This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive description and analysis of Al-Qaeda affiliates fighting in Syria. The implications for Middle Eastern Security, US foreign policy and Islamic extremism in the future are projected.

Over the last three decades, many women and men who were political prisoners in the Middle East have come to Canada as immigrants and refugees. In their countries of origin, they resisted oppressive social policies, ideologies, and various forms of state violence. Their journeys of forced migration/exile took them away from their country, families, and friends, but they arrived in Canada with memories of violence, resistance and survival. These former political prisoners did not want the sacrifices that they and their colleagues had made to be forgotten. They needed to find effective ways to communicate these stories. This research was conducted from a critical feminist‒anti-racist perspective, and used life history research to trace the journey of one such group of women and men. This group of former political prisoners has been meeting together, using art as a mode of expression to share their experiences, inviting others to join their resistance against state violence. Interviews were conducted with former political prisoners and their supporters and artist facilitators who were part of the art workshops, performances, and exhibits held in Toronto, Canada from January 2010 through December 2011. This dissertation examines the importance of memory projects and of remembering in acts of public testimony and the significance of providing spaces for others to bear witness to those stories. This research also contributes to the body of knowledge about the role that remembering, consciousness, and praxis play in individual and community recovery, rebuilding community, and continued resistance.

La tesi esplora i rapporti del fascismo con i culti a-cattolici e mediorientali, oltre che con alcuni fenomeni politico-spirituali dell’Estremo Oriente. Essa muove da questi interrogativi: quali erano nel fascismo i legami tra il pensiero e l’azione? Quale ruolo era riconosciuto allo “spirito”? Il regime intendeva creare una religione politica? E’ esistito un sincretismo fascista? La fonte principale della tesi è costituita dalle riviste politiche del regime, che consentono di cogliere le finalità strategiche della politica religiosa fascista. L’adozione di questa fonte ha sollevato ulteriori interrogativi: si può individuare nelle riviste una linea di pensiero univoca sulle religioni? Come contribuirono al sincretismo fascista? La tesi si articola in tre capitoli. Il primo è dedicato alla dottrina e alla mistica fascista, il secondo è relativo ai rapporti tra il fascismo e le confessioni a-cattoliche (evangelismo italiano, Chiesa ortodossa del Dodecanneso e Chiese copte eritrea ed etiopica), il terzo indaga invece i contatti con l’ebraismo e l’Islam e include una breve disamina dei rapporti tra il fascismo, il nazionalismo indiano, il gandhismo e il nazionalismo giapponese. La tesi illumina aspetti poco considerati del ventennio, che devono essere indagati per comprendere appieno l’ideologia del regime e la sua azione politica. / The thesis explores the relationship between fascism and the non-catholic and middle-eastern cults, along with some political-spiritual phenomena of the Far East. It expands from these questions: what were the links between thought and action under fascism? What role was the “spirit” given? Did the regime intend to create a political religion? Has a fascist syncretism ever existed? The main source of the thesis is comprised of the political journals, which allow to understand the final goals of fascist religious politics. Its adoption has raised further questions: is it possible to identify a univocal thought on the religions in fascist journals? How did they contribute to the fascist syncretism? The thesis branches into three chapters. The first is dedicated to the fascist doctrine and mysticism, the second is pertaining to the relationship between fascism and the non-catholic denominations (Italian evangelicalism, the Orthodox Church of the Dodecanese, and Eritrean and Ethiopian Coptic Churches), the third investigates the contacts with Hebraism and Islam and includes an examination of the links between fascism, Indian nationalism, Gandhism and Japanese nationalism. The thesis illuminates unknown aspects of fascism, which must be investigated to fully comprehend the ideology of the regime and its political action.

This thesis explores how today’s Sheherazades, in this case women photographers from the Middle East, create alternative representations that constitute new meanings and understandings of life, gender, and politics in Iran and the Arab world.

Teilw. zugl.: New York, University, Diss., 1986.

Thesis -- Departmental honors in International Relations. / Spine title: Islamists as instruments of change: a study on democratization. Includes bibliography: ℓ. 105-110.

Basiert auf der Diss. Univ. Brüssel, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

The study of intractable conflicts has risen in recent years particularly with the work of Daniel Bar-Tal’s work on the ethos of conflict. The ethos of conflict is an original psychological concept that captures the collective societal mindset of cultures locked in intractable conflicts and examines the various factors that keep groups in conflict or help them towards peace. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is arguably the most researched, publicized, and discussed intractable conflict in history. The purpose of this paper is to first examine the foundation of that intractable conflict through the lens of Bar-Tal’s theory and apply it once more how it has changed in the modern day. Particularly, this paper focuses on how the change in power structure in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has prioritized the different elements of the ethos of conflict differently for both sides. In the beginning of the conflict, both groups held equitable power that caused them to have similar manifestations of the ethos of conflict. Working with the foundation of Bar-Tal’s theory, this paper provides an analysis of how Israel’s rise to power in the conflict influences different prioritizations of the ethos of conflict for both parties.

Entre les dernières décennies du XXe siècle et les années 1960 naît et se développe en Égypte une importante production littéraire de femmes : des Égyptiennes éduquées en français (comme Out-el-Kouloub et Doria Shafik) choisissent cette langue pour dire les aspirations de la « femme nouvelle », qui quitte alors l'espace privé et confiné du harem pour investir l'espace public et porter haut et fort, malgré les réticences séculaires et les résistances des milieux conservateurs, des revendications sociales (féminisme, nationalisme) et culturelles. Des Françaises comme Jehan d'Ivray ou Valentine de Saint-Point s'installent à cette même période en Égypte, et deviennent les témoins et les actrices de cette Renaissance culturelle. Ces auteures investissent divers genres littéraires comme le roman et la poésie mais aussi l'essai ou l'écrit de recherche universitaire, elles publient dans des périodiques, ou créent des revues pour se dire. Elles mettent ainsi à l'épreuve les catégories opposant genres dits féminins et genres dits masculins. Elles contribuent à élaborer une œuvre interculturelle prenant en compte les traditions génériques françaises et égyptiennes, et proposent un renouvellement de la représentation de la femme et de l'Orient. Les écrits littéraires de femmes rassemblent une production très vaste mais qui demeure pourtant peu connue, peu rééditée et peu lue de nos jours, alors même qu'elle jouissait parfois d'une véritable reconnaissance des lecteurs et des institutions littéraires à l'époque de leur parution. Notre travail a consisté à constituer un corpus, c'est-à-dire à l'identifier, à le rassembler, à le classer avant de l'analyser. Il s'agit d'écrire un chapitre oublié de l'histoire littéraire et de s'interroger sur le statut de la littérature des femmes et de la littérature francophone dans la tradition critique. / An important literary production emerged and developed in Egypt from the end of the 19th century until the 1960's: Egyptian women educated in French culture (like Out-el-Kouloub or Doria Shafik) chose this language to write the ambitions of the “new woman”, who was abandoning the private and confined space of the harem and investing public space to loudly proclaim cultural and social demands (feminism, nationalism), despite secular reluctance and resistance from conservatives. At the same time, French women such as Jehan d'Ivray or Valentine Saint-Point, settled to live in Egypt, and became witnesses and actors of this cultural renaissance. These authors adopted various literary genres such as the novel and poetry but also the essay or academic writing, publishing in periodicals or founding magazines in order to express themselves. They question the contradiction between so-called women's and men's literary genres, while contributing to the creation of intercultural literature which encompasses both French and Egyptian traditions. At the same time, they propose a reassessment of the representations of women and the East. This women's literature forms a large production which nevertheless remains relatively unknown as it is rarely republished or read today, even though it often received considerable attention from both readers and literary institutions at the time of publication. This thesis builds a corpus, identifying, collecting and classifying the works before analyzing them. It aims at writing a forgotten chapter of literary history while examining the status of women's literature and francophone literature in the critical tradition.

O presente trabalho se propõe a descrever e analisar a política externa brasileira para o Oriente Médio no governo do presidente Luís Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). O Brasil – conjuntamente com seus vizinhos sul americanos – buscou retomar e estreitar suas relações com essa região, que, historicamente, sempre apresentou-se como sendo não tradicional na atuação internacional brasileira. Assim, a política externa brasileira para o Oriente Médio é descrita e analisada, sendo identificados brevemente os antecedentes desta política desde o final da década de 1940 até os governos militares e o período de pós-democratização do País. A redescoberta recíproca das duas regiões representa vasto potencial ainda por se realizar no campo das relações bilaterais, tendo tido destaque no período o advento da Cúpula América do Sul-Países Árabes (ASPA). Diante dos novos contornos conduzidos pelo governo Lula do diálogo brasileiro e sul americano com os países do Oriente Médio, o objetivo principal deste trabalho é analisar a evolução dessas relações. Dentre as variáveis a serem investigadas, o trabalho aborda as características da política externa brasileira oriundas do setor externo como fator supletivo ao desenvolvimento nacional. Ademais, o trabalho possui como hipótese principal o fato de que houve uma similaridade de abordagem entre as políticas externas dos governos brasileiros para o Oriente Médio em razão do caráter desenvolvimentista da política exterior brasileira, que passou por ajustes ao longo do governo Lula. Além dos objetivos econômicos buscados anteriormente, novas atribuições foram somadas às relações com a região, sobretudo, de cunho político e social, bem como de cooperação. Houve um incremento das trocas comerciais entre as partes e, no campo político, o Brasil procurou exercer um papel de mediador nos conflitos da região nunca antes perpetrado pelo Brasil. / This paper aims to describe and analyze the Brazilian foreign policy for the Middle East under President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). Brazil – together with its South American neighbors – sought to resume and strengthen its relations with the region, which, historically, has always presented itself as being not in the traditional Brazilian international relations. Thus, Brazil's foreign policy in the Middle East is discussed, starting briefly with the background to this policy since the late 1940s until the military governments and the post-democratization of Brazil. The mutual rediscovery of the two regions has a vast potential yet to be realized in the field of bilateral relations, emerging as highlight in the period the Summit of South American-Arab Countries (ASPA). Faced with the new contours conducted by the Lula government dialogue with Brazilian and South American countries with the Middle East, the main objective of this paper is to analyze the evolution of these relations. Among the variables to be investigated, the paper addresses the characteristics of Brazilian foreign policy coming from the external sector as a supplementary factor for national development. Moreover, the work has as main hypothesis the fact that there was a similarity of approach between the foreign policies of the Brazilian government to the Middle East because of the developmental character of Brazilian foreign policy, which was adjusted along the Lula government. In addition to economic goals pursued previously, new tasks were added to the relations with the region, mainly, political and social, as well as cooperative. There was an increase of trade among the parties and, in the political field, Brazil has sought to play a mediating role in conflicts in the region never before perpetrated by the country.