his book discussed numerous social problems. and issues, i.e., alms, commanding good, forbidding evils, adultery, alcohol, wearing pure gold for men, decorations of cities for the Sultan's joy, land taxes, and enslaving free people, all attempting to set rules for the Sultan's judgment. At any rate the manuscript "Important Counsels to Kings and Imams" reflects the attitudes of a Syrian Arab scholar toward the new Ottoman regime that conquered Syria and Egypt between 1516-1517. Alwan and his book are a significant commentary of Islamic history of Syria and Egypt in the beginning of the sixteenth century. This research shows that Alwan felt that the regime of Sultan Selim I was not following its responsibilities toward the Sharia and the, only law of the Empire. The most important consideration for Alwan, in his manuscript, was his concern for justice for the subjects of the Ottoman Empire. His goal in writing that book was that all people should benefit from the Quran and Sharia, and that justice would be established through only the religious law (Sharia) within the Ottoman Empire.

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Popular interpretations and academic scholarship tends to emphasize the relationship between jihad, military action, and communal violence. These reinforce a sense that violence is inherent to Islam. Investigations into the contexts where jihad has been deployed highlight how its use is often a call for unity believed to be necessary for political goals. Therefore, in order to deconstruct this belief, this thesis tackles instead the relationship between textual interpretations and historical actions, and how these varied across specific moments in time. The case studies examined range from the initial evolution of a theory of jihad in the late antique world, to the Crusades in the 11th and 12th centuries, to early modern dynamics of the Ottomans and Safavids, and finally to modern state-making projects in the Arabian Peninsula These examples seek to create a comprehensive picture of the intricacies rooted in jihad and the narrative that can be associated with a religion that is most often misunderstood. The effort to shed some light on the multiple facets of jihad is hinged upon how these case studies differ from one another, thus forcing the reader to question how they previously understood the modern day phenomenon of jihad. While the conversation will reiterate various themes and concepts as discussed in previous scholarship, it should push the boundaries on how jihad has been framed as a modern day extremist ideology.

This study examines the phenomenon of crusading in the Iberian Peninsula through the lens of the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212). This battle was both a major Christian victory over the Almohad Empire of Morocco and its Andalusian allies, and the most successful crusade of the papacy of Innocent III. As such, it serves as an ideal case study for the practice and culture of crusading in the early thirteenth century. The examination of the battle helps to expand our understanding of crusading in a number of ways. First, by examining the institutional aspects of the battle, against the backdrop of the career of Innocent III, it becomes clear that Las Navas was the first crusade in which all of the aspects of papal crusade policy were successfully brought together and implemented. The victory gave the Pope the confidence and capital to officially institutionalize the crusade shortly thereafter in 1215. Secondly, a close study of the participants reveals that, despite the development of official crusade practices, there were many disparate views on what exactly it meant to go on crusade, and what crusaders were expected to do. The Iberian Christians differed greatly from many of the international crusaders both in their cultural attitudes and their expectations of the campaign. For the French participants, the campaign was part of a well-established crusading tradition, passed down from their ancestors. For the Spanish, crusade was a new concept, just beginning to take hold and influence their approach to the regular warfare with their Muslim neighbors. However, the victory of Las Navas helped to solidify and expand the acceptance of crusade ideology in the minds of the Iberian Christians in the ensuing years.

This paper presents a narrative history of Iranian revolutionary ideology and its evolving impact on foreign policy. It looks at this history primary through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an institution established after the revolution and designed to defend the Islamic political order in Iran as well as oppressed Muslims abroad. The Revolutionary Guard, or Guard for short, became a focal point in the efforts of Iranian revolutionaries to export their ideology and has evolved overtime into a politicized and unconventional military force, often associated in the media with supporting foreign terrorists and militants. This paper argues that the Guard has implemented revolutionary ideology in an arc from radical to pragmatic. Unlike past literature on the Guard, this paper situates the organization’s institutional history in Iran’s broader political context and concentrates on its relationships to and differences with other factions. A persistent aim is also to analyze terminology such as radical and pragmatic and provide theoretical foundations for the use of such terms.

This thesis will demonstrate that the modern understanding of the four primary crusades (1095-1204) has been influenced by a fundamentally flawed framework. Defining the crusades as a conflict between two monolithic at-war religious groups (Christians and Muslims) results in an incorrect conception of the period. Therefore, in order to deconstruct this belief, this thesis will view the crusades through the prism of two cities: Constantinople and Jerusalem. The rhetorical relationship that developed between these two cities during the crusading period demonstrates that the moment was defined by political and pragmatic relationships that cut across religious lines. Modern historians, through oversimplifications and assertions of a binary religious relationship, have buttressed public misperceptions of the crusades. Thus, historians have allowed the moment to be used as a rhetorical justification for modern political issues like imperialism and terrorism.

The following comparative case study of Iraqi Kurdistan and Democratic Federation of Northern Syria-Rojava seeks to fill a gap in literature on the viability of democracy in cases of de facto statehood. There is yet to be an assessment of the potential influence of support from patron states on the degree to which democratization in de facto states is possible. This research expands upon on the argument that the decision to recognize de facto states is at least partially dependent upon the national interests of influential third party states. Syria Rojava has relied heavily on the strength of its internal sovereignty for survival where Iraqi Kurdistan received significant external support in vital phases of the state building process and was not reliant entirely on the strength of its internal unity. Where Kurdistan received essential major power support from permanent UN Security Council members early in the state-building process, as well as afterwards in constructing a divided system of governance, Syria Rojava has received little external support and faces an international community that denies its existence. It is estimated that in the following research the support of Major Powers early in the state-building process fundamentally changes the nature of internal sovereignty. More specifically the strength and weakness of conditions of internal sovereignty influence the type of governance that is practiced in the cases under analysis. Where the conditions of internal sovereignty are strong, the viability for democratization decreases; where the conditions of internal sovereignty are weak, the viability for democratization increases. In the case of Iraqi Kurdistan, the relatively weak conditions of internal sovereignty, while resulting in conditions that are more conducive to democratization, subjects the region to increased dependence on external powers for survival. Whereas in Syria Rojava, the relatively strong conditions of internal sovereignty while resulting in conditions that are less conducive to democratization, subjects the region to less dependence on external powers for survival. Theories that seek to affirm the possibility of democratization in de facto states have so far eschewed consideration of the military and diplomatic support of patron states in the early de facto state building process. There is a need for research that takes into consideration the specific events that lead to the creation of de facto states so as not to overlook the possibility that external actors play a role in shaping conditions of internal sovereignty.