Muralism is known as a highly politicised form of art in Post-revolutionary Mexico. The movement is best known for works by painters such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquieros and José Clemente...Show moreMuralism is known as a highly politicised form of art in Post-revolutionary Mexico. The movement is best known for works by painters such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquieros and José Clemente Orozco; together referred to as Los Tres Grandes. The last of these three, Orozco, refutes any political interpretation of his work, but is that justified? The thesis shows that, in Katharsis, through visual language and subject matter, suggestions are generated about the artist’s views on Mexico’s sociopolitical context at the time. These reflections are in line with elements of anarchist theory.Show less
The aim of the research was to uncover the question: “how did colonialism impact cultural and legal views on homosexuality in Uganda?”. This question was answered through the employment of...Show moreThe aim of the research was to uncover the question: “how did colonialism impact cultural and legal views on homosexuality in Uganda?”. This question was answered through the employment of qualitative research and postcolonial historiography. This dissertation intended to underscore the West’s role in the increasing heterosexism in Uganda, as this is an aspect of the situation that is not addressed enough. The research suggested that the criminalisation of homosexuality in Uganda was directly linked to British colonial rule. Before the advent of British imperialism, there were no laws that prohibited same-sex relations in what is now known as Uganda. Moreover, the application of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and the Sexual Offences Act was influenced by the American evangelist group The Family and Ugandan pentecostal pastors. Furthermore, the support of these two laws are plausibly also a strategic tool for politicians in order to gain religious legitimacy and so they can use queer people as scapegoats. Additionally, the laws justifies violence towards queers, are a violation to human rights, and poses risks to the public health.Show less
To answer the question posed by the title of this thesis, which is "In what ways is China's rising influence in the Lebanese economy and society altering the identity formation of the militant...Show moreTo answer the question posed by the title of this thesis, which is "In what ways is China's rising influence in the Lebanese economy and society altering the identity formation of the militant group Hezbollah?," this thesis employs a social-constructivist method. Accordingly, it concentrates on the overlap and interaction between domestic society and foreign policy, which is defined in the overall aims of this seminar. In recent years, China has established commercial links with a number of the nations in the region, and the One Belt, One Road program is intended to foster further collaboration in the future(Gresh, 2016). OBOR is focused on securing a stable energy supply for China's rapid economic development and comprises a wide range of investment projects that might be advantageous to the region (Horesh, 2016). China participates in the politics of neighboring countries on a very seldom basis and has no intention of unseating the United States. Despite the fact that the emergence of an increasing Chinese influence is easily recognised, the implications of this influence on identity and culture are rarely mentioned in constructivist literature on the Middle East and Lebanon. That is because the body of constructivist analytic literature is still relatively limited when compared to the neoliberal approach, which is the predominant school of thought in the field of international relations. It was discovered that this is the case in each and every one of the domains that were examined, including constructivism and IR theory, constructivism in the Middle East, and China and the Middle East. Constructivist research in the subject of International Relations theories has garnered the attention of an ever-expanding corpus of published work since the 1990s. This thesis will build on the work accomplished by Raymond Hinnebusch, David Campbell, and Alexander Wendt adopting constructivism as perspective, and therefore will primarily involve Joseph Alagha and Pol Bassedas in the research on the identity formation of Hezbollah. There is still a great deal of ambiguity regarding the connection between international politics and the role that the influence of China plays in the process of identity creation inside Hezbollah. With the use of Hezbollah as a case study, the purpose of this study will be to make a contribution to the existing body of knowledge in an effort to address a knowledge gap relating to expanding Chinese participation and identity creation in the Middle East.Show less
This thesis engages in the debate surrounding the EU's NextGenerationEU recovery fund: more than €800 billion to member states to help them through the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. These...Show moreThis thesis engages in the debate surrounding the EU's NextGenerationEU recovery fund: more than €800 billion to member states to help them through the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. These funds are raised through common EU debt and some of them are provided in the form of grants. This combination led to discussions about the significance of the programme for European integration and the EU's possible evolution from an international organisation towards a federal state, specifically whether it bears similarity to the 'Hamiltonian moment,' a set of 18th-century fiscal reforms in the United States. The thesis compares NGEU and the Hamiltonian moment in terms of their respective context, content and consequences. It finds that the NGEU programme did not constitute Europe's very own Hamiltonian moment due to its very different and much less significant impact on the functioning of fiscal policy in its polity.Show less
From the era of Daoud Khan to the rise of the Taliban, Pashtun-centric ideology has consistently influenced Afghan political discourse. This thesis investigates the impact of colonial legacies,...Show moreFrom the era of Daoud Khan to the rise of the Taliban, Pashtun-centric ideology has consistently influenced Afghan political discourse. This thesis investigates the impact of colonial legacies, Orientalist paradigms, and power dynamics on the shaping of Afghanistan's socio-political landscape. By analyzing the connections between national identity formation and ethnicization, the study aims to deepen the understanding of Afghanistan's complex political dynamics. Ultimately, it seeks to promote a more inclusive and diverse dialogue on Afghan politics and identity.Show less
African countries in their quest for independence have leveraged their natural resources in boosting economic growth, but with limited success in diversifying productive activities and alleviating...Show moreAfrican countries in their quest for independence have leveraged their natural resources in boosting economic growth, but with limited success in diversifying productive activities and alleviating poverty in the continent. The Resource Curse Hypothesis (RCH) suggests that their abundance in natural endowments paradoxically constrains developmental efforts. However, decades of study have failed to find a consensus on whether the curse exists and what are its driving factors. This thesis proposes an idiographic approach through process tracing to scrutinize policies and strategies used when managing natural resources and their derived revenues. Angola is the selected case study due to its high dependence on the petrol sector and its intimate connection to politics. Examining the economic trajectory in Angola evidenced how the concentration of political power, economic prioritization, and institutional development affected resource governance and, consequently, the way extractive sectors influence economic development. The conclusion is that the Angolan authoritarian regime prioritized its survival over the improvement of domestic market conditions, with limited positive impacts for the population while constraining durable economic development by over-relying on the petrol industry.Show less
This paper will try to answer why Iran is attempting to dominate the Iraqi political, military, and economic sphere in spite of international sanctions and isolation. The majority of scholars on...Show moreThis paper will try to answer why Iran is attempting to dominate the Iraqi political, military, and economic sphere in spite of international sanctions and isolation. The majority of scholars on the subject use defensive realist reasoning as their primary explanation for Iran’s behavior in the region. But this paper will prove that the real answer is much more complicated than that, and that the defensive camp is oversimplifying Iranian actions in Iraq. We need to take historical, cultural and religious aspects into the equation as well in order to produce a more holistic explanation for Iran’s behavior vis-à-vis Iraq. Once we do so, we will arrive at a conclusion that will shatter the perceived innocence of the consensus of the scholarly majority. Namely, Iran is not acting defensively. Instead, it is acting in line with constructivist theory, as it wants to export its revolutionary ideology abroad through the support of pro-Iran actors in the region. This means, as we will argue, that Iran is still ideologically committed to the spread of revolutionary Islam in the region, with the ultimate goal being the unification of the Muslim world. As we will prove later, this unification can and must be achieved by forming a pan-Islamic alliance to annihilate Israel under the guardianship of the Iranian Supreme Leader, as Khomeinist thinking goes. This will then supposedly lead to a strong, powerful, and independent Muslim world, free of Western influence.Show less
