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Contemporary U.S. Counter-terrorism Strategy toward Somalia
The United States is involved in strategies of counter-terrorism in many countries around the globe. Al-Shabaab in Somalia has been a United States designated foreign terrorist organisation since 2008. The objective of this dissertation is to determine the nature of contemporary counterterrorism str...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Political Studies
2019
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| _version_ | 1867613217983823872 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Wood, Molly |
| author2 | Lamb, Guy |
| author_browse | Lamb, Guy Wood, Molly |
| author_facet | Lamb, Guy Wood, Molly |
| author_sort | Wood, Molly |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The United States is involved in strategies of counter-terrorism in many countries around the globe. Al-Shabaab in Somalia has been a United States designated foreign terrorist organisation since 2008. The objective of this dissertation is to determine the nature of contemporary counterterrorism strategy undertaken by the United States toward Somalia and to understand how it has been determined and sustained over time. In order to identify the specific type of counter-terrorism strategy applied to that country, a typology of four counter-terrorism strategies undertaken by the United States toward other countries has been developed. The secondary but closely related question this dissertation attempts to answer is which determinants, or factors, have caused a shift or change in the United States counter-terrorism strategy in Somalia. By identifying determinants that affect strategy, the justification for a change, shift, or stayed course in strategy is made clearer. The typology and key determinants were initially assessed beyond Somalia to include insights from United States involvement in countries such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. This dissertation contends that that the United States has been engaged in the same counter-terrorism strategy against al-Shabaab since the early days of its re-engagement in the Somali conflict. Applying the typology to situational analysis dating back to as early as 2002, it becomes clear that the United States employs and has maintained a complex/combined counterterrorism strategy toward Somalia. In fact, the research conducted for this dissertation supports the overall argument that complex/combined counter-terrorism strategy is especially broad, which enables the United States to prioritise a light military footprint and low costs of involvement in combating al-Shabaab without becoming heavily involved. The malleable nature of this strategy allows the United States to shift resources and tactics with relative ease. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29846 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:38.580Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Department of Political Studies |
| publisherStr | Department of Political Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29846 Contemporary U.S. Counter-terrorism Strategy toward Somalia Wood, Molly Lamb, Guy Politics The United States is involved in strategies of counter-terrorism in many countries around the globe. Al-Shabaab in Somalia has been a United States designated foreign terrorist organisation since 2008. The objective of this dissertation is to determine the nature of contemporary counterterrorism strategy undertaken by the United States toward Somalia and to understand how it has been determined and sustained over time. In order to identify the specific type of counter-terrorism strategy applied to that country, a typology of four counter-terrorism strategies undertaken by the United States toward other countries has been developed. The secondary but closely related question this dissertation attempts to answer is which determinants, or factors, have caused a shift or change in the United States counter-terrorism strategy in Somalia. By identifying determinants that affect strategy, the justification for a change, shift, or stayed course in strategy is made clearer. The typology and key determinants were initially assessed beyond Somalia to include insights from United States involvement in countries such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. This dissertation contends that that the United States has been engaged in the same counter-terrorism strategy against al-Shabaab since the early days of its re-engagement in the Somali conflict. Applying the typology to situational analysis dating back to as early as 2002, it becomes clear that the United States employs and has maintained a complex/combined counterterrorism strategy toward Somalia. In fact, the research conducted for this dissertation supports the overall argument that complex/combined counter-terrorism strategy is especially broad, which enables the United States to prioritise a light military footprint and low costs of involvement in combating al-Shabaab without becoming heavily involved. The malleable nature of this strategy allows the United States to shift resources and tactics with relative ease. 2019-03-01T06:38:57Z 2019-03-01T06:38:57Z 2018 2019-02-25T11:32:23Z Master Thesis Masters MSSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29846 eng application/pdf Department of Political Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Politics Wood, Molly Contemporary U.S. Counter-terrorism Strategy toward Somalia |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Contemporary U.S. Counter-terrorism Strategy toward Somalia |
| title_full | Contemporary U.S. Counter-terrorism Strategy toward Somalia |
| title_fullStr | Contemporary U.S. Counter-terrorism Strategy toward Somalia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contemporary U.S. Counter-terrorism Strategy toward Somalia |
| title_short | Contemporary U.S. Counter-terrorism Strategy toward Somalia |
| title_sort | contemporary u s counter terrorism strategy toward somalia |
| topic | Politics |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29846 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT woodmolly contemporaryuscounterterrorismstrategytowardsomalia |