Date Thesis Awarded

5-2009

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

International Relations

Advisor

Dennis A. Smith

Committee Members

Abdul-Karim Rafeq

Debra Shushan

Abstract

Since the September 11, 2001 attack, scholars have worked vigorously to identify the causes of radical Islamic terrorism. Political repression, economic stagnation, "the clash of civilizations," and foreign occupation by non-Muslim troops have been their favorite culprits for explaining this brand of terrorism. However, very little attention has been given to the role of states' education systems in religious radicalization. This thesis argues that the nature of a state's education system plays a significant role in the religious radicalization process, as seen in the cases of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Kuwait. Within-case and cross-case analysis shows that education systems in Saudi Arabia and Yemen have been contributing to religious radicalization, while Kuwait's education system has served as a bulwark against extremism.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Comments

Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.

On-Campus Access Only

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