Hamas

This research used a series of qualitative measurements of media coverage to investigate how differences in characteristics of a terrorist related event correlate with qualitative differences in media coverage. The first part of this study determined that there were tools to mea…

There are numerous explanations that attempt to convey why a person, specifically a Palestinian, makes the choice to resort to suicide terrorism. Suicide terrorism, a prevalent occurrence in the Middle East and beyond, can be attributed to many factors including: political, psyc…

This thesis argues that the elite and urban women leaders of the Palestinian women’s movement neglected to engage rural women and women living in refugee camps as their equals in a women’s movement. Further, despite women's active presence in the public sphere, the sphere remain…

Ancient Israel and Judah developed from an agrarian culture and were often vassals of an extended agrarian empire. The ethos of the Israelites thus reflected or included the worldview of what has been described as the oppressed classes. This ethos became a formative element in t…

On January 26, 2009, Hamas won a large majority in the new Palestinian Parliament, shocking the world and Hamas leadership. As the international community attempted to explain how the organization, classified by many as terrorists, could possibly have won the elections, Hamas me…

This paper examines the successful military and political tactics utilized by terrorist organizations. The case studies are Hizbollah, Hamas, ETA, and LTTE. Tactics including suicide bombing, car bombs, assassinations, kidnappings and hostage taking are examined. Participation i…

This dissertation asks two specific research questions: First, what explains the shift from a strategy of isolating nationalist terrorist groups to a strategy of engaging them? Second, under what conditions will engagement succeed at convincing these organizations to abandon vio…

The purpose of the study was to contribute to the overall understanding of terrorist organizations' use of the Internet and to increase researchers' knowledge of Web site effectiveness. The methodological approach was evaluation of the perceived credibility of Web sites based on…

The ability of dissident groups to adapt to changing conditions is vital to their survival and ability to operate. Yet, few scholars examine the process of adaptation itself, independent of expected policy outcomes. How do dissident groups adapt? What factors facilitate or const…

Terrorism feeds on an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. In order for a terrorist group to achieve its purpose, its activities must be known to a mass audience. Due to the often isolated nature of the conflicts in which they are involved, terrorists groups must attract and main…

Despite contextual conditions unique to every manifestation of political Islam, there exist certain commonalities among movement identity politics which allow for an analysis of how collective action changes over time. The initial formation of group identity in these movements i…

This dissertation addresses why U.S. foreign policy toward Islamist groups has varied over time. Although recent scholarship has improved our understanding of how non-state actors, particularly terrorist groups, operate, not enough work has attempted to understand how states dev…

This research focuses on how we should define the energy that empowers rebellion and generates appealing frames and imposes change, and whether one can claim some correlation between this bottom-up shift and weak leadership, institutional fatigue, public discontent, or social ma…

For the last decade, a growing body of research has sough to understand how classical deterrence methods could be adapted by states to establish asymmetric deterrence against non-state militant groups . Various strategies were suggested, but the research undertaken to date focus…

Investigation of the European Union’s foreign policy towards Hamas acquires its significance as a topic from the undemocratic way in which the (supposedly) democratic EU pursues its strategy since, according to its own rhetoric, this should have been normatively undertaken. In e…

The main focus of this thesis is to examine Israel's counter terrorism methods and their consequences and to debate the effectiveness of Israel's counter terrorism policy. By stimulating a debate on these issues it is possible to identify a more effective counter terrorism polic…

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a quagmire of interests working against one another. In this paper, I explore the specific role of religio-political groups in the conflict. I particularly examine the ideological political and religious foundations of Gush Emunim and Hamas, p…