The objective of this research is to analyze the terms "salafism" and "wahhabism" in modern Russia. The question could be formulated thus: What does "salafism" and "wahhabism" mean to politicians,...Show moreThe objective of this research is to analyze the terms "salafism" and "wahhabism" in modern Russia. The question could be formulated thus: What does "salafism" and "wahhabism" mean to politicians, academics, and official Muslim clergy in Russia; How did their understanding/perception evolve in the recent history?Show less
This research demonstrates the influence of the social environment during the divorce process and the obstacles Muslim women have to overcome while obtaining it. There is no guideline for the women...Show moreThis research demonstrates the influence of the social environment during the divorce process and the obstacles Muslim women have to overcome while obtaining it. There is no guideline for the women to have a “correct” religious divorce which results in an unstable process with a lot of uncertainties.Show less
The references about what happened after the death of Alexander in 333 B.C.E.in pre-Modern Arabic historiography are notably shorter than Alexander's himself. The information about the kingdoms of...Show moreThe references about what happened after the death of Alexander in 333 B.C.E.in pre-Modern Arabic historiography are notably shorter than Alexander's himself. The information about the kingdoms of the Successors of Alexander (“Diadochi”) are often conflicting in the Arabic pre-modern historiographical works. The question that is raised is, do Arabic historiographers consider the Ptolemaic dynasty as part of the pre-Islamic tradition of the region that their conquest to the whole Mediterranean Sea was based on? 21 And if yes, were they able to separate them from the Pharaonic past of Egypt? And last but not least, what did they want to keep in their memory-transmission works in order the future generations to know?Show less
This thesis contributes to the body of literature that attempts to identify the reasons behind the long-standing inability of various Middle Eastern and African states to implement the...Show moreThis thesis contributes to the body of literature that attempts to identify the reasons behind the long-standing inability of various Middle Eastern and African states to implement the international guidelines of sustainable economic development. By integrating the findings of historical sociology, rentier state theory, and political economy within the New Institutional Economics framework, it opens a path towards explaining the relative resilience of some developing autocratic regimes to social change and consolidation of impersonal markets. For this purpose, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been selected for a case study as, more clearly than others, it demonstrates the remarkable ways in which traditional social norms can be appropriated by the leadership and constrain institutional development. At the center of the historical narrative, the work puts the concept of patrimonialism as an informal system of embedded customary rules that fundamentally enhanced the chances for survival of the pre-state Arabian communities. In order to assess the extent to which it shaped the subsequent evolution of institutional matrix and its particular societal incentives until the most recent form, the author traces its institutional, organizational, and economic manifestations over a century of state building process from its tribal origins. Based on the analysis of historical sources it firstly argues that the centralized hierarchic distribution has characterized the social organization long before the discovery of oil, though it heavily depended on secondary elites due to the material shortage at that time. While the oil-related fiscal surpluses enabled expansion of the allocation state and diminished the influence of elites on policymaking, the pre-state governance structures were instrumentalized for personal interests of the autocratic ruler and gradually emerged as the cornerstone of modern institutional environment. This allowed for neopatrimonial strategies of co-option and domination that helped to enlarge the social hierarchy during the fiscal surplus and sustain it over crises. Accordingly, the following process tracing analysis demonstrates this correlation by analyzing the significant legislative decisions and personnel shifts of the Council of Ministers between 1953-2018, and compares them to the macroeconomic developments. Although there are occasional disruptions caused by exceptional external or internal events on one side and, increasingly, authoritarian learning on the other, an apparent pro-cyclical pattern stands out throughout the study, in which the weakness of distributional networks leads to greater institutional and organizational concessions that in turn facilitate decentralization and socio-economic development. Thereby, the author urges for an alternative approach to economic reforms in the Gulf, pointing out the significance of institutional reform for an actual change towards an effective, market-based and sustainable development, and warning from socio-economic impacts of further centralization.Show less
Child marriage is connected to several socio-economical and sociocultural factors. Many people make the misunderstanding to link the practice to religion or a specific country/area or claim that ...Show moreChild marriage is connected to several socio-economical and sociocultural factors. Many people make the misunderstanding to link the practice to religion or a specific country/area or claim that "only poor people marry their daughters off at an early age". To what extent are girls protected by their countries laws, and are the underlying causes the same in the three countries or are there significant differences?Show less
This thesis asks why the ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, has become a prominent issue within the British Labour Party. Further, it seeks to examine whether or not positions on...Show moreThis thesis asks why the ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, has become a prominent issue within the British Labour Party. Further, it seeks to examine whether or not positions on the conflict and expressions of solidarity with the Palestinians by members of the Party follow a general trend, and which external and internal factors have brought about the relative prominence of the conflict within the Party. It uses textual and discourse analysis to examine these questions and focuses on the formation of discourses around Palestine in the elite of the Labour party in the post-war period, with a particular focus on the period following the 1973 October war.Show less
After the Paris Climate Agreement, oil-rich countries must also commit to making their energy mix more sustainable. The question is to what extent they are making progress here and what obstacles...Show moreAfter the Paris Climate Agreement, oil-rich countries must also commit to making their energy mix more sustainable. The question is to what extent they are making progress here and what obstacles they will encounter. In my thesis, I look at the cases of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from a political economy lens on how they deal with the energy transition in their country. The research question I formulated: Why are Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates failing to meet the renewable energy expectations created after the Paris Climate Agreement in the period 2015-2019? In my thesis, I first describe the current state of the literature on the energy transition in these countries. I predict the bureaucracy, the undesirability for the political elite of these countries and the energy subsidies for fossil fuels that are pushing renewable sources away from the energy market. Then, based on the available data and literature, I will actually look at the goals set and the results achieved in the field of renewable energy. Then I will discuss the concrete political and economic obstacles that have been created for the aforementioned countries to shape the energy transition. Ultimately, I conclude that the targets set are unclear from mainly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but that the United Arab Emirates has set a clear target and can perceive that they are also the only country that has set significant targets in the period 2015 – 2019 . There are also clear political and economic obstacles shaping the energy transition in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. My hypothesis that there are mainly political and economic obstacles is therefore confirmed in my conclusion. At the end I recommended further research about the development in these countries the coming period.Show less
This thesis reveals the networks of Édouard Herriot, the leader of the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and the Mayor of Lyon, with the Young Turks and the Kemalists in the Ottoman...Show moreThis thesis reveals the networks of Édouard Herriot, the leader of the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and the Mayor of Lyon, with the Young Turks and the Kemalists in the Ottoman Empire and in the Republic of Turkey. The study displays Herriot's channels of communications and the influence of those relations starting from the 1908 Young Turk Revolution until the Atatürk's death in 1938. The thesis is divided into two parts in which it stand as before and after the Great War. In both parts, Herriot's role as an intermediary and the political go-between was contextualized. In the second part, the intellectual relations are exposed as well as his relations with the republican politicans, intellectuals, and the Kemalist elites. Therefore, the degree of influence generated from those relations are also discussed. The study is based on primary source material that were published in French, Ottoman Turkish (Turkish), and English.Show less
Abstract: Previous literature on the role of food in the diaspora indicates that social groups communicate their identity to outsiders through culinary culture and traditional recipes. What food is...Show moreAbstract: Previous literature on the role of food in the diaspora indicates that social groups communicate their identity to outsiders through culinary culture and traditional recipes. What food is produced, how it is cooked and with what available ingredients it is prepared has extremely meaningful cultural implications, especially in circumstances of migration, hardship and loss. Social media, however, has profoundly blurred the boundaries of knowledge implicit to social groups and “followers” who do not belong to the community, but who still consume food content online. In a way, social media has brought the traditionally domestic practice of food culture onto a public platform. On this platform, exclusion and praise have faced diaspora communities in relation to their cuisine in the food influencer community. Publicity, sponsorship and an international audience have changed how the Palestinian diaspora relates to its identity-marking food practices.Show less
