Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri State University, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-96). Also available online.

In the last decade or so, Iran and Israel have found a new domain where to translate and protract their conflictual relationship: the cyberspace. Since the discovery of Stuxnet both countries have embarked on a significant cyber capabilities build-up, in accordance with their resources, and driven as well by mutual threat and perception of threat they pose to each other. Following their own cyber strategies embedded in their respective broader foreign policy agendas, the two foes confronted each other several times in a cyber feud which lasts to present days. Through the use of Event Data methodology, it is examined quantitatively the impact of cyber conflict on the Iranian- Israeli relationship, when cyber capabilities are utilized as a foreign policy tool vis-à-vis each other. The results of the quantitative study show no significant alteration of the conflict-cooperation dynamics between the dyad of interest due to the utilization of cyber capabilities. Furthermore, the qualitative assessment of the cyber feud shows that the balance of power between the two sides is not affected by increasing cyber capabilities, since Israel has the clear upper hand in the cyberspace. Keywords Iran, Israel, Foreign Policy, Cyber Capabilities, Cyber Conflict, Event Data

The aim of this master thesis is to analyse the evolution of US-Israeli and US-Iranian relations and to compare the influence of Iranian nuclear program negotiations on the nature of bilateral relations. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter includes theoretical background; the second chapter focuses on US-Israeli relations while the third chapter on US-Iranian relations, from their inception to the present. The final chapter deals with the Iranian nuclear program and negotiations initiated after the Iranian presidential election in 2013, including the impact of these negotiations on the current Iran-US-Israeli relations.

This diploma thesis deals with the question of potential membership of Israel in NATO. It elaborates on the hypothesis that Israel is not interested in formal NATO membership, but rather in the broadening of mutual cooperation on a formal basis. The main goal of the thesis is to answer the research question: Why is Israel still not a member of NATO? The answer combines empirical analysis together with theoretical concept of national interest. Empirical sections examine broader context of mutual relations, investigates their interests in further cooperation and defines problems connected with official Israeli application for NATO membership. Theoretical sections examine Israeli national interest in NATO membership through realist and liberal perspective. Combination of empirical and theoretical research provides a wider context of the research question, why is Israel still not a member of NATO. My proposition is that Israeli membership in NATO face challenges on levels of NATO member states as well as on the level of Israeli political representatives. Furthermore, both entities perceive security through different lenses. Israel perceive its security rather through the realist lenses because it still faces basic security threats in its immediate neighborhood, whereas NATO member states already...