Colombia differs from the rest of the world due to the amount of kidnappings and coca cultivation taking place. Using data between 1999-2008, this paper studies to what extent and in what direction there exists a causal relationship of coca cultivation on kidnappings. A study that has never been done in the previous published economic literature. A negative relationship would mean that policies implemented to reduce coca cultivation would also increase the number of kidnappings. A positive relationship, on the other hand would reduce the number of kidnappings. Using OLS-, fixed effects- and instrumental variable regressions, the results imply a negative relationship. Meaning implementing policies with the aim of eradicating coca production would come with negative externalities in the form of more kidnappings.

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Thomas Lucas. Includes bibliographical references (p. 82). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Hy Rothstein. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Kalev Sepp. Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89). Also available online.

Despite its reputation for instability and weak states, the continent of Africa has seen very few attempts at secession. The 1960s saw the early attempts of Katanga and Biafra to split away from their host states, only for these attempts to be crushed in short order. Since then there have only been a handful of notable attempts at secession: the early attempts by the Southern Sudan to split from the North, the secessionist desires of Cabinda to separate from Angola, the Casamance separatists of Senegal, and finally the long and still unrecognized separation of Somaliland from the failed state of Somalia. What is notable is that none of these have borne permanent fruit despite the persistence of the separatist fronts (although the Southern Sudan may now finally be embarking on its own separate existence). In each case, from Katanga to Somaliland, the theoretical state has encountered resistance on the national, regional, and global scale to their existence and have never yet been recognized. However, despite these setbacks, there currently has been one successful secession in Africa: that of Eritrea. Eritrea faced the same political and military difficulties that all other secession attempts have faced in Africa. Their host state of Ethiopia was perhaps the most revered on the continent and throughout the thirty year conflict had the international support of alternatively the United States and the USSR. The Organization of African Unity and its members remained unrelentingly in favor of territorial integrity for all African States. The Eritreans could not even gain regional recognition for their struggle. Despite all of this, they prevailed in their thirty-year struggle for independence. Critical to their success were four interwoven factors that allowed them to overcome those barriers that had stopped their secessionist predecessors: the anomalous history of Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Eritreans' practice of the theories of protracted war, the simultaneous social revolution the Eritreans carried out, and finally the Eritreans' pragmatic relations with their surrounding dissident groups. This work argues that these four central factors were the keys to Eritrea's aberrant and so far unique victory in their struggle for secession. / text

This thesis examines the influences on and evolution of the Irish Republican Army‘s guerrilla war strategy between 1917 and 1921. Utilizing newspapers, government documents, and memoirs of participants, this study highlights the role of propaganda and political concerns in waging an insurgency. It argues that while tactical innovation took place in the field, IRA General Headquarters imposed policy and directed the conflict with a concern for the political results of military action. While implementing strategies necessary to effective conflict of the war, this Headquarters staff was unable to reconcile a disjointed and overburdened command structure, leading its disintegration after the conflict.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Duke University, 2007.

Thesis (M.A.)--Guo li zheng zhi da xue, 1972. / Cover title. On double leaves. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-136).

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Description based on Microfiche version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [128]-137).

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, Dec. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): Hy Rothstein. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-81). Also available online.