This study seeks to clarify the identities of the Almoravid and Almohad Berber movements in the larger Crusade narrative. The two North African Islamic groups are often carelessly placed within the group identified as “Islam” in discussions about the series of military campaigns that took place not only in the traditional Holy Land but also throughout regions of the Mediterranean such as Spain; this generalized identifier of “Islam” is placed against a much more complex group of generally Christian parties, all of them seen as separate, unique groups under the umbrella identifier of Christianity. This foray into a late 13thcentury North African Arabic history of the two groups will attempt to build a more robust identity for the two groups. The way in which they were remembered by their immediate successors will reveal far more interesting parties than simply zealous Muslims waging jihad. Their presence in the region is primarily remembered by their military involvement with Christian forces in the region, though the history of Muhammad ibn Idhari, written around 1295, reveals the groups and their ideologies to be far more complicated than simply meets the eye.

This dissertation concerns a crucial episode in the international legal history of nation-building: the Greek-Turkish population exchange. Supported by Athens and Ankara, and implemented largely by the League of Nations, the population exchange showcased the new pragmatism of the post-1919 order, an increased willingness to adapt legal doctrine to local conditions. It also exemplified a new mode of non-military nation-building, one initially designed for sovereign but politico-economically weak states on the semi-periphery of the international legal order. The chief aim here, I argue, was not to organize plebiscites, channel self-determination claims, or install protective mechanisms for vulnerable minorities – all familiar features of the Allied Powers’ management of imperial disintegration in central and eastern Europe after the First World War. Nor was the objective to restructure a given economy and society from top to bottom, generating an entirely new legal order in the process; this had often been the case with colonialism in Asia and Africa, and would characterize much of the mandates system throughout the interwar years. Instead, the goal was to deploy a unique mechanism – not entirely in conformity with European practice, but also distinct from non-European governance regimes – to reshape the demographic composition of Greece and Turkey. I substantiate this argument by marshalling a range of material from international law, legal history, and historical sociology. I first examine minority protection’s development into an instrument of intra-European nation-building during the long nineteenth century, showing how population exchange emerged in the Near East in the 1910s as a radical alternative to minority protection. I then provide a close reading of the travaux préparatoires of the 1922-3 Conference of Lausanne, at which a peace settlement formalizing the exchange was concluded. Finally, I analyze the Permanent Court of International Justice’s 1925 opinion in Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, examining it from the standpoint of wide-ranging disputes concerning the place of religion and ethnicity in the exchange process. My aim throughout is to show that the Greek-Turkish exchange laid the groundwork for a mechanism of legal nation-building which would later come to be deployed in a variety of different contexts but whose precise status under international law would remain contested.

This dissertation concerns a crucial episode in the international legal history of nation-building: the Greek-Turkish population exchange. Supported by Athens and Ankara, and implemented largely by the League of Nations, the population exchange showcased the new pragmatism of the post-1919 order, an increased willingness to adapt legal doctrine to local conditions. It also exemplified a new mode of non-military nation-building, one initially designed for sovereign but politico-economically weak states on the semi-periphery of the international legal order. The chief aim here, I argue, was not to organize plebiscites, channel self-determination claims, or install protective mechanisms for vulnerable minorities – all familiar features of the Allied Powers’ management of imperial disintegration in central and eastern Europe after the First World War. Nor was the objective to restructure a given economy and society from top to bottom, generating an entirely new legal order in the process; this had often been the case with colonialism in Asia and Africa, and would characterize much of the mandates system throughout the interwar years. Instead, the goal was to deploy a unique mechanism – not entirely in conformity with European practice, but also distinct from non-European governance regimes – to reshape the demographic composition of Greece and Turkey. I substantiate this argument by marshalling a range of material from international law, legal history, and historical sociology. I first examine minority protection’s development into an instrument of intra-European nation-building during the long nineteenth century, showing how population exchange emerged in the Near East in the 1910s as a radical alternative to minority protection. I then provide a close reading of the travaux préparatoires of the 1922-3 Conference of Lausanne, at which a peace settlement formalizing the exchange was concluded. Finally, I analyze the Permanent Court of International Justice’s 1925 opinion in Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, examining it from the standpoint of wide-ranging disputes concerning the place of religion and ethnicity in the exchange process. My aim throughout is to show that the Greek-Turkish exchange laid the groundwork for a mechanism of legal nation-building which would later come to be deployed in a variety of different contexts but whose precise status under international law would remain contested.

Notre recherche propose une synthèse sur les pratiques religieuses dans le Proche-Orient romain. Elle trouve son intérêt dans la confrontation de sources variées: textes littéraires et épigraphiques, objets archéologiques et représentations iconographiques. Nous nous sommes donné comme tâche d'étudier ces sources non pas séparément mais de les comparer afin d'identifier les instruments de culte, de les décrire et de déterminer quelle était leur place dans les rites religieux du Proche-Orient romain. Le but de ce travail est de poser les bases d'une nouvelle interprétation des rites de cette région grâce à l'ensemble des données réunies dans un corpus. Notre étude considère les cérémonies religieuses, non pas au travers des mythes ou des divinités, mais par la pratique, par les gestes accomplis au moyen d'objets cultuels laissant apparaître les liens entre sacrifiants, offrandes et dieux. Cette étude permet de souligner la variété des cultes et des rites du Proche-Orient romain et la diversité culturelle de cette région, au carrefour de différentes civilisations et mêlant des traditions orientales, grecques et romaines. / Our research presents a synthesis of the religious practices in the Roman Near East. Its interest is based on the confrontation of various sources: literary and epigraphic texts, archaeological objects and iconography. These sources are not studied separately but comparatively in order to identify the instruments of worship, to describe them and to determine their use in the religious rites of the Roman Near East. The aim of this work is to lay the foundations for a new interpretation of the rites of this region through all the data collected in a corpus. Our study proposes to consider the religious ceremonies, not through myths and deities, but from the practices and the gestures made with cultual objects revealing the links between sacrificers, offerings and gods. This study brings out the variety of cults and rites of the Roman Near East and the cultural diversity of this region, at the crossroads of different civilizations mixing Eastern, Greek and Roman traditions.

Depuis une dizaine d’année, plusieurs études renouvèlent considérablement nos connaissances au sujet des établissements thermaux publics et de leur pratique au Proche-Orient. Malheureusement, aucune synthèse envisageant le phénomène balnéaire dans une perspective d’histoire des mentalités au sein d’une seule cité ne semble avoir été réalisée. Fondé sur une approche archéologique et architecturale, ce travail a pour premier objectif de proposer une synthèse diachronique de l’évolution des huit établissements de bains publics actuellement connus à Gerasa et de leur pratique au cours de l’histoire. La situation observée dans l’ancienne cité de la Décapole est ensuite confrontée à la pratique thermale dans l’antiquité au Proche-Orient, telle qu’elle est aujourd’hui appréhendée, permettant ainsi d’en dégager les correspondances, les dissemblances et les caractéristiques propres au corpus de Gerasa. S’appuyant sur une méthodologie originale, cette étude souligne le rôle profondément hybride de ces établissements disposant naturellement d’installations permettant le nettoyage du corps mais également d’espaces spécifiques et indépendants pour lesquels les fonctions civique, politique et religieuse peuvent être supposées / For a decade, several studies have renewed significantly our knowledge about public baths and their practice in the Middle East. Unfortunately, no synthesis considering the bathing phenomenon in a diachronic perspective of history of mentalities in a single city appears to have been carried out. Based on an archaeological and architectural approach, this work at first intended to propose a diachronic synthesis of the evolution of eight public bath buildings currently known in Gerasa and their practice in history. The situation in the City of the Decapolis is then confronted to the practice of public bath in Antiquity in the Middle East, as it is known today, allowing to identify matches, differences and characteristics of the corpus of Gerasa. Based on an original methodology, this study highlights the deeply hybrid role of these institutions with natural facilities for the cleaning of the body but also specific and independent spaces for which civic, political and religious functions may be assumed

The Tigris and Euphrates are international rivers vital to the four countries through which they flow: Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. The population in the region has more than doubled in less than thirty years, and irrigated agriculture, hydroelectric power generation, industrialization, and urbanization have increased. All of these developments require more water, and the dependence of the riparian nations on the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers has become apparent, as has the need for comprehensive, basin-wide management of water resources. At present the riparians have shown some concern about the management of water in the two rivers, although no consensus exists as to the precise nature of the problem or what should be done to resolve it. This policy-oriented dissertation attempts to help frame the policy issues of managing the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates basin. It also seeks to provide an understanding of the policy process and to meet the intelligence needs of policy-makers with regard to the future management of these international waterways. Finally, it provides strategies for developing and implementing a cooperative water policy for this international basin.

1 Samuel 11:1-11 is royal ideology for the kingship of Saul. The biblical text informs that Saul was divinely sanctioned as leader of Israel. The heroic leadership of Saul was prominent to rescue his people from the imposed national shame by Nahash the Ammonite. The leadership of Saul was endorsed by the spirit of Yahweh. The spirit of Yahweh pinpoints the prophetic connection of Saul with a group of ecstatic prophets from the high place (1 Sm 9). An original textual context for the royal ideology is referred to 1 Samuel 9:1-10:16 that provided a prophetic connection with the royal ideology. 1 Samuel 11:1-11 was involved in various textual and historical processes to form the present text and context. Through delicate redactional intentions the biblical text was incorporated in the macro-context of the royal ideology of David. In 1 Samuel 9:1-10:16 Saul was anointed as nagid by Samuel as the answer for the crying of the people (1 Sm 9:16). The anointing guaranteed a divine sanction for the leadership of Saul (1 Sm 11:1-11). The tradition of Saul (1 Sm 9:1-10:16; 11:1-11) idealized the leadership of Saul as a divinely sanctioned kingship after the defeat of the Ammonites (cf 1 Sm 11:15). However, Saul was judged as the rejected and unfaithful king of Israel throughout the Deuteronomistic History (DH). Strikingly, Saul was connected with the evil origin of the kingship in Israel. The kingship of Saul can be perceived in the background of the ancient Near East (ANE) in terms of royal ideology. A prominent characteristic of the royal ideology in the ANE is to emphasize a divine sanction of the kingship in the ANE. In the ANE the king had to prove his divine sanction for the kingship. The tradition of Saul tells how the kingship of Saul was divinely sanctioned in the perspective of the ANE. On the other hand, the Deuteronomist emphasized the divine sanction of Saul was illegitimate in connection with his prophetic connection with a group of ecstatic prophets from the high place. Further Saul was characterized as lacking of divine knowledge in the DH. The research shows that 1 Samuel 11:1-11 is the royal ideology for Saul. The appearance of the kingship of Saul was inevitable in the critical period of the Israelite history. The leadership of Saul was divinely sanctioned in the prophetic manner. Such a prophetic characteristic of Saul was highly welcomed by the people. It is a comprehensive approach resulting from synthesizing various approaches such as historical critical approaches, new literary approaches, and social scientific approaches. The methodology distinguished embedded historical information in the text from a final redactional intention, that is, theological purpose of the redactor. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Old Testament Studies / unrestricted

This paper focuses on understanding and explaining the change of Turkish foreign policy,particularly in the last decade. Many observers have expressed a suspicion that Turkey is abandoning its Western-centric alignment and gradually shifting its axis. The thesis argues that rather than a shift, Turkey is taking an independent position. It maintains that the end of the Cold War and the change in the international structure from bipolarity to unipolarity has provided incentives for countries with some degree of material capabilities to pursue independence from the U.S. policy preferences. This study analyses structural effects on the behavior of Turkey. Later it associates the observed change in Turkey’s foreign policy as the outcomes of taking an independent position to maximize its objectives. Finally, it presents empirical research to prove the argument.

This thesis will examine the succession to the Islamic Caliphate as it existed during the time of the orthodox Caliphs (632-661).

The Arab Middle East began indigenous nation building relatively late in the twentieth century. Issues of legitimacy, identity, and conflicts with the West have plagued Arab nations. Arab states have espoused universal ideologies as solutions to the problems of Arab nation building. The two ideologies of Pan-Arabism and Islamic modernism provided universal solutions to the Arab states. Both Pan-Arabism and Islamic modernism gained validity in political polemics aimed against colonialism, imperialism, Zionism, and the West. Both ideologies promised simple solutions to complex questions of building modern Arab society. Irrespective of ideology, Arab states have always acted in self-interest to perceived external threats. The West has perpetuated universal solutions to Arab nation building through continued intervention in the Middle East. The Arabs perpetuated universal solutions to Arab- nation building as panacea to the problems of becoming modern nations.