"Northern and central Nigeria have been engulfed in a violent insurgency campaign waged by Jama'atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda'awati w'al Jihad, a.k.a. 'Boko Haram', and for a time, its splinter group 'Ansaru'. From its inception an inward-looking, almost parochial, movement, Boko Haram…
Queer people raised in Fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity (FEC) may struggle, or even fail, to integrate their sexuality with their religious upbringing. This phenomenological study looks at the lived experiences of queer people leaving FEC and how leaving has impacted thei…
This study uses the history of Campus Crusade for Christ to explore the trajectory of post-1945 American evangelicalism. Campus Crusade, founded by Bill Bright (1921--2003) and Vonette Bright (1925-- ) at the University of California Los Angeles in 1951, grew by century's end in…
This dissertation, "American Religious Diplomacy and the State of Israel, 1933-1979," argues that when Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 American Protestants were overwhelmingly anti-Semitic but that by 1979—the year a self-professed born again Christian President brokered…
Research on Muslim women in India has increased in recent years, but remains sparse. The few existing studies rarely examine the interplay of religion and gender on Muslim women, nor do they investigate the historical influences shaping Muslim women's lives. Using the National S…
The dissertation is a study of William E. Blackstone's contributions to the emerging evangelical fundamentalist movement in America. Though virtually unrecognized by the scholarly community, Blackstone wrote the most popular book on premillennialism during his day, and his commi…
The academic study of the Scopes Trial has always been approached from a traditional legal interpretation. This project seeks to reframe the conventional arguments surrounding the trial, treating it instead as a significant religious event, one which not only altered the course …
This dissertation examines the recent nuclear security problematique in India under the Hindu Right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. It represents an analytical hybrid of realism and critical social constructivism as its theoretical framework and the concept of post-colo…
After World War II, U.S. foreign policy was defined primarily through its competition with the Soviet Union. But now that the threat of communism has vanished, two main factors seem to play a determining role in shaping current U.S. policy: the preservation of American national …
The project assesses the encounter between global liberalism and its critics. It starts at the intersection of political theory and comparative politics, and revives the interdisciplinary, grand-theory traditions of the early twentieth century. First, I set forth a theory of fou…
A group of mostly black converts to Islam attempted to overthrow the legitimate government of Trinidad and Tobago using both ethnic nationalist and Islamic fundamentalist rhetoric on July 27, 1990. Just twenty years earlier, the country experienced the Black Power riots which ra…
This thesis examines a potential link between Shiite fundamentalism and its nuclear program. It uses qualitative research with an inductive approach to address the topic. The thesis analyzes different works of prominent Shiite Mujtahids on Islamic tradition, which are predominan…
Since the 1970s, contrary to the promise of secularization, religion does not decline or get privatized, but takes the trend of global resurgence and politicization. Narrowly speaking, "the global religious politics" is mainly about the change from fundamentalism to terrorism. T…
The dissertation's opening chapter is a short introduction describing the project's purpose, scope, and thesis. Following a historiographical survey is an attempt to define important terms such as "fundamentalism," "separation," and "conservative dissent." Chapter two is titled …
The standard objection to fundamentalism—that family of views according to which certain propositions are believed to be revealed by God and ipso facto to have complete epistemic authority—is, roughly speaking, that it is unreasonable because it so often conflicts with our best …
The events on 11, September 2001, have perceptibly transformed the conduct of international politics on several dimensions. While most nation-states rushed to clarify their position on the global terrorism debate some were re-evaluating public discourse in light of their own str…
This study explores the rise of organizations during the 1930s and 1940s in American Protestantism known as parachurch organizations. It observes past renewal movements within Protestantism, and the relationship of three prominent parachurch organizations to this stream of Prote…
This dissertation documents and analyzes how different political movements in Algeria have invoked Islam to obtain mass support. This longitudinal study recounts the invocation of this political and cultural resource; it also explains how different political actors with varying …
This dissertation explores the development of political Islam in recent years. Specifically, it tries to explain why in some Muslim countries the state repression of the moderate political Islamist movements was followed by pervasive Islamist violence, whereas in others peaceful…