Recent studies have found a strong correlation between covid-19 and higher conflict intensity. Yet, scant attention has been paid to the ways in which covid-19 increased the conflict intensity of...Show moreRecent studies have found a strong correlation between covid-19 and higher conflict intensity. Yet, scant attention has been paid to the ways in which covid-19 increased the conflict intensity of pre-existing conflicts. Therefore, this is the gap that this thesis aims to fill. From the disaster-conflict literature, and the covid-19-conflict literature more specifically, I derive three possible causal mechanisms concerning 1) state capacity 2) conflict mitigation, and 3) foreign backers. Consequently, I test these mechanisms with the use of process tracing in the context of the Libyan conflict. The evidence reveals that all three mechanisms were partly present, but did not exactly function as theorized. Indeed, in contrast to the hypothesized causal mechanism, no evidence is found for the suspension of military activities by the state, suggesting that the emergence of covid-19 did not weaken state capacity. Besides, the suspension of conflict mitigating activities and the involvement of foreign backers led to an intensification of violence, despite the continued attention for the conflict during the pandemic. More research, therefore, is necessary to further explore the mechanisms linking pandemics and conflict intensity in pre-existing conflicts.Show less
This thesis focuses on the factors that led to the military intervention of France and the United Kingdom in Libya in 2011. Both actors were at the forefront of discussions regarding how the...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the factors that led to the military intervention of France and the United Kingdom in Libya in 2011. Both actors were at the forefront of discussions regarding how the international community should answer to the threat to civilians posed by the Gaddafi regime, and remained prominently engaged throughout the process leading to the UN-mandated and NATO-led intervention. This research applies the multiple-stream framework as developed by John Kingdon (1984), to identify factors within the problem, policy and political streams defined by the theory. This allowed for several factors and actors crucial to the process to be identified, and for a comparison between the cases of France and the United Kingdom to be established. The multiple-stream framework analysis offers valuable insights into the processes at different levels of analysis, although the qualitative nature of this research hinders possibilities for generalizability.Show less
In 2011 Libya is torn apart by civil unrest in the form of an uprising against the Gadhafi regime. The European powers are divided over the course they have to take. A unified European response is...Show moreIn 2011 Libya is torn apart by civil unrest in the form of an uprising against the Gadhafi regime. The European powers are divided over the course they have to take. A unified European response is also hindered by the different mandates the European governments have regarding the use of force. This thesis seeks to find the reasons why the European states diverged over a case in which they had a common interest in the ‘Responsibility to Protect’. For this explanation, this thesis will focus on the political- and strategic cultures of France, United Kingdom and Germany and the way they influence the parliamentary debates.Show less
This thesis will seek to explore the Obama administration’s reasoning behind its foreign policy of ‘leading from behind’ in the NATO alliance. While the United States proved willing to account for...Show moreThis thesis will seek to explore the Obama administration’s reasoning behind its foreign policy of ‘leading from behind’ in the NATO alliance. While the United States proved willing to account for an excessive share of the burden during, for example, the intervention in the former Yugoslavia of 1999, Washington DC called for a wider shared responsibility during the 2011 intervention in Libya. It will be argued that the core arguments of the hegemonic stability theory, which are generally neglected in debates about military burden-sharing, render useful in explaining this shift in American contributions made to the NATO alliance. By analysing and comparing the two major NATO air campaigns in the former Yugoslavia and Libya, it will be revealed that the shift from a unipolar to a multi-polar world has resulted in this new direction in US foreign policy. This thesis will demonstrate that the unipolar world in which the intervention in the former Yugoslavia took place allowed the US to retain – and even strengthen – its hegemonic position in the global order. However, the Obama administration took the relative decline of US power into account in its decision to lead from behind in Libya. As predicted by the hegemonic stability theory, hegemons that lose power become less willing to accept free-riding in alliances and reconsider the way in which they spend their resources. The intervention in Libya should, therefore, be considered as a tipping point that reflected this new direction in US foreign policy.Show less
Irregular migration to the European Union is not a new phenomenon. For decades, migrants have crossed the external borders of the Union illegally, hoping to find a better life. With the abolishment...Show moreIrregular migration to the European Union is not a new phenomenon. For decades, migrants have crossed the external borders of the Union illegally, hoping to find a better life. With the abolishment of internal border controls in the European Union, the necessity for increased protection of the external borders arose. This became especially clear when after the Arab Spring uprisings an unprecedented amount of people made their way to Europe, culminating in the 2015 European migration crisis. The response of the EU and its Member States entailed policies of deterrence and entry-prevention. Furthermore, agreements were made with third countries in order to stem the migration flows. These agreements effectively externalised migration control beyond the borders of Europe. In this comparative case study, the bilateral migration control agreements between Italy and Libya, and between Spain and Morocco are analysed, with the aim of assessing the impact of these agreements on the human rights of migrants residing in North Africa. The study suggests that through the bilateral agreements, externalisation of migration control is facilitated, which in turn has resulted in a crackdown on irregular migration, with severe consequences for the perception and treatment of irregular migrants in North Africa.Show less
This thesis seeks to explore what the results of the 2011 Libya intervention have been for the Responsibility to Protect principle (R2P). In order to achieve this thesis conducts a Critical...Show moreThis thesis seeks to explore what the results of the 2011 Libya intervention have been for the Responsibility to Protect principle (R2P). In order to achieve this thesis conducts a Critical Discourse Analysis into Russia and China. The choice of Russia and China is to remedy the overreliance on Western thinking on R2P present in the existing literature. This thesis argues that the Libya intervention has resulted in increased difficulties for the R2P, though deepening existing scepticism as well as providing more evidence as to the damaging results of military interventions.Show less
The exposure of Libya’s political fragmentation and societal disintegration after 2011 was picked up by academics, journalists, and policy researchers who have written on that aspect of the Libyan...Show moreThe exposure of Libya’s political fragmentation and societal disintegration after 2011 was picked up by academics, journalists, and policy researchers who have written on that aspect of the Libyan reality more than any other. Libya is perceived as a fragile state with hundreds of armed groups, multiple claims of governance and tens of warring tribes. Both local and international actors have contributed to this image, but this thesis attempts to argue that there is more than the fragile and disorganized state discourse to describe Libya. The fact that Libyan unity, sovereignty, and independence have survived this extreme level of fragmentation is a question that deserves to be investigated. Thus, through the use of wide range of theories, academic and policy papers, news articles, survey data, and political agreements reports, this thesis aims to answer why and how Libya managed to preserve its status as a state in such an environment. It treats the question as a question of sovereignty by arguing that the traditional definition of sovereignty limits our ability to comprehend the state issue in Libya fully. By focusing on different aspects of sovereignty and by selecting broader definitions of the concept, this thesis argues that Libya’s unity and sovereignty have been preserved so far because international and local actors benefit from this arrangement even though they may be (in)directly contributing to fragmentation in the country. The international community is not willing to let states fall-apart, and the Libyan people do not seem to favor division and separation movements. Local state and non-state actors realize this arrangement, and they have not challenged thus far.Show less
The Responsibility to Protect principle introduced both the state’s and the international community’s responsibility to protect human rights. The principle is regarded as an emergent norm that is...Show moreThe Responsibility to Protect principle introduced both the state’s and the international community’s responsibility to protect human rights. The principle is regarded as an emergent norm that is yet to be successfully diffused and classified as a global norm. This thesis assesses the principle’s normative trajectory through the use of Finnemore and Sikkink’s ‘norm life cycle theory’ (1998). This work works toward a better understanding of Russia’s approach towards the emergent norm of human rights by default. By assessing Russia’s approach towards intervention, this study reviews the claim that Russia seeks to undermine the norms that underpin R2P. This has been conducted via a qualitative case study that reviews the following cases: Georgia, Crimea, Libya and Syria. The findings demonstrate that although Russia is actively engaged with the principle’s norm development process, it did also attempt to interpret the norm according to its own preferences. However, only once was the norm was truly undermined - in the case of Crimea.Show less
This thesis examines the effectiveness of humanitarian intervention in the cases of NATO’s air campaign in Kosovo which lasted from March 24, 1999 – June 10, 1999, and NATO’s air campaign in Libya,...Show moreThis thesis examines the effectiveness of humanitarian intervention in the cases of NATO’s air campaign in Kosovo which lasted from March 24, 1999 – June 10, 1999, and NATO’s air campaign in Libya, which started on March 23, 2001 and continued to October 31, 2011. The challenges of each intervention were similar, with the victims of war in each case needing to feel secure in their homes, while at the same time requiring aid in areas suffering from extended periods of conflict. The debate whether humanitarian interventions are effective in resolving conflict and saving lives and are not purely based on national interest of intervening states, triggered the research question of this thesis: Was NATO’s humanitarian military intervention effective in the cases of Kosovo (1999) and Libya (2011) in terms of achieving short and long-term humanitarian benefits? This question will be answered by looking at each scenario through the focus on the short and long-term effectiveness of NATO’s missions. Each case study is analysed with regards to the number of saved lives as a result of intervention as an indicator of short-term effectiveness, and with regards of the elimination of the political cause of violence as the long-term factor. The results of this research aims to determine the effectiveness of NATO’s future missions and to determine whether it is the right approach to undertake in the future.Show less
This thesis analyses the role of R2P in the justificatory speeches of American presidents Bush, Clinton and Obama through the case studies of Somalia 1992-1994 and Libya 2011.
The Nation-building Operation in Libya: A Two-sided Critique on Incapable Nation-builders and on the Claims of Postmodern Imperialism that Surround the Intervention
The struggle between sovereignty and humanitarian intervention remains one of the fundamental controversies in international politics. The 1648 Treaty of Westphalia helped to bring peace to much of...Show moreThe struggle between sovereignty and humanitarian intervention remains one of the fundamental controversies in international politics. The 1648 Treaty of Westphalia helped to bring peace to much of the world through the creation and realisation of national sovereignty, however a growing global consciousness began to resist against this. The ratification of the responsibility to protect (R2P) doctrine in 2005 by the UN General Assembly set the humanitarian interventionist pendulum in motion. Providing a mechanism to facilitate foreign intervention in a sovereign state in order to protect human welfare, the R2P doctrine indicated a shark contrast with the past. Although proving successful in many cases, this doctrine has been pushed to its limits in Libya and Syria. Through content and discourse analysis this paper assesses the impact of the Libyan and Syrian crisis on the R2P doctrine, and as a result questions the feasibility and viability of the doctrine. R2P references in key UN documents show that R2P fails to positively influence decision making in the highest echelons of international diplomacy, while the comments of state representatives show that NATO’s un-mandated regime change in Libya has infected the doctrine. This infection has been so great that in its current form, R2P no-longer has a place in facilitating humanitarian intervention.Show less
This thesis compares the Italian reception of boat migrants from Albania in the 1900’s and Libya in the 2000’s. The first aim of the thesis is to examine the migration streams from Albania to Italy...Show moreThis thesis compares the Italian reception of boat migrants from Albania in the 1900’s and Libya in the 2000’s. The first aim of the thesis is to examine the migration streams from Albania to Italy, focusing on the years 1991 and 1997, and from Libya to Italy in 2005/6 and 2008/10. The purpose is to understand how Italy reacted to the various cases and why the strategies implemented by the various governments at diverse moments of history were so different. The second, but definitely no less important objective of this thesis, is to test whether or not the gap hypothesis could be applied to Italy’s policies towards boat migrants. By doing so, this thesis could shed new light on whether there was a possible gap in the outcome of the policies implemented during the various years by Italy due to European influence. The hypothesis is that there could be a gap caused by the increasingly more powerful EU and European Court of Human Rights of Strasbourg in the field of migration policy implementation, a policy field historically strongly bonded with state sovereignty.Show less
In the Western world a popular belief is that great nations should take responsibility and protect the populations of conflict-ridden countries. In many ways we could argue that China is on its way...Show moreIn the Western world a popular belief is that great nations should take responsibility and protect the populations of conflict-ridden countries. In many ways we could argue that China is on its way to becoming a great nation, thus expectations that the Chinese leadership steps up to this task are mounting. Traditional Chinese foreign policy is based on respect for the sovereignty of other nations, non-intervention and laissez-faire in general. Greater economic interests in areas abroad are in conflict with these traditional principles. In this thesis we have therefore researched whether China is putting economic and diplomatic pragmatism ahead of principle. While Beijing attempts to avoid involvement in matters that are not of national interest, we will see from two case studies - based on the Libyan civil war and the Syrian civil war - that this has become increasingly difficult. Moreover, when looking at UN peacekeeping operations we see that China is an actively contributing P5 member. It seems that 'wuwei' (or not-doing), is becoming an untenable stance in a globalizing world.Show less
