The central aim of this thesis is to analyse the distinct elements of a potential European strategic culture and their representation in the rhetoric and strategic actions of the Union, with special emphasis in the years of ESDP existence (1998-2005). The discussion rests on the proposition that a common European Strategic culture exists, albeit it is restricted in scope and depth. It is argued that as such, it is associated with three main pillars: humanitarian intervention, outward orientation and the pursuit of the largest possible consensus, i.e. multilateralism. The final objective of the discussion is to test these pillars against the proposition for the existence of a specific, albeit limited European strategic culture. It has been deemed that the most productive way to determine whether the three pillars of European strategic culture can be considered realistically relevant is to assess them against the rhetoric and strategic actions of the European Union that took place within the period 1998-2005, which is the set timeframe for this thesis. Following an up-to-date literature review on the subject (Chapter II), this thesis makes use of a modified framework by Booth and Macmillan in order to explore those parameters that influence the development of strategic culture, such as geography, history and political structures. The modified framework is outlined and discussed in Chapter III. Chapter IV serves to put the concept of a European strategic culture in its historical context. Important milestones in EEC/EU defence history since the need for a common defence was articulated in the 1950s are analysed. The emphasis lays not so much on the origins of common defence and foreign policy initiatives but on recent developments. Chapter V introduces facets of strategic culture as these can be revealed through the rhetoric of the EU. The focus is on those documents that best describe the strategic concept of the EU after the introduction of the ESDP and more specifically, the European Security Strategy (ESS). Chapter VI focuses on EU actions of strategic importance. In this respect, the three EU military operations that took place between the introduction of the ESDP in 1998 and the year 2005, (Operation Concordia, Artemis and Althea are examined). In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates the existence of a European strategic culture, but also confirms the initial proposition regarding the current nature of this strategic culture, which is limited in scope and in depth. As such, it is shown that it is based on the three pillars outlined in the proposition, i.e. humanitarian intervention, outward orientation and multilateralism.

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The process of decolonisation has led to the emergence of a number of ethnically complex states in the Middle East. The present thesis addresses the Kurdish minority in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, investigates and analyses the nature and structure of these four states. The nature of the four states is complex in terms of their population; each one contains more than one faith, ethnicity, and language. One ethnicity, faith or sect may dominate the state which may not necessarily reflect the majority of the population, for example, the minority of Alawis dominating Syria, or the constitution, penal code and political system may be biased to a majority sect (Shia in Iran). The present study investigates, compares and contrasts the twenty-first century policies of Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq towards the Kurds, it examines whether the concept of equal citizenship does exist or not in the four states. The minority rights including the Kurds are the key to pluralism and peace in the Middle East. Over the last 50 years, many Middle Eastern and North African minorities have been oppressed or have struggled to survive, national groups (Berbers, Kurds, Turkmens, etc.), religious communities (Christians, Zoroastrians, Baha'is, etc) or both (Armenians, Jews, etc.). Sects, such as Shia in the Gulf States and Sunnis in Iran have not been successfully integrated within Islam itself. The central argument the present thesis seeks to examine is how equal citizenship (equal access for political, educational, social and economic institutions of the country) can be delivered for the Kurds in the four countries. In order to achieve this, the legal status of the Kurds needs to be changed via reforming and amending the constitution and penal codes of the four states. Recognition of the legal rights of the Kurds and abolishing the discriminatory laws are the cornerstone of a healthy civil society and the key to pluralism and peace in the region.

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This thesis focuses on the growing relationship between China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, and Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter. The high interdependence between China and Saudi Arabia represents a theoretical challenge: Does economic interdependence increase or decrease the probability of conflict between China and other significant energy users, notably the United States, over Middle East oil? The study is literature-based and expanded by exploratory case study research using different variables or indicators (import dependence, trade, energy, arms sales and political factors). The thesis’ main aim is to investigate the causes of China's motives to establish a strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia and its implications for the United States, using a qualitative method with quantitative resources as primary data and the state as unit of analysis. On the basis of the theoretical frameworks, it raises three hypotheses, respectively: (1) China is not seeking to challenge the United States in the Middle East; (2) China will contribute to the stability of the Middle East because it expects its trade and energy imports from the region to increase in the future; and (3) China will not use the military means to protect its interests in the Middle East. To verify these hypotheses, the study attempts to address the theoretical flaws of both realism and liberalism in regard to Sino-Saudi relations, guided by Trade Expectation Theory (TET). The finding is simple: China’s policy of strengthening its relationships with Saudi Arabia is neither aimed at undermining U.S. regional interests nor aimed at challenging the U.S.’s dominant position; it is primarily driven by economic imperatives.

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This thesis re-evaluates E. H. Carr's approaches to the issues of international relations, presenting his critique of the hegemonic status of Western liberalism as the guiding thread informing his thought. In the discipline of IR, his concern to displace nineteenth-century liberal internationalism has been regarded simply as part of a realist attack on the 'Utopianism' of the inter-war period, associated with his long established reputation as a Realist who denounced the under-estimation of the role of power in international politics. However, this picture of Carr is to a significant extent misleading, and there is a need for the nature of his thought to be understood in a wider historical and intellectual context. Taking a historical and context-sensitive approach, this thesis explores his unmasking of the claim that liberal principles, regarded as absolute and universal by those who had been strongly influenced by the liberal tradition, were not genuine principles at all; they were the ideological reflection of a particular interest at a particular time, essentially that of the 'haves', who wished to maintain the status quo. To expose and then transcend this logic, Can, in tackling the individual political issues and advancing the prescriptions for resolving them, introduced a realist-relativist approach to expose the ever-changing reality of international relations and defended a progressive attitude towards the transformation of world politics. The thesis illuminates how they developed through a dialectical process guided by his central question of how the Western liberal tradition should be superseded in a historically progressive way, seeking to navigate our way out of some of the sterile conceptual blind alleys that dominated IR theory until fairly recently and also contribute to understanding the contemporary world in a more subtle and historically sensitive way.

Carl Schmitt has something of a semi-detached relationship to IR Theory. Largely treated as an outsider or a source of critical interventions with which to unpick the dominant traditions, rather than a theorist of IR in his own right. This thesis takes a different approach. The first section outlines a broad interpretation of Carl Schmitt's main works, with a mind to discovering and examining what unites each of his theoretical interventions, insofar as they pertain to IR Theory. The next part of the thesis lays out some organising principles through which to frame a Schmittian critique of each of the main traditions of IR Theory. This commences by examining the idea of IR theory as united by a common curiosity - rather than divided by warring methodologies - revolving around questions concerning collective identification and legitimate violence. The critiques substantiate a meta-theoretical reformulation of IR theory by reference to two underlying divisions; philosophical realism against philosophical idealism on the one hand, and historical progressivism against a more static or cyclical view on the other. With this in mind, Schmitt cannot be classed as a Liberal, Marxist, or indeed a Realist, but he does clear space for a consideration of the English School as a tradition in its own right, organised around a suspicion of the idea of progress in history, and the interpretive focus of philosophical idealism. Finally, IR theory is schematised as a polemical playing field, and the recent bifurcation of IR between the 'tired old traditions' and the endless and multiplying 'critical turns' - usually informed by an individual theorist, Carl Schmitt among them - can be re-examined. Carl Schmitt thus emerges as a theorist who has much to contribute to IR Theory, not because of any particular critical insights, but because he forces a re-examination of what it means to theorise IR.

This thesis will apply the constructivist theory of International Relations (IR) to the study of Chinese foreign policy, beginning with an examination of the IR theories, realism, liberalism and constructivism, and how each theory explains Chinese foreign policy and its aid behaviour. It will focus on norms and their implications for the making of China's foreign aid policy. Four norms, Asianism, internationalism, sovereignty, and developmental ism are discussed and related to their specific roles in China's policy making. Asianism involves the construction of an Asian identity within Asia, internationalism involves the development of international responsibility, sovereignty entails non-interference in other countries' affairs, and developmentalism involves the transmission of the Beijing Consensus. The analysis continues by linking China's identity to each norm in an historical overview of Chinese foreign policy since 1949. The overview demonstrates how China's identity has become transformed at critical stages throughout the history of the PRC, from victim to neutral actor, to its present great power state, and how these changes in identity have influenced China's subsequent behaviour. By examining three cases, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, this thesis seeks to explain China's foreign policy within each region and highlights how China's policies have been guided by its identity and the mutually constituted norms during its periods of regional activity. The Southeast Asia study is focussed on all four norms, whilst the African and Latin American studies address internationalism, sovereignty and developmental ism. Particular attention is placed upon China's changing identity and its impact on China's future foreign policy and application of foreign aid.