This master’s thesis investigates whether anti-Islam neo-Orientalist populist political discourse in the context of the 2015 migration crisis deepened Islamophobia in French and Hungarian society,...Show moreThis master’s thesis investigates whether anti-Islam neo-Orientalist populist political discourse in the context of the 2015 migration crisis deepened Islamophobia in French and Hungarian society, causing lasting damage to the perception of Middle Eastern and North African immigrants and refugees, taking into consideration whether the respective country’s citizens had already been exposed to a considerable population of immigrant background before the crisis. The research delves into how the political discourse of the largest and most influential right-wing to far-right political parties in France and Hungary affected and shaped public opinion, social hostility, and Islamophobia between the first considerable influx of immigrants in 2015 and the first nationwide elections held after the crisis, in 2017 in France and 2018 in Hungary. By comparing similar social and political phenomena in the two countries, the current thesis also scrutinizes crucial differences between France and Hungary’s respective historical, political, social, and demographic contexts to reveal why certain political and rhetorical strategies proved successful in one country and not in the other.Show less
Scholars ever more agree that economic diversification is becoming a vital strategy to ensure future stability in fossil fuel-export dependent states. This is the reason why, in recent years,...Show moreScholars ever more agree that economic diversification is becoming a vital strategy to ensure future stability in fossil fuel-export dependent states. This is the reason why, in recent years, grandiose development plans and modest efforts to achieve economic diversification have been initiated by some MENA states, particularly by those in the GCC. In Algeria, neither plans nor serious efforts are undertaken by the country’s ruling elites towards achieving this goal. Traditional rentier state literature cannot explain these visible differences in approaches between rentier states. Therefore, by studying contemporary Algerian history, this paper argues that the unwillingness of Algerian elites to diversify the Algerian economy is a result of an interplay between the nature of domestic institutions, international interference and oil. This case-specific approach enables a more accurate explanation for Algeria’s persistent political economic development. Moreover, by connecting rentier state theory with insights from postcolonial studies, and statist and critical political economy, this paper also appeals to the growing demand for an internationalised conception of the rentier state.Show less
