For 20 years, studies have been underlining a decrease in the attachment of young diaspora Jews with the State of Israel. While a broad majority of young Jews supports the existence of a Jewish...Show moreFor 20 years, studies have been underlining a decrease in the attachment of young diaspora Jews with the State of Israel. While a broad majority of young Jews supports the existence of a Jewish state in Palestine, an increasing minority develops an opposition to Israeli policies, especially concerning the occupation of Palestinian Territories. As Jewish organisations advocating for Palestinian rights flourish in the Western world, where the Jewish diaspora is in majority located, the process according to which young Jews are increasingly distancing themselves from an Israeli- centred Jewish identity seems important to inquire. Indeed, growing diaspora support for a just political solution to the Middle East conflict might have empiric repercussions on the Israeli government. Therefore, this thesis seeks to inquire the identification process of young progressive Jews in France and Britain relating to the Zionist project, and aims at answering the following question: What drives critical French and British Jewish youth’s identification choices in the construction of a non-Israel centric identity? This paper argues that young Jews self-identify in a nexus between the Jewish community, overwhelmingly Zionist, and external norms and values of human rights and social justice, which creates conflicting dynamics. When left-wing values out-weight the community’s narrative, it creates or strengthens a feeling of alienation among progressive Jewish youth, that is slowly turning into criticism and distancing from the State of Israel. This youth, therefore, seeks to navigate new spaces of identification and revive a Jewish identity able to reconcile this internal struggle. To demonstrate so, this thesis will firstly conceptualise identity and discuss historical debates on Jewish identity. It will then analyse the distancing hypothesis, and the debates it created among scholars about its accuracy and potential factors. In the last two chapters, it will study the self- identification process of four young British and French Jews advocating for Palestinian rights. Through life-long interviews dealing with their attitudes towards a Zionist Jewish identity, this paper underlines the dynamics characterising their progressive alienation from the State of Israel: a primary discomfort, followed by a de-Zionification process, creating important fractures with friends, families, and their Jewishness, and finally the identification with a revived diasporic identity, able to reconcile Jewishness and anti-Zionism.Show less
The relief of Palestinian refugees has been handled by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) since the 1950s to our days. Over seven decades of existence, the...Show moreThe relief of Palestinian refugees has been handled by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) since the 1950s to our days. Over seven decades of existence, the agency has been under various criticisms for its unconditional commitment to Palestinian refugees on the one hand, and for its failures to address the refugees’ issue on the other. As a result, the agency is often represented as an obstacle to the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by some and as an essential part of the solution by others. The aim of the present study is therefore to investigate the discourses employed by influential stakeholders to participate in the construction of a public discourse on UNRWA’s activities. Moreover, building on the public sphere conceptualized by Habermas, many have argued that the emergence of new technologies and globalized communications revolutionized the public debate, making it transnational. In this sense, social networking platforms like Twitter constitute actual parts of the digital public sphere where “social-influencers” compete to impose their interpretation of the public debate and to strengthen existing narratives. Using qualitative discourse analysis, this paper describes the diversity of strategies employed by certified users to participate in reputation narratives as well as the type discourse associated with their position in the public sphere.Show less
This study examines the solidarity alliances of the Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish communities in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Additionally, it poses the question, whether these alliances challenge a more...Show moreThis study examines the solidarity alliances of the Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish communities in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Additionally, it poses the question, whether these alliances challenge a more exclusive national identity that is established in the official Turkish discourse. The alliances that are touched upon are the political environment of Diyarbakir; the celebration of Newroz; the commemoration of murder of Hrant Dink; and Armenian and Assyrian Genocide commemorations. I argue that the main manifestation of most of these solidarities is creation of more openness about the Genocides, in especially Kurdish discourse. The alliances depicted in this paper are each different and each form a different degree of challenge to the Turkish national identity. I conclude that the political environment of Diyarbakir forms the greatest threat, which can be perceived in the state’s crackdown of its established institutions and initiatives of cultural practices, as it does not fit the homogenous identity that the Turkish State ascribes to itself.Show less
This study examines the solidarity alliances of the Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish communities in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Additionally, it poses the question, whether these alliances challenge a more...Show moreThis study examines the solidarity alliances of the Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish communities in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Additionally, it poses the question, whether these alliances challenge a more exclusive national identity that is established in the official Turkish discourse. The alliances that are touched upon are the political environment of Diyarbakir; the celebration of Newroz; the commemoration of murder of Hrant Dink; and Armenian and Assyrian Genocide commemorations. I argue that the main manifestation of most of these solidarities is creation of more openness about the Genocides, in especially Kurdish discourse. The alliances depicted in this paper are each different and each form a different degree of challenge to the Turkish national identity. I conclude that the political environment of Diyarbakir forms the greatest threat, which can be perceived in the state’s crackdown of its established institutions and initiatives of cultural practices, as it does not fit the homogenous identity that the Turkish State ascribes to itself.Show less
This thesis researched if there is a media bias present in English language media when reporting on Iran’s nuclear program in 2021. Ten articles from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,...Show moreThis thesis researched if there is a media bias present in English language media when reporting on Iran’s nuclear program in 2021. Ten articles from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and The Times (UK) were carefully selected for this research. Resulting in forty articles in total (N=40) that were part of the content analysis. All four newspapers tended to have a negative bias toward Iran’s nuclear program in 2021, although to varying degrees. This thesis found that The Wall Street Journal had the most bias, followed by The New York Times and The Guardian, ending with The Times (UK) having the least amount of bias.Show less
This research demonstrates the influence of the social environment during the divorce process and the obstacles Muslim women have to overcome while obtaining it. There is no guideline for the women...Show moreThis research demonstrates the influence of the social environment during the divorce process and the obstacles Muslim women have to overcome while obtaining it. There is no guideline for the women to have a “correct” religious divorce which results in an unstable process with a lot of uncertainties.Show less
This thesis investigates the processes of repression and exclusion of the Palestinian refugee in the Arab host-state. A theoretical framework using theories from Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt,...Show moreThis thesis investigates the processes of repression and exclusion of the Palestinian refugee in the Arab host-state. A theoretical framework using theories from Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Giorgio Agamben, Michael Hardt, and Antonio Negri, is used to analyse the situation of the refugee in the three case studies of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. It is argued that biopolitics are employed to control and exclude the Palestinian refugee. The host-state excuses this exclusion through the retoric of the incommensurability of the right of return to Palestine with citizenship of the host-state. Gaining citizenship of the host-state supposedly cancels the right of return to Palestine. This discourse is a tool that is employed by the host-states when he refugee proses a threat to their status quo. This thesis disagrees with this supposed incommensurability argueing that the two can co-exist. Furthermore, an analysis of the situation of the Palestinian refugee in the case studies leads to the conclusion that Hannah Arendt and Giorgio Agamben were right when argueing that the nation-state is the only institution capable of upholding human rights and that without citizenship the refugee is vulnerable and without protection. Because of this, serious steps need to be taken towards citizenship for the Palestinian refugee.Show less
May 7, 2021 marks the starting point of escalating unrest in Palestine and increased Palestinian uprisings. These events are part of a larger history of similar incidents like these. Over the years...Show moreMay 7, 2021 marks the starting point of escalating unrest in Palestine and increased Palestinian uprisings. These events are part of a larger history of similar incidents like these. Over the years, social media has become more popular and with it the role it plays in social and political activism, which is what makes these recent events deviating from previous situations. Previous studies have used quantitative research methods to examine the role of social media during activism and mobilization. Alternatively, this research uses a qualitative discourse analysis to explore how social media shape spaces and opportunities for the Palestinian struggle. Based on the analysed data, retrieved from five Instagram accounts, four categories were created: information, the Palestinian identity, violence and mobilization. The content of the analysis was interpreted using knowledge gained on the history, as well as on the aftermath of social media and activism in Palestine. The categories show how social media shape spaces and opportunities for Palestinians to: share their own narrative and experiences, seek support and mobilize.Show less
This research attempts to shed light on the relationship between the Syrian government and the PLO during the period from 1967 until 1985. Key events between the war of 1967 and the Palestinian...Show moreThis research attempts to shed light on the relationship between the Syrian government and the PLO during the period from 1967 until 1985. Key events between the war of 1967 and the Palestinian refugee camp wars of 1985 in Lebanon are taken as focal points of analysis for this research. The hypothesis investigated in this research is the following: The soft power of the PLO contributed to the delegitimization of the power of the Syrian government under Hafez al-Assad. To test the hypothesis a collection of primary and secondary sources is used. The primary sources include archives from the Lebanese newspaper al-Nahar and the Foreign Broadcast Information Service. For secondary sources, the research relies on authoritative literature to understand the interaction between the PLO and the Syrian government under Hafez al-Assad. The significance of this research derives partially from moving away from the dominant realist and rationalist models to explain the politics of the Arab world. Taking Joseph Nye’s notion of soft power, alternatively, enables this research to look into how other forms of power influence the behavior of these actors, and vice-versa. This research concludes that the PLO’s soft power did have a significant effect on the Syrian government’s legitimacy under Hafez al-Assad. However, this soft power has been only one factor among other factors that can be used to account for the legitimacy deficit suffered by the Syrian government. These other factors, as well as limitations of this research, are discussed towards the end of the paper.Show less
After the Paris Climate Agreement, oil-rich countries must also commit to making their energy mix more sustainable. The question is to what extent they are making progress here and what obstacles...Show moreAfter the Paris Climate Agreement, oil-rich countries must also commit to making their energy mix more sustainable. The question is to what extent they are making progress here and what obstacles they will encounter. In my thesis, I look at the cases of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from a political economy lens on how they deal with the energy transition in their country. The research question I formulated: Why are Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates failing to meet the renewable energy expectations created after the Paris Climate Agreement in the period 2015-2019? In my thesis, I first describe the current state of the literature on the energy transition in these countries. I predict the bureaucracy, the undesirability for the political elite of these countries and the energy subsidies for fossil fuels that are pushing renewable sources away from the energy market. Then, based on the available data and literature, I will actually look at the goals set and the results achieved in the field of renewable energy. Then I will discuss the concrete political and economic obstacles that have been created for the aforementioned countries to shape the energy transition. Ultimately, I conclude that the targets set are unclear from mainly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but that the United Arab Emirates has set a clear target and can perceive that they are also the only country that has set significant targets in the period 2015 – 2019 . There are also clear political and economic obstacles shaping the energy transition in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. My hypothesis that there are mainly political and economic obstacles is therefore confirmed in my conclusion. At the end I recommended further research about the development in these countries the coming period.Show less
This study analyses the portrayal of women in Turkish films on the Dutch Netflix. With the help of three concepts from feminist film theory, namely male gaze, male voice and female subjectivity,...Show moreThis study analyses the portrayal of women in Turkish films on the Dutch Netflix. With the help of three concepts from feminist film theory, namely male gaze, male voice and female subjectivity, and with the help from earlier studies on the portrayal of women in Turkish films, it finds that women in the Turkish films on the Dutch Netflix are overall portrayed in more passive ways than men, that the female characters often play a supporting role as compared to the male characters and that the concepts from feminist film theorists can still be applied to recently released films. Some films in the corpus however also contain feminist themes and elements, such as female protagonists and female characters that are not occupied with a search for love, but focus on their own personal development. This study concludes that while women are overall not portrayed in a positive way in the corpus, these feminist themes show a promising development that will hopefully continue in the future.Show less
