Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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Since 2011, Yemen has been torn apart by two subsequent crises: the 2011 uprisings which sought to overthrow the Saleh-government, and the current conflict between the Houthis and the government of...Show moreSince 2011, Yemen has been torn apart by two subsequent crises: the 2011 uprisings which sought to overthrow the Saleh-government, and the current conflict between the Houthis and the government of president Hadi. Although women are often portrayed as primary victims of these crises, such moments of profound change can also offer possible positive changes for women. In this thesis, I analyse the impact of these two crises – the 2011 uprisings and the current conflict – on women’s political empowerment in Yemen. Did women get more opportunities to participate in politics due to these crises? Two important conclusions follow from this research. Firstly, there is a notable difference between women’s participation in informal politics and formal politics during and after crises; although women might be empowered in informal politics, this does not necessarily lead to empowerment in formal politics. And secondly, different crises have different impacts on women’s political participation. The nature of the subsequent formal political process determines the likelihood of women’s formal political empowerment.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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The thesis is based within the theories of constructivism and looks for the connection between the identity construction and the foreign policy decision-making process. The research question posed...Show moreThe thesis is based within the theories of constructivism and looks for the connection between the identity construction and the foreign policy decision-making process. The research question posed is: why is Hezbollah stepping in the Syrian civil war? What is the relation between this decision and the group’s identity that has been continuously constructed and re-constructed in the past 30 years? Moreover, is the relationship between the decision to go to war and Hezbollah identity construction linear? Can the conflict in Syria affect, or even re-shape the construction of Hezbollah’s identity? How does this comply (or disconnect) with Hezbollah’s own ideas about self and role in the serves in the region? The paper analyses the relation between the identity construction and the decision to go to the Syrian war, and based on this example draws a conclusion that the relationship between the two is rather reciprocal than linear.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis is engaged in the challenge that non-state actors pose for the international order in a context of human rights violations. For that, it focuses on how these actors influence...Show moreThis thesis is engaged in the challenge that non-state actors pose for the international order in a context of human rights violations. For that, it focuses on how these actors influence international politics, mainly through their role on implementing human rights norms, taking as a study case the Western Sahara pursuit of self-determination. The international and transnational solidarity network are to be seen as advocacy networks, and their actions, history, and role on implementing human rights norms will be analyzed. The domestic dimension of this advocacy will be explored through an initiative emerged from the Dutch society – the Polisario Komitee. The transnational dimension, in its turn, will be analyzed through the European Coordinating Conference of Support to the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO). The work will shed light on how these initiatives operate, in order to analyze if they prove to be effective in promoting the change they are committed to – as well as what are the elements that influence negatively in their advocacy. For that, the methodological approach includes a combination of primary archival sources, interviews, and literature on human rights, International Relations, and advocacy networks.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis examines the role of non-state cyber actors in violent conflicts, focusing on the case study of the hacker group Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) in the Syrian civil war. A network analysis...Show moreThis thesis examines the role of non-state cyber actors in violent conflicts, focusing on the case study of the hacker group Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) in the Syrian civil war. A network analysis of all cyber attacks related to the Syrian war between 2012-2015 shows that the SEA primarily attacked Western media. However, the thesis argues that the West was not the SEA's main target, rather, the cyber attacks were meant to influence and control the Syrian opposition with the purpose to weaken them.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis looks at the importance of respect for Iran in the nuclear negotiations. By using a constructivist approach and focusing on the era of Ahmadinejad and Rouhani.
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
Recent studies on social media have begun to unravel how these sites pave the way for a new type of surveillance: social media surveillance (Trottier 2012). Compared to conventional understandings...Show moreRecent studies on social media have begun to unravel how these sites pave the way for a new type of surveillance: social media surveillance (Trottier 2012). Compared to conventional understandings of surveillance as top-down and hierarchical, social media surveillance is mutual: users watch and are watched. Most studies on the practice of watching and being watched on social media are based on the experiences of ‘white’ North-American students and tend to overlook the experiences of a more diverse global population. This qualitative study aims to contribute to a broader understanding of social media surveillance, by examining the experiences of fifteen female Dutch-Moroccan students in higher education. Findings from the interviews suggest how the students engage with social media surveillance in ways that represent their personal, cultural and religious values of modesty. This study argues that the students’ emphasis on online modesty can be explained in two-fold: (1) as a general effect of institutionalized disciplinary techniques on social media, and (2), as online pious micro-practices, conceptualized in this study as ‘virtual piety’. In doing so, this study not only contributes to a broader understanding of social media surveillance, but also contributes to studies investigating the way everyday practices are part of the process of becoming a pious Muslim subject (Jouili 2009).Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This paper seeks to unpick what the term Pax Mongolica actually means and to decide whether or not it is a suitable term to be used in a historical sense. A brief look at the historiographical...Show moreThis paper seeks to unpick what the term Pax Mongolica actually means and to decide whether or not it is a suitable term to be used in a historical sense. A brief look at the historiographical context for this term and how the Mongols' public image has begun to change precede an analysis of sources from across the Mongol world in order to try to find out what Mongol rule meant to contemporaries. Tackling this issue via Persian, European, and non-Muslim sources from Armenia, Georgia and Iraq helps to provide a balanced view of the Mongols across time and space. Each chapter looks at a collection of sources for a picture of initial Mongol destruction to see how far territories under their control could have recovered, before moving on to address the burdens and benefits of Mongol rule for those they conquered. The chapters then end with a quick look at travel and trade (the pillars which Pax Mongolica is built on) across various regions and time periods. An analysis of each set of sources follows per chapter, with potted source studies to begin with for a frame of reference. Finally, a broader overview determining the existence or extent of Pax Mongolica is provided in the conclusion with some suggestions with how to move forward in the historical discourse.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This study examines the ideological connections between the left-leaning Kadro, Markopaşa, and Yön journals and Kemalism . Kadro, Markopaşa and Yön are not only journals but also political currents...Show moreThis study examines the ideological connections between the left-leaning Kadro, Markopaşa, and Yön journals and Kemalism . Kadro, Markopaşa and Yön are not only journals but also political currents of different scales. This research reveals what the exact relation of the writers with the Kemalist regime of their time was, whether these journals contributed to Kemalist ideology by using their intellectual influence and how they attributed left-oriented concepts to Kemalism. Further, it explores how they coped with contradictions of combining left-oriented ideas with Kemalism and what the similarities and differences were in terms of expressing the views of the left-leaning intellectuals in the mid-1930s, the late 1940s and in the early 1960s. The answers to these questions are discussed in connection to the six tenets of Kemalist ideology: the nationalist, populist, etatist, laicist, reformist, and republicanist arrows.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis engages with Hebrew novels written by Israeli Arab authors. It investigates how the three Hebrew novels Beor Ḥadash (In a New Light), Tevilah Katlanit (Fatal Baptism) and Aravim Rokdim ...Show moreThis thesis engages with Hebrew novels written by Israeli Arab authors. It investigates how the three Hebrew novels Beor Ḥadash (In a New Light), Tevilah Katlanit (Fatal Baptism) and Aravim Rokdim (Dancing Arabs) by the authors Atallah Mansour, Naim Araidi and Sayed Kashua reflect the Arab experience in Israeli society. In order to answer this question an in depth analysis of the three novels as well as a research into the three authors was conducted.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis examines the political role of national celebrations after the Islamic Revolution (1979) in Iran. Particularly, this thesis focuses on how many national celebrations in the Islamic...Show moreThis thesis examines the political role of national celebrations after the Islamic Revolution (1979) in Iran. Particularly, this thesis focuses on how many national celebrations in the Islamic Republic of Iran are an opportunity for the Iranian government to promote a specific political agenda, to strengthen national identity, to consolidate the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, to mobilise people for different socio-political purposes, and to bolster state's legitimacy. The establishment of a new national calendar of celebrations in post-revolutionary Iran has been crucial for the construction of a collective memory based on the relationship between politics and religion and for the building of an Islamic society.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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Debates around water in the MENA region center on its potential for conflict or for cooperation, with predictions of future water wars. Water is presented as a natural resource or an economic or...Show moreDebates around water in the MENA region center on its potential for conflict or for cooperation, with predictions of future water wars. Water is presented as a natural resource or an economic or political commodity. The debate is mostly focused on the international, inter-state scale. In recent years, however, some scholars have argued that a focus on the national or local level would generate more interesting and useful research regarding the importance of water and water management. The Middle East is generally regarded as a very water-scarce and fragile region. Syria, that since the Arab Spring of 2010-2011 has been torn by civil war, is particularly interesting. Water scarcity and climate change have been mentioned in scholarly and popular discourse as possible factors for the Syrian population’s dissent. In this thesis I explore the theoretical and practical political dynamics of water within the paradigm of water as a tool for conflict or cooperation. Through an integrative historical framework I identify four possible political functions of water: water as a tool for diplomacy, development, democracy, or war. Political water management can be conducted at different scalar levels via pragmatic strategies that serve different political agendas. I argue that both the notion of relative availability of water and the appearance of pragmatic strategies in water management must be taken into account in the debate on water. Furthermore, through balancing theory and practice of Syrian water management, both abstract and concrete political dynamics are revealed.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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The implementation of the Taksim water network was initiated near the end of the reign of Ahmed III, but was interrupted as a consequence of the Patrona Revolt in September 1730. The uprising...Show moreThe implementation of the Taksim water network was initiated near the end of the reign of Ahmed III, but was interrupted as a consequence of the Patrona Revolt in September 1730. The uprising brought about the deposal of Ahmed III in favor of his nephew Mahmud I who continued the Taksim project sometime after the unrest in the capital was suppressed. The water network supplied the neighborhoods of Kasımpaşa, Galata, Tophane, Fındıklı, and Kabataş, and was primarily financed from the privy purse of Saliha Valide Sultan. In addition, the queen mother selected a number of wealthy and loyal dignitaries to invest in the project by means of a monumental fountain. The fountain network confirmed the social contract that was negotiated between the sultan and his favorites, and put the social network of the former at the center of a "negotiated empire". The Taksim water project sheds new light on the concept of centralization in historiography, and expands our understanding of the processes through which wealth, power, and prestige were regulated in Ottoman society.Show less
