Lo studio analizza la relazione tra la struttura del potere neo-patrimoniale (fondata sullo scambio tra distribuzione arbitraria di opportunità economiche e lealtà politica) e la debolezza del sistema inter-statale arabo. Combinando un approccio storico-istituzionalista e un approccio intermestic, lo studio considera il neo-patrimonialismo arabo prodotto della contraddizione irrisolta tra la cristallizzazione delle sovranità statali imposte dalle ex-potenze coloniali e il progetto politico mancato della ‘Grande Nazione Araba’. Questa dinamica ha prodotto l’illegittimità strutturale dell’ordine inter-statale arabo, che investe lo stato nella dimensione territoriale e nella dimensione del potere. A cavallo degli anni 70’, nei regimi arabi si osserva una transizione dall’autoritarismo populista ad un sistema neo-patrimoniale. Esaminando i casi-studio di Egitto e Siria, questa tesi si propone di analizzare il divario tra lo state-building ‘weberiano’(legale-razionale) e ‘neo-patrimoniale’: in quest’ultimo, la mancanza di istituzionalizzazione legale-razionale impedisce la formazione di un legame di cittadinanza e asseconda la persistenza di identificazioni sociali tradizionali. In riferimento all’Egitto e alla Siria ,l’analisi mira a mettere in evidenza la relazione tra l’indebolimento (o il crollo) del regime e il collasso istituzionale dello stato. Questo fenomeno in Siria, a differenza dell’Egitto, si accompagna ad una ibridazione della sovranità statale, in virtù della frammentazione politicizzata della società siriana. / This thesis investigates the relation between Arab neo-patrimonial power structures (based on the arbitrary distribution of economic opportunities in exchange of political loyalty) and the weakness of the Arab inter-state system. Combining a historic institutional and an intermestic approach, this study considers neo-patrimonialism as the outcome of the unsolved contradiction between the crystallization of western-imposed sovereignties and the missed political project of the ‘Greater Arab Nation’ (contesting colonial borders). This has, in turn, produced the structural illegitimacy of the inter-state order, affecting both the territorial and the authority dimensions of the state. In dealing with this ‘legitimacy problem’, post-1970 Arab regimes have tended to replace populist authoritarian (ideological-grounded) with neo-patrimonial (material-based) power strategies. Through the cases of Egypt and Syria, the study aims at analysing the gap between a ‘Weberian’ (legal-rational) and a ‘neo-patrimonial’ state-building: in the latter case, the missing legal-rational institutionalization hinders a social identification based on citizenship, seconding the persistence of traditional identities. By examining Egypt and Syria’s power structures, this study enlightens the relation between regime collapse and institutional collapse. Unlike Egypt, which enjoys a substantial societal homogeneity, in Syria we witness the hybridization of state’s sovereignty, stemming from the politicized fragmented character of Syria’s society.

Since 2011, Egypt has been in a state of chaos and instability. During this time women have suffered disproportionality in comparison to their male counterparts. However, the poor state of affairs for women did not begin after 2011; while women have slowly gained more rights during the last decade, Egypt’s commitment to gender equality has always fallen short. This paper investigates the current state of affairs for women’s rights in Egypt, especially in wake of the 2011 Revolution, and asserts that the poor quality of women’s rights is a result of a battle for power between the military and Islamic politicians, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood. It then analyzes the possibility of a better future for Egypt through an examination of Turkey because it is a secular Islamic state, which has recently reduced military power and increased democratic inclusion in politics. Ultimately, the potential for dramatic improvement in women’s rights in Egypt would necessitate a significant cultural shift, as well as greater inclusion in government—both of which are unlikely given the current state of Egyptian culture and politics.

The corpus of artifacts from the Lagas state constitutes what is arguably the single largest cohesive body of elite representational display forms thus far discovered to have come from Early Dynastic (ED) Sumer. Unlike the equally extraordinary finds from ED levels of Ur, which consist primarily of grave goods and small finds (Woolley 1934; Woolley 1956), what is unique about the finds from Lagas is that the majority of them are programmatic artifacts that were intended to be displayed to specific audiences. Specifically, many of them are relief carvings or, to a lesser degree, statues that were carefully composed and executed in order to encode and transmit carefully constructed messages on the part of individual rulers, or the religious establishment. As such, the ED Lagas corpus is a particularly important record of how one particular group of Sumerian rulers viewed themselves and how the wished to be viewed by others.

In 1919 the number of British officials employed by the Egyptian Government reached a peak of over 1,600, a substantial figure in relation to a colonial administration like the Indian Civil Service. However, due to the anomalous nature of Britain's occupation of Egypt, the workings of British administration there were left deliberately ambiguous. Thus although we have an extensive knowledge of imperial policy with regard to Egypt, we have little understanding of how British rule there actually functioned, certainly nothing to compare with numerous local studies of the Raj or Colonial Service at work. By studying the British administrators of the Egyptian Government, this thesis casts new light on Britain's middle years in Egypt, which saw formal imperial control succeeded by informal hegemony. We begin by analysing the Anglo-Egyptian administrative structure as a product of its historical development. We examine how well this muted style of administrative control suited conditions in Egypt and Britain's requirements there, considering the fact that by 1919 the British officials had become a major source of nationalist grievance. This loss of reputation caused the Milner Mission to select the British administration as a principal scapegoat in its proposed concessions. Moreover, it was the belief of certain leading officials that Britain's responsibility for Egyptian administration was no longer viable which finally helped precipitate the 1922 declaration of independence. The Egyptian Government now took actual rather than nominal control of its foreign bureaucrats, yet even in 1936, over 500 British officials were still employed in finance, security, and in technical and educational capacities. The changing role of these officials within an evolving mechanism of British control illuminates one of the earliest experiences of transfer of power this century.

Reason is an important focus-word in Abduh's world view and has a great influence on his theologioal system and views.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2002. Bibliography : leaves 287-331.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 22, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral) -- Universität Hamburg, 2006/7. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-139).

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-197). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, May 2007. / Restricted until 13th May 2008.