This thesis presents an analysis of the impact that African actors had on the Commonwealth, after their independence. By tracing their agency during the Rhodesian crisis within the forum of the...Show moreThis thesis presents an analysis of the impact that African actors had on the Commonwealth, after their independence. By tracing their agency during the Rhodesian crisis within the forum of the Commonwealth during 1964 to 1969, this thesis endeavours to expose a distinct perspective of its history and transformation. It reveals how those actors shaped the Commonwealth, in their demand for majority rule and the end to the racist regime in Rhodesia. Incorporating these actors into research on the Commonwealth during the crisis reveals how they guided discussions on racial equality during the Conferences in the 1960s. These actors not only managed to alter the character, debate and principles of the Commonwealth, additionally they shaped the wider agenda of international relations, to prioritise issues of race in other forums such as the United Nations.Show less
Women’s rights have been a concern for women worldwide for a long time. Activism and international politics in the 1960s and 1970s led to the establishment of the United Nations Decade for Women,...Show moreWomen’s rights have been a concern for women worldwide for a long time. Activism and international politics in the 1960s and 1970s led to the establishment of the United Nations Decade for Women, which took place from 1975 to 1985. The Decade brought together different perspectives on women’s rights. Western women, women from the socialist bloc and women from developing countries all had different hopes and aspirations for the three conferences that were held. This thesis analyses the interaction between the three different groups and reflects on the contributions the Decade made to women’s rights movements and to the United Nations. Although north-south and east-west divisions were clearly present, the conference delegations managed to bridge some differences and integrate their views on women’s rights and influence the UN.Show less
The United Nations did not deploy a peacekeeping mission in Africa for a quarter of a century following its contentious intervention in the Congo in the early 1960s. Due to this lack of military...Show moreThe United Nations did not deploy a peacekeeping mission in Africa for a quarter of a century following its contentious intervention in the Congo in the early 1960s. Due to this lack of military intervention, much of the existing scholarship has overlooked the organisation’s influence in the process of African decolonisation during the Cold War. In contrast, this thesis re-examines the relationship between United Nations intervention and African decolonisation through the case studies of the Congo and Southern Rhodesia between 1960 and 1980. During this period, the United Nations explored alternative means of diplomatic and economic intervention in Africa, examined in this thesis through the organisation’s relationship with the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia. This was not a period of non-intervention, but rather a time of complex reconfiguration for the organisation concerning its future role within the process of African decolonisation.Show less
Women have proved to be crucial actors in successful peace processes, overcoming obstacles such as the lack of gender inclusivity in traditional peacebuilding. This thesis intends to analyse how...Show moreWomen have proved to be crucial actors in successful peace processes, overcoming obstacles such as the lack of gender inclusivity in traditional peacebuilding. This thesis intends to analyse how and under which circumstances does women's involvement in peacebuilding reach positive results in terms of gender gap and more effective post-conflict reconstruction. More specifically this work explores the differences between two cases, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, arguing that the key behind the success of the Rwandan example may be found by combining feminist theories and indigenous peacebuilding theories.Show less
This thesis presents a search for defining the agency of missionaries, their respective churches and religion’s role in the decolonisation of Rhodesia until 1979 with the ending of the Bush War and...Show moreThis thesis presents a search for defining the agency of missionaries, their respective churches and religion’s role in the decolonisation of Rhodesia until 1979 with the ending of the Bush War and the emergence of the newly created Republic of Zimbabwe. As such, it seeks to understand missionaries as more than just a happenstance of history but rather as active and integral to developments within the Rhodesian region and its vastly different processes of decolonisation. Furthermore, this thesis presents the history of decolonisation from the bottom up, attributing agency and importance to the ordinary people whose lives were affected by the global dynamics of the Cold War. What follows, therefore, details the discovery of missionaries as actors within Rhodesia and their far-reaching impact on the decolonisation processes at play.Show less
The world looks away as blood flows in Burundi’ (Graham-Harrison, 10th of April 2016, The Guardian). Since 2015 the safety situation in Burundi is deteriorating, yet the international community...Show moreThe world looks away as blood flows in Burundi’ (Graham-Harrison, 10th of April 2016, The Guardian). Since 2015 the safety situation in Burundi is deteriorating, yet the international community doesn’t act upon it, even though scholars and political observers warn that it is important to sustain international attention to Burundi (Lotze and Martins, 2015, p. 268). Moreover, Burundi is ranked in the top 3 of under-reported crises of 2017 (Ratcliffe, 2018). whereas, at the same time the country is also reported to have one of the highest rates of children with stunted growth caused by hunger or undernourishment, namely 55,9 percent (Global Hunger Index 2018, p. 16-17). Thus, while the international press hardly mentioned the country, on the 14th of June 2019, there was a briefing of the Security Council on Burundi in which the Assistant Secretary-General, Mr. Fernandez-Taranco, voices his concern over human rights and the humanitarian situation in the country. With the upcoming elections in 2020 Mr. Fernandez Taranco is worried about the ‘many reported violations of fundamental civic and political freedoms’ and the increasing food insecurity (Taranco, Briefing Security Council on Burundi, 14th of June 2019). Aren’t these enough reasons to wonder why there’s no UN peacekeeping operation (PKO) deployed in Burundi? Intervention, in the form of a peacekeeping operation can, in some cases, meet a lot of criticism; intervening in another country is a difficult task. Yet, sometimes intervention by a UN peacekeeping mission is the only option to bring enduring peace. But how does the UN Security Council (UN SC) decide in which country they will deploy a PKO? This thesis will focus on two aspects: first, the role of the member states of the Security Council, in which national interest often plays a role in their contribution during the UN SC meetings (Jakobsen, 1996). Second, this thesis will focus on another actor that might influence the decision-making process of the Security Council: the media. This thesis aims to focus on an understanding of the decision-making process of the UN Security Council that goes beyond regular realist interpretation in which the member states are central; this thesis will focus on the construction of the discourse. Therefore this research question is proposed: How does the discourse used in the UN Security Council meeting records and international media contribute to the context in which the UN Security Council decided to start MINUSCA and end ONUB? Can these discourses explain why there’s no Peacekeeping Operation deployed in Burundi recently? This will be investigated by analyzing UN Security Council meeting records and media coverage of these two situations. I will use a post-structuralist approach because its focus on language and discourse can reveal constructed ideas of how respectively the members of the UN Security Council approached the MINUSCA and ONUB debate, and how the media portrayed the situation in CAR and Burundi.Assuming that the discourse used by the members of the Security Council and in the media contributes to the decisions made about PKO’s, results of this research will be interesting for states who believe deploying a PKO in their, or a neighbouring country, is necessary. In that case, it might be beneficial to seek attention from international media, preferably media in countries that are UN SC member. Furthermore, I hope this research will contribute to abolish inequality in cases like Burundi; even if there’s little attention in the UN SC and little media coverage, deploying a PKO could still be justifiable. After elaborating on my methodology, I will discuss the ethnic conflicts in both Burundi and CAR and end with the similarities and differences between those cases. Secondly, I will elaborate on the first and second generation of PKO’s. Thirdly, I will elaborate on media influence on foreign policy, and in particular on PKO’s and the Security Council. Subsequently, this thesis will analyze the UN SC meeting records and media coverage and end with the conclusion in which I present recommendations for future decision-makers on PKO’s and further research.Show less
This thesis demonstrates that postcolonial structures are reflected in the UNFCCC negotiations on agriculture and that a clear distinction between the key objectives of developed (mitigation of GHG...Show moreThis thesis demonstrates that postcolonial structures are reflected in the UNFCCC negotiations on agriculture and that a clear distinction between the key objectives of developed (mitigation of GHG emissions) and developing countries’ (food security) is identifiable. Firstly, the literature review establishes the current state of research on the topic, elaborates concepts, and identifies the theoretical framework underlying the thesis. The second chapter explains the qualitative content analysis conducted to ascertain postcolonial structures within the negotiations. The third chapter presents the results of the analysis, followed by a discussion that critically analyses the research performed, tests the thesis’s hypotheses, and examines the possibilities of how the conclusions drawn can be used to make international cooperation on climate change and agriculture more effective. Finally, the conclusion highlights that international cooperation on agriculture excludes the value of contributions from developing countries’ local entities in consulting on adaptation and climate change action, highlights the research’s limits, and suggests future research projects.Show less
Although the period of colonial rule by the Netherlands and Portugal is a thing of the past, there is a plenitude of ‘overseas cultural heritage’ (OCH) around the world, referring to unmoveable...Show moreAlthough the period of colonial rule by the Netherlands and Portugal is a thing of the past, there is a plenitude of ‘overseas cultural heritage’ (OCH) around the world, referring to unmoveable heritage sites that were created under the colonial influence or former presence of nation states on a territory that is not part of these states today. Policy regarding OCH offers complex challenges and possibilities to present-day governments as the heritage is at the crossroads of the cultural and political involvement of both the former colonized and colonizer and thus bridges the colonial past into the current postcolonial reality. Nevertheless, research analysing and comparing OCH policy of former colonial powers at several levels of governance is rare. This thesis builds on, and adds to, the existing research by conducting a multidisciplinary (policy analysis and heritage definition analysis) and multilateral (bilateral and multilateral) comparative analysis of the OCH-policy of the Netherlands and Portugal. At core is the research question: what policy strategy have the Dutch and Portuguese governments developed concerning their OCH in the past century at both bilateral and multilateral level of governance, and to what extent are the policy strategies comparable? To answer this main research question, the thesis conducts a multidisciplinary analysis that combines a policy analysis of the OCH-policy of the Netherlands and Portugal at bilateral and multilateral level of governance at UNESCO, with the examination of the heritage definition at the heart of the existing policy, the latter by examining how the policy deals with the challenging commonality of OCH. The research enabled to map the differences and commonalities of the Dutch and Portuguese OCH-policy strategies.Show less
This thesis looks at the promotion of democracy within the Democratic Republic of Congo preformed by the UN mission MONUC. This thesis reasons that the strategy used within MONUC was not suitable...Show moreThis thesis looks at the promotion of democracy within the Democratic Republic of Congo preformed by the UN mission MONUC. This thesis reasons that the strategy used within MONUC was not suitable for the country as it was highly concentrated on the national level, barely taking the important local issues and causes for the continuing of violence into account. Next this thesis suggests that the promotion of democracy had unwanted side effects that partly evolved from the MONUC mandate that highly prioritised elections over the implementation of institutions that could have guided the elections and regulated the local security issues that the country was facing.Show less
