This thesis analyzes how Vladimir Putin uses ethos and pathos to justify his foreign policy in Syria, Donbas and Crimea. To answer this question, 27 of his original Russian speeches on these topics...Show moreThis thesis analyzes how Vladimir Putin uses ethos and pathos to justify his foreign policy in Syria, Donbas and Crimea. To answer this question, 27 of his original Russian speeches on these topics have been subjected to a Critical Discourse Analysis, engaging with the insights of ancient and contemporary rhetoric scholars. The results show that Putin consistently weaves three narratives that run like a thread through his speeches. First, Putin presents himself as a kind, intelligent, and respectful leader who has an adequate amount of experience and supports the people. Second, Putin persistently shows that Russia only has good intentions for the world. Last, Russia finally stands up for its interests after years of suppression and humiliation by the hypocrite West. These results not just illustrate the rhetorical techniques that underlay Putin’s account of Russia’s foreign policy. They also provide an insight into the worldview of the vast majority of Russians because of a media monopoly of the Kremlin. As such, this thesis contributes to a growing corpus of research that emphasizes how Putin’s words are of importance.Show less
Russia's foreign policy towards the Middle East bears a strinking resemblance to its strategy for gaining power in Central Asia. In both regions, Russia uses its capacity for protecting countries...Show moreRussia's foreign policy towards the Middle East bears a strinking resemblance to its strategy for gaining power in Central Asia. In both regions, Russia uses its capacity for protecting countries from threats through military cooperation,conflict mediation and anti-interventionism to gain influence.Show less
A comparative historical research upon the situation and its development of the identities of the Alevite and Alawite minorities within Turkey and Syria.
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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The colonial partition of the Middle East is one of the most recurrent topics of the scholarship on the region. In the last decade, many scholars have shifted their attention from the diplomatic...Show moreThe colonial partition of the Middle East is one of the most recurrent topics of the scholarship on the region. In the last decade, many scholars have shifted their attention from the diplomatic and military history of these borders to their economic and social significance. This thesis aims at completing this shift in regard to the boundary between the British Mandate on Palestine and the French Mandate on Syria and Lebanon. Assuming a borderland perspective, this research looks into the different ways in which local, regional and colonial actors engaged with the border and its administration. It reconstructs the evolution of state border practices on both sides in the years from the British redeployment along the OET line in 1919 until the demise of the Palestine Mandate in 1948. Looking into the agency of a wide range of actors, including peasants, travelers, smugglers and illegal migrants, this thesis argues that the relation the indigenous population had with the border cannot be understood solely through an oppositional frame. Rather, it suggests that this relation was extremely dynamic, and that the subversion of the new territorial order went along with forms of compliance with state regulations and exploitation of the limits of state jurisdictions.Show less
One of the main impediments to the Syrian conflict, has been the absence of sufficient food aid to the local population. For the past nine years, the Syrian government has systematically blocked...Show moreOne of the main impediments to the Syrian conflict, has been the absence of sufficient food aid to the local population. For the past nine years, the Syrian government has systematically blocked humanitarian aid from entering its territory, based on the principle of sovereignty. Theoretically, international aid organizations have impartial access to deliver humanitarian aid when necessary, based on the fundamental humanitarian principles. Paradoxically, these fundamental principles have limited aid organizations to execute their work and compromises needed to be made with the Assad government in order to obtain access. Ever since the beginning of the conflict, humanitarian aid has been unequally distributed via government channels between government- and opposition controlled areas in Syria. It has become a strategy of warfare for the Assad regime, perpetuating violence and advancing legitimization and support for the nation’s regime. Simultaneously, international aid organizations created cross-border operations in order to circumvent this demonstration of the politicization of humanitarianism. This thesis extensively addresses this phenomenon and its consequences, by examining the central research question: To what extent has the politicization of humanitarianism impeded neutral emergency food aid delivery by international aid organizations in the Syrian conflict between 2011 and 2019?Show less
