The aim of this thesis is to examine the nature of Russian foreign policy towards Iraq in the post-Soviet era. This thesis argues that the Russian foreign policy towards Iraq in the post-Soviet era has been primarily determined by Russia&rsquo / s self-interests which are mainly defined in economic terms. The thesis follows the realist approach to international relations. It also emphasizes the importane of economic factors in foreign policy making process. The thesis consists of five chapters: In Chapter 1, the thesis is introduced. Chapter 2 explains the Soviet-Iraqi relations from a historical perspective. This is followed by Chapter 3 where Russian foreign policy towards Iraq under Boris Yeltsin is examined. Next, Chapter 4 discusses the Russian foreign policy towards Iraq under Vladimir Putin. Then, Chapter 5 assesses the economic factors, socio-political factors and international factors affecting Russian foreign policy makers in the post-Soviet era. The last chapter concludes the thesis.

The present study considers the treatment of failed States in international law. State failure represents a relatively recent phenomenon, which presents novel problems for the international community to deal with. For international law, the principles and experience of dealing with the creation, continuity and extinction of States present the nearest analogies, and so will form the basis of its responses to failure. Failure is defined as governmental and societal collapse in a State, so severe as to render it incapable of exercising internal and external sovereignty. It is likely to take the form of either conflictual implosion - such as in Somalia; or fragmentary explosion - as in Yugoslav ia. Accordingly, an examination of the treatment of these two failed States, during the early 1990s, provides the substantive basis of the study. The key aspects of Statehood under which the study proceeds are: loss of government as a criterion of Statehood; self-determination, including the emerging right of democratic governance; and recognition. Consideration of the Somali and Yugoslav experiences of failure, and their treatment under the three areas identified, evidences a strong inertia in the international system against findings of State failure - the Somali experience. The only exception is if such a finding is coupled with a potential solution, such as the possible emergence of new States - the Yugoslav experience. The determinations constitute a meta-legal process, which can be seen as indicative of a new conception of 'political international law'.

This thesis explores the trade related aspects of environmental standards. It assesses the potential for trade related conflict between Developed and Developing countries arising out of Unilateral Environmental Action (UEA). Furthermore it analyses the concept of Mutual Recognition (MR) and Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) to understand how the inherent characteristics may potentially be utilized to reduce friction in international trade while implementing standards. The thesis also looks at the WTO compatibility of environmental standards, UEAs and MRAs. It uses a “Black Letter” methodology of doctrinal analysis, concentrating on doctrinal principles associated with the transnational governance of environmental standards and includes the analysis of statutes and cases of the WTO.

The thesis critically examines the view that associates religion with bellicosity in politics. It is argued that the structural link between religion and the propensity to (political) violence is inaccurate because (1) religious theories of just war can be shown to be tolerant of difference in important instances and thus not belligerent; (2) secular ideology can be shown to be intolerant and bellicose in important cases; and consequently (3) the more important explanatory factor of bellicosity is not necessarily religion but it can be found elsewhere. It is argued that the true source lies in the association of a monistic ideological commitment and the willingness of its political agents to impose it on those with different ideological views. The thesis is a critical and comparative discussion of those who have dealt with ideological violence. It compares interventionist theorists with those who are not in religious tradition and contemporary theory of just war to reveal that the cause of violence is located in an avoidable failure to reconcile religious morality and politics. The thesis adds a new perspective on the debate, calling for a rethink of the relationship between religion and violence in politics. It also proposes greater scepticism about widely held assumptions about the bellicose tendency of religiously motivated political agents, arguing that theorists should rethink the real cause of bellicosity beyond the religious domain and pay closer critical attention to the sources of the belligerence of secular agents.

In response to the fact that academic projects on lay participation in China written in English have been very scarce, and also the views of the three schools of Chinese scholars, this thesis will conduct a thorough review of lay participation in China. Chapter 1 of this thesis firstly outlines the worldwide situation regarding lay participation. Chapter 2 sets out the historical background to the growth of lay participation in China, by recounting the various forms of and experiments with lay participation during China’s history. Chapters 3 and 4 study the status quo of the sole form of lay participation in China today, that is, the mixed tribunal system. Chapter 5 looks into the contribution that lay participation could potentially make to Chinese society. Chapter 6 offers some proposals with regard to the prospective direction for developing lay participation in China, from a realistic perspective. The thesis finds that lay participation has been neither declining worldwide, nor has been absent during China’s history. It also finds that although the mixed tribunal system in China today faces an array of problems, lay participation may potentially contribute to Chinese society in terms of a better justice system and improved democracy. After clarifying the prospects for continuing lay participation in China and proposing possible reformative measures, my thesis concludes that the system, with careful reconstruction, deserves a position in China’s future legal system; and that the leftist proposal, to abolish lay participation in China, should be rejected.

In the contemporary political world order that continues to be structured by the principle of national sovereignty, states remain the most important instrument for the delivery of rights. If we want to understand how human rights can be realized in practice, we therefore have to study the conditions and processes of their institutionalization on the state level. While the United Kingdom was relatively slow, compared to other western European democracies, in the domestic institutionalization of international human rights norms and standards, governments in Britain have between 1998 and 2008 created a complex human rights regime that still awaits a comprehensive analysis and assessment. This thesis fills that gap. Focusing on the Human Rights Act as the legal centerpiece, the Joint Committee on Human Rights as the parliamentary scrutiny body, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission for Great Britain as the largest human rights commission, this thesis examines the extent to which the British Human Rights Regime has contributed to the institutionalization of human rights in the UK. To that end, it develops and deploys the sociological ideal type of the human rights state as a qualitative analytical framework and as an external benchmark that is able to integrate the legal, political, and wider societal dimensions of effective human rights institutionalization. Based on the thematic analysis of case law, official documents and elite interviews with public officials, this thesis argues that the Human Rights Act, the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have contributed to a significant institutional change in the domestic recognition and protection of human rights. They have introduced new rights norms and safeguards into British law, established new mechanisms for judicial and political rights review, and brought about important legislative and policy changes. Yet, their efficacy suffers from structural limitations that have been imposed so as not to fundamentally disturb the concentration of political power in the executive which is preserved by the constitutional doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. In the Westminster system of parliamentary government, this doctrine continues to allow the executive to dominate the legislative process without strong constitutional human rights safeguards that would be domestically enforceable against primary legislation. While the preservation of parliamentary sovereignty was a key political requirement that enabled progress to the present state of domestic human rights institutionalization, it also prevents the sustainable entrenchment of human rights as fundamental and universally binding norms for the legitimate exercise of all juridical, legislative and executive state power, thereby leaving the British Human Rights Regime at permanent risk of abolishment or degradation.

Peacekeeping, which was born as an innovation of the United Nations system in an ad hoc way, has transformed in the post-Cold War. In the post-Cold War era, the number of peacekeeping operations increased, new tasks were introduced and the end goal of the operations has changed. Besides, the prevailing understanding of UN peacekeeping has transformed thereby leading us to use the terms peacebuilding and peace operations rather than mere peacekeeping. While during the Cold War era, peacekeeping meant to supervise the ceasefire after interstate conflicts, in the post-Cold War era, peace operations have been mostly utilised in internal conflicts with a view to bring sustainable peace in the lands of internal conflicts. Furthermore, while during the Cold War era, peacekeeping mainly concerned peace/security and sovereignty upon the conflicts / human security and socio-economic development have been embedded into the agenda of peace operations in the post-Cold War era. This thesis offers two dynamics based on a normative change as the underlying cause behind this transformation. In the post-Cold War era, international norms have changed and brought a new parameter: internal conflicts are to be responded. Based on this normative change, the first dynamic is related with the challenge, which internal conflicts pose for peace operations, and the second dynamic is the rise of liberal internationalism, which tends to organise domestic realms of the states.

This thesis assesses whether the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) could evolve as an effective foreign policy tool of the EU. It aims to analyze the ENP&rsquo / s impact on the EU foreign policy in general and the Union&rsquo / s transformative capacity over its neighbours in particular. To this purpose, the thesis initially explores the underlying motives behind the origins and emergence of the ENP and further elaborates its policy framework and its phase of implementation so far. The thesis then identifies the limits of the ENP, namely the internal and external constraints of the policy and on the basis of these shortcomings, discusses the overall impact of the ENP on the EU foreign policy. More specifically, the thesis focuses on the ENP&rsquo / s impact analysis for the EU&rsquo / s transformative capacity in its direct neighbourhood. Finally, the thesis assesses the main reasons of why it seems unlikely that the ENP could not evolve as a fully-fledged foreign policy tool for the Union and highlights the need for a major reform or re-adjustment of the policy.

ABSTRACT INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY AND THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST: A STATE OF THE FIELD STUDY Tekelioglu, Ahmet Selim M.Sc., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Meliha AltuniSik January 2009, 82 pages This thesis analyzes the level of interaction between International Relations theories and the literature on the international relations of the Middle East. The disciplines- area studies controversy is analyzed in a way to account for the low level of cooperation between International Relations as an academic discipline and Middle East studies. The thesis looks into the literature in order to demonstrate to what extent developments in International Relations theories informed the study of the international relations of the Middle East. The thesis emphasizes the need for a normative/ critical aprroach in order to overcome the bridge beween these fields caused by epistemological and methodological as well as by the political economy of scholarship informed by ideological rivalries.

This thesis analyzes Russian foreign policy towards Azerbaijan in the post-Soviet era. The dissolution of the Soviet Union paved the way for the independence of Azerbaijan. This development necessitated the redefinition of the relationship between Russia and Azerbaijan. However, post-Soviet Russia was reluctant to treat Azerbaijan as a fully independent state that could develop its relations other states freely. In this way, Moscow sought to keep Azerbaijan under its own sphere of influence. To this purpose, Russia used its influence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the development of the Caspian Sea energy resources as its two main policy instruments for controlling Azerbaijan. When Vladimir Putin was elected as the President of Russia in 2000, it was not clear whether the previous Russian foreign policy towards Azerbaijan would continue as in the past or change. The developments between 2000 and 2005 show that Vladimir Putin changed the previous Russian stance on the Caspian Sea energy resources and took more collaborative posture towards Azerbaijan. However, Putin continued the earlier Russian position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This study argues that there has been both change and continuity in Russian foreign policy towards Azerbaijan since Vladimir Putin&rsquo / s rise to Russia&rsquo / s presidency in 2000. In this sense, Russian foreign policy under Putin could be conceptualized mainly as a pragmatic foreign policy. This conceptualization makes it possible to identify both change and continuity in Russian foreign policy towards Azerbaijan.