My master thesis is a study on the framing of Dutch and Belgian female militants connected to the jihadist organization ISIS in Dutch and Belgian newspapers from 2013 to 2019. The archetypes on...Show moreMy master thesis is a study on the framing of Dutch and Belgian female militants connected to the jihadist organization ISIS in Dutch and Belgian newspapers from 2013 to 2019. The archetypes on militant women is linked to women from Greek mythology: the monstrous Medusa, the magical mother Medea, and the misandrist Amazon Penthesilea. These women are opposites of the peaceful and beautiful Helen of Troy, who is the ‘ideal Western woman.’ From the archetypes I derived seven sub-frames: (1) Medusa brainwashed, (2) Medusa dangerous, (3) Medusa mental issues, (4) Medea supporting mother and wife, (5) Medea religion, (6) Penthesilea committed like men/ emancipation, (7) Penthesilea seeking husband/ romantic notion. From the changes over time and by country and newspaper I concluded that 2017 was a turning point in the framing of female militants. Female militants became more salient and their framing turned more agentive. Gender stereotypes became less dominant in the frame. However, framing in relation to religion stayed in the frames of newspapers. Religion remained essential to ‘other’ female militants from the norm of ‘good Western women.’Show less
This thesis analyzes the motives behind the hesitation of the American military interference in Syria to overthrow President Bashar al Assad. It provides a close focus on the role of global and...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the motives behind the hesitation of the American military interference in Syria to overthrow President Bashar al Assad. It provides a close focus on the role of global and regional actors in Syria. The research question of this paper is: What explains the hesitancy of the US involvement in the Syrian War? The research is focused on the red-line speech of President Obama to intervene in Syria and the following chemical weapon attack in Damascus. This study provides significant insight into the political relations between the US and Syria as well as the Syrian civil war. Many academic pieces of literature have been examined to combine valuable information about the power dynamics in the Middle East and their impact on the Syrian civil war. As a result, it is concluded that there are multiple causes behind the hesitancy of the US military intervention in Syria. These are listed as, the vetoes of Russia and China in the UN Security Council, the concern of non-ending regional war, the economic, political and humanitarian costs of the war, the emergence of the radical groups and the absence of strong secular opposition, the concern of state of chaos after the intervention, minor factors like difficult geography, population and the advanced air defense of SyriaShow less
Why should the term 'foreign fighter' be applicable to women serving non-violently in transnational insurgencies both past and present? Using case studies of women migrating from western countries...Show moreWhy should the term 'foreign fighter' be applicable to women serving non-violently in transnational insurgencies both past and present? Using case studies of women migrating from western countries to serve in Spain during the Spanish Civil War as well as studying the more recent migration of western women to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria, this thesis explores how female volunteers fit into existing frameworks of the foreign fighter despite often being unrecognised as such.Show less
The thesis researches the potential of a separate jihadi strategy domain within the field of Strategic Studies. The thesis examines three case studies; Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda. These case...Show moreThe thesis researches the potential of a separate jihadi strategy domain within the field of Strategic Studies. The thesis examines three case studies; Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda. These case studies are compared on three separate elements of strategy; the ends, ways and means. The thesis concludes that these jihadi organizations lend certain aspects of Western strategic scholars and applied them to their own practices. Thus, it can be said that a separate field of jihadi strategic studies can be useful and relevant to strategic studies. Additionally, the analysis shows that jihadi organizations do think strategically when it comes to obtaining their objectives, and that they borrow elements from other jihadi organizations and Western strategic studies. This seems to suggest that no real ‘Western’ or ‘Islamic’ Way of War exists, but rather that strategic thinking is influenced by cultural heritage and the cultures that it comes into contact with.Show less
This thesis attempts to explain why the North-Caucasian Republic of Adygea does not suffer from jihadist insurgency and terrorism. Several factors (religion, security policy, religious policy, and...Show moreThis thesis attempts to explain why the North-Caucasian Republic of Adygea does not suffer from jihadist insurgency and terrorism. Several factors (religion, security policy, religious policy, and local identity and ideology) are examined to answer this question.Show less
