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Description
Belief affects behavior and rhetoric has the potential to bring about action. This paper is a critical content analysis of the ideology and rhetoric of key Islamist intellectuals and the Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, as stated on the website http://english.hizbuttahrir.org. The responses of specific Muslim Reformers are also analyzed. The central argument underlying this analysis centers on the notion that such Islamist ideology and its rhetorical delivery could be a significant trigger for the use of violence; interacting with, yet existing independently of, other factors that contribute to violent actions. In this case, a significant aspect of any solution to Islamist rhetoric would require that Muslim Reformers present a compelling counter-narrative to political Islam (Islamism), one that has an imperative to reduce the amount of violence in the region. Rhetoric alone cannot solve the many complicated issues in the region but we must begin somewhere and countering the explicit and implicit calls to violence of political Islamist organizations like Hizb ut-Tahrir seems a constructive step.
ContributorsBoyer, Paul Daniel (Author) / Mean, Lindsey (Thesis advisor) / Waldron, Vincent (Committee member) / Carter, Heather (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
More than a decade after the events of September 11, the kinetic conflict between U.S. forces and Islamist extremist groups continues, albeit in a more limited fashion. In the post 9/11 decade there has been increased recognition that factors such as globalization, economic insecurity, regional political unrest, and the rapid advancement and diffusion of communication technologies will continue to influence the nature of international warfare for the foreseeable future. Industrial, interstate wars between sanctioned armies (Kilcullen, 2007; Tatham, 2008) is giving way to asymmetric forms of conflict exemplified by the conflict between the U.S. and its allies, and al Qaeda and ideological affiliates like al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Kilcullen, 2004; Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, 2007). This shift has brought counterinsurgency (Petraeus, 2008) tactics to the forefront of policy discussion. A result of this focus on counterinsurgency efforts is increased interest in strategic communication (stratcom) (Nagl, Amos, Sewall, & Petraeus, 2008; Paul, 2009) and the function of narrative (Roberts, 2007) in kinetic conflict (Zalman, 2010). The U.S. has been said to be "losing the battle of narrative" to the extent that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has spoken of the need to "supplant the extremist narrative" (Mullen, 2009). Understanding how narrative functions in ideologically driven organizing (IDO) remains under developed, however. Little empirical research has examined how al Qaeda's use of narrative contributes to organizational success. Drawing on the tradition of narrative in organizational communication scholarship (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Ashcraft & Mumby, 2004) this project interrogates al Qaeda's use of narrative from an identity perspective, exploring the ways in which narrative is constitutive of identity at individual and organizational levels. The analysis focuses on public communication produced by al Qaeda, intended for various stakeholder audiences including potential recruits, the broader Muslim community, and adversaries such as the United States and its allies. This project makes practical contributions to U.S. public policy and countering violent extremism (CVE) efforts, offering rigorous empirical examination of the ways in which al Qaeda uses narrative to construct individual and organizational identity. Theoretical contributions are made by extending existing organizational scholarship into a currently under-developed area: ideologically driven conflict.
ContributorsFleischer, Kristin (Author) / Alberts, Janet K (Thesis advisor) / Furlow, Richard (Committee member) / Trethewey, Angela (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This dissertation examines the communication of U.S. Corporate executives in quarterly conference calls and in public forums at the World Economic Forum. Using grounded theory, the executive's core conceptual framework is identified and analyzed in the conference calls. Broadly speaking, it was found that an underlying aggressive orientation to the organization conceptualizes the executive as being the source of organizational activity. It places the executive in a causal-force relation to other organizational groups, which at once, inflates the role of the executive and poses a dilemma with respect to executive status and the communicative vitality of the organization. This project of organizational communication is situated within the broader areas of ideology, critical organizational scholarship, and communicative constitution of communication. The set of data consists of communication of executives of U.S. corporations in the S&P500 in 171 conference calls with shareholder agents. Grounded theory is used to identify the executives' conceptual view of the organization as it emerges from the data analysis. The findings from the analysis of the conference call data are presented in relation to two core categories, a causal-driving force and an ultimate objective category, including sub-categories that form an overall conceptual framework. An exploration of executive communication at the World Economic Forum extends these findings by demonstrating how it is transformed and mediated in a public venue in the presence of other stakeholders. One important finding from the study involves the emergence of a rival concept that poses an organizational dilemma for the future of the executive's communicative framework. And lastly, the issue of ideology is applied to the findings. This examination uses the sensitizing concepts of reification and fetishism drawn from the literature on ideology, which is developed into a systematic algorithm. The application of the findings to the model adds new insight into the relation between the executive and organizational communication. The results from this examination reinforce and highlight the conceptual dilemma the executive faces in relation to the organization and its future implications on organizational communication.
ContributorsErrickson, Kirk (Author) / McPhee, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Kim, Heewon (Committee member) / Martin, Nathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Historically, Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution of the United States have been significantly important, impacting the lives of every American. This honors thesis seeks to understand the ways in which the Constitution has been interpreted through the lens of political ideology. Using constitutional theory, I explain how the political ideologies of classical liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, and progressive liberalism have played a role in the interpretations of the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments. I also examine how these ideological interpretations have changed from 1776 to 2017, dividing the history of the United States into four eras: the Founding Era, the Civil War Era, the New Deal Era, and the Modern Era. First, the First Amendment's clauses on religion are examined, where I focus on the separation between church and state as well as the concepts of "establishment" and "free exercise." The First Amendment transitions from classically liberal, to conservative, to progressively liberal and classically liberal, to progressively liberal and libertarian. Next, we look at the Second Amendment's notions of a "militia" and the "right to keep and bear arms." The Second Amendment's interpretations begin classically liberal, then change to classically liberal and progressively liberal, to progressively liberal, to conservative. Finally, the analysis on the Fourth Amendment's "unreasonable searches and seizures" as well as "warrants" lends evidence to ideological interpretations. The Fourth Amendment, like the other two, starts classically liberal for two eras, then becomes libertarian, and finally ends libertarian and conservative. The implications of each of these conclusions are then discussed, with emphasis on public opinion in society during the era in question, the ways in which the ideologies in each era seem to build upon one another, the ideologies of the justices who wrote the opinions, and the ideology of the court.
ContributorsSmith, Charlene Anne (Author) / Lennon, Tara (Thesis director) / Hudson, Jill (Committee member) / New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Abstract As humans, we can instill a different mindset when it comes to our bodies and suffering. Using Antonin Artuad's contributions to the theater in examining the role and consequences of dehumanization, disability can be reimagined. There is a need for a "true theater" of "cruelty," not in the literal sense, but in a metaphorical sense whereby the essence of being alive is revealed through the exaggerated gestures of the true theater, or "poetry in space." Disability is the embodiment of chaos, in the way it manifests the human condition through the reality of having a body, and as the embodiment of conflict between ostensible symbols of socio-cultural "order," and the sanctity of human life. If this chaos is destructive to the socio-cultural, symbolic order but poetic in space, then reimagining disability in order to understand it can serve to create true compassion in the human experience. While "order" in the socio-cultural sense produces hegemony via a hierarchy of symbols and consequences, chaos serves as the innate poetry of the body: inspirational, pure and valuable. It is oriented towards that essence most urgent to humankind: the raw experience of the physical body, despite its continued existence in a confining, conflicting world. Hegemony, generated by the social symbolic order (SSO) attempts to create order out of perceived chaos and claims that suffering in the body is detrimental to life, manifesting violence towards disabled people because they are viewed as suffering and limited. Hegemony creates the conditions whereby the disabled are susceptible into thinking their own lives lack value.
ContributorsCramer, Sarah Della (Author) / Oliverio Lauderdale, Annamaria (Thesis director) / Stuckey, Michelle (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The Islamic State also known as ISIS is an organization and a self-proclaimed state that emerged from many diverse factors. Its roots lie with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (1966—2006), the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ideologies of various modern-day Jihadi-Salafist. ISIS proclaimed a world-wide Caliphate in 2014 and named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as its Caliph. Muslim, non-Muslim states and Islamic authorities however, rejected its claim to statehood or caliphate. The goal of this thesis is to understand the development of this new phenomenon by analyzing its history, rhetoric, ideology and practice. Prior to its creation, the tensions in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime and its relationship to the first and the second Iraq war in 1990-91 and 2003 as well as the creation of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan that led to the emergence of a new phenomenon, global jihadism. The main ideology that the Islamic State promotes is a form of Jihadi-Salafism that claims to unite Muslims against all non-Muslim governments in order to bring “true Islam” back into the world. To do this, jihadists justify the establishment of the Caliphate in an effort to provide legitimacy to their actions, appealing to young people who often times are seduce by their eschatology. Once individuals join, they are taught concepts pertaining to martyrdom to establish loyal to the organization and its cause. To win people over, the Islamic State employs modern methods of communication that includes social media such as Youtube and Twitter, as well as magazines such as Dabiq. These resources address the online community and specifically attract individuals who feel isolated from their communities, or individuals who wish to create an impact on the world. Overall, the Islamic State, although it employs Islamic symbols and scriptures in their claim of representing all Muslims, does not adhere to, nor respect the historical and intellectual discussions of Islam in favor of their own political agenda. Its adherents utilize concepts from certain Salafi and Wahhabi ideals, emphasizing jihad as defensive war against the West in an attempt to isolate parts of society so that they can retain control. They ignore the main concept of mercy within the Islamic faith. Muslims in the Arizona community agree that the Islamic State is not a representation of Islam in this world and should not be equivocated with the Islamic practices that more than 1.6 billion Muslims practice in their daily life.
ContributorsMonawar, Saadh Ahmed (Author) / Gallab, Abdullahi (Thesis director) / Kefeli, Agnes (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
A large amount of research examines the effect of partisan polarization on the institution of Congress, yet we know remarkably little about this political phenomenon’s precise effect on the political behavior of the American electorate. Some scholars argue that polarization is healthy for democracy because it allows political elites to send clear cues to the mass public, but other scholars postulate that polarization is bad for democracy. Decades of research on voter turnout resulted in a vast accumulation of knowledge on the subject. However, scholars must pay greater attention to data collection and measurement strategies because the prevalent technique to quantify voter turnout artificially deflates participation rates. I take two paths to uncover the effects of partisanship on the decision to vote. From the micro perspective, I utilize a variety of partisanship measures based on survey data. From the aggregate perspective, I argue that calculating voter turnout based on the voting eligible population (VEP) is a superior measurement strategy to other techniques. I adoopt a VEP measure of voter turnout for state-wide races (1994-2010). The results suggest that polarization is an important factor that increases voter turnout at both the individual and aggregate levels.
ContributorsBumgardner, Erik (Author) / Espino, Rodolfo (Thesis advisor) / Fridkin, Kim (Committee member) / Kenney, Patrick (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This dissertation explores the rhetorical significance of persecution claims produced by demonstrably powerful publics in contemporary American culture. This ideological criticism is driven by several related research questions. First, how do members of apparently powerful groups (men, whites, and Christians) come to see themselves as somehow unjustly marginalized, persecuted, or powerless? Second, how are these discourses related to the public sphere and counterpublicity? I argue that, despite startling similarities, these texts studied here are best understood not as counterpublicity but as a strategy of containment available to hegemonic publics. Because these rhetorics of persecution often seek to forestall movements toward pluralism and restorative justice, the analysis forwarded in this dissertation offers important contributions to ongoing theoretical discussions in the fields of public sphere theory and critical cultural theory and practical advice for progressive political activism and critical pedagogy.
ContributorsDuerringer, Christopher (Author) / Brouwer, Daniel (Thesis advisor) / Carlson, Cheree (Committee member) / McDonald, Kelly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
After the Vietnam War the Communist party faced the issue of unifying the minds of the Vietnamese people beyond just the outward signs. The party experienced both successes and failures in these efforts but overall found a valid way to normalize relations in the country. This thesis finds that unity did not come so much from forced indoctrination as from establishing prosperity and finding common points of unity. In Vietnam’s case, its shift to a more flexible and tolerant political and economic atmosphere paved the way for more positive views of the government, and by employing a nationalist appeal to historic figures and symbols, the government further shaped the minds of the rising generation. The use of Ho Chi Minh as the symbol of both modern Vietnam and the Communist party is a particularly telling example. Upon visiting Vietnam today, it is difficult to find outward expressions of disunity between the north and south. Accordingly, some of the strategies employed in Vietnam may be useful in other countries struggling with unity.
ContributorsWatson, Samuel (Author) / Ruggles, Brock (Thesis director) / Sakach, An (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
The pace of segregation of races continues to increase as the gap between wealthy people, and the rest of the human race, increases. Technological advances in human communication ironically decrease human communication as people choose news and social media sites that feed their ideological frames. Bridging the sociopolitical gap is increasingly difficult. Further, privileged hegemonic forces exert pressure to maintain the status quo at the expense of greater humanity. Despite this grave account, some members of the privileged hegemony have moved away from their previous adherence to it and emerged as activists for marginalized populations.
Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Pedagogy for the Privileged, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Transformative Learning Theory and Critical White Studies, this study asks the question: what factors lead to an ideological shift?
Fifteen participants agreed to an in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interview. There were four main themes that emerged. Most participants experienced significant childhood challenges as well as segregated environments. Additionally, they possessed personality traits of curiosity and critical thinking which left them at odds with their family members; and finally, each experienced exposure to new environments and new people. Most notably, in an attempt to satisfy their curiosity and to remedy the disconnect between the imposed family values and their own internal inclinations, most actively sought out disorienting dilemmas that would facilitate an ideological shift. This journey typically included copious reading, critically analyzing information and, mostly importantly, immersion in new environments.
The goal of this study was to understand which factors precipitate an ideological shift in the hope of using the data to create effective interventions that bridge ideological gaps. It was revealed that some of the initiative for this shift is innate, and therefore unreachable. However, exposure to disorienting dilemmas successfully caused an ideological shift. Critically, this research revealed that it is important to identify those individuals who possess this innate characteristic of curiosity and dissatisfaction with the status quo and create opportunities for them to be exposed to new people, information and environments. This will likely lead to a shift from White hegemonic adherent to an emerging advocate for social justice.
Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Pedagogy for the Privileged, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Transformative Learning Theory and Critical White Studies, this study asks the question: what factors lead to an ideological shift?
Fifteen participants agreed to an in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interview. There were four main themes that emerged. Most participants experienced significant childhood challenges as well as segregated environments. Additionally, they possessed personality traits of curiosity and critical thinking which left them at odds with their family members; and finally, each experienced exposure to new environments and new people. Most notably, in an attempt to satisfy their curiosity and to remedy the disconnect between the imposed family values and their own internal inclinations, most actively sought out disorienting dilemmas that would facilitate an ideological shift. This journey typically included copious reading, critically analyzing information and, mostly importantly, immersion in new environments.
The goal of this study was to understand which factors precipitate an ideological shift in the hope of using the data to create effective interventions that bridge ideological gaps. It was revealed that some of the initiative for this shift is innate, and therefore unreachable. However, exposure to disorienting dilemmas successfully caused an ideological shift. Critically, this research revealed that it is important to identify those individuals who possess this innate characteristic of curiosity and dissatisfaction with the status quo and create opportunities for them to be exposed to new people, information and environments. This will likely lead to a shift from White hegemonic adherent to an emerging advocate for social justice.
ContributorsKolomyjec, Wanda (Author) / Sandlin, Jennifer (Thesis advisor) / Lee, Charles (Committee member) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Rohd, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020