This thesis analyzes the official propaganda campaign carried out under the rule of President Saparmurat (Niyazov) Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan. Following a brief overview of the historical evolution of the state, society and culture in Turkmenistan to provide a better understanding of the social and historical context in which propaganda was pursued / the main objectives and themes of the propaganda campaign are discussed. Besides other means of propaganda, Rukhnama, the spirit-book of Turkmen written by Turkmenbashi, and women are examined in greater detail as case studies of basic means of propaganda. The thesis finally discusses the outcomes of the propaganda campaign together with a glance at the changes and continuities displayed in policies of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the successor of Turkmenbashi.

This thesis aims to problematize the assumptions behind the glorification of civil society as a new and progressive actor in politics along with their political and ideological implications. It is argued that the assumptions behind the glorification of civil society are conceptually misleading and politically disabling. The portrayal of &ldquo / civil society&rdquo / or &ldquo / global civil society&rdquo / as a homogenous as well as inherently democratic and peaceful sphere that is opposed to an equally homogenous power-seeking state has emerged as a necessity for attributing emancipatory meanings to the concept. One of the most important implications of this conceptualization has been the taming of politics since the state, which is conventionally understood as the main site for political struggle, has apparently been devalued as a respectable political target to be fought over. Interestingly, the taming of politics through a glorified civil society has become a popular discourse shared and reproduced by both the New Right and certain sections of the Left. The thesis sheds light to the development of such a discourse at the global level as well as in Turkey within the context of the rise and spread of neoliberal globalization.

The European Union as a sui generis political system has become an attractive subject of inquiry especially within the last decade. By expanding into ever new areas of integration and by widening its competences, the Union has become a complex structure. As a result, the Union has started to be perceived as an entity remote from its citizens. Therefore the debate on the future of Europe has intensified and the legitimacy of the Union has started to be questioned. With this questioning process, the emphasis has begun to be put on creating new channels to reach the Union&amp / #8217 / s citizens. Within this context, the literature has focused on the importance of a European civil society. The desire to establish a deeper European political integration by constructing a European public space has made the European civil society a popular concept. On the other hand, the community institutions have also started to introduce policies to increase the role of civil society in order to close the gap between the Union and its citizens. In this respect, it can be argued that this process has been intensified after the publication of White Paper on European Governance. In the White Paper, the Commission has underlined the significance of a European civil society to strengthen the ties between the citizens and the EU. Then, a further step was taken by the Convention on the Future of the European Union. With the Convention, for the first time citizens and their representatives participated in the decision-making concerning the future shape of the Union. This is an important departure from the past and an essential step in the direction of a public debate on the prospective characteristics of European governance and democracy. This debate has raised interesting questions about the relationship between democracy, subsidiarity, efficiency and governance. Within this context, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze whether the development of an organized European civil society, which gains prominence by forms of governance developed by the EU, is perceived as a part of the solution to get the Union closer to its citizens. In this respect, the question of to what extent the European civil society is perceived as an arena, where EU citizens can exercise their rights beyond the nation-state will be discussed. In addition, different attitudes of the community institutions concerning European civil society will be also examined.

In this thesis,it has been aimed to evaluate the claims of which argue that the human rights thought has been firstly formulated by Francisco de Vitoria and Bartolome de Las Casas in the early sixteenth century Spain.

This thesis analyzes the ignored humanitarian concerns in the development of the EU Asylum Policy. As a result of the strict migration control concerns, EU has engaged in forming a new regional refugee protection system which is tacitly based on limiting the access of protection seekers to the EU territories. In that context, the thesis aims to assess the scope and impact of the externalizing tendencies in the EU asylum policy development and thereby aims to attract the attention to the contradiction that EU falls in its human rights and refugee protection commitments while trying to prevent refugees from arriving to the Union&rsquo / s territories. To this aim, after giving a general account of the development of EU Asylum competence, the thesis will extensively deal with the pre-entry and the post-entry access prevention measures which act to serve to this access prevention strategy. Under pre-entry access prevention measures, the thesis will deal with the visa requirement, carrier sanctions and other complementary tools which prevent the protection seekers from ever arriving at the EU territory. Under the post-entry access prevention mechanisms the thesis will analyze the &lsquo / safe third country&rsquo / and &lsquo / host third country&rsquo / implementations and readmission agreements which aim to divert the protections seekers summarily out of the EU territories. In analyzing these policies, the thesis will try to demonstrate how EU Member States try to shirk their non-refoulment obligation, which is the heart of the refugee protection regime, through applying legitimate deemed means.