The research concentrates on the comprehensiveness of the EU crisis management. It is examined whether the EU is using the comprehensive approach effectively. With the term ‘effectively’ is meant...Show moreThe research concentrates on the comprehensiveness of the EU crisis management. It is examined whether the EU is using the comprehensive approach effectively. With the term ‘effectively’ is meant whether the approach has successful outcomes. The conflict in Mali is used as a case study to answer the research question. The research question of the master thesis is: ‘Did the European Union manage the Malian conflict with an effective comprehensive approach?’ In other words, did the EU have an integrated policy towardsMali with successful results?Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
closed access
The thesis is based on empirical fieldwork that investigated a disaster-induced relocation project in eastern Indonesia. Choosing an actor-focused approach that followed development brokers of a...Show moreThe thesis is based on empirical fieldwork that investigated a disaster-induced relocation project in eastern Indonesia. Choosing an actor-focused approach that followed development brokers of a Christian NGO in the course of the project, enabled the author to expose multiple conflicting interests and agendas between and within government, the NGO and the 'host-community'. In this complex and contested discursive arena, brokers were strategically translating and shifting interests to create common realities and alliances from heterogeneous networks. By adapting and transforming objectives of the 'good governance' discourse, they were able to unify groups and win over supporters, despite the poor implementation of the project. How these translations competed with interpretations of other actors and how they influenced the brokers' positioning towards the goverment was of particular interest within this research. Applying visual methods has shed light on the performative and emotional dimensions of these translation processes. The ethnographic film 'Fighting for Nothing to Happen', which is the main part of the thesis, is accompanied by the multi-media pdf file that employs different interacting media and provides historical, political and socioeconomic background to selected sequences of the film. The different media inform and contest each other in a rhizomatic structure that produces a multi-layered and comprehensive understanding of the complexity of brokerage and development in Indonesia.Show less
Since the onset of the European project, there has been a pronounced tendency to work with the African continent – from trade arrangements through development cooperation, and more recently...Show moreSince the onset of the European project, there has been a pronounced tendency to work with the African continent – from trade arrangements through development cooperation, and more recently incorporating intensified political dialogue and a human rights dimension. In the year of 2000 the Cotonou Agreement ushered in a new phase in the EU-ACP relations: the EU undertook negotiations on a new framework – Economic Partnership Agreements – for its relationship with the ACP region. The EPAs combine trade, development and human rights dimensions, but also work toward the ultimate goal of ‘eradication of poverty’. Adopting Normative Power Europe as a theoretical framework, the thesis includes a comparative politics methodology and investigates the EPA implications for human rights in three African states. The findings confirm that the EU holds regular dialogue and actively encourages human rights promotion in Africa but is wary to invoke essential elements clauses and suspend aid when it comes to its strategic partners or trading concerns.Show less
