In this thesis, I examine how violent substate actors—specifically those labeled as ‘terrorist’— are able to change from a strategy of total liberation to phased liberation. Using discourse analysis, shifts in political identity are examined in the Provisional IRA and Hamas. Each case study shows that the organization is undergoing an identity change from a more religiouslyinfluenced identity to one that emphasizes national elements; this shift to a national political identity enables a move from total liberation to phased liberation. The conclusion is reached that these changes in political identity rest on changing conceptions of temporality; ultimately, it is a change in temporal understanding that drives the transformation from total liberation to phased liberation.