The end of the Cold War changed the structure of international relations. It led scholars to expand on Neo-medievalism supporting its adequacy to the contemporary world. This thesis evaluates the...Show moreThe end of the Cold War changed the structure of international relations. It led scholars to expand on Neo-medievalism supporting its adequacy to the contemporary world. This thesis evaluates the relevance and applicability of Neo-medievalism to West and East Africa and assesses its impact on the two regions' security. Based on empirical evidence, this study finds that Neo-medievalism can be applied to the regions to a satisfactory extent, and establish connections between security issues and the studied contemporary developments.Show less
This thesis looks at the relationship between regional integration and the number of conflicts. It compares this relationship to the one between two variables that have been shown to have an effect...Show moreThis thesis looks at the relationship between regional integration and the number of conflicts. It compares this relationship to the one between two variables that have been shown to have an effect on the number of conflicts in other studies: democratic freedom and prosperity. The study is conducted using descriptive statistics and statistical analysis with data from various publicly available datasets for each of the variables. The dataset for regional integration is compiled based on the theoretical framework proposed by Balassa (1962) and uses regional economic integration as its basis. 175 countries in five geographical regions are observed over a period of 21 years from 1991 to 2011. The study finds that each of the three variables has an effect on the number of conflicts, in most, but not all cases the variables have an inverse relationship with the number of conflicts. The two control variables have a much more significant effect on the number of conflicts than regional integration, with democratic freedom having an effect in all but one observed region. Regional integration’s effect on the number of conflicts increased in significance over the observed time period.Show less
