Theories of transboundary water politics have failed to explain the status quo in many river basins: fragile political relations between riparian states and nationalist domestic politics, as well as weak regional institutions and huge economic inefficiencies – but also an absence of wars over water. This is due to an uncritical approach to scale, power, and geopolitics. It is the purpose of this thesis to address these conceptual gaps by critically evaluating the multiple relationships between the logic of large dams and the politics of international rivers. The meaning of dams, the politics of their operation and construction, and their impact on international relations are much more ambiguous, opaque and complex than existing explanations have suggested so far. In turn, their logic influences, competes with, and contradicts the logic of river basin governance. Dams produce alternative spaces of development, energy, and state power that complement or are superimposed on existing spaces of riparian cooperation. This thesis argues that the contradictions between these spaces explains the geopolitical limbo of many international rivers in the developing world. Drawing from Foucault’s governmentality theory, the literature of critical geopolitics, and post-structural approaches to spatial scale the case-oriented research design of this thesis evaluates two geopolitical processes in contentious transboundary river basins: the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile and the operation of the Toktogul Dam in the Kyrgyz stretch of the Syr Darya River. By unpacking these processes, this thesis makes three substantial contributions to existing scholarship. Firstly, it is argued that regional river basin management is essentially a geopolitical project that contradicts the geo-economic imperatives of the dam. Secondly, power and agency in water politics is diffused far beyond the nation-state and can be understood in terms of “network effects”. Thirdly, to marry the concerns of the geopolitical and the geo-economic, I propose that the contrasting logics give rise to “geopolitical entrepreneurs” – actors who use geopolitics for wealth accumulation, legitimacy, nation-building, and other ends. While dams may provide power, wealth, and authority an allegorical Sword of Damocles is let down on the riparians.

Ethnic relations are an important feature of contemporary Russia. This is especially true in the North Caucasus where ongoing insecurity combined with a depressed economy has led to growing Russian nationalism, xenophobia, and fears over immigration. In Stavropol’skii krai, the only ethnic Russian dominated territory in the North Caucasus Federal District, the situation is especially acute. In this thesis I investigate how the geopolitics of ethnic relations in Stavropol’skii krai, as part of the wider North Caucasus situation, impact on the everyday life of citizens in Stavropol’. I do this through employing an eclectic methodology, including both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Through four research papers, I explore how the built urban environment, through the politics of naming place (for example, street names and monuments), has become a space through which ethnic identity can be (re)produced and contested. I show how ethnic relations are (re)presented and performed in Stavropol’ through the Den’ kraya celebration, a performance that is based on a Soviet-era idealised framing of ethnic relations, and one which is open to challenge. I explore how in summer 2007 ethnic relations turned violent as ethnic Russian and non-ethnic Russian citizens rioted, and I attempt to explain the geopolitics surrounding this. Finally, I show how everyday ethnic relations have turned increasingly violent in Stavropol’ since 1991, drawing on reports from non-governmental organisations and independent researchers. I situate this research within the context of the changing ethnic geography of the krai since 1991. Together, this research represents a geopolitics of ethnic relations in Stavropol’skii krai.

The Ob is the third largest Eurasian river supplying heat and freshwater to the Arctic Ocean. These inputs influence water salinity, ice coverage, ocean temperatures and ocean circulation, and ultimately the global climate system. Variability of Ob River flow on long time scales is poorly understood, however, because gaged flow records are short. Eleven tree-ring width chronologies of Pinus sibirica and Larix sibirica are developed from the floodplain of the Lower Ob River, analyzed for hydroclimatic signal and applied as predictors in a regression model to reconstruct 8-month average (December-July) discharge of the Ob River at Salekhard over the interval 1705-2012 (308 yrs). Correlation analysis suggests the signal for discharge comes through air temperature: high discharge and floodplain water levels favor cool growing-season air temperature, which limits tree growth for the sampled species at these high latitudes. The reconstruction model (R-2 = 0.31, 1937-2009 calibration period) is strongly supported by cross validation and analysis of residuals. Correlation of observed with reconstructed discharge improves with smoothing. The long-term reconstruction correlates significantly with a previous Ob River reconstruction from ring widths of trees outside the Ob River floodplain and extends that record by another century. Results suggest that large multi-decadal swings in discharge have occurred at irregular intervals, that variations in the 20th and 21st centuries have been within the envelope of natural variability of the past 3 centuries, and that discharge data for 1937-2009 underestimate both the variability and persistence of discharge in the last 3 centuries. The reconstruction gives ecologists, climatologists and water resource planners a long-term context for assessment of climate change impacts.

This is a study of the social and legal consequences of family breakdown in Nigeria as a whole but with specific reference to Borno State. It examines the effects of family breakdown on the husband and wife or wives and their children under the General Laws, Customary Law and Islamic Law of the people of Maidugurij Biu, and Gwoza areas of Borno State. The study covers the post-Independence period-i. e from 1960 to today. The aim of the study is to show how the social and economic changes in society affect the family at divorce. Although social change is part of any society, this study shows that the formal law on family breakdown and its consequences have not kept pace with social change, and that the dichotomy between state law and customary or Islamic law on family breakdown exists only in court. Thus the authority of the extended family, and within it, the dominance of men over womens, has not been specifically disturbed by the increasing Westernisation and rural-urban migration that has taken place since Independence. It is under this situation that the rights of women, property settlement on divorce, maintenances, and custody of children, as the main indicators of the consequences of family breakdown in any society has to be gauged. The role of the law and the state is also discussed. We argue that all the post-Colonial governments in the Federation were responsible for the present deplorable condition of victims of family breakdown not only in Borno State but throughout the country. Thus there has been no state-provided Social welfare to cater for deserted wivest children, and destitutes despite the ever increasing needs of such persons in a society that is rapidly changing. It is within this context that the effect of family breakdown on the people of Borno State is examined. The study argues that the various state authorities in Nigeria tend to abandon their responsibility to the family to the traditional customary institutions, such as the extended familyf which are now incapable of meeting the needs of victims of family breakdown. Moreoveri, the traditional family based economic system does not help women on divorce because it is predicated on the traditional power structure within the home which is in favour of men. on divorce, women are invariably left high and dry# and with few alternatives than to return home to their parents or other extended family members for support.

This study is intended to be a critical examination of the role of law and the legal profession in Urban pinning and development in the context of East Africa. It discusses the actual, proposed and possible functions of law and gives a critical analysis of shortcomings in the existing law and attitudes towards the planning process. It begins by discussing the various notions of plmning and development and what these mean to different groups of people whose work relate to the subject of planning and development. The first three chapters may be regarded as setting the scene in that they outline the perspective of the study, describe the region and its people, deal with the current and future problems of urbanization, discuss the land tenure systems and evaluate the processes of acquiring land for urban planning and developnent. The middle of the thesis, and particularly chapter five examines the organs, institutions, bureaucracies and. infrastructures of urban agglomerations. Chapter six deals with land use planning, the aims and objectives in such planning and how the resulting plans are implemented and enforced. Of special interest are the functions fulfilled or to be fulfilled by lawyers in this process. Chapter seven discusses housing as one of the important objectives of planning and evaluates the agencies of developzent including foreign investments, building societies and self-help projects. Included in this chapter are urban rates and rents. The last chapter is a resume of the study but concentrates on what the author has called "The Lawyer's 'brief' in Urban Planning and Development". The theeme of the study has been that planning and development is a multi-purpose, multi-disciplinary subject in which law must play its part. Consequently, there has been considerable use of materials and authorities traditionally regarded as "non-legal". One of the fascinating points in this kind of study is the use and analysis of such materials and authorities for the purpose of producing a legal discourse.

This thesis explores professional visions for the planning of everyday life during the period of developed socialism. Considering a wide range of disciplinary literature, including architecture, urban planning, design and sociology, this thesis analyses how professionals imagined residential and domestic life in an urbanised and technologically advanced socialist society. Continuing the narrative of Khrushchev’s modernising programme to reform everyday life (<i>byt</i>) into the post-Khrushchev period, the thesis follows professionals of the last two Soviet decades who criticised the rationalising and collectivising planning paradigm inaugurated during the preceding decades. Professionals argued that this paradigm had produced a dehumanised and alienating everyday environment in the city and the home. After setting out the theoretical framework and the historical context of developed socialism, the first empirical section addresses urban residential life. It focuses on the microdistrict planning unit to illustrate how professionals, disillusioned with functionalist planning, searched for ways to humanise the city and adapt it to the behaviours and needs of urban residents. Part two investigates shifting professional views on the home and the everyday processes associated with it, such as cooking and cleaning. No longer seen as a utilitarian space in which everyday processes transpire, the home came to be understood as a personal and emotionally resonant place. Part three focuses on material culture, investigating evolving views on consumption and aesthetics. It illustrates how professionals endeavoured to rehabilitate the object world and align it with populist preferences while nonetheless maintaining a commitment to technological and forward-looking principles. In contributing to the scholarly understanding of developed socialism, this thesis contends that the 1970s-1980s saw experts embrace individual agency and popular sentiments. This turn did not, however, signify a turn towards individualism or de-politicised malaise: professionals maintained their utopian aspirations to engineer and control everyday life.

O presente trabalho se propõe a refletir acerca da trajetória e pensamento geopolítico e estratégico do acadêmico e analista político Zbigniew Brzezinski, incluindo o período em que atuou como Conselheiro de Segurança Nacional do presidente norte-americano Jimmy Carter entre 1977 e 1980. Como estrategista focado na política externa dos EUA, sobretudo em relação à Eurásia, ele teve durante toda a sua carreira um posicionamento muito intenso e controverso em relação à União Soviética e à Rússia, sobretudo baseado nas teorias geopolíticas clássicas de John. H. Mackinder e Nicholas J. Spykman. O enfoque deste estudo é relacionado às continuidades e mudanças em seu pensamento estratégico, principalmente buscando compreender melhor suas percepções sobre o papel e alinhamento político global da Rússia. Pretende-se, desta forma, aprofundar o entendimento e posicionamento de Brzezinski em relação ao pertencimento cultural e estratégico da Rússia na Eurásia e no mundo. / This paper aims to reflect on the geopolitical and strategic thought and trajectory of the academic and political strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski, including his period as National Security Advisor of North-American President Jimmy Carter between 1977 and 1980. As a strategist focused on the foreign policy of the USA, particularly regarding Eurasia, he had during his whole career some very intense and controversial positions regarding the Soviet Union and Russia, especially based on the classic geopolitical theories of John H. Mackinder and Nicholas J. Spykjman. The focus of this study is related to the continuities and changes of his strategic thought, seeking mainly to better understand his perceptions on the role and global political alignment of Russia. It is intended therefore to elaborate on Brzezinskis understanding and positions regarding Russias cultural and strategic belonging in Eurasia and the world.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, its leaders have been preoccupied with efforts to increase state capacity in order to exercise more effective control over their western frontier by controlling their minority population and generating the conditions for economic development in the area. Although these state-building initiatives have always incorporated an international component, the collapse of the USSR, the transnational characteristics of development, and China’s concern around the challenges of terrorism, separatism, and extremism have necessitated an accompanying region-building project in Eurasia. Using a synthesis of the region-building approach and the concept of regionalization, this study traces how Chinese domestic elite-led narratives about security and development generate domestic state-building initiatives which in turn produce region-building projects. Furthermore, this study assesses how region-building projects are promoted through narratives embedded in foreign policies that establish the historicity of China’s engagement in Eurasian affairs and norms of non-interference and co-development. Finally, it traces the empirical construction of regions through integrative infrastructure. By revealing the three symbiotic phases of Chinese domestic state-building and region-building, this study demonstrates how region-building projects have facilitated China’s ability to increase state capacity, control, and development in its western frontier. Furthermore, China’s region-building projects have gradually transformed Eurasia in a manner that has resulted in its eastward orientation through the usage of connective infrastructure and co-development projects that place China at the center of Eurasia. This project demonstrates how China has emerged as a dominant power in Eurasian affairs that not only exercises significant political and economic power, but more importantly, ideational power.

<p>Central Asia is a region strategically located on the crossroads of the two continents. The region is represented by five states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) with different level of economic development and with the population amounting to over 60 million people. The region is rich in energy resources, represented by oil, gas, coal and hydropower resources.</p><p>The thesis analyses, assesses and scrutinises one of the topical issues of the contemporary international relations - cooperation between the European Union and Central Asian states before and after adoption in June 2007 of the ‘European Union and Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partnership’, an important political document in the history of relations between the two parties.</p><p>The new stage of cooperation is analysed more comprehensively accentuating priorities set in the Strategy. Analysis of the current state of affairs is conducted concerning some important issues of the Strategy related to regional cooperation between Central Asian states, such as integrated water management and development of hydro-energy system, issues of diversification of hydrocarbons supply routes from the region to Europe and provision of energy security, etc.</p><p>Issues of cooperation between the European Union and Tajikistan are analysed as a case study. State of affairs between some of the European Union member-states and Central Asian countries is characterised.</p><p>The thesis also scrutinises other regional/international actors engaged in cooperation with Central Asia (such as China, Russia, the US, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, etc.) and their potential for interaction with the European Union for more effective joint solution of the problems existing in the region is assessed.</p><p>In the conclusion, development of cooperation between the European Union and Central Asian states is scrutinised, the problems and their possible solutions in this regard are analysed, and the recommendations for increasing effectiveness of cooperation between the two parties are presented.</p><p>The European Union’s foreign policy in Central Asia is interpreted from perspective of the theories of international relations namely neorealism, neoliberalism and constructivism in the end of every chapter.</p>

This research studies protests after fraudulent elections in a collective action framework, examining the impact of the potential cost, benefit and likelihood of success of protest on the occurrence and intensity of protests. Quantitative analysis of fraudulent elections in about 100 countries from 1990 to 2004 shows that the odds of protest after fraudulent elections are greater when the level of state repression is moderate with a possible backlash effect of high repression, when the opposition is united, and when international monitors denounce election results. The analysis only partially supports the benefit of protest argument. Also, the research uses case studies from Eurasia (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, and Russia) and mini-case studies from Africa and Latin America to study in more detail the effects of the factors identified in the quantitative analysis and to identify overlooked but important explanatory factors using a set of extensive interviews conducted in the United States and during fieldwork in Armenia, Georgia, and Russia with politicians, domestic and international election monitors, and country experts.