The rise of China in Africa is well documented. However, little attention has been paid to how this has influenced the approach of traditional development actors in the region, such as the EU. This...Show moreThe rise of China in Africa is well documented. However, little attention has been paid to how this has influenced the approach of traditional development actors in the region, such as the EU. This study examines the Chinese influence on recent developments in the EU’s foreign and development policies towards Africa. More specifically, it focuses on the European Global Gateway Project, the restructuring of the EU’s external financing instruments and the EU’s rhetorical focus on developing ‘a partnership of equals’ with Africa. It argues that these developments were, at least partially, in response to China’s increasing influence in the region. I contend that EU concerns over its strategic interests in Africa and normative concerns over issues such as human rights and democracy both led to this response.Show less
This thesis focusses on the so far neglected role of NATO – the organisation – in the transatlantic conflicts during the Trump administration. Adopting a constructivist approach and conducting a...Show moreThis thesis focusses on the so far neglected role of NATO – the organisation – in the transatlantic conflicts during the Trump administration. Adopting a constructivist approach and conducting a discourse analysis, I identify agency in the discourse of NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s response to the internal frictions with the aim to draw further conclusions on how discourse contributes to the autonomy of international organisations. By doing so, I confront the current dominance in the literature on this subject which has focussed predominantly on the involved states and state power. Correcting for this one-sided misrepresentation, the empirical findings of this thesis suggests that the autonomy of NATO echoed in the Secretary General’s discourse in two ways. One, Stoltenberg was able to create topics, address them and shape its content, indicating that he possessed significant discursive agency. Two, he employed this discursive agency to defend and pursue the interests of the organisation, even at the expense of the interests of NATO’s member states. Consequentially, I argue that these signs of agency were telling echoes of NATO’s autonomy in Stoltenberg’s discursive response to its internal conflicts during the Trump administration.Show less
The creation of cyberspace has drastically problematized how states interact with each other. This thesis aims to understand the dynamics of international norms of sovereignty and non-intervention...Show moreThe creation of cyberspace has drastically problematized how states interact with each other. This thesis aims to understand the dynamics of international norms of sovereignty and non-intervention in cyberspace, and how they relate to already existing norms established in the physical world. To study this, Antje Wiener’s theory of contestation is used as a conceptual tool for explaining how norms have developed in cyberspace in the last two decades. Contestation is a social practice in which states show their disapproval of norms, aiming to alter them in their favor. Through these instances of contestation, norm development can be identified. The theory is applied to United Nations dialogues on cyberspace norms, as well as two pivotal cyberattack cases. The results of the analysis show that cyberspace norms follow a rather recognizable development pattern, going through all the stages contestation theory puts forth. Furthermore, the content of the empirical evidence shows that cyberspace norms are highly based on comparable norms in the physical world. This results in a paradox, where eventually cyberspace norms are adopted from earlier existing norms, but still need a conventional norm development of over two decades before these norms are slowly being implemented, meaning that international agreements, such as the UN Charter did not speed up this process.Show less
