The research conducted in this thesis focused on different frames found in the news reporting of international and national media on the Australian asylum-seeker policy of ‘offshore processing’....Show moreThe research conducted in this thesis focused on different frames found in the news reporting of international and national media on the Australian asylum-seeker policy of ‘offshore processing’. Firstly, a content analysis into the news reporting on this subject was undertaken, and it was found that international newspapers such as The Guardian, The New York Times and The Daily Mail assumed a watchdog position, pushing them to use a humanitarian frame. This is in contrast to national newspapers such as The Australian, which assumed more of a lapdog position, pushing them to use a national-interest frame. Subsequently, an experiment was conducted to assess whether these different frames influence public opinion. Respondents with no previous knowledge on the subject were asked to participate in a survey experiment. They were assigned to two different groups – one being exposed to humanitarian framed articles, the other being exposed to national-interest framed articles. The results showed a preliminary direction that public opinion takes, as the group exposed to the humanitarian frame was more negative towards the Australian asylum-seeker policy, and the group exposed to the national-interest frame was more positive towards the Australian asylum-seeker policy. Essentially, more agency must be accredited to the media and the public, in the hope of encouraging a more humanitarian tone towards highly politicised issues.Show less
Humanitarian ideals are increasingly driving the rhetoric of intervention in the post-Cold War period. Is this indicative of conscientious international environment, or are more cynical...Show moreHumanitarian ideals are increasingly driving the rhetoric of intervention in the post-Cold War period. Is this indicative of conscientious international environment, or are more cynical machinations responsible? Through the analysis of the political rhetoric of prominent case studies, this paper seeks to determine the nature of humanitarian intervention in relation to contemporary understandings of international politics.Show less
Most high schools provide a diverse range of internationally oriented activities in which students are able to participate. These activities give students the opportunity to get to know other...Show moreMost high schools provide a diverse range of internationally oriented activities in which students are able to participate. These activities give students the opportunity to get to know other countries and develop their international interest. Hofstad Lyceum is a school that provides more than 20 internationally oriented activities to their students. The influence of these activities on the attitude towards globalization has been remained rather unclear. Using both a questionnaire and more various qualitative analyses of the activities the influence of these activities on the attitude towards globalization has been researched. The activities of Hofstad Lyceum can be put into three categories. International exchanges have more influence on the attitude towards globalization than international projects and international trips. The results of the questionnaire suggest that these activities have both positive and negative influence on the attitude towards globalization. It shows that internationally oriented activities do not or only marginally increase the political knowledge. On the other hand students seem to have more social willingness to experience the world. All in all, internationally oriented activities have to be seen as an incentive ‘to stimulate students’ interest in international affairs.Show less
