The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) may be supporting the violation of the UN Charter and Geneva Conventions constituted by the illegal occupation of Western Sahara...Show moreThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) may be supporting the violation of the UN Charter and Geneva Conventions constituted by the illegal occupation of Western Sahara by accepting extraterritorial nationally determined contributions (NDC) reports. Through the use of theory-testing process-tracing, this thesis investigates why the UNFCCC’s acceptance of extraterritorial NDC reports might influence the legitimacy of occupations. By conducting a case study of Morocco, the theoretical argument of this thesis is developed: Occupying powers seek legitimacy over their occupation by partaking in international organization processes which subsequently are approved by the international organization. This approval dissuades other states from objecting to the occupation and attempts to legitimate it, thereby perpetuating the status-quo which ultimately increases the external sovereignty of the occupation. By evaluating NDC reports, reports by the Western Sahara Resource Watch, and speeches at the UNFCCC, this study has identified the presence of the causal mechanism. Hence, this thesis contributes to the scholarly literature by addressing the influence that international organizations have on the legitimacy of occupations, a field that so far has gained little attention in academia.Show less
China’s rise in political power over the last decades has been reflected by its growing international influence, e.g., in international organisations like the World Bank or the United Nations....Show moreChina’s rise in political power over the last decades has been reflected by its growing international influence, e.g., in international organisations like the World Bank or the United Nations. Especially its role in the UN Security Council is of importance as China holds one of the permanent seats. One important agenda item of the SC is peacekeeping operations. China’s peacekeeping policy has attracted significant scholarly attention. However, there is a theoretical gap as previous research has not yet focused on the influence of institutions on China, in particular its peacekeeping approach. This study aims to fill this gap by looking at how China’s increase in political power affects its peacekeeping policy. In order to answer this question, this paper connects prior research findings with an analysis of UNSC meeting records on peacekeeping operations from 2000-2003 to explore China’s evolving peacekeeping policy. The analysis provides mixed results: While there is clear evidence for a path dependence and the critical juncture, there is ambiguity regarding a change in China’s peacekeeping policy after 2001.Show less
While the OPCW has worked successfully since 1997 to end chemical warfare, this is not the case when looking at Syria. The organization made efforts like disarming the country from chemicals, but...Show moreWhile the OPCW has worked successfully since 1997 to end chemical warfare, this is not the case when looking at Syria. The organization made efforts like disarming the country from chemicals, but when this step fell short, the organization was unable to thoroughly analyze and make decisions about the attacks that followed. Although it had the resources to find more information and take actions like recommending collective measures or sanctioning Syria with the help of the UN, the OPCW still failed. It is alleged that some works of the OPCW were perceived as a threat to the national interests of Russia and the United States. As a result, these countries attempted to control the OPCW, which led to this failure. To prove this, this thesis answers the following research question: How did the United States and Russia attempt to control the OPCW’s work on the Syrian case from 2013 to 2021 to safeguard their national interest? To analyze this question, this thesis uses the Principal-Agent theory in the context of directed content analysis. In this way, this thesis aims to contribute to academia by unraveling how the idea of controlling an international organization is applied in this case study.Show less
This paper analyses the relationship between interest groups and multilateral institutions by using the theory of population ecology (PE). This will be done by analysing the power of feminist...Show moreThis paper analyses the relationship between interest groups and multilateral institutions by using the theory of population ecology (PE). This will be done by analysing the power of feminist lobbyist versus other lobbyist representatives in the negotiation process of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite strong advocative power of these feminist lobbyists and their desire to incorporate gender in all goals, six goals have no mention of gender. These gender-blind goals have been assumed by political academia to be a failure of the feminists’ mobilization power. By using a qualitative case study method with explaining-outcome process-tracing this paper shows that it was in fact a strategic choice of the WMG to focus on certain core issues and less on environmental issues. This mechanism is because of the high involvement of civil society in the creation of the SDGs, which forced the WMG to specialize on crucial issues. Because the theory of PE was studied only on democracies before, this paper extends the theory to also fit for multilateral institutions. While the United Nations applaud the introduction of more interest groups to increase their inclusivity, this paper shows why this increase in civil society can also be considered a disadvantage.Show less
