Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / How much emphasis is afforded to the role of soft power has significant implications for the study of hegemony and predictions regarding the future of US hegemony and the rise of China as a hegemon. The fact that much mainstream work (particularly neorealism) continues to neglect the role of soft power in international relations is seen as a disturbing shortcoming. This study wishes to address this perceived shortcoming by exploring the role of ‘soft power’ as an integral non-material aspect of hegemony by focusing on the perspectives of selected authors (Cox, Nye, Waltz, Keohane), and applying them to the cases of the United States of America and China. It is contended that there is a need for a shift of emphasis in International Relations (IR)- away from the hard power centric analysis towards a ‘soft power’ analysis that focuses on ideas. This study further argues that recognising the importance of the role of ‘soft power’ will result in a more effective analysis and understanding of hegemony in the international system. This is not to disregard ‘hard power’ as an aspect of hegemony, but rather to emphasise ‘soft power’ as it is often neglected or underscored by scholars in their analysis of hegemony and power structures within international relations. The United States of America is a prime example of how ‘soft power’ can help a state to prevent decline through consensus and alliance formation. The Chinese on the other hand have become increasingly aware of the importance of soft power– whilst the US have recently neglected it as a sustaining capability for hegemony. Thus China is growing and nurturing its ‘soft power’ capabilities in order to create an image of a benevolent super power, whilst the US is increasingly being perceived as malevolent- which is not conducive to hegemony in the international system. It is argued that if the Chinese can attain ideological dominance within the global structure, they could become the new hegemon.

Arbetet behandlar frågor rörande hur olika politiska subjekt ställs i ett dikotomt förhållande till varandra genom diskursiva praktiker. Meningsmotståndare tänks utmana varandras olika samhällsvisioner inom ett politiskt rum som utgörs av den demokratiska processen. Detta rum kan artikuleras genom olika politiska styrningsformer, exempelvis konsensuspolitik eller agonism. Oavsett form tänks samhällsordningen och dess politiska styrelseform med tiden etableras genom dess allmänna acceptans som underbyggs av dess legitimitet och acceptans av samhället i stort. Denna cementering kännetecknas av begreppet hegemoni. Studien utgår till stor del utifrån Chantal Mouffes tankar om det politiska som något som kräver ett konfliktelement för att driva samhällsutvecklingen framåt. Således ses konsensuspolitik som något som i längden skadar den demokratiska processen och det demokratiska samhället. Genom ett diskursanalytiskt tillvägagångssätt tolkas våldsbejakande extremism som ett fenomen utpekat av och genom samhällets hegemoniska ordning. Våldsbejakande extremism är således de krafter som bjuder den hegemoniska ordningen motstånd genom att presentera alternativa samhällsvisioner. När motstånd och förändringsmöjligheter inte upplevs kunna föras genom de etablerade demokratiska strukturerna riskerar de utlöpa i våldsamma sammandrabbningar, ofta betecknade våldsbejakande extremism. Således undersöker studien hur dessa olika krafter möts inom det politiska rummet och bjuder varandra motstånd. Det teoretiska ramverket konkretiseras genom det empiriska underlaget i form av intervjuer och rapporter.

This dissertation concerns a certain experienced (sub)reality, a reality which emerged from something “in between”, from a confluence of factors - the project Gender on Stage, a particular actor education programme and myself in the role of observer. The project Gender on Stage started as an interdisciplinary study between the National Academy of Mime and Acting in Stockholm and the Department of Theatre Studies and the Department of Nordic Languages at Stockholm University. It was supported by the Swedish Research Council, and its purpose was to investigate gender in actor education. Actor education is situated between traditional theatre history and trends about the future, between aesthetic ideals and a commercial market. In addition, as was described in the outline of the project, actor education must deal with a long history of male dominance. Actor education could be visualised as the epitome of a cultural production of gender, a site where one has to explicitly deal with discourses of body and language, male and female, self and other, memories and emotions, pleasure and desire. I have stressed gender in actor education as being deeply interrelated with the notion of cultural hegemony, historical discourses of acting as well as gender, myths, and unconscious themes. Beside theories of Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Sue Ellen Case and Julia Kristeva, the study invokes post-structural notions of “present absence” as well as Freud’s ideas on repression in terms of “the uncanny”. Stanislavsky’s theories of fantasy emotion and the Brechtian concepts of Verfremdung and Gestus were likewise taken into consideration. To resolve problems of confidentiality and ethics, I discuss certain significant observations, considering them to be unique situations, but also representative and symbolic acts. In discussing the gender construction, I put myself into play in the role of observer as a certain persona – a kind of converse representative and a “faceted mirror of the invisible”.

This thesis is a comparative analysis between two books from the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. We chose to work with book 1 - Dead Until Dark and book 10 - Dead in the Family. Our analysis is based on a gender perspective, using the litterature we present in previous research and theory. The aim for the thesis was to examine how gender and sexuality is portrayed in the books. In addition, we have looked at how the books represent gender norms in society through their characters and if named characters change throughout the series. We have applied comparative analysis and Nikolajeva's scheme on stereotypical males and females in litterature. We chose to analyse the four main characters - Sookie, Bill, Eric and Sam. In our analysis we discuss how the balance of power between the characters is portrayed as well as their gender and sexuality in relation to each other. Our analysis indicate that the characters are mainly portrayed with stereotypical gender norms and the comparison between the two books shows us no or very little development of named norms. Moreover, we observed that Sookies female gender is portrayed in relation to the three male characters, Bill, Eric and Sam. In addition, the male characters gender is also described in relation to the female character. Our analysis through Nikolajeva´s scheme depicts the characters in all categories of stereotypical gender roles. Sookie could often be categorized as a normative female whilst Bill and Eric in majority were categorized as normative males. Sams character was the only one to portray both female and male characteristics. This was depicted in both books. Further more, the male genders were portrayed similar in both books although the characters were mentioned more regularly in book 1 compared to book 10. Conclusively, we discussed how the books can be used in class to teach about gender, sexuality and norms. Lastly, we stressed what the positive and negative outcomes for teachers may be and what we think is important in class not to emulate stereotypical gender roles.

<p>This thesis is about some Swedish organizations that are connected to the labour movement and their actions to cope with the new hegemony around market liberalism. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90-ties, the liberal order, meaning market economy and democracy reduced to the election of elites, has become totally domineering both in the western and in the former communist world. Even left wing oriented organizations have adopted their operations and activities accordingly, especially in their internal governing structure. The organizations that I have studied, mainly the Swedish Tenants organization at its local level of Stockholm, developed during the 70-ties and the 80-ties a participatorier member structure. The “Swedish model” of consensus/corporative decision-making and agreement, used by them on the national level for decades, was during that period introduced also on local and regional levels. In the 90-ties these organizations, according to earlier studies, have instead adapted a more costumer-oriented and elite-democratic way of operating and governing. These later changes could be seen as contradicting both the development of the 80-ties and the basic values of those organizations. My questions are therefore how these changes became possible and my aim is to study how the active members have contributed to this development. Using a constructionist theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, I am showing how this potential conflict between a participatory and an elite-democratic model can be reconciled by a discursive construction. The active members have in fact been able see these changes just as a modernization of their organization. From their point-of-view their organization still works in a participatory democratic way. My analysis shows how this ambiguousness and potential paradox became possible thru internal discourses and under influence from the liberal hegemony.</p>

With the multiple globalization processes more and deeper Economic Integration in the world is being undertaken. The Asia-Pacific region has become the most dynamic and fast growing region in the world due to the rise of China, changing dramatically the way economic and political relations are conceived across the Pacific Ocean. Beijing’s new economic moves towards integration processes are sustained by the fact that China’s economy has become significantly intertwined with other regional economies over the past two decades. From this fact also arises the motivation of this research, which tries to analyze how China’s strategy regarding economic integration across the Pacific Ocean is being planned and developed, considering not only its economic, but especially its political implications and possible strategic motives. This last aspect constitutes the main purpose of this study. The hypothesis for this paper is based on the assumption that China is using its economic might as a means to enhance and expand its traditional sphere of influence in the Asia-Pacific region by achieving different kinds of trade arrangements. The ASEAN plus China FTA, together with the agreements between China and Australia, New Zealand and Chile are taken into account specifically; while some other possible future pacts are outlined as well. The methodological standpoint for the analysis is mainly built upon what is known as Political Economy, particularly its international or global strand, which helps to connect the world of politics and economics. The outcome for the question whether China is taking a leading role in regionalism just because of its growing need to coordinate and cooperate with other economies in order to keep its growth rate, or if it is also doing so because of its desire to enhance and further its traditional sphere of influence as a regional power; contemplates elements of both scenarios. The structure of this thesis consists of five chapters: (1) Scope of the Study, (2) Literature Review and Theoretical Framework, (3) A Political Analysis of an Economic Issue, (4) Main Outcomes and (5) Conclusions.

In this ethnography (anthropology thesis) I explored the binary gender division in modern sports culture through the analysis of stereotypes shaped by the history of women's sport, iconography of female athletes portrayed by mainstream media, and the reinforcement of stigma and pressure to conform to social norms by the normalized everyday discourse of college men and women at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. Even though Title IX brought significant gender equality to sport in terms of women's access to athletic participation and facilities, I argue that there is still much work to do to modify social attitudes toward women's sports. While CMS female student-athletes have a keen awareness of the existing gender disparity of athleticism and make criticisms of the male-dominated hegemony, they sometimes reproduce the very same disparity they are subjected to by reinforcing internalized stereotypes through articulations of female homosocial spaces, feminine ideals, and the worthy emulation of men's sports. Thus, I argue that women hold a great deal of agency to promote gender equality in sports culture through a reevaluation of the way they think and talk about traditional masculinity and femininity, athletic performance, body image, and sexuality.

This thesis explores the challenges of evolving a Theatre of Truth in the context of the immediate zeitgeist. The questions I address are the role of feminist theatre in a world dominated by global media and corporate omnipotence; the conflation of theatre and Realpolitick; the limitations of postmodern thought and critical theory, and the struggle not only of the marginalized, but of all of us to create an activist theatre in perilous times. After examining my response to directing a production of Mud by Maria Irene Fornes, this project will also suggest that a theatre of specialized singular interests, such as feminism, racism, or gender-based concerns, is no longer sufficient to impact the audience of today. Instead, the work suggests that a fresh, revised look at theory, feminism, and "reality," as well as an attempt to unravel the psyche of the hegemonic political and social forces are necessary to reconceive a theatre that serves the new world. Building on the artistry of several contemporary playwrights, this thesis explores a theatre of Truth in action and looks at possibilities to open new avenues to empathy, transformation and liberation.

Le pouvoir populaire est une nouvelle stratégie de transformation sociale émancipatrice, apparue en Amérique latine, mais avec vocation universelle. Elle est centrée sur la construction d'un pouvoir plébéien capable d'élargir l'exercice démocratique de l'autorité, de développer des sujets autonomes et de créer de nouvelles formes de sociabilité. Ce pouvoir est celui des organisations populaires, quand elles sont capables de construire des espaces où le pouvoir capitaliste ne peut pas s'exercer pour y développer de nouveaux rapports sociaux. À partir de ces organisations, le pouvoir populaire, cherche d'abord à établir un rapport de forces avec le pouvoir du système lui permettant de se préserver, mais avec vocation de devenir hégémonique au sein de la société pour pouvoir la remodeler. Porteur d'une vision utopique de la transformation sociale, son objectif final est le dépassement de toute domination et la construction une nouvelle totalité sociale, communautaire, mais respectueuse de la diversité populaire, individuelle et collective. Sa stratégie politique part de l'hégémonie sociale et vise à contrôler, démocratiquement, l'appareil d'État capitaliste, à le transformer, et à terme, à le faire disparaître. Le pouvoir populaire assume que son engagement politique, du fait de sa méthode démocratique, nécessite une période et une société de transition prolongées dans le temps. Cette société, préalable à la société émancipée, admets la coexistence en son sein de formes de vie capitalistes et non capitalistes. / The people's power relies on a new strategy of emancipating social transformation which appeared in Latin America but with a universal aim. It consists in building up a plebeian power able to enlarge the democratic authority to form autonomous individuals and to create new ways of living in society. Such is the power of popular organizations when they are able to set up places where the capitalistic power can't prevail so that new social interactions are developed. Thanks to these organizations, the people's power first aims at creating a tension with the larger system not only in order to protect itself, but also to increase its influence on society and be able to make it evolve. It conveys a utopian vision of social transformation and intends to overrule all domination and to build a new social and local unity that would respect the people's diversity, as individuals or groups of individuals. Its political strategy relies on social hegemony and aims at controlling the capitalist state system in a democratic way and at transforming it, and, in the end, put it to an end. The people's power understands that its necessarily democratic political stance needs a long term transition period, as well as a transition type of society. This society, the condition to an emancipated one, is to be composed of both capitalistic and non-capitalistic forms of lives.

Research Report required for the completion of Master of Arts – Applied Drama (MAAD) Drama for Life - Wits School of Arts - Wits University March 2015 / This study aims to explore ideas of liberation in relation to the present tendencies of gender representation in Tango. I argue that the traditional pedagogic model, observed in Johannesburg, tends to perpetuate hegemonic discourses mainly through terminology in which gender binaries, codes and subjectivities are normalized. Such representations reduce, or even reject, plurality and diversity by sustaining specific power dynamics, necessarily related to the role of men and women. Tango is characterized by certain aesthetic elements described in this thesis, and here I prioritize the analysis of its role as a social dance, in the category of couples’ dances. I argue that couples’ dances are embedded in historically and socially constructed stereotypes; thus, the dynamics observed in balls are not capable of reflecting present gender complexities and identities. To do so, I first present a critical reflection of the history of couples’ dances and Tango, along with my own lived experience as a movement facilitator. Then, I present descriptions of the first phase of the research, the Performance as Research (PAR) project in which I aimed to deconstruct hegemony by challenging gender fixities. The PAR included creative processes, interviews, performance, media and textual production, and the main outcome was related to the pedagogy of dance, presenting the DE-GENDERED MODEL of teaching-learning. In the second phase of research, or what I call the fieldwork, I engaged with different methods, such as dance meetings based on investigative approaches, body mapping, micro-performance, group discussions and questionnaires to collect data together with a group of 9 participants. I made sense of all the information collected during PAR, and, given by participants during fieldwork, by correlating theories of performance, critical pedagogy, gender and queer studies, with the purpose of including collaborative pathways of embodiment.