This bachelor thesis considers the prioritisation and sequencing of policies in the process of post-conflict state-building. It starts by considering existing literature of both state-building and...Show moreThis bachelor thesis considers the prioritisation and sequencing of policies in the process of post-conflict state-building. It starts by considering existing literature of both state-building and sequencing to outline how it has informed the main theoretical framework on the topic: Timilsina's (2007) three phases for the sequencing of priorities in state-building. The thesis then analyses the replicability of this framework in the case of Somalia (2013-2021), for which it finds that priorities were largely set according to the theory, but also that the sequencing of individual policies saw unequal implementation. It concludes with a discussion from which it is clear that the unequal implementation resulted in unequal long-term state- and peace-building outcomes.Show less
Het sultanaat Banten kende na de stichting in de zestiende eeuw een turbulente geschiedenis die zich liet kenmerken door interne conflicten binnen de bovenlaag van de Bantense bevolking in een...Show moreHet sultanaat Banten kende na de stichting in de zestiende eeuw een turbulente geschiedenis die zich liet kenmerken door interne conflicten binnen de bovenlaag van de Bantense bevolking in een periode voordat de VOC een grote rol kreeg in Zuidoost-Azië. Deze scriptie gaat op zoek naar de oorzaak achter de interne conflicten en hierbij zet de spelers in Banten en hun motivaties uiteen. De Bantense conflicten uitten zich langs de lijnen van steeds terugkomende tegenstellingen tussen de havenstad en deShow less
In 2018, the US Department of Defense announced its new National Cyber Strategy. With other actors in cyberspace becoming increasingly aggressive and potent, this strategy is designed to establish...Show moreIn 2018, the US Department of Defense announced its new National Cyber Strategy. With other actors in cyberspace becoming increasingly aggressive and potent, this strategy is designed to establish the US as a capable and functional actor in the domain. This new national cyber strategy differs greatly from the previous deterrence-based approach, illustrating a major shift in strategic thinking. The US military has now moved away from deterring enemies through denial and cost imposition, and introduced two new concepts instead: Persistent Engagement & Defend Forward, PE/DF for short. As cyberspace has grown to be the backbone of modern society, this change is significant for both scholars and the rest of the world. Through a case study of the US military, this thesis aims to investigate how this new strategy influenced the manner in which the US military conducts cyber operations. The results of this research show that the US has become significantly more aggressive, pro-active, streamlined, diverse in methods and in general capable in engaging with hostile actors in cyberspace.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
open access
This thesis investigates how the Cyprus conflict and its politics influence the ways the Apostolos Andreas monastery (Rizokarpaso/ Dipkarpaz) is perceived, valued and given meaning to by Greek...Show moreThis thesis investigates how the Cyprus conflict and its politics influence the ways the Apostolos Andreas monastery (Rizokarpaso/ Dipkarpaz) is perceived, valued and given meaning to by Greek Cypriots through time (before, during and after the conflict) and in relation to the socio-political context, other events and factors. Additionally, this thesis explores how the monastery, being transformed by the conflict and its post-conflict reconstruction, can influence the shaping of Greek Cypriots’ attitudes and behaviors toward the conflict. Using the concept of the biography of place as an analytical tool, this thesis explores the life history of the Apostolos Andreas monastery, as developed from its construction until this day and views it, at each point in time, as a layered heritage site. In order to reconstruct the monastery’s biography, a wide variety of written sources has been investigated, including scholarly literature and newspaper articles. Additionally, the results of a questionnaire completed by 153 Greek Cypriots are analyzed in order to explore the Greek Cypriots’ perceptions of the monastery today. The results of this thesis show that the sociopolitical events framing the monastery’s own history, as well as its involvement in the currents of the island, led to the development of other (non-religious) values, meanings and symbolisms that are attributed to the monastery today. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the tangible impacts of the conflict and the post-conflict reconstruction, the location of the site, the site’s image and form also influence the Greek Cypriots’ understanding and valuation of the monastery through time. What is more, it is illustrated that the most recent layer of the monument’s biography is built upon and informed by the earlier layers in the monastery’s history. As such, it is of no doubt that there still is a long way to go until the monastery abolishes all the “negative” connotations it has assembled during its eventful life history.Show less
A mong re newable resources, water has been a constant f ocal point for concerns over scarcity and inter state competition . A comprehensive literature review suggests that academia is divided on t...Show moreA mong re newable resources, water has been a constant f ocal point for concerns over scarcity and inter state competition . A comprehensive literature review suggests that academia is divided on t he link between water scarcity and international relations . T h is analysis asks : How do inter state economic ties a ffe ct the influence of water scarcity on hydro political inter state relations? Building on classic liberal economic argument s this paper hypothesize s that the more two states are connected th rough trad e agre ements, the less likely it is f or water scarcity to lead to co nflictual hydro political r elations. I conduct an O rdinary Least Squares r egression and a M ulti n o mi al L og i stic r egression with ‘precipitation ’ as an independent variable, ‘inter state rela t ions’ during water eve nts as a dependent variable and ‘trade agreements’ ( aggre gated and disaggregated in bilateral and multilat eral t reaties ) as a conditiona l va riable. E ven though the empirical results are not robust across all models , a general directi on o f the moderation effect is evident. Inter state economic ties in gener al, and multilateral trade agreements in particular can diminish the negative effect of water scarcity on hydro politics. Potential future research should further test the rob ustne s s of this relationship and introduce more nuance by differentiating be twe en trade agreement types and improving the operationalization of the water scarcity variable.Show less
The protection of nature and wildlife is crucial today. More and more studies, however, speak of violent incidents involving protected areas. To investigate the relationship between protected areas...Show moreThe protection of nature and wildlife is crucial today. More and more studies, however, speak of violent incidents involving protected areas. To investigate the relationship between protected areas and low-intensity conflict, this article addresses the factors that increase the likelihood of low-intensity conflict when protected areas are established. Widely accepted explanations of rebellion focus on the grievance argument. As with the establishment of a protected area local communities are deprived of land and resources, this article argues that social unrest is likely to increase when protected areas are established. However, building on Ostrom’s “Governing the Commons” theory, intercommunal conflicts as well as social unrest are likely to decrease when a protected area is created. The literature on protected areas and its impact on conflict is vast, but primarily conducted qualitatively. By doing a quantitative study, this article attempts to fill an important gap in the literature. The results of this analysis cautiously suggest that current protected areas in Africa still provoke discontent, as low-intensity conflict increases when the amount of protected areas increases. Future studies are needed to further study the mechanisms that make conflict involving protected areas more or less likely.Show less
This thesis aims to answer the question how the current state of political culture in Tajikistan came to be, with specific focus on how the secularization legacy of the Soviet Union and two large...Show moreThis thesis aims to answer the question how the current state of political culture in Tajikistan came to be, with specific focus on how the secularization legacy of the Soviet Union and two large-scale conflicts influenced the position of political Islam.Show less
National parks in the global South are increasingly marked by a trend of militarised conservation, whereby park rangers receive military training and firearms for anti-poaching operations....Show moreNational parks in the global South are increasingly marked by a trend of militarised conservation, whereby park rangers receive military training and firearms for anti-poaching operations. Especially in conflict situations where violence poses a security threat to conservation efforts, these policies are justified as an effective solution. This can be attributed to the Western discourse that fuels the politics of conservation and is based on a strict dichotomy between nature and society. Within this discourse, poachers and charcoal producers are characterised as villains and the context and motivations behind their actions is ignored. To exemplify the negative repercussions of this process, this thesis analyses militarised conservation in Virunga National Park in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and argues that this form of nature protection infringes on livelihood strategies of the local people in North Kivu. Militarisation in Virunga is intended to demobilise militias who exploit the park’s natural resources, but has a much stronger impact on the local population, who depend on Virunga’s forests for their livelihoods. These people therefore increasingly collaborate with rebel groups, blurring the lines between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ that the Western conservation discourse is built on. This collaboration leads to further resource exploitation and an escalation of violence. Therefore, this thesis claims that, due to the complexity of the situation in Virunga, militarised conservation is counterproductive and leads to a vicious circle of violence.Show less
The political situation in Syria has captured the interest of many scholars since its independence in 1946, and especially with the rise of the socialist Ba’ath party, and its patron Hafez Assad,...Show moreThe political situation in Syria has captured the interest of many scholars since its independence in 1946, and especially with the rise of the socialist Ba’ath party, and its patron Hafez Assad, to power. Assad’s authoritarian rule paved the way for Ba’ath party members and his immediate family members to accumulate wealth and power. This patrimonial approach has contributed to reshaping the class system and creating different types of the bourgeoisie. When Bashar Assad succeeded his father in the year 2000, the political-economic strategy in Syria changed a little by depriving the Ba’ath party members of their privileges and giving them to other prominent government officials and members of the country’s upper and upper-middle classes through neopatrimonial approaches. The new ‘state bourgeoisie’ in Syria did not only include Alawites who are directly related to Assad, but the new order also included Sunnis and Christians who were given a chance to get wealthy by proving their loyalty to Assad and cooperating with the regime. Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Syrian businesspeople have either continued supporting the regime or decided to remain silent and leave the country. Although the popular narrative of the Syrian conflict is largely sectarian in nature, sectarianism is not the only significant factor. Class has played a big role in the public’s dismay and contributed to the outbreak of the uprising. The business elite’s reaction to the conflict has contributed to the longevity of the conflict one hand and that of the Assad regime on the other. The loyal elites have benefited largely from this ongoing conflict whereas others who remained neutral risked the confiscation of their properties, and that of their family, and various terrorist charges. This thesis tackles the Syrian conflict from a different angle and highlights the role of the Syrian businesspeople.Show less
The Mekong River is an important water source for the Southeast Asian states, shared among six riparian states. To meet the growing energy needs, Lao is constructing hydropower dams on the Mekong...Show moreThe Mekong River is an important water source for the Southeast Asian states, shared among six riparian states. To meet the growing energy needs, Lao is constructing hydropower dams on the Mekong mainstream which will have negative transboundary impacts. In this thesis, I focus on the absence of escalated inter-state conflict in the Mekong River Basin despite the disputed construction of hydropower dams on the Mekong mainstream. The question that I aim to answer is whether the Mekong River Commission (MRC) is accountable for the absence of escalated inter-state conflict despite the controversial construction of hydropower dams on the mainstream. I found that for the MRC to be accountable for the absence of escalated inter-state conflict, it should have applied issue linkage to settle the dispute, it should have settled the disputes through a dispute-settlement mechanism and it should have monitored the development of the river. I found that the MRC is not accountable for the absence of escalated inter-state conflict and maintenance of cooperation, because its dispute-settlement mechanism failed to settle the Xayaburi dispute and the MRC was not directly accountable for the issue linkages created. I conclude that another driving force must have been accountable for the absence of inter-state conflict.Show less
This cross-disciplinary thesis investigated the use of metaphors in modern and contemporary Lebanese literature which portrays Beirut as a woman, and violence or turmoil within the city as sexual...Show moreThis cross-disciplinary thesis investigated the use of metaphors in modern and contemporary Lebanese literature which portrays Beirut as a woman, and violence or turmoil within the city as sexual assaults. Both of these metaphors were identified in texts by Zena el Khalil, Elias Khoury and Etal Adnan, along with shorts from Beirut Noir. Lakoff’s theory of metaphor was used to underline the significant interactions between figurative language, knowledge and real action which motivated the research. The mother-virgin-whore triad was found overly simplistic to describe Beirut’s figuration, although interestingly non-normative characterisations such as corrupted mother and once-virgin arise in the literature. However, Beirut has been consistently imagined as a ‘whore’ throughout history. This stereotyping has a particularly complex impact on the allocation of blame and pity in the related literary imagery of Beirut’s ‘rape’, which was further dissected through feminist and critical theory. Overall, an interrelation between machoistic violence and the destruction city was identified, exemplified in Civil War literature but arising in broader contexts. This thesis' intersectional question merited a broad, multi-stranded answer, concluding that imaginaries of women and cities alike must be nuanced and multiple in order to escape harmful stereotyping which can ‘justify’ destructive action.Show less
The DRC has been a conflict-ridden country since pre-colonial times, it is paradoxical that a country so rich in natural resources remains so poor and underdeveloped. This thesis attempts to...Show moreThe DRC has been a conflict-ridden country since pre-colonial times, it is paradoxical that a country so rich in natural resources remains so poor and underdeveloped. This thesis attempts to discover whether the modern, industrialised countries play any role in the perpetuation of the conflict situation in the DRC regarding the exploitation of 'Coltan' which is a widely used mineral for the manufacturing of smartphones and other electronic devices. The historical legacies of the DRC will be explored, an analysis of the conflict situation in the eastern provinces of the DRC will be provided and the commodity chain of coltan will be discussed.Show less
This Bachelor thesis investigates the Russian media during the second Chechen conflict based on the media coverage of Anna Politkovskaya. It gives a broad view of her media coverage and her view on...Show moreThis Bachelor thesis investigates the Russian media during the second Chechen conflict based on the media coverage of Anna Politkovskaya. It gives a broad view of her media coverage and her view on the conflict.Show less
Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
closed access
High public support for anticorruption campaigns exists already for a long time in Indonesia. However, since the establishment of a celebrated anticorruption body during democratic times, all three...Show moreHigh public support for anticorruption campaigns exists already for a long time in Indonesia. However, since the establishment of a celebrated anticorruption body during democratic times, all three government branches have shown members to make attempts to weaken the anticorruption body after they became suspects in corruption cases. Elitists in the Indonesian government openly fight the morally supported KPK anticorruption body.Show less
How do Ukranian and Russian people refer to the separatists? Turns out that Ukraine is using more propaganda then the separatists or Russia. This thesis is meant to open the way to several new...Show moreHow do Ukranian and Russian people refer to the separatists? Turns out that Ukraine is using more propaganda then the separatists or Russia. This thesis is meant to open the way to several new researches on the languagepolicy of Ukraine.Show less
