Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, Dec. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): Peter J. Gustaitis. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval War College, 2003. / Title from title screen (viewed Aug. 25, 2004). "3 February 2003." Includes bibliographical references (p. [21-22]).

Thesis--Naval War College, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 18-19). Also available online via the Defense Technical Information Center website (http://stinet.dtic.mil/).

M.A. / The essential nature of global politics has changed profoundly over the course of the past twenty years, becoming significantly more complex. The international system has evolved in such a way as to often render traditional, materially-determined theoretical approaches to International Relations ill-equipped to compellingly account for action. Increasingly, ideational concerns play a vital role as mobilising influences, causing actors to behave in an unprecedented manner. One of the phenomena most emblematic of this trend towards increased complexity and the rise of the power of ideas is that of contemporary transnational terrorism. Ideologically-motivated and often seemingly irrational, new terrorism confounds mainstream theoretical understandings of anticipated action and reaction and constitutes a particularly salient area of study, as security scholars grapple with effective means of counteraction. This exploratory study attempts to pave the way towards an appropriate understanding of contemporary transnational terrorism by utilising a theoretical perspective specifically tailored towards embracing the complexities of global political reality and championing the critical importance of ideational determinants of action, viz. constructivism. Constructivism is utilised as a basis to understand the intangible ideational mechanics informing the activities of the most significant contemporary transnational terrorist group, Al Qaeda, thereby simultaneously highlighting the value and appropriateness of constructivist enquiry compared to its outmoded theoretical peers and providing insight into more effective future counter-terrorist policy. The primary prescriptive finding of the investigation is that the key to combating Al Qaeda and, indeed, contemporary transnational terrorist groups in general, involves, through some intervention, heightening the perceived discordance between the espoused group norms which attract membership and actual group action. Such discordance has been seen in practice – in the case of Al Qaeda in Iraq – to cripple the efficacy and power of terrorist group functioning. Such an approach requires a comprehensive understanding of a terrorist organisation's worldview, coupled with a campaign of carefully directed public diplomacy tactics.

This diploma thesis is about financing of terrorism and the countermeasures of the international community. First, the issue is described from a general perspective. The first half of the thesis deals with the definition of terrorism and general ways how terrorist groups finance themselves. The following part is a summary of the most important countermeasures at universal and regional levels. The second part deals with the case of the terrorist group ISIL. First, the development of the group and its financial resources are explained. In the final part there is a list of international measures against ISIL and, given the still ongoing development, so far limited evaluation of their effectiveness and how they could develop in the future. The aim of this thesis is to cexplain how ISIL obtains the necessary funding and what are currently international countermeasures.

Ever since World War II up to the 80`s the world had not witnessed any form of suicide terrorism. Since then the rate of such attacks have been growing on a global level. Nowadays, suicide terrorism is one of the most researched and still not fully explained syndromes that imposes threat to nations, societies, individuals, groups, governments and other parties. Many studies and analyses focus on determining the reasons and the motives for such acts, including the damages that suicide terrorism causes on global level. There have been multiple variables determined as key factors influencing suicide terrorism, including religion, political occupation, nationalism and many others, yet there is no single answer as to why organizations and/or individuals decide on such radical tactic. Thus, as a modern phenomenon, suicide terrorism triggers the analysis from several perspectives of the individual, organizational and psychological background. This master thesis deals with the case study of Chechen suicide terrorism and its implications in the studies of suicide terrorism. The main focus of the research is on determining main motives and reasons of Chechnya to use suicide bombing against Russia. The analysis uses the Robert Pape's theory on suicide terrorism and done by using qualitative research, with...

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how different news agencies around the world portray the Islamic State, using the beheading of journalist James Foley as a case study. Whether or not media outlets coverage and portrayal of the Islamic State and terrorism differs depending on region and state.  This to investigate or uncover how cultural heritage and political currents might be influencing news agencies portrayal of the Islamic State and its advances. How do different news agencies depict or picture the same events and the terror organizations advances. By using Norman Faircloug’s model for critical discourse analysis three prominent discourses are found. The conclusion is that political currents and cultural heritage does have an influence in media coverage and portrayal; news agencies belonging to different regions portray this terror organization differently but when condemning the event there is a global standardization.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

This thesis is concerned with the subject of anti-terrorism laws and their impact on the ghts of refugees and asylum seekers. In particular, it looks at the compatibility of anti terrorism laws with international human rights law instruments.