| In the ongoing quest to understand al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations, debate continues over the extent to which the body of realist theory or the body of terrorism theory can be applied in explaining the sources of al Qaeda's conduct. This study examines one specific realist tendency and one specific non-realist tendency predicted by each theory and searches for rhetorical evidence in support of these in a collection of primary al Qaeda source documents. The intent of the project is to move the debate forward by attempting a limited study that can begin a more systematic, empirical comparison between theory and observed al Qaeda behavior than has been previously attempted. The study concludes that both the realist motivation and the non-realist motivation examined constitute long-standing themes in al Qaeda's rhetoric, and it suggests that both theories are valuable foundations for the study of modern religious terrorists but that neither theory is fully adequate for describing the al Qaeda's decision-making processes. The appendix includes a list of 35 of the most genuine and best-known primary sources from the al Qaeda leadership. |
