Co-branded products emerge when two or more brands combine their forces to create a new product with its own identity. More and more companies use cobranding strategy to reduce the risks inherent in creating new products. Moreover, consumers evaluate some of those products favorably. Understanding of consumers&rsquo / perceptions of co-branded products is important for learning the importance of product design on these products. This thesis explores the reasons why consumers perceive one of the partner brands of a co-branded product more dominant than the other and presents the outcomes of a survey study carried out for that purpose. The thesis comprises a two-part literature review on co-branding and brand dominance. The survey study comprises a questionnaire that is filled out by 48 Dutch participants. Through such a study the reasons of consumers&rsquo / perceptions of partner brand dominance were revealed / the strong influence of the fit between a partner brand and the co-branded product and product design on consumers&rsquo / perceptions of a dominant partner brand was evidenced. Moreover, the implications of gaining such an insight about the reasons of partner brand dominance for designers and brand owners were discussed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of core self-evaluations (CSEs) and core external-evaluations (CEEs) on performance evaluations. It was hypothesized that people with higher levels of CSEs and CEEs would be more lenient in their performance ratings, when rating neutral performance. The second hypothesis of the study was that people with higher and lower CSEs would engage more in halo when rating neutral performance compared to people with average levels of CSEs. It was further hypothesized that CEEs would moderate the relationship between CSEs and performance ratings given. A total of 129 students from the Middle East Technical University participated in this study. They were given the core self- and external-evaluations scales, as well as two distractor scales (PANAS and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale). They were later assigned randomly to either the neutral or the good performance vignette conditions, and asked to rate the performance of a departmental secretary whose performance was described in the vignette using two different performance rating forms that included the relevant performance dimensions and behaviors of the secretary. The first one of these forms is the Behavior Observation Scale (BOS) and the second one is the Graphic Rating Scale (GRS). The results showed that CSEs did not have a significant effect on the performance evaluations given. When the mood of the participants was controlled, however, people who had higher CSEs gave lower performance ratings to neutral performance than people who had lower CSEs, with the GRS as the rating form. Thus, the first hypothesis was not supported and even an opposite effect emerged. The second hypothesis found no support, as the standard deviations of the performance ratings given by people with high, low or average CSEs did not differ significantly from each other for the neutral performance vignette condition, even when the mood of the participants was controlled. However, the standard deviations of the ratings given by participants with average CSEs were higher than that of the participants with low and high CSEs for the good performance vignette condition. Hypothesis three was not supported either, as CEEs were not found to moderate the relationship between CSEs and the performance ratings.

For the purpose of achieving gender equality in education, this study analyses the transformative power of the elementary school teacher candidates on society. The theories in the field of sociology of education have been used as a starting point for the study. Based on the feminist pedagogies of different strands of feminism, feminist critical pedagogy has been presented to achieve gender equality in education. The transformation of curriculum and the hidden curriculum are elaborated to achieve a non-sexist education. After the depiction of the situation Turkey holds in the field of women&rsquo / s education, the research conducted in three universities using feminist methodology and interview method is presented. With a view on their gender socialization, gender perceptions of the teacher candidates are analyzed. The ways their lives both inside and outside the household are affected by patriarchal hegemony are depicted and their ideas on education and the reproduction of gender through education are analyzed. The new generation of teachers holds low transformative power to transform the inequalities in society. However, the females in the group are leading their own individual struggles that lead to changes in their close circles. The simplified notion of patriarchy they have makes them blind to the reproduction of it by women and supports the bias against feminists. The fact that they are open to change and yet detached from civil society is reason to conclude that in the short run the most influential results can be obtained through the institutional changes at teacher training programs and schools.

ABSTRACT FROM GLOBALIZATION TO EMPIRE: A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF DOMINANT META-NARRATIVES Mercan, A. Serkan M. S., Department of Political Science and Public Administration Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Galip L. Yalman September 2007, 172 pages &ldquo / Globalization&rdquo / and &ldquo / empire&rdquo / are the dominant meta-narratives of 1990s and 2000s successively. The liberal perception/presentation of the former finds its expression in the claims of trans-(supra)-nationalization. In addition, the theoretical and pejorative usages of the latter, which has flourished since 9/11 attacks to the World Trade Center in New York are also based on similar claims of trans-(supra)-nationalization. However, these claims seem not convincing in a world in which nation-states secure their central role in the organization of capitalist social relations. In this thesis, those meta-narratives will be critically evaluated by also taking into account the role of the US in world capitalist system. Such a critical outlook is essential for highlighting the persistence of capital relation with its contradictory nature and for developing some tentative ideas about the ways in which the organization/management of contemporary world capitalism as a multiple state system should be analyzed. Keywords: Globalization, empire, nation-state, capital relation, trans-(supra)-nationalization

The September 11 terrorist attacks brought a discourse on the transatlantic rift to the agenda of international community. In fact, at the end of the CW, the emergence of the US as the leading hegemonic power gave way to transatlantic divergences concerning security perceptions and strategies of the post-CW era. Also, NATO has been challenged with these drastic changes in the international system. Yet, owing to the initiatives taken for the transformation of the Atlantic alliance during the 1990s, NATO maintained its relevance for the new world order. However, the divergences of the US and Europeans on their strategies to deal with the post-September 11 security threats led to another discussions about the future of NATO. Indeed, as the US&rsquo / post-September 11 unilateral policies deepened the transatlantic rift already underway since the end of the CW, on the way to Iraq war, NATO turned out to be the place where the divisions between the allies were reflected the most. Hence, the US&rsquo / preferences for ad hoc coalitions of the willing understanding damaged the longduring multilateral alliance by leading to a secondary role for NATO during the US&rsquo / Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. That is why, time is needed to see whether the old allies facing new threats can reconcile their differences in the name of a renewed transatlantic security cooperation through the initiatives taken within NATO?

The aim of this thesis is to observe the implementation of the Copenhagen criteria in the context of &lsquo / respect for and protection of minority rights&rsquo / during the accession process of Slovakia. EU&rsquo / s membership conditionality enforces candidate countries to improve the situation of minority groups within their borders. The main motivation of the EU in this process is to eliminate the reasons which cause ethnic conflicts in the continent and to prevent the escalation of minority-related problems into the EU territory. Slovakia which experienced a difficult accession process depending on the fulfilment of political criterion, constitutes an important case for the evaluation of minority clause. This thesis examines minority issue in a historical framework and specifically investigates the implementation of the Copenhagen criteria&rsquo / s minority clause in the EU&rsquo / s enlargement process. EU&rsquo / s conditionality which is its main tool in the enlargement, lacks clear-cut norms and standards regarding minority rights. Furthermore, there is a duality between internal and external policies of the Union on the issue of minority rights. In addition to this duality, the approach of the Union towards minority issue acquires a different character in different accession processes. This thesis argues that the lack of well-defined norms and standards, the duality between EU&rsquo / s internal and external minority policies and changing approaches of the Union in different accession processes complicate the implementation and the monitoring of minority clause giving rise to allegations of double standards in the enlargement process.

The main aim of this study was to reveal the prevailing social representations of European Union. In order to fulfill the aim, first a semi-structured interview was conducted to 13 demographically different individuals and the content analysis of the interviews revealed five categories namely, Turkey&rsquo / s membership to EU, Problems of Turkey, Structure of EU, EU as Disadvantageous and EU as Advantageous. Second, in order to examine the media representation of EU, three newspapers representing different political views were qualitatively analyzed and the dimensions of EU as a must, EU as a threat, and EU as difficult were exposed. Finally, according to the thematic units and categories generated from the qualitative analyses / a &ldquo / Social Representations of EU&rdquo / scale was formed and applied to 243 university students. Four sub-scales, namely EU membership is disadvantageous, EU membership is advantageous, religious and cultural threats and EU membership is difficult were extracted from the scale with the reliability coefficients varying from .61 to .88. In order to investigate whether the different factors of social representations of EU are differing on particular dimensions as political view, exposure to media, newspapers read or SES levels, variance analyses were performed. On the other hand, for answering the question of whether the representations of EU could be predicted from life expectations, perceived political agenda or individual dimensions multiple regression analyses were held. Significant differences were found in EU membership is disadvantageous representation in terms of university (Gazi University-METU), gender, and political views of newspapers read. EU membership is advantageous representation differed along the levels of gender and newspapers read. Religious and cultural threats were to be differed along the levels of university, gender, political view, newspapers read and exposure to media. Finally significant differences in EU as difficult representation was found in terms of the ideology of the newspapers read. Feelings toward EU and evaluation of the membership dimensions were found to contribute to the prediction of EU as disadvantageous, EU as advantageous, religious and cultural threats, and EU as difficult representations. Moreover, religious and cultural threats representation is significantly predicted from political view and media exposure.

This thesis departs from the idea that the political behaviors of the Iraqi Kurds will play important roles in shaping of the future of Iraq in particular and the Middle East in general. Based on this idea, this thesis analyzes the perceptions of Iraqi Kurds towards new political and economic developments in Iraq appeared after American invasionin 2003. The research questions of the thesis are the following:what are the perceptions of Iraqi Kurds of their leaders Jelal Talabani and Mesud Barzani, who are considered to represent all Iraqi Kurds, of new socio-political developments in Iraq, for the political situation in Northern Iraq, of the status of Kirkuk, of foreign support and of Turkey. In order to find answers of these questions, this thesis evaluates the results of interviews and inquiries made with Iraqi Kurds. In order to contextualize the perceptions of Iraqi Kurds, this thesis also focuses its attention on the domestic and international dimensions of the issue. By doing this, it aims to show how both dimensions affect each other in terms of escalating the Kurdish problem in Iraq. Furthermore, it emphasizes on how the international and domestic evolution of the issue played roles in determining of perceptions and ideas in the region.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the validity of the main concepts of metacognitive theory in a Turkish sample and set the stage for metacognitive research in Turkey from the clinical psychology perspective. In addition to this, research attention was focused on two important topics remained to be empirically validated in the metacognition literature: (1) the unique contributions of &ldquo / cognitive content&rdquo / versus &ldquo / metacognition&rdquo / to the prediction of anxiety and depression symptoms, and (2) the vulnerability function of metacognitions in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms. To achieve these generic aims of the study, a two-step research plan each of which has its own specific objectives was followed. Data for cross-sectional and prospective parts of the study were collected from Turkish and British non-clinical samples. In the cross-sectional part, mainly the independent contribution of metacognitions to pathological worry, obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, and anxiety and depressive symptoms above and beyond the contribution of cognitive content was evaluated. By doing so, also the relationship patterns between metacognitions and psychological symptomatology were revealed in the Turkish sample. Consistent with the recent burgeoning of research, the association between increased levels of metacognitions and increased levels of anxiety and depression was shown in the Turkish sample, as well. Moreover, metacognitive factors were found to be associated with the symptoms of anxiety and depression independently of the relevant cognitive content. In most analyses, metacognitions emerged as slightly stronger predictors of a given symptom dimension compared to the relevant cognitive content. In the prospective part, the causal role of metacognitions following stress in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms was examined. In the Turkish sample, higher levels of negative beliefs about worry predicted augmentation in anxiety and depression symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. Besides, higher levels of lack of cognitive confidence interacted with higher levels of daily hassles to predict intensification of the anxiety scores. However, the British data did not support the causal role of metacognitions in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms. The statistical comparisons between Turkish and British samples indicated that the Turkish sample has a tendency to score significantly higher than the British sample on the metacognitive variables. Moreover, for all but one metacognitive factor, the interactions with cultural group (Turkish vs. British) were not significant in predicting psychopathology, indicating generalization of metacognitive theory to both the Turkish and British samples. Findings of this study were well in line with the metacognitive theory and discussed in the light of the relevant literature.

This thesis studies the representation of the Ottoman Orient in Eighteenth Century English Literature. The thesis argues that a comprehensive understanding of the representation of the Ottoman Orient in 18th century English literature requires a new perspective / thus investigates different aspects of the interaction between the Ottoman Orient and 18th century Europe. Said&#039 / s Orientalism discusses how European writers created a separate discourse to represent the Orient. The present thesis does not completely reject Said&#039 / s arguement / rather it argues that there was also a negotiating tendency which did not make radical distinction between the East and the West. Relying on 18th century pseudo-oriental letters, oriental tales and oriental travelogues the study tries to indicate that representation of the Ottoman Orient in 18th century English literature was different from the earlier centuries because developig critical and liberal spirit established a negotiation between the two worlds. The negotiation of the two worlds has been studied as a significant theme of the pseudo-oriental letters, oriental tales and oriental travelogues. The present study tried to indicate how the critical and inquisitive spirit of the age of Enlightenment interanimated Oreiental and European cultures.