Decisionmakers in organizations like the Department of Defense and the State Department rely on accurate information to develop strategies to engage foreign populations. There is gap in understanding how perceptions are formed in religious adherents, specifically understanding how Muslims determine if violence is an acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Informed by Hobföll's conservation of resources theory of stress, the purpose of this case study was to identify and understand the religious and secular factors that influenced a group of Sunni Muslims in Western Michigan to accept or reject violent behaviors. Research questions focused on how this population's perception of violence was influenced by religion, various sources of information and threats of loss. Convenience sampling was used to identify the participants for this study. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with 10 Sunni Muslims living in Western Michigan. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and the data were inductively coded and examined to identify trends in the information. While identity and religion were important to understanding how Muslims view the acceptability of violence, perceptions of the justice system's effectiveness also emerged as an important factor in understanding an individual's tolerance for violent behaviors. The results of this study may contribute to positive social change by informing leaders who engage large Muslim populations about how perceptions of identity and justice system efficacy impact the acceptability of violent behaviors.

This paper studies the history of just war theory and critiques it from various feminist perspectives. Using a definition of war as inseparable from the system within which it is embedded, the paper contends that just war theory has been incorporated into the realist paradigm that predominates current political thought, making it susceptible to manipulation. Most importantly, this usurpation has shifted just war theory's focus from jus ad bellum to jus in bello considerations, seriously weakening its deterrent effects on war. The paper proposes its replacement with a just peace theory, discussing several existing frameworks and explaining the important part women are playing to achieve its principles. It concludes that although just war principles might still be helpful as a framework for limiting the worst excesses of war, current applications do not adequately meet the presumption against war and for peaceful settlement of disputes that the theory's originators envisioned. Just peace theory is an active theory that promotes practices leading to the reduction of violence in all arenas and at all levels, from fights in the schoolyard to ethnic conflicts and beyond, offering concrete examples that can strengthen the last resort criteria of just war theory.

This research examines the role of five educational processes; curriculum, language, religion, culture, history, and geography and teachers, teacher education and teaching methods, on the perception of students of other constitutive people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and if it might have an impact on the longevity of the peace within the state. The importance of this research lays in the fact that BiH has experienced ethnic conflict in recent history which affected education and created ethnic division in the educational system. The aim of this research is to look at if the current educational system in BiH works on mending social cleavages that erupted as an aftermath of the war. By doing abductive qualitative field study and focusing on the educational system known as “two schools under one roof” findings show that all of the five previously mentioned processes carry to bigger or smaller extent threat and risk for social cohesion and peace in the country. Pupils are exposed to teachings filled with bias and prejudice and teachings that emphasize differences between different groups while ignoring similarities that could bring them together. Findings also suggest that the problem of the segregated educational system in BiH will most likely not end in the foreseeable future due to lack of will from teachers, parents, pupils and decision-makers.

The democratic peace theory proposes that democratic states are less likely to go to war with each other, but will go to war with nondemocratic states, and usually win. This is a theory that has generated much controversy. There is no denial that peace exists between democracies, but the controversies arise over why. The twenty-first century has seen a rise in China (an autocratic state) and its struggle to obtain a presence on the world stage and equality with the United States (a democratic state). There has not been a militarized dispute between them and they report billions of dollars in trade each year. Which begs the question, how has the United States-China trade relationship challenged the democratic peace theory? To answer this question a thorough review of the democratic peace theory becomes necessary as an aim to introducing the theory and reviewing the literature advanced by democratic peace theorists. A discussion of the theory's origins, central features, limits and its critics is presented. The opening of China and its economy in relationship with the United States is analyzed to show how trade interdependence has meant closer and increased trade. I argue that the United States-China relationship, which addresses the peaceful constraints of economic interdependence, can reveal important limits of the democratic peace theory. The method chosen to examine the argument is based on a case study of the peaceful relationship between the United States and China. The selected cases provide trade data to assess the magnitude of trade interdependence between them. Concluding that the theory is limited in that it fails to address the influence of trade interdependence as a better explanation for peace, and not democratic processes.

This novel is about Jess, a left wing trade unionist and student lawyer who, caught up in a fast-paced Sydney inner city life, goes to a hypnotist in an effort to drink less and instead has an experience of God. Her conscious self cannot cope with this and she represses it, but it still exists in a deeper part of her and the novel tracks the path by which she finally hauls and hacks her way back to it. The novel is divided into four parts, David, Jane, Padma and Jess. The first three parts tell of her emotionally dependencies on other people, and in the last section she finally finds a kind of hard-won peace and self-acceptance, and a love of God that is rooted in the small joys of her daily life. / Master of Arts (Hons) (Creative Writing)

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-69)

This autoethnographic dissertation recounts numerous untold stories about my journeys into the Islamic Republic of Iran as a sports consultant and women’s softball coach for Global Sports Partners (GSP). Autoethnography as defined by Ellis & Bochner (2000), is “an autobiographical genre of writing and research that displays multiple layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the cultural…Autoethnographers vary in their emphasis on the research process (graphy), on culture (ethnos), and on self (auto)” (pp. 739-740). Autoethnographers, writing within a branch of narrative inquiry (Ellis & Bochner, 2000), believe in the power of story and that humans learn through stories lived and told (Ellis, 2004). To date, the majority of the literature devoted to Iranian women in sports has been written from a critical feminist perspective, detailing the “oppressive” societal structures associated with sport in an Islamic Republic (Hargreaves, 2000; Pfister, 2003; Pfister, 2006). While understanding the structure in which Iranian women compete is important, it does not closely reflect my experiences with the way Iranian women define their own sport participation. The purpose of this autoethnography is (1) to confront my previously held stereotypes and reveal my personal transformation, (2) to provide a counternarrative that “extends sociological understanding” (Sparkes, 2002), (3) to demonstrate the use of sport in fostering cross-cultural respect, appreciation, and dialogue, and (4) to offer new ways of knowing and telling (Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Richardson, 2000b).

<p>Inom ramen för ISAF genomförs nu en massiv utbildningsinsats i counterinsurgency, detta för att den nya strategin som tillämpas skall få stort genomslag. Den doktrin som används vid utbildning och vid genomförande är den amerikanska FM 3-24. Den bygger på flera andra doktriner, men är som egen helhet ny och relativt oprövad.</p><p>Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka om faktorer i doktrinens operationslinjer bidrar till framgång. Detta görs genom att besvara frågan: I vilken utsträckning var det faktorer som framgår av FM 3-24 ”logiska operationslinjer” som gav framgång vid försvenskningen av Skånelandskapen?</p><p>Designen för undersökningen är en fallstudie, där operationslinjerna i doktrinen har översatts och operationaliserats och sedan jämförts med ett urval av litteratur om försvenskningen av Skånelandskapen.</p><p>Resultatet stödjer att utifrån detta enskilda fall leder användandet av FM 3-24 operationslinjer till ökad sannolikhet för framgång. Vilket ger en ökad legitimitet i doktrinens nyttjande. Uppsatsen har även ett underliggande syfte, att påvisa att det finns svenskt nationellt exempel på COIN.</p>

What role has sourcing for the logistical outcome when Swedish Armed Forces (FM) plan for and conduct Peace Support Operations (PSOs)? What are the logistic needs to support the operating units? Can logistics in itself contribute to the overall goals with the PSOs? It depends of course on how the logistics are organised and what is required in order to support the military operations. The research on military logistics in general is limited and within the conduct of small nations forces almost non-existent. The role of sourcing depends on the military supply chain and FM decisions on make or buy, choice of market, number of suppliers and relations with the supplier. Therefore this thesis addresses how the sourcing decisions impact the military logistics in FM PSOs and the achievement of short-term and/or long-term objectives. The short term objectives represent the operational needs and the long term objectives represent the overall goals for PSOs. In order to understand the military logistics in PSOs a thorough review of the literature in the field was conducted. A second review was done with the focus on the four sourcing decisions. FM PSOs during the period 2002-2010 were studied. The case focused on  two on-going operations, in Liberia and in the Bay of Aden, and complementary information was collected from a third operation, in Afghanistan. Also the central processes in the headquarters and the connections upstream to the Swedish government and the international relations were studied. The case was built up by interviews, field visits and secondary data. For military logistics in PSOs, three areas on different levels, with in total twelve constructs of importance were developed. Of special importance is the logistic tier structure. The sourcing was one of four logistic key decisions. The sourcing decisions turned out to change between different logistic phases. One of the findings was that the decisions proved to be of importance for the logistic outcome. The make or buy decision enabled responsiveness in the logistics system in a hostile environment. Proximity between customer and supplier showed to be important for all phases in an on-going Peace support operation. Due to the security situation in PSOs, dual sourcing showed to be important in order to create redundancy in the supply chain. The supplier relations changed from arm’s length to partnership when an operation was initiated, which improved the responsiveness. The Swedish Public Procurement Act placed limitations on the procuring organisations to utilise the possibilities to be efficient and effective.

How could citizens trust a new regime after being oppressed by the previous one? How could citizens forgive their neighbors who yesterday were executioners, used by the previous government, to commit atrocities (Halpern and Weinstein, 2004)? How could people ever feel safe in their own country after being traumatized by civil wars and human rights violations? Is there a political process that could help countries transition from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one and consolidate that democracy? This thesis argues that reconciliation commissions are the answer to all these questions. It also argues that they could be the middle step between peace and democracy-building. However, there are some necessary and sufficient conditions that need to be satisfied.