Opinion polls show a remarkable drop in the support for the two-state solution among the Israeli public in the years 2003 and 2009. This is especially surprising because in these years Likud...Show moreOpinion polls show a remarkable drop in the support for the two-state solution among the Israeli public in the years 2003 and 2009. This is especially surprising because in these years Likud leaders Sharon and Netanyahu expressed their support for the two-state solution. According to my research, the meaning of the concept of “two-state solution” is dynamic and can easily change within different contexts. An analysis of the discourses of Sharon and Netanyahu shows that they meant something else by referring to the two-state solution than the general accepted meaning. Their introduced “Likud” two-state versions were more in favour of Israel and were more appealing than the standard meaning, wherefore the public support for the standard meaning decreased.Show less
Since military action to fight Islamic extremism began, the main justification for intervention amongst Western leaders has been a collective defense motivation of fighting the terrorist threat. In...Show moreSince military action to fight Islamic extremism began, the main justification for intervention amongst Western leaders has been a collective defense motivation of fighting the terrorist threat. In the recent conflict in Syria, the military intervention led by the United States, was justified by many western leaders through the motivation that terrorists were threatening the citizens of the homeland. By presenting terrorism as a threat to their citizens, these leaders intended to generate support from the public for military intervention abroad. The rhetoric used by these leaders promoted a feeling of vulnerability amongst the public, thereby justifying the need for intervening militarily abroad in order to decrease this threat. This research investigates whether or not citizens of the homeland actually do feel less vulnerable from a terror attack in the event that their government involves itself military abroad. Little research has yet been done on whether the feeling of vulnerability amongst the public influenced the support for military intervention in the same way as other intervening states that felt threatened by terrorism. This research focusses on this issue by investigating whether interventionist actions actually have the desired result of decreasing the feeling of vulnerability for citizens of the homeland from terror attacks, with a focus on four Western foreign state actors that are actively intervening militarily in the current Syrian conflict: the US, the UK, France and Germany. A general tendency of positive correlation between the concern for Islamic extremism and the support for military intervention was found.Show less
The relationship between humanitarian aid and peace prospects, and the differences between this in the case of a proxy civil war and a non-proxy civil war is that in a proxy civil war there is a...Show moreThe relationship between humanitarian aid and peace prospects, and the differences between this in the case of a proxy civil war and a non-proxy civil war is that in a proxy civil war there is a greater need for a specific case approach because proxy civil wars are much more complicated. In a non-proxy civil war a peaceful situation has to been agreed on on the local level and humanitarian aid could contribute to peace prospects, in a proxy civil war humanitarian aid affects peace prospects to a lesser degree because of the multi-layered nature of this type of conflict where on all layers of the proxy civil war peace has to be agreed on. Moreover, aid providers, donors, and other (foreign) involved actors have more influence on a proxy civil war than in a non-proxy civil war and therefore humanitarian aid could adversely affect peace prospects.Show less
This thesis studies the continued claim to credibility of Arab state media following the Arab Uprisings which began in 2010. Surveys conducted on countries across the Middle East have shown a rise...Show moreThis thesis studies the continued claim to credibility of Arab state media following the Arab Uprisings which began in 2010. Surveys conducted on countries across the Middle East have shown a rise in local consumption of national media, including state media, despite the proliferation of available news sources in the information revolution. Using qualitative survey analysis and interviews, this thesis attempts to probe at the underlying reasons behind this phenomenon, using Egypt as the main case study.Show less
Alliance politics and securitisation theory have been studied and theorised. However, research on a possible link between these fields remains absent. Yet, when we look at prevalent alliance theory...Show moreAlliance politics and securitisation theory have been studied and theorised. However, research on a possible link between these fields remains absent. Yet, when we look at prevalent alliance theory by Walt, we see that security and threat perceptions play a great role in the formation and persistence of state alliances. We would then expect that the discursive construction of these threats would too. This research takes the “special relationship” between the United States and Israel and their most recent rift over a nuclear Iran as its case study. Other than most analyses of the construction of threat within foreign policy discourse, this research aims to trace interaction between two converging or diverging formal state discourses. A Post Structuralist discourse analysis of formal speeches given by Netanyahu and Obama on policy towards Iran will show that over the eight years of their simultaneous leadership, interaction between their respective discourses increased and took an a more direct form. Results thereby illustrate that securitisation discourse should perhaps more often be studied as not simply emanating from and interacting with the domestic realm. It is not simply a dialogue between leadership and a respective domestic audience. Obama and Netanyahu are also required to legitimate their foreign policy options towards one another and both of their domestic audiences.Show less
