Child marriage is connected to several socio-economical and sociocultural factors. Many people make the misunderstanding to link the practice to religion or a specific country/area or claim that ...Show moreChild marriage is connected to several socio-economical and sociocultural factors. Many people make the misunderstanding to link the practice to religion or a specific country/area or claim that "only poor people marry their daughters off at an early age". To what extent are girls protected by their countries laws, and are the underlying causes the same in the three countries or are there significant differences?Show less
Since the establishment of the Belt and Road Initiative, the influence of China as a geopolitical and geo-economical actor has increased. Scholarly and popular attention has been devoted to...Show moreSince the establishment of the Belt and Road Initiative, the influence of China as a geopolitical and geo-economical actor has increased. Scholarly and popular attention has been devoted to countries in the Middle East, which are often perceived as abandoning their former Western allies while pivoting to the East. This thesis seeks to examine the veracity of these claims and explore whether there has been an intensification of Sino-Turkish relations alongside the emergence of the New Silk Road. Toward this end, this paper analyzes the economic relations between Turkey and China by focusing on the trade and investment ties between the countries over time. Doing so will reveal any possible changes caused by the emergence of the New Silk Road and the extent to which trade and investment shifts support the claims of Turkey turning East.Show less
The reforms of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are already well established in the historiography, both domestically and externally. Nevertheless, the association of his reforms...Show moreThe reforms of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are already well established in the historiography, both domestically and externally. Nevertheless, the association of his reforms with Mohammed bin Salman's need to demonstrate his ability to rule and his legitimacy to become King of Saudi Arabia in the future has received little attention. The thesis focuses primarily on Mohammed bin Salman's controversial rise to power within the Saudi family and his increased anti-Iranian foreign policy since his appointment as Defense Minister in 2015. The innovative character of the thesis is in the more precise analysis of this anti-Iranian policy by taking three case studies, respectively, the policy exercised by Mohammed bin Salman towards Iran but also Yemen and Qatar. The main argument is that he undertakes this more hostile foreign policy because he needs to show his ability to rule, his power in the region and especially his legitimacy to become future King of the Kingdom.Show less
Why do many women feel the constant need to enhance their looks? How do they navigate their way in the beauty regime around them? With the help of interviews and a review of postcolonial feminist...Show moreWhy do many women feel the constant need to enhance their looks? How do they navigate their way in the beauty regime around them? With the help of interviews and a review of postcolonial feminist theories, this Master thesis explores the influences of the patriarchal, modern/colonial, and capitalist regimes on women's body image in Lebanon. Many women in Lebanon use beauty to get ahead since other ways of advancement are limited. The legacy of civil war, economic situation, and the state regime keep gender oppression institutionalized. Beautification is a short-term panacea helping individual women to rise to the top within the existing system, yet fails to address the roots of structural gender-based oppressions.Show less
Turkey’s foreign policy began to increasingly rely on soft power with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) coming to power in 2002. Economic development and political reforms achieved in Turkey...Show moreTurkey’s foreign policy began to increasingly rely on soft power with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) coming to power in 2002. Economic development and political reforms achieved in Turkey provided the AKP government the means to use the existing soft power instruments and create new ones to pursue its foreign policy goals. Despite the use of extensive soft power resources, Turkey’s foreign policy has been facing many challenges, even in the countries which have been receiving the strong support of Turkey. This situation raises the question of whether Turkey’s soft power policy has been efficient. In this paper, I will try to measure the success of Turkey’s soft power activities by conducting case studies on Kosovo and Kyrgyzstan. I will argue that although Turkey’s soft power activities have yielded positive results in economic relations, Turkey’s intrusive policies and the democratic backslide in the past decade have significantly damaged its image and rendered its soft power activities less effective.Show less
This thesis explores how Pim Fortuyn, Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet manage to be both controversial and successful with their language. It places their rhetoric within contexts of populism,...Show moreThis thesis explores how Pim Fortuyn, Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet manage to be both controversial and successful with their language. It places their rhetoric within contexts of populism, Orientalism, and Foucault's concept of discourse.Show less
While opposite-sex and same-sex sexual intercourse are obviously as old as humanity, the discourse of sexuality as an identity is a quite recent phenomenon, an invented tradition. The terms...Show moreWhile opposite-sex and same-sex sexual intercourse are obviously as old as humanity, the discourse of sexuality as an identity is a quite recent phenomenon, an invented tradition. The terms heterosexual, homosexual, monosexual and heterogenit (bestiality) did not exist until the 1860s when they were coined by journalist Karl-Maria Kertbeny. Not only was this theory present in the West, it was also prevalent in the Ottoman Empire, where dominant religion Sunni Hanefi Islam condemned all sexual intercourse outside marital or concubinage relation between a man and a woman, including sexual intercourse between men. Although marriage/concubinage between a man and a woman has always been regarded as the favourable way of life in the Ottoman Empire, heterosexuality as a concept did not exist. Moreover, sexual contacts outside a marital or concubinage relationship did also happen. These included sexual contacts between men, sexual relations between women and sexual contacts with (female and male) prostitutes. Although female same-sex sexual relations did occur as attested by scarce sources, women’s activities seem to have gone unnoticed and consequently, undocumented. My aim in this thesis is to show that Ottoman men were not the conquering,“heterosexual,” pious Muslims the current Turkish president likes to portray them in order to create an ideal image to which the modern Turkish male citizen should mirror himself. Male same-sex sexual relations were omnipresent in the Ottoman Empire. These relations happened in the form of (love) relationships between adult men, adult men and (pre-) pubescent boys, between similar-aged pubescent boys and between paying men and boy prostitutes. Male prostitutes seem to have been mainly boys/youths and not adult men.Show less
