The stability of the country and maintaining public order and harmony have been among the top priorities of the government of the small city-state of Singapore, ever since its independence in 1965....Show moreThe stability of the country and maintaining public order and harmony have been among the top priorities of the government of the small city-state of Singapore, ever since its independence in 1965. The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has been in constant rule for over 65 years, has sought to maintain their hegemony and “protect the country” by actively limiting citizens' influence over politics and policies, mainly through the development of legal frameworks repressing dissent across different parts of society. By using theories on contentious politics, state repression, and the political opportunity structure, as well as a qualitative content analysis of Singapore’s laws on dissent, this thesis addresses the following research question: What are the strategies employed by the Singaporean government to repress and prevent dissent, and how do these strategies impact the political opportunity structure for contentious politics? Summarizing the findings, this thesis concludes that the state has built an extensive framework of restrictive laws covering all forms of society, rather than explicitly focusing on certain aspects, which has caused opportunities for dissenting citizens to employ methods of contentious political action to achieve their aims of influencing state policies to be exceptionally limited.Show less
Environmental protection is an increasingly salient topic for contemporary society, especially in the context of the climate crisis. People all around the world are engaging in environmental...Show moreEnvironmental protection is an increasingly salient topic for contemporary society, especially in the context of the climate crisis. People all around the world are engaging in environmental activism, yet environmentalism research has disproportionately centered on the West. Considering how most countries on the front lines of climate change are non-Western, this gap must be rectified. Southeast Asia (SEA) is a region severely overlooked in this regard, particularly in terms of what environmentalism actually brings here. There is insufficient knowledge on how SEA states respond to environmental activism, despite the relevance for its citizens and environmental sector practitioners, who witness some of the worst repercussions of environmental degradation. Therefore, this paper aims to expand our understanding of state responses to SEA environmentalism and contentious political action by investigating Vietnam and the Philippines. A comparative study was conducted on these two cases, which employed qualitative content analysis on texts like news articles to study responses to environmentalism. Findings reveal that both countries display a variety of responses, but are most inclined to repress. However, they differ considerably in how they approach each response type in terms of methods, actors involved, and consistency. It is proposed that each country’s distinct response pattern is linked to its respective regime type, as suggested by existing literature on contentious political action. Beyond the popular notion that non-democracies are more likely to repress contentious claim-making, this study illustrates how hybrid regimes can be more covert and lethal in their repression than other regimes. From these findings, this paper stresses the importance of local socio-political contexts for those engaged in environmental protection and advocacy. Additionally, this investigation hopes to spur similar research on other SEA countries and expand the political science literature on this region.Show less
Despite being a modern and innovative country, antifeminism has seen a surge in recent years in South Korea. Plagued by economic insecurities, young men in the country are increasingly directing...Show moreDespite being a modern and innovative country, antifeminism has seen a surge in recent years in South Korea. Plagued by economic insecurities, young men in the country are increasingly directing their anger towards their female counterparts, who receive structural preferential treatment in their eyes. Men’s rights groups and politicians have boldly taken hold of such rhetoric. No long-term study into exactly how these sentiments have influenced Korean politics beyond merely the conservative candidate Yoon SukYeol during the 2022 presidential elections has been conducted, however. Using the research question ‘’How did the antifeminism of the Korean men’s rights movement affect the main two parties’ narratives during and after the 2022 South Korean presidential elections?’’, this thesis aims to go beyond this, analyzing statements by the conservative and democratic political camps alike during and after the elections through a wide set of collected news articles. As is found, despite democratic politicians being less severe in their antifeminism and going into a more feminist direction since the 2022 elections, both the Democratic Party and the conservative People Power Party have made extensive use of a populist form of antifeminism in their political narratives. These findings not only contribute to the growing field of academics on populist antifeminism but are similarly an important warning for the societal dangers of division beyond electoral politics.Show less
This Bachelor Thesis seeks to explore the effects of temporality and timing on the advancement of the dynamics between ethnic nationalist movements and the state. It investigates traditional...Show moreThis Bachelor Thesis seeks to explore the effects of temporality and timing on the advancement of the dynamics between ethnic nationalist movements and the state. It investigates traditional theories of contentious politics and aims to merge these with highly influential temporal tools of historical institutionalism. As the largest stateless population in the world, the Kurds and their Kurdish nationalist movement present an effective case study. This research focuses on the Kurdish nationalist movements in Iraq and Türkiye. Herein, the Iraqi branch is considered discernibly more successful than the Turkish branch. This juxtaposition poses a perfect opportunity to dissect historical processes and identify crucial differences that might help to understand how some ethnic nationalist movements become more successful than others. The analysis employs the tools of historical institutionalism and consequently, critical juncture theory in order to evaluate crucial differences and similarities between Türkiye and Iraq. It is found that political opportunity structures, timing temporality are important factors, as well as the assertion of essentialist identity politics. This thesis engages in historical process research to discover the factors that structurally impacted the current achievements of Iraqi Kurds as opposed to the Turkish Kurds.Show less
This research paper delves into a case study of the Indian farmers’ protest of 2020-2021, focusing on the state actor’s response to the event and its ensuing impact on the country’s sociopolitical...Show moreThis research paper delves into a case study of the Indian farmers’ protest of 2020-2021, focusing on the state actor’s response to the event and its ensuing impact on the country’s sociopolitical landscape. While considerable literature discusses, for example, the farmers’ strategies in the movement and scholars have used the case to test various theories, the long-term consequences of the Indian state’s response to the protest remain underexplored. This paper makes use of qualitative content analysis to analyze a wide range of sources and the framing theory to gain insight into the state’s handling of the movement. The findings indicate that the Indian government used repressive measures to a notable extent and that the protest had significant, lasting impacts on Indian society, governance, and democracy. Through a detailed examination of the protest events and state action, this research sheds light on state-society dynamics and democratic challenges present in contexts as diverse as India’s.Show less
