The stability of the country and maintaining public order and harmony have been among the top priorities of the government of the small city-state of Singapore, ever since its independence in 1965....Show moreThe stability of the country and maintaining public order and harmony have been among the top priorities of the government of the small city-state of Singapore, ever since its independence in 1965. The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has been in constant rule for over 65 years, has sought to maintain their hegemony and “protect the country” by actively limiting citizens' influence over politics and policies, mainly through the development of legal frameworks repressing dissent across different parts of society. By using theories on contentious politics, state repression, and the political opportunity structure, as well as a qualitative content analysis of Singapore’s laws on dissent, this thesis addresses the following research question: What are the strategies employed by the Singaporean government to repress and prevent dissent, and how do these strategies impact the political opportunity structure for contentious politics? Summarizing the findings, this thesis concludes that the state has built an extensive framework of restrictive laws covering all forms of society, rather than explicitly focusing on certain aspects, which has caused opportunities for dissenting citizens to employ methods of contentious political action to achieve their aims of influencing state policies to be exceptionally limited.Show less
Climate change is the most pressing threat to our planet and activism has been formed to urge policymakers to counter the effects of climate change and to stabilize the climate. Globally,...Show moreClimate change is the most pressing threat to our planet and activism has been formed to urge policymakers to counter the effects of climate change and to stabilize the climate. Globally, environmental protest movements have been formed, yet the Middle East shows significantly little environmental activism. This thesis focuses on governance of the Arab Gulf States and identifies the rentier-state and its dependency on oil as the main driver of the non-existence of environmental protest movements. The regime’s repressive nature hinders civil participation and therefore prevents activism at its core. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates serve as examples of this observation.Show less
