Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis examines what it means to be a rogue state in a world in which the international order is increasingly becoming interdependent. The last two U.S. administrations as well as the other major powers The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been labeled by as a pariah state exhibiting rogue behavior. This thesis analyzes the varied and competing views of the international order and measures how North Korea does or does not fit the parameters of what it means to be a normal state. Since its creation in 1948, North Korea has pursued policies of limited engagement heavily influenced by an ideology that markedly contradicts the commonly accepted values and principles of the majority of the states in the international system. After the Cold War, the DPRK has further alienated the other players in the system with continued proliferation attempts as well as brinkmanship negotiating behavior. In order for the current Six Party Talks to be successful, the major powers involved need to understand the perspective with which north Korea views the international order. / First Lieutenant, United States Air Force

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a transnational Islamic fundamentalist group that operates in more than forty countries with main emphasis in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The group claims to be a political party that proceeds with non-violent means and its ideology being Islam. Its objectives are strictly political, and its main goal is to topple an existing regime to resurrect the caliphate with structures and conditions similar to the ones of early seventh-century (C.E.) Islam. The proposed Islamic state will be responsible for transforming societies in a united Ummah, and for spreading the word of Islam throughout the world. Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) rejects the modern, secular state structures and democracy as something "man-made," humanly derived and "un-Islamic," and therefore, does not participate in any secular electoral process. However, HT does not reject modern technology and its advantages. This research will focus on Hizb ut-Tahrir, its objectives, and its preferences as the group adjust its strategies according to the political environment in which it is embedded. The thesis will investigate how HT often uses a legal framework to spread its Islamist ideology and how this multifaceted phenomenon is context specific. The conclusion will address policy recommendations that reflect area- and context-related specifics with a special focus on the group's major threat--its ideology. / German Navy author.

The most recent wave of Islamic revivalism began in the second half of the twentieth century as a nonviolent movement of expressing ideological differences and discontent with the political, economic, and social condition among Muslims and inspired a reformation of the Muslim identity. Today, contemporary radical Islam, with militancy and terrorist tactics as its cornerstone, has all but overshadowed the call for a nonviolent struggle and has permeated several internal conflicts across the globe. The Muslim separatist movement in the southern Philippines is one such conflict. Following decades of discontent and sporadic violence, armed conflict broke out in late 1972 when the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) launched coordinated attacks against the government. Following a failed peace agreement in 1976, divisions began to form within the MNLF and in 1984 the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was established. The MILF, as the name indicates, placed more emphasis on Islam. In 1991, the radical Abu Sayyaf group (ASG) broke off from the MNLF claiming as its main purpose the establishment of an Islamic state. By the mid-1990s, what had originated as a nationalistic struggle advocating the concept of the â Moroâ identity, had evolved and produced two increasingly radical groups. After conducting a diachronic comparative analysis, this thesis concludes contemporary radical Islam in the southern Philippines is a fusion of both traditionalism and globalization. Furthermore, the causal factors evolved with respect to each groupâ s ideology, objectives, and tactics. Whereas the MILF was more representative of the legacy of traditional Islam, the ASG was much more a product of globalization.

In 2005, China, seemingly in response to pressure from the international community, moved the Chinese Yuan from a hard peg against the U.S. Dollar to a valuation scheme against a basket of international currencies. Whether the revaluation of the Yuan was in response to U.S. domestic pressure rising from the increasing U.S.-Chinese trade deficit, manufacturing migration, rising concerns about globalization, is open to debate. This thesis examines the 2003 United States -- China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), international organizations, U.S. trade law, and technologic applications within the context of globalization to provide an alternate understanding of why the perceived pressure to revalue the Yuan was so quickly and vigorously pursued. / US Air Force (USAF) author.

In a small room in Austin, Texas, a group of 15 people are single-handedly deciding what is taught to the next generation of American children. The highly politicized 15 member Texas Board of Education is currently going through the once-in-a-decade process of rewriting the teaching and textbook standards for its nearly 5 million schoolchildren. Texas is also unbelievably influential on the standards that textbook publishers use as a basis for their textbooks nationwide. Over the last 10 years, the textbooks adopted by this board found their way in upwards of 65% of American classrooms. My goal is to shed light on this important issue and the key players in this process - I explain their goals, explore the scope of their influence, and delve into the personal motivations behind their actions, which will affect public education throughout the country.

M.A. (Philosophy) / In this essay, I draw attention to the negative political effects of contemporary political theory's flight from particularity, and suggest a way of reducing these problems. My argument is structured as follows. Firstly, I draw attention to the increasing tendency to neglect the intermediary role of political theory, and trace this to the influence of positivist philosophies of science, and more particularly to the ways in which this influence has found expression' in the abstract, systematic structure and disengaged orientation of the conception of theory which predominates in contemporary political theory. I argue further, that two negative political effects are encouraged by these structural features of theory: firstly, the abstraction and system of theory encourages an exaggeration of the systematic character of political situations, which in turn results in a diminution of options for change and critique; secondly, the disengaged stance and privileged cognitive status of theory tends to encourage a manipulative political practice. Thus, where political theory's goal is to inform and inspire transformative action, its form or structure tends to undermine this aim. In the second section of this essay, I qualify and specify the above thesis concerning the alienation of contemporary political theory, by assessing the value of Bruce Ackerman's theory of justice as a guide to political action. In the final section, I propose a deliberate retrieval of the narrative dimension of. political theory as a useful way of reducing the alienation of contemporary political theory, showing firstly, how narrative can be related to theory, and secondly, how it can moderate theory's abstract and systematic tendencies without losing critical force.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush authorized the detention of certain non-citizens suspected of terrorism at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Beginning in 2004, the Supreme Court considered whether these non-citizens were entitled to rights under the Constitution. In deciding that question, the Court compared the facts in the War on Terror cases with World War II cases that dealt with the rights of captured Nazis. Though the cases from World War II denied all protections to nonresident enemies, the Court in 2004 and 2008 determined that detentions in Guantanamo were unique. As such, the Court held that non-citizens detained at Guantanamo had certain constitutional privileges. I analyze two cases from World War II, Johnson v. Eisentrager and Ex Parte Quirin, and two cases from the War on Terror, Rasul v. Bush and Boumediene v. Bush, to illustrate the evolution in the Court’s understanding of non-citizen enemies’ rights. Ultimately, I find that the Court has done its part to protect detainees’ basic rights, but that Congress should do more to enact legislation that embodies our nation’s commitment to fairness, justice, and other constitutional values.

The concept of humiliation has not received much attention from political theorists, despite the fact that themes related to dignity, respect, and honour have become more prominent in recent years. Contributions to the literature in political theory and related disciplines that do focus on humiliation tend to cast humiliation in one particular mould: as a violation of human dignity or equality, or as the emotional response to such a violation. Writers who take this view of humiliation often conclude that liberal democratic states and other actors committed to liberal democratic principles should not engage in humiliation. In this thesis, I provide an in-depth examination of the concept of humiliation, clarifying certain features of humiliation that are presented ambiguously in the current literature. I emphasise the complexity of humiliation and the variety of forms it can take, beyond the violation of human dignity or equality. Humiliation can, for instance, consist of damage to the images of relatively powerful individuals or groups. I then argue that normative conclusions about the responsibilities of actors committed to liberal democratic principles vis-à-vis humiliation ought to be more nuanced than the conclusions found in much of the current literature. In some circumstances, these actors may legitimately engage in action that constitutes and/or leads to humiliation in order to uphold liberal democratic principles. But I also endorse certain concerns regarding this kind of action. Decisions about the proper approach to humiliation on the part of actors committed to liberal democratic principles should be made, I argue, with sensitivity to the particular political context.

This study views the deeper reasons for acute crises between national systems or blocs of national systems as a function of major changes within the larger international structure. It seeks to construct eclectically a systematic and analytic model of acute international crises showing their occurrence between the balance of power and bipolar structures of the international system.

This investigation is concerned with the amount of influence which women had on English politics at the close of the seventeenth century and during the early eighteenth century. Generally, it is assumed that women played a negligible part in politics until the twentieth century; a critical study of the Augustan period, however, shows this to be an invalid assumption. Women were, during that period, elevated to positions of leadership and ascendancy unparalleled until the twentieth century.