In recent years, the whole world has been embroiled in the intermingled crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, global recession, and Ukrainian-Russian conflicts. As a result, the petroleum regime that...Show moreIn recent years, the whole world has been embroiled in the intermingled crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, global recession, and Ukrainian-Russian conflicts. As a result, the petroleum regime that nourished our global economies for the last seven decades was massively destabilized and further imperiled by the impending climate change. Against this backdrop, the renewable energy transition is enshrined as a robust alternative to reverse the bleak status quo and reinvigorate our waning economies. However, it may not fulfill the promising future as expected. In this research, I adopted a comprehensive geographical and political-economic framework to conduct a multiscalar critique of the renewable transition in Morocco and a larger trans-Mediterranean landscape. The research aims to argue that the renewable energy transition requires the same fraud, dispossession, and control as under the petroleum regime to be materialized. In this process, the technological advantage, financial investment, environmentalist discourse, colonial conception, and legal framework of Europe constitute a type of 'hegemony'. This hegemony is maneuvered to reshape the ecologically unequal exchange between Morocco and Europe under an emerging renewable regime and further their asymmetrical relations since the old. More unfortunately, the renewable transition tends to prolong overproduction, overconsumption, and overaccumulation cliché that will doom humans rather than build more sustainable social and human-ecological relations in the future. It drives us to reflect on which socioeconomic scenario we should implement the transition.Show less
The objective of this research is to analyze the terms "salafism" and "wahhabism" in modern Russia. The question could be formulated thus: What does "salafism" and "wahhabism" mean to politicians,...Show moreThe objective of this research is to analyze the terms "salafism" and "wahhabism" in modern Russia. The question could be formulated thus: What does "salafism" and "wahhabism" mean to politicians, academics, and official Muslim clergy in Russia; How did their understanding/perception evolve in the recent history?Show less
The world food crisis of 2007–2008 reaffirmed the volatility of international commodity markets and led many countries questioning their reliance on food imports. In a quest for new strategies to...Show moreThe world food crisis of 2007–2008 reaffirmed the volatility of international commodity markets and led many countries questioning their reliance on food imports. In a quest for new strategies to ensure food supplies in the future, many richer countries resorted to the large-scale acquisition of foreign land, often referred to as land grabs, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this thesis, I examine the Saudi Agricultural Investments Abroad initiative and attempt to identify what role this initiative plays within the Kingdom’s larger food security policy. Moreover, against the backdrop of the global climate crisis and the importance of moving towards a sustainable global food system, this thesis examines the sustainability of this strategy in the long term. The research question formulated for this is: What role do Saudi Arabia’s large-scale land investments abroad play in their food security strategy and how sustainable is this strategy? Building on an alternative definition of food security that adopts a food systems approach, this thesis proposes that the use of large-scale land investments as a food security strategy does not fit the sustainable path that is so needed.Show less
This thesis aims to fill the existing gap in the writing of the history of development, i.e. the lack of research on the recipients and their political motives and agency. By using the case of...Show moreThis thesis aims to fill the existing gap in the writing of the history of development, i.e. the lack of research on the recipients and their political motives and agency. By using the case of Afghanistan during the Cold War, the main research question of the thesis thus is: To what extent did the Afghan elite influence the course of the Cold War development projects from 1953-1979? The main finding is that despite adopting and sharing the assumptions of the modernization theory with Americans, the Afghan state elites used developmental aid for the purpose of the Pashtunisation of Afghanistan. Through examining the case of the building of dams in the Helmand and Arghandab Valleys, the student shows that the goal of the Afghan state elites was to attract the Pashtun nomads ‘to settle in Afghanistan, as a Pashtun demographic majority was needed to bolster the legitimacy of the Pashtun government and shape Afghanistan's identity as such’.Show less
This research seeks to analyze the current hydropolitical relationship between Israel and Jordan in the light of the Declaration of Intent, agreed upon in November 2021. The agreement entails a...Show moreThis research seeks to analyze the current hydropolitical relationship between Israel and Jordan in the light of the Declaration of Intent, agreed upon in November 2021. The agreement entails a collaboration between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates on water and energy issues. While the literature on hydropolitics has mainly focused on the connection between water scarcity on the one hand, and conflict or cooperation, on the other, this study moves beyond this dichotomy by applying a mixed method of environmental peacebuilding and hydro-hegemony to the case-study. Built on theoretical analysis and including historical aspects, the international, regional and domestic context as well as the concept of asymmetrical power and discursive power, the research looks beyond elite interests and traditional theories of international relations. While the analysis identifies the envisaged cooperation from the water-for-energy deal as a form of technical environmental cooperation, the findings also stress the ambiguity in Jordan’s behavior and the underlying dynamics of power asymmetry, reinforced by the role of external actors and the use of dominant discourses.Show less
The Iran-Iraq War (1980 – 1988) was a complicated and bloody conflict in which many people lost their lives. The Kurds were geographically, but also as a target in the middle of the conflict and to...Show moreThe Iran-Iraq War (1980 – 1988) was a complicated and bloody conflict in which many people lost their lives. The Kurds were geographically, but also as a target in the middle of the conflict and to aggravate the situation they were subject to genocidal campaign led by the regime of Saddam Hussein towards the end of the war. This thesis analyzes the Kurdish representations in Kurdish films set during the Iran-Iraq War. In particular, it focuses on the Kurdish female representations. The aim is to further develop academic research on Kurdish cinema, provide an overview of cultural expressions through visual arts throughout space and time and emphasize the gap between the male and female gender in Kurdish representations. The analysis proposes that Kurdish cinematic expressions of the Iran-Iraq War have two overarching themes that can roughly be classified under the heading of cultural memory and collective trauma and the heading of geo-linguistic homeland in which different representations between Kurds in general and female Kurds can be observed.Show less
This research explores the impact of the return of the Taliban in August 2021 to the sense of belonging of Afghan-Dutch citizens. When refugees or migrants enter their host country, they must...Show moreThis research explores the impact of the return of the Taliban in August 2021 to the sense of belonging of Afghan-Dutch citizens. When refugees or migrants enter their host country, they must develop a balance between the sense of belonging to their host country and their source country. The perception of belonging can be influenced by a multitude of things such as immigration rhetoric in the host country, changes in social-economic circumstances, and conflict in the source country. This research has found that the effects of these conflicts on the sense of belonging for Afghan-Dutch citizens in the Netherlands varies greatly. Some of the Afghan-Dutch population felt a stronger sense of belonging to Afghanistan, as all their memories and connections to the country received extra attention. For others, the sense of belonging to Afghanistan declined, as the return of the Taliban emphasized traumas and the country’s history of conflict. Finally, for some, the feeling of belonging remained unchanged entirely. Furthermore, though the feelings of belonging to the Netherlands were not the main focus in this research, it was noticeable that those feelings did not really change for the Netherlands in general, more in the direction of the Afghan-Dutch diaspora.Show less
Under the governance of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi (2014-present), Egypt has witnessed severe medicine shortages. As a way to mitigate those shortages, the government is increasing its domestic...Show moreUnder the governance of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi (2014-present), Egypt has witnessed severe medicine shortages. As a way to mitigate those shortages, the government is increasing its domestic production of pharmaceutical products. This policy is grounded in a rhetoric of ‘self-sufficiency’, the aspiration for Egypt to provide in its own medicine needs, thereby reducing its dependency on the imports for medicine supply. National initiatives such as the establishment of the pharmaceutical production hub Gypto Pharma demonstrate concrete attempts to realize this ambition. This raises the question of how the political economy of Egypt’s pharmaceutical industry has developed under the current regime. While the ‘self-sufficiency’ rhetoric suggests that Egypt has taken a direction of economic de-globalization, further inquiry shows that this narrative does not tell the whole truth. Through the use of interviews and the analysis of formal documents and newspaper items, this research uncovers the political and economic aspects of Egypt’s contemporary pharmaceutical industry. Following its recent trail, it becomes evident that even if Egypt is limiting the import of finished pharmaceutical products, it is still very much dependent on the import of raw materials for its domestic production. Likewise, because Egypt lacks capital to invest in its local pharmaceutical industry, it relies on the input of foreign direct investment. Furthermore, another motivation for increasing its domestic manufacturing of medicine is also to become a regional production hub. Adopting the role of medicine supplier in turn creates new dependencies on the global value chain. Finally, coming back to the matter of medicine shortages, this research shows that the notion that the intensification of domestic production will improve the medicine supply, and thereby better medicine access is false. It takes further political action to ensure the affordability and availability of medicine.Show less
This thesis examinates the role of PMCs in international intervention and in what ways this can explain the differences in reconciliation efforts in instances of misconduct by PMCs and regular...Show moreThis thesis examinates the role of PMCs in international intervention and in what ways this can explain the differences in reconciliation efforts in instances of misconduct by PMCs and regular troops. In order to do this, this paper's analysis is focused on the reconciliation efforts made by the U.S. government in cases of misconduct that took place during the Iraq War between 2003-2011.Show less
Despite being one of the most protracted and ongoing territorial disputes, as a case of irredentism the Western Sahara conflict has only incidentally enjoyed international attention. The...Show moreDespite being one of the most protracted and ongoing territorial disputes, as a case of irredentism the Western Sahara conflict has only incidentally enjoyed international attention. The opportunity to step into the vacuum of international news coverage and information provision about this disputed territory, however, has recently been seized. The media platform of the state-sponsored ‘Council of the Moroccan Community living abroad’, as the name suggests, has targeted the Moroccan diaspora with online content about the Western Sahara in recent years. While studies of irredentism have focused on the importance of nationalism in arousing support for irredentism among the nation, the role of irredentism in the construction of national identity has received little attention. Through the empirical analysis of this media content, this paper unravels the argumentation behind the Moroccan state’s irredentist claims in its communication to the diaspora and demonstrates that they are rooted in a state-informed national identity construct, a construct to which the Western Sahara as irredentist project in turn plays a contributing role. On the basis of this construct, I point out that in addition to being of interest as potential support base for advancing the Moroccan state’s irredentist cause in the Western Sahara, it is likely that the Moroccan diaspora is also reached out to in this regard for the purpose of bolstering the idea of a monarch(y)-centred national identity.Show less
