This thesis engages literature in the field of nationalism in order to explore the discursive construction of a Self-Other relationship in American foreign policy as it has been projected by President George W. Bush between September 11, 2001 and March 19, 2003. Political theorists advance numerous definitions of both the nation and nationalism that offer insight into the Self-Other dichotomy. Despite substantive differences, there is consensus among them that the 'national Self' must be accompanied by the presence and identification of Others who fall beyond political, cultural, and territorial boundaries. Without their presence, there would exist either one nation or none at all. / Master of Arts

This thesis seeks to analyse military and civilian loss from violence during contemporary armed conflict in order to facilitate understanding of the evolution of war and its impact on human behaviour. It comprises four chapters; the first two concentrate on the 2033 Iraq War whilst the last two are focused upon global armed conflict during the recent past. Chapter 1 explores how and to what extent military deaths during the Iraq war affect US domestic opinion, proxied by various poll questions concerning war-related issues. Having addressed irregular frequencies of poll data that restrict time series application, this chapter renders a fresh perspective on casualty-opinion research, suggesting that cumulative military casualties prior to the poll did not have an immediate effect on the poll respondents' opinion regarding the continuation of military actions in Iraq, Instead, respondents are influenced by marginal casualty information from the previous time period, implying a slow adjustment in forming opinion through the Error Correction Mechanism (ECM). Chapter 2 presents a comparative analysis to gauge any different standards between the US department of Defense and the media in counting violent civilian deaths during the Iraq war. In spite of substantial discrepancies during the initial period of the war, non-parametric tests corroborate that the US military authority and media reports had a non-differential approach towards counting violent civilian deaths during the war period across the spatial and spatiotemporal dimensions. However, the conspicuously conservative count by the US military authority during the initial stage of the war may have hindered the US forces' ability to predict and prepare for the subsequent escalation of violence that brought about large-scale human loss as well as the prolongation of the war which lasted more than 7 years. Chapter 3 analyses to what extent warring actors intentionally used lethal force against civilians, through the employment of a Civilian Targeting Index (CTI), a newly invented measure to indicate the intensity of civilian targeting for each actor. Building upon Chapter 3, Chapter 4 further examines factors that lead to warring actors targeting civilians as opposed to engaging in battle with war combatants. A dynamic panel approach shows that an increase in the degree of civilian targeting in the previous year further intensified civilian targeting in the current year for the actors involved in prolonged armed conflict.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / During Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the U.S. Department of Defense instituted a program to attach civilian journalists to coalition military units. Their purpose was to report firsthand on the military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein. These "embedded journalists," as they were called, would travel, eat, sleep, and endure the same hardships and dangers of the soldiers and Marines they were accompanying. While their immediate and highly dramatic accounts offered a perspective not before seen by the news-hungry U.S. public, they also raised questions if the "embedding" process resulted in a more thematically narrow coverage of the war. This study addresses the newspaper coverage of OIF by examining the content of the embedded and non-embedded war reporting of various highly circulating U.S. newspapers. It is posited that being attached or embedded within U.S. military units resulted in the journalists producing a body of stories concerning military operations and personnel markedly different than nonembedded reporters during OIF. / Major, United States Marine Corps

No description available.

Agricultural drought is a creeping disaster that overshadows the vegetative cover in general and cropland specifically in Iraq, a country that was well known for its agricultural production and fertile soil. In the recent years, the arable lands in Iraq experienced increasing land degradation that led to desertification, economic losses, food insecurity, and deteriorating environment. Remote sensing is employed in this study and four different indices are utilized, each of which is derived from MODIS satellite mission products. Agricultural drought maps are produced from 2003 to 2015 after masking the vegetation cover. Year 2008 was found the most severe drought year during the study period, where drought covered 37% of the vegetated land. This part of the study demonstrated the capability of remote sensing in fulfilling the need of an early warning system for agricultural drought over such a data-scarce region. This study also aims to monitor hydrological drought. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite-derived monthly Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) is the hydrological drought indicator, that is used to calculate the deficit. Severity of drought events are calculated by integrating monthly water deficit over the drought period. In addition, drought recovery time is assessed depending on the estimated deficit. Major drought events are classified into several levels of severity by applying a drought monograph approach. The results demonstrated that GRACE TWS is a reliable indicator for drought assessment over Iraq, and provides useful information for decision makers which can be utilized in developing drought adaptation and mitigation strategies.

<p>The aim of this political scientist paper is to describe and analyze the quasi state Iraqi Kurdistan 1992-2006 using the theory of Kolstö about how and why quasi states develops and the theory of Pegg regarding how the international society deal with quasi states. A qualitative case method is used. In the study the two theories are combined. Iraqi Kurdistan is used as a case to study to confirm Kolstö’s and Pegg’s theories. It’s an interesting case as it’s included in one of the most sensitive geo political areas in the world. The Kuwait war 1990 and the Second Gulf war 1991 were the incentive to Iraqi Kurdistan as a quasi state and the US invasion of Iraq 2003 was the incentive to the end of it. In conclusion the case verify the theories and the theories promote the understanding of Iraqi Kurdistan’s period as a quasi state. The goal of the quasi state Iraqi Kurdistan was to become a federal state in a federal Iraq and it succeeded.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations December 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

This paper sets itself upon analyzing the Iraq War of 2003 through the lens of modern Just War Theory. We will begin with a curt summary of Iraq’s history, focusing particularly on its determinedly odious leader, Saddam Hussein. Thereon, we will be analyzing a pro-war security argument, the aim of which is to assess the threat of Hussein’s weaponry ambitions and what that threat meant to the world. Next, we will be going over the tenets of Just War Theory itself, tracing its history from Rome to the modern doorstep, and applying the security argument to its dictum. Afterwards, we move into the anti-war segment and shall unpack the subject of Iraq's oil resources and whether or not the United States' actions disqualify the intervention from achieving Just War status. Then, our next section shall be addressing the same question of potential disqualification, only this time from the angle of the war’s questionable legality. Finally, we shall conclude on the ultimate query of this paper: was the U.S. decision to intervene in 2003’s Iraq compatible with the modern principles of Just War Theory?

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 24, 2009). Advisor: Steven W. Hook. Keywords: proactive foreign policy, the multiple streams model, preexisting solutions. Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-238).

The United Nations Charter clearly forbids the use of force by one state against the territorial integrity of another state. The only two exceptions are self-defense or actions authorized by the United Nations Security Council. The 2003 intervention of Iraq by Coalition forces testes the resolve of the Charter and the United Nations system as a whole. The need to assess the legality and the effect of the Coalition’s intervention became a matter of interest to international relations scholars. This study uses the Just War Theory to make this assessment, with particular emphasis on the somewhat neglected jus in bello and jus post bellum elements. This study argues that the intervention by Coalition forces did not meet the requirements of a justified intervention as set out in the Just War Theory. This study has also found that the main reason for unlawful interventions is the existence of the veto in the SC. To limit unsanctioned interventions the veto should be scraped and there should be an attitude change within the Security Council, they should not view the democratization of the SC as an enemy, they should view it as an opportunity to save the UN system. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.