“The evolution of U.S. ‘war on terror’ policies : exploring the case of Hezbollah and ‘terrorist’ financing” -

Abstract

This thesis traces the evolution of the United States’ “war on terror” approach from one primarily based on large-scale military intervention—exemplified most clearly during the 2003 invasion of Iraq—to one that incorporated more nuanced strategies such as tracking and nullifying “terrorist” financing mechanisms. These new strategies were created and led by newly-empowered US agencies and became an important US foreign policy tool to target “terrorist” organization and their affiliates. However, the effectiveness of this tool has been questioned over the years as results appear to be mixed. More specifically this thesis explores the case of Hezbollah in ‘terrorist financing. This thesis starts by explaining shift that led to the focus on ‘terrorist’ financing. It describes the different mechanisms used by ‘terrorist’ as unconventional means of transferring funds and then moves to the tactics used that were adopted by regional and international bodies to combat ‘terrorist’ financing. It then questions their practicality and efficacy that was praised throughout. This thesis also portrays the Treasury Department’s efforts along with the other agencies in framing the financial mechanism as an ultimatum to counter ‘threat’ and depicts their influencing over these strategies and the ways in which they are manipulated, in the case of Hezbollah specifically. It discusses how US foreign policy undergoes several layers of bargaining and decision making among different primary and secondary players with the interplay between different actors such as lobbies and interest groups. It also sheds light on the repercussions of domestic politics in the foreign policy perception. The mere power that lobbies have come to have within this process. Towards the end, this thesis concludes how sanctions over Hezbollah came as an apparatus of domestic politics against the group and Iran. It shows the current struggle betw