Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This study seeks to account for the atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime in response to the Syrian uprising that erupted in 2011. Academic scholarship, media reports, and public...Show moreThis study seeks to account for the atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime in response to the Syrian uprising that erupted in 2011. Academic scholarship, media reports, and public opinion tend to understand the state’s violence against its civilians as a resort to exceptional means under exceptional circumstances. This study, in contrast, contends that atrocious violence constitutes a well-established practice, core to this regime’s modus operandi. The study’s objective is to substantiate, illustrate, and critically assess the proposition that atrocious violence perpetrated by the Assad regime is best understood not as a series of incidental exceptional ‘events’ but as a core practice, consisting of a set of sub-practices. The thesis analyzes a selection of primary and secondary sources in answering the research question ‘How to account for the Assad regime’s atrociously violent response to the popular uprising in 2011?’. Primary sources include leaked government documents, legal testimonies, speeches, and memoirs, operationalized with the help of the praxeology research method and a single case-study design. The massacre in Houla in 2012 serves as a primary case study, a narrative anchor from which to assess the strength of the proposition that the regime’s response to the 2011 popular uprising is best understood as the manifestation of a long-standing practice of atrocious state violence sustained by a set of subpractices that effectively make it virtuous across time and space. Specifically, the study identifies the sub-practices of legalizing atrocious violence, narrativizing reality, and consolidating the perpetrator elite.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
under embargo until 2024-09-26
2024-09-26T00:00:00Z
This thesis studies on the official letters of Anūshtakīnid Khwārazmshāh dynasty written Rashīd al-Dīn al-Waṭwāṭ (508/1112 - 573/1177), the chief kātib (scribe official) in the court of...Show moreThis thesis studies on the official letters of Anūshtakīnid Khwārazmshāh dynasty written Rashīd al-Dīn al-Waṭwāṭ (508/1112 - 573/1177), the chief kātib (scribe official) in the court of Khwārazmshāh dynasty and explores the concept of loyalty in the letters of Rashīd al-Dīn al-Waṭwāṭ with the main focus on the complexity of social and political networks in Khwārazm before the Mongol invasion. The research question of the thesis is “How did al-Waṭwāṭ reconcile the moralism and real politikal interest inside the relationships of loyalty in his letters?”. The thesis first reviews various academic works and arguments on loyalty into four categories based on historical periods and disciplines and the historical background of al-Waṭwāṭ and Anūshtakīnid Khwārazm, then studies the narrative of al-Waṭwāṭ on three types of relationships of loyalty, which are respectively the relationships of loyalty between the populace and the rulers, the relationships of loyalty between the officials and the rulers, and the relationships of loyalty between rulers.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
When the reformist Mohammad Khatami (b. 1943) became president of Iran in 1997, most socioeconomic strata, workers and students in particular, expected changes to Iran’s political and economic make...Show moreWhen the reformist Mohammad Khatami (b. 1943) became president of Iran in 1997, most socioeconomic strata, workers and students in particular, expected changes to Iran’s political and economic make-up. These expectations were largely grounded in Khatami’s rhetoric of social justice and the promises of more socio-political and cultural freedoms that he voiced during his electoral campaign. In practice, however, these promises did not materialise and disappointed workers and students alike. Khatami continued the economic neoliberalisation that his predecessor Rafsanjani (r. 1989-1997) had begun and the supreme leader, Khamenei (r. 1989-), heavily resisted his attempts to create more relaxed academic settings. Although the existing literature explains why Khatami and Khamenei, which respectively represented the reformist and conservative sides of the political spectrum, embraced different labour policy-paths, it does not seek to understand how both officials constructed their social reality such that it made sense for them to do so. Presuming that the meaning of political factions is objectively defined, the literature therefore foregoes enquiring after the discursive context in which they constructed their ideologies and how these related to their policy-paths. However, as policies do not originate in an intellectual and institutional vacuum but are made possible in a political context where competing discourses interact, examining them from a discursive perspective clarifies how rather than why these officials perceived them as meaningful paths to pursue. This focus on ideology construction then leads to enquiring how both constructed Iran’s identity and, by implication, that of workers and students. Taking a poststructuralist approach, this thesis therefore enquires how Khatami’s and Khamenei’s evolving discursive negotiation on Iranian identity was co-constitutionally related to the approved labour policies that concerned workers and students during Khatami’s presidency (r. 1997-2005).Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
The present thesis investigates the relationship between Italian and Lebanese left during the years between 1967 and 1975, uncovering the development of a special relationship between the Italian...Show moreThe present thesis investigates the relationship between Italian and Lebanese left during the years between 1967 and 1975, uncovering the development of a special relationship between the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP). This was a transformative period for both countries' leftist groups, following the 1967 June War and the 1968 global protests. This was reflected in the Italian approach towards the Middle East and the Palestinian cause, as public opinion and the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) moved from a pro-Israel position to support the Palestinian struggle. I argue that this shift was influenced by the close relationship between the PCI and the LCP, which evolved from preferential contact to a special relationship. The LCP was the PCI’s preferred interlocutor in the region, and as the 1975 Civil War approached the PCI began supporting the Lebanese comrades with first humanitarian and then financial aid. This close relationship in turn provided the PCI with information on regional politics and direct access to the Palestinian groups. By the early 1980s, the Italian position completed the shift in favour of Palestine, and both the PCI and PSI abandoned their traditional pacifism to support an Italian military intervention in Lebanon to stop the Israeli invasion in 1982. I investigate this shift mainly through PCI and PSI archives, which show the increasing contact with Lebanese groups and the growing involvement in the country. Looking at the evolving relationship between the Italian and Lebanese Left, this thesis highlights the transnational nature of the leftist movement and connects Italian and Lebanese local politics to the global context of the Cold War and the Long-Sixties.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis traces the development of the kafala system in Bahrain from its modern origins in the British protectorate era until its reform in the first and second decade of the twenty-first...Show moreThis thesis traces the development of the kafala system in Bahrain from its modern origins in the British protectorate era until its reform in the first and second decade of the twenty-first century. It conducts a historical analysis based on archival evidence to elucidate the intricate interlocking of this trajectory with multiscalar, overlapping, and often competing social, economic, and political transformations. Material incentives, as well as domestic and regional political pressures, played a key role in this formulation. The history uncovered sheds important light on the critical shortcomings of recent reforms to Bahrain’s labour migration regime and the fundamental obstructions to change. It demonstrates that the persistent vulnerability of migrant workers under contemporary structures of kafala is inextricably linked to the workings of the global economy under the capitalist mode of production. Privileging this interconnection as the vantage point from which to consider labour migration regimes in the Gulf is crucial if we are to understand and assess the challenges to and opportunities for change.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis provides a detailed case study of the Syrian Archive, the Syrian-led human rights organization that collects, verifies, and contextualizes visual material of human rights violations in...Show moreThis thesis provides a detailed case study of the Syrian Archive, the Syrian-led human rights organization that collects, verifies, and contextualizes visual material of human rights violations in the Syrian conflict. This research draws on diaspora mobilization and social movement theory literature and employs an interpretive approach to thematic analysis to examine how the Syrian Archive contributes to accountability for human rights violations in Syria. The primary data collected are in-depth semi-structured interviews with the Syrian Archive team, in addition to in-depth semi- structured interviews with people working at prominent international organisations in the human rights field. As the findings show, the Syrian Archive contributes to accountability in three ways: by turning digital material into digital evidence, by facilitating political action, and by providing a counter narrative. The interviews with external interviewees from Human Rights Watch, Bellingcat, Amnesty International, and ECCHR reveal the continued impact and mutual dependence that has emerged. The case study of Syrian Archive shows how civil society actors can experiment with new bottom-up possibilities of addressing and pushing for accountability and justice for human rights violations.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
Since the 1990s, the genre of Dutch Islamic children’s literature has seen an impressive boom in terms of quantity and quality. With increasing numbers of publishers active in the field and books...Show moreSince the 1990s, the genre of Dutch Islamic children’s literature has seen an impressive boom in terms of quantity and quality. With increasing numbers of publishers active in the field and books published, the genre is growing with an exponential speed and continuously transforming in character. Building upon the gradually developing field of study that deals with the everyday lives of Muslims in ‘the West’, this study provides an exploratory insight into a specific manifestation of the daily experiences of Muslims in diaspora: Islamic children’s literature. Through 25 qualitative in-depth interviews with those actors most closely involved in the phenomenon, being publishers, authors, and producers, this explorative study aimed to understand the main intentions and motivations for both producing and using these books. Providing a bottom-up account of the phenomenon, this research intended to answer the following research question: What explains the increasing popularity of Dutch Islamic children’s literature since its emergence in the 1990s? With a new generation of Dutch Muslims, born and raised in The Netherlands themselves, facing an increasing need for renewed pedagogical materials that fit contemporary Dutch context, the genre of Islamic children’s literature is the materialised response to a need for educational and socialising materials in a non-Muslim majority context. Characterised by a diversity of both actors involved and books produced, the genre of Islamic children’s literature serves multiple functions, ranging from the strict didactic teaching of virtue to playful modes of representation. Serving both as a complementary tool in the Islamic upbringing of a future generation at home and as a means of strengthening children in their Dutch Muslim identity, the genre is continuously adaptive to the needs of its ‘BRUNA’ Muslim audience.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This project investigates how memory contributes to the reproduction and contestation of processes of economic dispossession in Tunisia, examining more specifically the relation between memory and...Show moreThis project investigates how memory contributes to the reproduction and contestation of processes of economic dispossession in Tunisia, examining more specifically the relation between memory and political economy in two directions. First, it investigates the dispossession of memory, that is: how the top-down manufacturing and mobilisation of collective memory has consolidated feelings of marginalisation and exclusion among subordinated individuals and social groups, aiming to perpetuate existing social and economic hierarchies. Second, this study also seeks to explore the memory of dispossession, particularly with reference to how the memory of dispossession is experienced from below and eventually contested. Building on Gramscian notions of hegemony, the project argues that struggles over memory are a crucial aspect in processes of dispossession, their reproduction from above, as well as challenges to them from below in Tunisia.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
Al-Hashd al-Shaʿbi or the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) is an umbrella of armed groups in Iraq that united in 2014 in cooperation with the government in order to defeat IS. Officially, the...Show moreAl-Hashd al-Shaʿbi or the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) is an umbrella of armed groups in Iraq that united in 2014 in cooperation with the government in order to defeat IS. Officially, the organization is under the control of the Prime-Minister (PM). In reality, however, it has retained operational and administrative independence, often directly ignoring orders from the PM and even attacking foreign forces in Iraq and the region. This thesis addresses the question of how the PMF has been able to retain much of its independence throughout the six years of its existence, in which the government has often attempted to rein it in. It also considers the implications of the PMF’s independence for the notion of the sovereignty of the Iraqi government. It finds that the PMF is not a singular organization, but rather a collective of independent groups that vie with each other for funding, influence, and power. The key grouping within the PMF is that of the Iranian-backed Hashd. Many other PMF groups rely on this alliance because of its control of the PMF’s central administration, which distributes funding. Iran and its allies in Iraq benefit from the PMF’s independence from potentially anti-Iranian PMs, and the cover and plausible deniability that the lack of oversight grants them. This is abetted by the support the PMF enjoys in the Iraqi parliament through its own presence there, and through political opportunists or pro-Iranian ideologues. The PMF uses its military, social, and political power to actively undermine the government in different ways. Iraq’s security sector can only properly be understood as an ‘armed political order’ in which different actors and groupings continuously vie for influence in violent and non-violent ways. The office of the PM is one venue for contestation, and the person of the PM only one of its actors. Coercive organizations of all sorts participate in this contestation. An anti-governmental Hashd group is not inherently different in this regard than a unit of the Iraqi Army. Its position is different because of the different structural constraints on both groups, and their alignment towards the government. The competition between the different Hashd groups and the recent protests which led to the appointment of PM al-Kadhimi indicate that no one – including the pro-Iranian camp – is truly dominant in the Iraqi armed order.Show less
