This study is concerned with the biography of Atabeg Zangi and the conditions prevailing during his reign; it contains a survey of relevant sources and notes on modern works which render information reflecting the subject. It is in six chapters together with an appendix concerning his titles. The first of the chapters endeavours to portray the background to his life by a biographical survey of his childhood, training and youthful development, the changing circumstances of which finally produced the great and even ruthless Atabeg who ruled Mosul. In the second chapter his service to the Seliuqs in the East and West are discussed. The struggles for power between the Maliks and Zangi's involvement with them is its theme, together with the role played by the 'Abbasid Caliphate. Chapter three deals with Zangi's conflicts with the Latin States in the East. His wars against the Crusaders are discussed here as also are their dealings with the Atabegs of Damascus, followed by Zangi's endeavours to rule that city. An expedition led by the Byzantine Emperor, John II Comnenus, is described in chapter four. In this, his project for the capture of the Muslim towns In Syria is the chief topic as is also Zangi's reaction against the Byzantines. In chapter five, the Turcomans and Zangi's operations against them in Shahrazur, the Artuqids in Hisn Kayfa and Mardin and the Kurds in the north of Mosul are the main theme. The final and sixth chapter which deals with the revolt of Malik Farrukh-Shah, for whom Zangi acted as Atabeg, and the siege of Qal'at Ja'bar, ends with the murder of Zangi during this, his last operation.

The conventional understanding behind how the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has formulated its decisions and subsequently behaved in the international system has consistently centered on the role of market forces. Either proactively or reactively, it has been assumed that OPEC’s actions were merely engaging and responding to the supply and demand dynamics in the global economy. Though space was always given to the political considerations of certain OPEC Member States, and how that impacts the behavior of the Organization, inquiry into OPEC decision-making and behavior has generally centered on economic considerations, with politics playing an intermittent supporting role. This work challenges the assumptions behind the conventional narrative of OPEC’s behavior in the international system. By utilizing a historically-based process tracing method, relying heavily on archival data from OPEC’s headquarters and declassified American national security documents from the late 1940s to the present, a more sophisticated model of decision-making and behavior is developed. Accordingly, OPEC’s decisions and behavior are more accurately a product of four inter-related determinants: the role of market forces, the influence of outside actors (usually great powers) upon the Organization, interstate relations and politics among Member States, and the pressure of the internal state dynamics within OPEC Member States. It is at the intersection of these four variables where OPEC’s behavior is more readily understood. Thus, with a sophisticated understanding of the interplay of these determinants, OPEC’s decision-making process and behavior can be more accurately understood and possibly forecasted to a limited degree.

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.

Inom terrorismforskningen har flera teorier presenterats som förklaringar till varför och hur stater drabbas av terrorism. En stor del av diskursen handlar dock om ursprunget till terrorism och en betydligt mindre del om hur stater skall hantera detta problem. En av de förhållandevis få teoretiska slutsatser som föreslår hur stater bör agera och förhålla sig till terrorism är netwar-konceptet. Det är de positiva antagandena i detta större normativa teoretiska koncept som jag valt att undersöka närmare i uppsatsen. John Arquilla och David Ronfeldt, forskarna bakom netwar, hävdar att stater måste börja organisera sig på samma sätt som terroristgrupperna för att nå framgång i sin bekämpning av dem. De förordar ett nytt sätt för staten hur den bör betrakta dessa motståndare. Till grund för en normativ teori föreligger vanligtvis flera positiva teorier eller antaganden. Det normativa i denna teori, uttalandet om hur stater bör agera, underbyggs av positiva antaganden om hur verkligheten ser ut. För att någon längre fram skall kunna uttala sig om teorins rådgivande slutsatser, om hur det bör ske, behövs först en matchning av hur väl de positiva antagandena stämmer överens med verkligheten. I den positiva delen av teorin beskriver Arquilla och Ronfeldt teoretiskt hur terroristgrupper, netwarriors, är uppbyggda och fungerar. Forskarna bakom netwar-konceptet ställer det relativt kontroversiella anspråket att teorin passar all sorts terrorism. Genom att kartlägga hur väl den teoretiska beskrivningen av en netwarrior passar på en slags terrorismgrupp vill jag försöka komma fram till huruvida teorins normativa del kan anses ha väl underbyggda antaganden.

Este trabalho trata de mostrar que nem todos os árabes eram nômades e que mesmo estes desempenharam um importante papel no desenvolvimento social, cultural e artístico da antiguidade pré-islâmica, pois foram eles os responsáveis pela transmissão e conhecimentos existentes na época, e que colocaram em contato os pontos mais distantes desta vasta região. Também os árabes sedentários participaram ativamente do processo político desta área durante o império romano, parta, e mais tarde sassânida e bizantino. A pesquisa acentua o fato da arquitetura do Islão ter sido formada a partir das tradições regionais das populações islamizadas e de sua obediência e entendimento de um livro religioso, o Alcorão, que regulou a sociedade, e em decorrência a sua maneira de ver o mundo e de se relacionar com o espaço e com as expressões artísticas. A análise dos eventos históricos, das técnicas construtivas e dos edifícios da região estudada [os paises do norte da África, e do Oriente Médio (península arábica, crescente fértil, Irã) tratou de demonstrar o desdobramento que teve na construção do edifício escolhido como representativo da arquitetura árabe e que foi o objeto de análise, a mesquita de Ibn Tülün. Além disso, mostra que durante o primeiro período da expansão islâmica, houve uma intensa fusão de culturas. Esta situação fez com que toda esta região sob a expansão mulçumana se comportasse de maneira similar a da Antigüidade, ou seja, como uma ponte onde trafegaram correntes de pensamento e cultura entre os extremos, o Ocidente e o Oriente Médio. Esta foi uma época de intensa urbanização e fundação de novas cidades e é dentro deste processo de fusão de culturas, que as cidades vão se construindo e dentro delas, os seus principais edifícios, no caso da cidade muçulmana, a mesquita. / This work shows that nor all the Arabs were nomadic and even they had played an important role in the social development, cultural and artistic of pre-Islamic antiquity, because they had been responsible for the transmission and knowledge at this time, and that they had put in contact the points most distant of this vast region. Also the sedentary Arabs had participated actively of the politic process of this area during the Roman empire, Parthian, and later Sassanid and Byzantine. The research points out the fact of the Islamic architecture have been formed from the regional traditions of the muslim populations and their obedience and agreement of a religious book, the Quran, that dictated directions for the society, and so its way of seeing the world and dealing with the space and the artistic expressions. The analysis of the historical events, the building techniques of the studied region [the north African countries, and the Middle East (Arabian peninsula, the Fertile Crescent, Iran) it demonstrated the unfolding that it had in the construction of the chosen building as representative of the Arab architecture and it was the analysis object, the Ibn Tülün mosque. Moreover, it shows that during the first moment of the islamic expansion, there had been an intense fusing of cultures. This situation did with this whole area under the Muslim expansion behaved itself in a similar way of the Antiquity, that is, like a bridge where thought and culture crossed from a point to another, the Western and the Middle East. This was a time of intense urbanization and foundation of new cities and it is inside of this process of fusion of cultures, the cities are building and within them, their main building, in the case of the Muslim city, the Mosque.

Studies suggests that there are differences between minorities from the Middle East in Western countries and natives regarding their attitudes to psychiatric illness, where the minority from Middle East have more negative attitudes towards psychiatric illness. While minorities from the Middle East comprise a significant share of the population in Sweden, there is a lack of studies that specifically investigates how their attitudes towards mental illness compares to the attitudes of Swedish born. The aim of this study is to investigate if men and women from the Middle East living in Sweden differ in their attitudes towards mental illness compared to men and women born in Sweden. The investigation is based on CAMI-S three attitude factors: “open-minded/pro-integration”, “fear/avoidance” and “community mental health ideology”. The study is based on questionnaires from 80 respondents, 48 born in Sweden and 32 born in the Middle East, where the respondents have answered questions based on CAMI-S. The answers have been compiled based on the three attitude factors and the relationship between the attitude factors and country of origin and gender have been analyzed with ANOVA. The null hypothesis is that there is no relationship between the three attitude factors and the independent variables “country of origin” and “gender”. The results show that there is a relationship between country of origin and the two first attitude factors, where the respondents from the Middle East had more negative attitudes towards mental illness compared to Swedes. Gender, on the other hand, had no statistically reliable relation with the three attitude factors. The results also indicate that the tool CAMI-S is ill adjusted for individuals with little knowledge of the Swedish care system.

Political-Military Risks for Tourism in the Middle East Abstract The master's thesis analyses the perception of political-military risks for incoming tourism in the Middle East from the perspective of Czech potential tourists. The examined area of the Middle East bears some geographic and geopolitical ideas, that are still absent in the Czech scientific milieu. Tourism in the Middle East also operates in the environment of political-military risks. Scholarly literature suggests that these risks represent one of the main factors influencing the choice of destination. The paper deepens understanding of this relationship by focusing on the perception of political-military risks in space, in terms of their typological diversity, and analyses determinants of this perception. The main research tool, a questionnaire, served to collect data that was analysed through descriptive statistics and statistical inference, as a paired t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis. The findings are mostly in consensus with theoretical knowledge and previous studies. Individual types of political- military risks showed different impact on the perception for realization of tourism. A statistically significant difference exists between violent and non-violent political-military risks. In some cases, however,...

The remnant montane forests of southern Lebanon provide habitat to a rich diversity of endemic, rare and threatened plant and animal species. Prior to the intensification of human activity during the mid-Holocene period these forests covered most of the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountain ranges. What is not known is how the dynamics of these forests changed in response to major shifts in climate. The aim of this DPhil thesis was to document changes in vegetation composition in southern Lebanon during the last glacial period (~112 to 35 ka BP). To achieve this aim, a palynological study was conducted on a sedimentary sequence recovered from Aammiq Wetland located in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Fossil pollen was analysed to reconstruct variability in vegetation composition and abundance. Energy dispersive spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility and loss-on-ignition were used to reconstruct the geomorphological and hydrological processes acting within the wetland and its watershed. Macro and microcharcoal were analysed to reconstruct local and regional fire histories respectively. A chronology was established for this sequence using a combination of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL) techniques. The results indicate significant variability in the composition and abundance of vegetation through the time interval ~ 112 to ~ 35 ka BP closely aligned in time to global and regional climatic events. Changes in the chemical and physical properties of the sediments indicate significant variability in landscape erosion processes and hydrological conditions in the watershed and within the wetland over the similar interval in time. Peaks in local and regional fire activity were concurrent with periods of precession minima and Dansgaard-Oeschger warming events and had a significant impact on the composition of vegetation within the Aammiq region. These findings provide the first account of environmental change in the southern Bekaa Valley and adjacent slopes of the Lebanon Mountains during the last glacial period.

This thesis is a study of gender and honour, focusing on NGO’s who work to support women in Sweden who have escaped honour violence. The purpose of this thesis is to find out and explain how they make sense of honour and more specifically, to investigate how does Swedish authorities can help the Middle Eastern women who are victims under this tradition. My focus through this thesis will be on the data analysis, moreover, using intersectionality as an analytical tool will help to explain the intersections which lead to the honour killings. The results show that the honour violence still exists in the Swedish society as well as the Middle East, in addition, some Middle Eastern people who moved to Sweden still believe and practice the honour culture in the Swedish society. More than that, I got the answers for all the research questions which helped me to clarify the relation between honour and its intersections which helped me to know the reasons why does the Honour violence/killings can happen. The answers agree that the honour violence is connected to the shame and guilt cultures. The meaning of honour is different in different cultures. Most of the honour related cases have women as victims. The honour has many intersections, most of them related to virginity, homosexuality, out marriage relations and rape. The Swedish organisations offer help for the victims of honour.  More than that, reading my thesis will give the reader the understanding of the phenomena of Honour, its intersections and how it does exist in the Middle Eastern culture and its old traditions. / Gender Studies

Since the euphoria of a hard-won independence and the hopes attached to socialist nation-building, Algeria has experienced liberalisation, increasing inequality and civil war. This thesis sets out to explore memories of post-independence nation-building in the 1970s, interrogating the past-present relationship, by asking how Algerians remember their own recent past, and what these memories reveal about contemporary subjectivities. Based on a year of ethnographic fieldwork in the low-income Algiers neighbourhood of Bab el-Oued, the research focuses specifically on memories of politics, urban space and sociability. While the authoritarianism of the period was rejected for its repression of civil liberties, the overwhelming narrative on the period was nostalgic, with the past routinely couched as more positive than the present. Memories of intense social mobility and rising living standards within the context of state-led development, competent urban management and warm neighbourhood relations governed by traditional morality and solidarity were used to critique the present; particularly the retreat of the state from its responsibilities since the 1980s and the fragmented, consumerist society that has emerged from civil conflict since the 1990s. However, social memory also translated a series of principles that demonstrated the continued relevance of the egalitarian claims made by postcolonial nationalism. Popular notions of social justice mapped future aspirations for the Algerian polity. Nostalgia was not only a matter of the past, but of the lost future of material plenty and equality promised by industrial modernisation that once seemed just over the horizon, but is now divorced from present experience. Such memories translated the passing of the dream of mass utopia, even though the modernist principles of equality, justice and progress continued to underpin both daily interactions and the political aspirations of the present.