Die Studie zur demokratischen Bildung im ländlichen Raum erforscht die komplexen Herausforderungen und Potenziale politischer Bildung in ländlichen Regionen und diskutiert erste Lösungsansätze. Im Zentrum der Ergebnisse stehen die unmittelbaren Beziehungen im ländlichen Raum, die durch die gemeinsam geteilten Lebenswelten und stabile Interaktionsnetzwerke gekennzeichnet sind, aber auch durch die Konfrontation mit verengten Diskursräumen, Konformitätszwängen und Angriffen. Die Studie identifiziert sechs Spannungsfelder, die von politischen Bildner:innen im ländlichen Raum navigiert werden müssen. Dabei werden unter anderem die systemischen Herausforderungen der Finanzierung und bürokratischen Belastung aufgezeigt sowie die Notwendigkeit eines nachhaltigen und inklusiven Ansatzes herausgestellt, um politische Bildung effektiv gestalten zu können. Darüber hinaus werden Lösungsansätze diskutiert, die den Aufbau und die Pflege von Beziehungen und Netzwerken, langfristige Verankerung und Zusammenarbeit mit lokalen Akteur:innen, sowie die systematische Erfassung von Angriffen und deren Prävention thematisieren. Außerdem wird eine gezielte Förderung und Anerkennung der politischen Bildungsarbeit, sowie die Entwicklung bildungsimpliziter Veranstaltungen, die eng an die Lebenswelt der ländlichen Bevölkerung angelehnt sind, gefordert. Die Studie betont den Zusammenhang zwischen langfristiger Handlungs- und Finanzierungssicherheit und der Kultivierung von Vertrauen mit wichtigen lokalen Akteur:innen. Es bedarf dazu einer maßgeschneiderten, prozessorientierten Finanzierungsmechanik, die den einzigartigen Kontext ländlicher Einstellungen respektiert. Die Autor:innen plädieren für eine ganzheitliche Strategie politischer Bildungsförderung in Sachsen, die nicht nur, aber im besonderen Maße den Anforderungen verschiedener Regionen gerecht wird. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass politische Bildung im ländlichen Raum spezifische didaktische Ansätze erfordert, die sich von städtischen Modellen unterscheiden und die ein tiefes Verständnis der lokalen Dynamiken und Bedürfnisse voraussetzen. Die Studie betont die Notwendigkeit einer adaptiven, ressourcenbewussten und langfristig orientierten Herangehensweise, um die demokratische Teilhabe und Bildung in ländlichen Gebieten zu stärken und zu fördern.:1 Einleitung 2 Methodisches Vorgehen 3 Politische Bildung im ländlichen Raum - ein Spannungsfeld .. 3.1 ... zwischen lebensweltlichen Zugängen und Skepsis der Zielgruppen, Beziehungsbarrieren sowie Konformitätszwang 3.2 ... zwischen direktem Zugang zu Entscheidungsträger:innen und Behinderung durch kommunale Politik und Verwaltung 3.3 ... zwischen Bereitschaft zur Solidarität und rechten Strukturen sowie Angriffen auf demokratische Bildungsarbeit 3.4 ... zwischen idyllischer Natur, strukturellen Problemen und städtisch verengten Anforderungen an demokratische Bildungsarbeit 3.5 ... zwischen Mittelvielfalt und fehlender Nachhaltigkeit in der Förderung 3.6 ... zwischen gestaltbaren Freiräumen und didaktischen Unsicherheiten 4 Lösungsstrategien im Umgang mit Herausforderungen demokratischer Bildung im ländlichen Raum 4.1 Beziehungen und Netzwerke aufbauen, pflegen und nutzen 4.2 Langfristige Verankerung in den Regionen, Beziehungsaufbau zu Gatekeeper:innen und Mediationsstrukturen 4.3 Systematische Erfassung von Angriffen sowie rechtliche und strategische Beratung 4.4 Gezielte, prozessorientierte sowie nachhaltige Förderung und Anerkennung politischer Bildungsarbeit 4.5 Bildungsimplizite Veranstaltungen, lebensweltliche Entlastungsangebote und Professionalisierung 5 Diskussion und Schlussfolgerungen 6 Literatur

As social media becomes an integral part of our daily lives, and groups seek to utilize this medium to facilitate activism, understanding the nature of these communications and the impact of the content on the individual user becomes a valid area of interest. When one then considers that extremist and terrorist groups have found social media to be an inexpensive and effective means for communication, radicalization, recruitment and member mobilization, the need for this understanding becomes critical. This research seeks to provide just such an understanding in its examination of Far-Right English Defence League and their use of Facebook during a period of increased activism and online growth. Important elements of this work include an understanding of the legal and ethical issues surrounding the collection of online content, particularly in extremist environments; the role of traditional media in their coverage of the group and whether the comments of the members reflect the group's mission statement of the characterization of traditional media; the ability to enhance data segregation and analysis through the development and use of specialized software; and most importantly the findings from the data analysis. Contained within these findings is an understanding of the intricacies of online participation in extremist social media. These include insights into overall traffic generation, the use of links within communications and their impact on the member traffic, and how the group narrative put forth by the administrator is reflected in the dialogue of the users. The most important finding was an understanding of individual user participation within the group and how, even with such an inexpensive and pervasive media outlet, activist groups still struggle to overcome the problem of participation. That this knowledge can be applied in a meaningful way in counter extremist and counter terrorism efforts was an interesting and satisfying development.

This study is a contribution to the limited knowledge of how different types of media content (about Muslims and extremism) posted and shared on Facebook might influence corresponding user comments. Through analyzing the discourse of user comments this study aims to identify how comments might reflect certain characteristics of Islamophobia, and to which themes in Facebook posts commentators relate to the most. The linguistic analysis is guided by the use of critical discourse analysis. For the purpose of this study, three different types of articles/video and the corresponding comments are analyzed. Two of the articles/video that I will analyze are from unreliable media sources, and one of the articles is from a credible media source. The linguistic analysis showed that the majority of commentators expressed that they believe the claims made in the articles/video about Muslims and extremism are true. The discourse analysis further showed, the majority of articles/video and the majority of the analyzed corresponding comments reflected the [in the study] defined characteristics of Islamophobia. My findings confirmed similar studies done in the past.

In recent years, terrorism and radicalization has been a consistent issue that many countries have faced. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been the most recent in a long trail of organizations that have sought to strike terror against the western world. However, ISIS is distinguished from other groups, like Al-Qaeda, in that ISIS supports a complex propaganda machine. Although ISIS is not the first organization to use the social media platform, they are the first to use it with such diversity. The two main channels that ISIS uses to spread their propaganda messages are through social media sites such as Twitter and through online journals such as the Dabiq. Recent research has attempted to determine how recruitment messages are being received and which messages trigger recruitment. It is the goal of this paper to determine which messages are salient, and the psychological constructs that support them. By coding messages for appeals to identity, need for cognitive closure, time pressure, and appeals to ideology, the researchers expect that the two main channels of ISIS propaganda differ in their messages. We hypothesize that Twitter messages will be targeted towards novice ISIS sympathizers, whereas the Dabiq will be focused on already-radicalized individuals who have moved past the introduction of the radical ideology.

This thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter examines empirically the relationshipbetween foreign aid and economic growth in the Least Developed Countries. Instrumentalvariables techniques are used to estimate the effect that economic growth has on foreign aidand to adjust for the reverse causal effect that growth has on aid when estimating the effect thataid has on growth. The second chapter examines the effects that fiscal expansions have on theunemployment rate. The chapter presents SVAR evidence for ten OECD countries and builds aDSGE model with a labor force participation choice and workers' heterogeneity to explain theempirical findings. The third chapter examines the effects that economic growth has on thesupport for extreme political platforms. The chapter provides a theoretical model in favor ofgrowth effects (as opposed to level effects) on the support for extreme political parties, andinvestigates empirically the relationship between growth and extremist votes for 16 OECDcountries.Esta tesis consiste en tres capítulos. El primer capítulo examina empíricamente la relación entrela ayuda exterior y crecimiento económico en los países menos adelantados. Técnicas devariables instrumentales se utilizan para estimar el efecto que el crecimiento económico tienesobre la ayuda exterior y para ajustar el efecto de causalidad inversa que el crecimiento tiene enla ayuda al estimar el efecto que la ayuda tiene sobre el crecimiento. El segundo capítuloanaliza los efectos que las expansiones fiscales tienen sobre la tasa de desempleo. El capítulopresenta pruebas SVAR para diez países de la OCDE y construye un modelo DSGE con unaparticipación en la fuerza de trabajo y heterogeneidad de los trabajadores para explicar losresultados empíricos. El tercer capítulo analiza los efectos que el crecimiento económico tieneen el apoyo a las plataformas políticas extremas. El capítulo ofrece un modelo teórico a favorde los efectos del crecimiento (en contraposición a los efectos de nivel) con el apoyo departidos políticos de extrema, e investiga empíricamente la relación entre el crecimiento devotos y extremistas para 16 países de la OCDE.

Abstract Currently, the issue of a growing extremist right-wing orientation in professional soldiers serving in the Army of the Czech Republic has acquired top priority. This diploma work should present a targeted proposal of changes in psycho-social tests and the whole selection system of candidates applying for the army professional status. The objective of my diploma work is thus summarised in its very name ?A Proposal of Health and Psycho-Social Criteria for the Purposes of Hiring New Professional Soldiers?. The significance or danger of right-wing extremist opinions in professional soldiers serving in the Army of the Czech Republic cannot be seen in its current massive occurrence but in the trend of the growth of such negative phenomena. Based on the experimental section of my diploma work consisting in the collection and evaluation of opinions and standpoints of experienced staff members responsible for the selection of the Ministry of Defence personnel, two hypotheses were established. H1. Current psychosocial test do not comply with the hiring reguirements related to candidates for a professional army career. H2. Health checks as a component of the hiring procedure do not include the detection of external marks or signs which would indicate right-wing extremist views. The respondents who have taken part in my research have dealt with the issue in a most responsible and reliable way. The opinions of former professional soldiers who have been dismissed from the army due to their right-wing extremist opinions and acts have also been of great significance. The conclusions of my diploma work shall be submitted as a proposal for an improved hiring procedure, predominantly as far as psycho-social tests and health examinations are concerned, with the aim of detecting potential latent right-wing extremist inclinations.

This Master Thesis aims to present the current existential threats to Israeli security. Israel is a Jewish country in the middle of the Muslim region and her demise is wished by many involved parties. The Author describes sophisticated security systems of Israel, their efficiency and its unofficial nuclear program. From the state actors, it is Iran that has become the number one perceived threat in Israel thanks to its officials' rhetoric, its support towards terrorist organizations and its nuclear program. Israel is often involved in asymmetrical conflicts against non-state actors like Hamas and Hezbollah. The new extremist group Islamic State can also potentially pose a threat. Has Israel got reasons to worry about her existence? Has the Arab Spring brought about positives, negatives, or new possibilities? The Author aims to answer these questions.

The primary focus of this Master's thesis is the role of Internet and above all various social networks in activating Czech extremist far right movements. The thesis analyses the way modern means of communication streamline the spreading of socially marginal ways of thinking and the way these technologies help bypassing the media blockage often imposed on the activities of these movements, as well as the repressive police force, the power of which is circumscribed within the partially anonymous realm of Internet. A part of this work is also dedicated to an ideology based categorisation of the various branches of right wing extremists. This division is then supported by specific quotes published by these groups on the Internet. The groups that are given the most prominence include the Workers' Party of Social Justice, the Workers' youth, the National Resistance and the Autonomous nationalists.

Cette thèse examine, depuis une perspective durkheimienne, le conflit politique en Allemagne sur le multiculturalisme, l’immigration, et l’identité nationale. L’analyse se fait dans la période entre le début de la crise des réfugiés en 2015 et l’élection fédérale allemande de septembre 2017. J’identifie quatre idéaux moraux, soit des visions idéales de la communauté allemande qui motivent les acteurs politique : l’idéal des Autonomen qui rejettent tout forme de pouvoir et de domination, l’idéal du Verfassungspatriotismus (le patriotisme constitutionnel) de la SPD (et une partie de la CDU), l’idéal de la nation (ethno)culturelle de la plupart de l’AfD (et la CSU et la WerteUnion), et l’idéal de la nation biologique de l’extrême droite. Au cœur de chaque idéal est un objet sacré qui sert d’autorité morale qui légitimant des prescriptions morales et qui amène à une série de vérités morales et de jugements moraux, la totalité duquel Émile Durkheim identifie comme un fait moral. Pour les Autonomen et les adhérents du Verfassungspatriotismus, l’objet sacré est l’individu conçu à travers le concept de la dignité humaine. Pour les autres, l’objet sacré est la nation allemande, conçue en termes (ethno)culturels ou en termes biologiques. Cette thèse argumente que ces idéaux moraux sont intrinsèquement profanatoires, dans le sens que les prescriptions morales d’un objet sacré (la dignité humaine) violent directement l’objet sacré de l’autre (la nation), et vice-versa. Ces idéaux sont tous en concurrence pour le pouvoir et l’influence, avec comme but d’avoir accès au pouvoir étatique allemand. Le résultat est un conflit politique qui traduit essentiellement un conflit moral. Ces conflits ont lieu dans le domaine légal, au sein des partis politique, et à travers la violence politique. Ces conflits touchent un nombre de sujets clés comme la liberté d’expression, le multiculturalisme, et l’extrémisme politique. La présente thèse cherche à comprendre ces conflits à travers le prisme du concept durkheimien du fait moral, et développe une sociologie du conflit moral durkheimien. Cette thèse s’inspire également de la théorie de conflit de Randall Collins, qui s’inspire elle aussi de l’œuvre de Durkheim. / This dissertation examines, from a Durkheimian perspective, political conflict in Germany around the issues of multiculturalism, immigration, and national identity within the context of the Refugee Crisis beginning in 2015 and ending roughly with the German Federal Election in September 2017. It identifies four moral ideals, or ideal visions of the German community, that motivated political actors during this period: the Autonomen ideal that rejects all forms of power and domination; the ideal of Verfassungspatriotismus (Constitutional Patriotism) of the SPD (and parts of the CDU); the ideal of the cultural or ethnocultural nation of much of the AfD (and the CSU and WerteUnion); and the ideal of the biological nation on the far-right. At the heart of each moral ideal is a sacred object that serves as a moral authority that legitimates certain moral prescriptions, and leads to a set of moral truths and moral judgments, the totality of which Émile Durkheim identifies as a moral fact. For the Autonomen and adherents of Verfassungspatriotismus the sacred object is the individual understood through the concept of human dignity. For others the sacred object is the German nation, understood either in an (ethno)cultural sense or a biological sense. As the dissertation argues, these different moral ideals are inherently profanatory to each other, such that the moral prescriptions inspired by one sacred object (human dignity) directly violate the sacred object of the other (the nation), and vice-versa. These ideals all compete with each other for power and influence within the German political sphere as a means to gain access to (or to dismantle) state power. The result is political conflict that takes place essentially within a moral framework. These conflicts occur in the legal domain, in battles over party leadership and membership, and through political violence; they touch on a number of key issues such as free speech, multiculturalism, and political extremism. This dissertation seeks to understand these conflicts through the prism of Durkheim’s concept of the moral fact and to develop a Durkheimian sociology of moral conflict. In this analysis, the dissertation draws on Randall Collins’ conflict theory, which Durkheim’s work also largely inspires.

In this thesis, I try to analyze how Sweden prevents violent Islamist extremism. First, by using alienation and network theories I explain how various socio-economic factors create an alienating environment in which individuals who have inappropriate social network can move towards violent Islamist extremism. Second, by analyzing the policy and practice of preventive work with a focus on activities of the National Coordinator Against Violent Extremism I try to identify achievements and shortcomings in this area, and eventually suggest how preventive work in Sweden can be improved.