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
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
The thesis is based within the theories of constructivism and looks for the connection between the identity construction and the foreign policy decision-making process. The research question posed...Show moreThe thesis is based within the theories of constructivism and looks for the connection between the identity construction and the foreign policy decision-making process. The research question posed is: why is Hezbollah stepping in the Syrian civil war? What is the relation between this decision and the group’s identity that has been continuously constructed and re-constructed in the past 30 years? Moreover, is the relationship between the decision to go to war and Hezbollah identity construction linear? Can the conflict in Syria affect, or even re-shape the construction of Hezbollah’s identity? How does this comply (or disconnect) with Hezbollah’s own ideas about self and role in the serves in the region? The paper analyses the relation between the identity construction and the decision to go to the Syrian war, and based on this example draws a conclusion that the relationship between the two is rather reciprocal than linear.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
Debates around water in the MENA region center on its potential for conflict or for cooperation, with predictions of future water wars. Water is presented as a natural resource or an economic or...Show moreDebates around water in the MENA region center on its potential for conflict or for cooperation, with predictions of future water wars. Water is presented as a natural resource or an economic or political commodity. The debate is mostly focused on the international, inter-state scale. In recent years, however, some scholars have argued that a focus on the national or local level would generate more interesting and useful research regarding the importance of water and water management. The Middle East is generally regarded as a very water-scarce and fragile region. Syria, that since the Arab Spring of 2010-2011 has been torn by civil war, is particularly interesting. Water scarcity and climate change have been mentioned in scholarly and popular discourse as possible factors for the Syrian population’s dissent. In this thesis I explore the theoretical and practical political dynamics of water within the paradigm of water as a tool for conflict or cooperation. Through an integrative historical framework I identify four possible political functions of water: water as a tool for diplomacy, development, democracy, or war. Political water management can be conducted at different scalar levels via pragmatic strategies that serve different political agendas. I argue that both the notion of relative availability of water and the appearance of pragmatic strategies in water management must be taken into account in the debate on water. Furthermore, through balancing theory and practice of Syrian water management, both abstract and concrete political dynamics are revealed.Show less
