To expand the research base concerning terrorism this study connects terrorist incidents on a global scale with economic and noneconomic institutional factors. Whereas most terrorism studies use social disorganization theory or anomie theory as their theoretical bases, this study uses institutional anomie theory (IAT) to examine the influence of economic and noneconomic institutions on terrorist-incident counts in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The research employs the following five sources that are linked together: The Global Terrorism Database (GTD), World Bank Database, data from the University of Texas Inequality Project (UTIP), the United Nations (UN), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression models examine the influence of inequality on counts of terrorist incidents for the decades of 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s net of controls. OLS models also examine the extent to which the influence of inequality on terrorist-incident counts is mediated by the strength of the noneconomic institutional structures of health care and the family. Results from ordinary least squares regression analyses show that for the time period of 1970 to 1979 there was a nonsignificant, negative association between inequality and terrorist-incident counts and neither health care nor number of divorces was a mediating factor. For the time period 1980 to 1989 a significant, positive association existed between inequality and terrorist incident counts, supporting the hypothesis that countries with higher levels of inequality will have higher counts of terrorist-incident counts. However, in the 1980s neither health care nor family mediated the effects of inequality on terrorist-incident counts. For the time period 1990 to 1997 a statistically significant, positive association was found between inequality and terrorist-incident counts as well as successful mediation by health care on the effects of inequality on terrorist-incident counts, which supports the hypothesis that the influence of inequality on terrorist-incident counts will be mediated by noneconomic institutional structures. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, January 2008.

After the Soviet dissolution, the newly independent post-Soviet state of Azerbaijan intensified its efforts at developing its relations with the United States. Based on the analysis of the Azerbaijan&ndash / U.S. relations between1991-2006, the thesis tries to answer which factors could account for the existing political problems between these countries, given that both countries have a common interest in deepening their cooperation concerning the Caspian energy resources as well as the fight against international terrorism. This thesis argues that although both countries have many interests in common, they are unable to deepen their level of cooperation because of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem which, since it breaches the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, is that state&rsquo / s main priority. The thesis has four main chapters: after a general overview of the evolution of Azerbaijan&rsquo / s foreign policy in the post-Soviet era and the U.S. policies towards the Caucasus, I examine Azerbaijan&rsquo / s cooperation with the U.S. in the field of energy, the Nagorno-Karabakh problem in Azerbaijan&rsquo / s relations with the U.S., and Azerbaijan&rsquo / s cooperation with the U.S. in the fight against international terrorism. In this thesis I focus on these three interests of Azerbaijan in its relations with the U.S. because in analyzing this country&rsquo / s foreign policy these are vital issues that include economic development, territorial integrity and its global political role concerning security.

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