In this thesis about the connection between political identity and protest movements, I use Hong Kong as the main case study, due to the interesting political nature and history of Hong Kong. The...Show moreIn this thesis about the connection between political identity and protest movements, I use Hong Kong as the main case study, due to the interesting political nature and history of Hong Kong. The fact that protest movements have continued to take place over an extended period and only grown in size and number, makes Hong Kong and the way the political identity of its people has been shaped, an opportunity to understand the connection between political identity and protest movement in a case as complex as Hong Kong.Show less
This thesis aims to address the question: “How does the representation of Kurdish cultural resistance in visual art made by the Kurdish-Dutch diaspora fit within the Kurdish political discourse?”...Show moreThis thesis aims to address the question: “How does the representation of Kurdish cultural resistance in visual art made by the Kurdish-Dutch diaspora fit within the Kurdish political discourse?” To answer this question, films by Beri Shalmashi and Reber Dosky were analyzed by means of Visual Discourse Analysis on the basis of themes and symbols that fit within Kurdish political discourse. Unlike traditional International Relations (IR), this thesis takes an aesthetic turn and presents a more expressive and critical view from a diasporic narrative of the Kurdish question, which will deepen the knowledge concerning this conflict through visual discourse analysis. The themes and symbols discussed are cultural memory and collective trauma, the geo-linguistic homeland, autonomy, feminism, and the Kurdish mountains. These themes and symbols are all linked to Kurdish nationalism and cultural resistance and play an important role in the creation of a Kurdish identity among the Kurds living in diaspora. Moreover, this thesis demonstrates how the Kurdish diasporic community represents itself and how politicized Kurdish culture is.Show less
In the first decades following decolonisation, African nations were on the forefront of promoting absolute sovereignty and non-intervention. The Constitutive Act of the African Union that was...Show moreIn the first decades following decolonisation, African nations were on the forefront of promoting absolute sovereignty and non-intervention. The Constitutive Act of the African Union that was adopted in 2000, grants the organisation the right to intervene in case of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. This reflects a conceptualisation of sovereignty as responsibility. To understand this shift in conceptualisation of sovereignty, this thesis conducts a discourse analysis of nine official declarations of the Organization of African Unity between 1990 and 1999 through the lens of constructivist theory. It finds that collective identity, in the guise of Pan-Africanism, serves an important role in enabling the shift in conceptualisation of sovereignty through narrative and interaction. This suggests that collective identity, explicitly on the regional level, is an important factor to be considered in the institutionalisation of humanitarian intervention and has implications for the Responsibility to Protect.Show less
This work discusses political strategic communication through an assessment of German television debates between chancellor candidates. The analysis of the German debates, which is based on the...Show moreThis work discusses political strategic communication through an assessment of German television debates between chancellor candidates. The analysis of the German debates, which is based on the Functional Theory and supported through the concept of collective identity, reveals that politicians construct collective identities during the political debates, in an aim to appeal to their audience and gain their votes. The Functional Theory of political campaign discourse is a widely used theory within the field of political campaign research. Most work has been conducted on television debates in the United States, yet it strives to be perceived not only as a national but as an internationally applicable theory. The paper forms a comprehensive picture of strategy within the competitive political discourse, through the application of the Functional Theory to the German political context.Show less
In order to explore the dynamics of unequal citizenship between the Jewish citizens and the Arab citizens of the state of Israel this thesis engages with the societal security dilemma, a variant of...Show moreIn order to explore the dynamics of unequal citizenship between the Jewish citizens and the Arab citizens of the state of Israel this thesis engages with the societal security dilemma, a variant of the traditional security dilemma that operates between different societies on an intrastate level and focuses on collective identity concerns. The societal security dilemma as such offers an alternative approach to the traditional perspectives provided on ethnic conflict by security studies. Through the method of content analysis the perceived threats to the collective identity of both the Jewish Israeli society and the Palestinian Arab society present in the state of Israel are qualitatively analyzed. From the side of the Jewish Israeli majority political-legal measures aimed at Israel’s Arab minority are investigated as part of the action-reaction process. From the side of the Palestinian Arab minority the Vision Documents, a set of three separate and seminal documents which express the minority’s view of the future of the Israeli state are investigated as part of the action-reaction process. The two societies find themselves locked into a regular societal security dilemma in which the Jewish Israeli majority demonstrates expansionist security-seeking behavior and the Palestinian Arab minority exhibits non-expansionist security-seeking behavior.Show less
