This thesis discusses one of the most serious security challenges faced by the Baltic states since regaining their independence. This security challenge is a product of Russia’s assertive foreign policy towards its western neighbours, which has intensified after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In order to understand the rationale behind the Kremlin’s policy in the region, the thesis aims to analyse how internal and external factors shape the foreign policy of Russia towards the Baltic states. By taking neo-classical realism as its theoretical framework, the thesis uses mixed research methods for collecting data and applies qualitative content analysis to analyse the three main factors that shape Russia’s Baltic policy. The thesis identifies that NATO’s actions in the anarchic international system raise security threats towards Russia. This shapes Putin’s threat perceptions and compels him to react with counteractions, and since the foreign policy in Russia is concentrated mainly in the hands of the president, his perceptions are decisive. Nevertheless, Putin is dependent on Russians’ support and exploits nationalist feelings of the Russian population to pursue his foreign policy. The thesis concludes that the combination of these three factors makes Russia’s foreign policy towards the Baltic states more aggressive.

Underdevelopment has plagued Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), since independence the post-colonial African states have experienced extreme poverty, unemployment, and other economic ailments that have persisted in the region. The aim of this thesis is to critique the null hypothesis of dependency theorists that it is structural factors that cause underdevelopment instead this study proposes an alternative hypothesis through Neo-Classical Realism to explain that it is in fact state-level actors and domestic issues that are the true culprit of causing the dependent variable. The methodological approach is a single embedded case-study with an explaining-outcome process-tracing. The thesis found that the cause of the underdevelopment in Nigeria is firmly rooted in the domestic sphere and that it delves much deeper than the main factors; resource dependence, lax institutions, prebendalism, and Sino-Nigerian relations, but it is the socio-political culture that has produced the norms which the elites operate on and possibly contributing to the exasperation of the negative aspects of the main factors that have perpetuated and sustained underdevelopment in Nigeria and SSA.

This paper analyzes the influence of Russian elite clans on Russian foreign policy-making. The goal of this paper is to discover the missing link that connects the changes in the International System to the formation of Russian foreign policy, more specifically the Russo-Georgian War, the occupation of Crimea, and the intervention in Syria. Therefore, the theory of neo-classical realism is applied to a systematic process analysis in order to trace the chain of causal relations in which the struggle of elite clans influences foreign policy-making. The combination of neo-realism and state capacity analysis complements the approach of neo-classical realism. This paper argues that the beliefs of the elite clans play an important role in shaping Russia’s foreign policy. The elite clans struggle to establish themselves and consolidate their power within the Russian government structures, which affected the shift from pragmatism and a multipolar approach to a transimperialist approach in Russian foreign policy.

Ce mémoire s’intéresse aux conditions qui ont mené à la guerre de six jours de 1967 au Moyen-Orient. Tout particulièrement, mon mémoire investiguera les dynamiques domestiques qui influent sur la prise de décision politique. L’hypothèse principale suppose que le mode de gestion de la société, choisi par le gouvernement au pouvoir, influe et contraint les options de politique étrangère disponibles à celui-ci. . Un régime peut recourir à deux modes de gestion de la société : l’exclusion et l’inclusion, à plusieurs degrés. En fonction du mode de gestion choisi, le gouvernement aura besoin de plus ou moins de ressources pour le mettre en place et pour le préserver. La quantité et la nature des ressources utilisées au niveau domestique contraindront les options de politique étrangère disponibles au régime Les guerres du Moyen-Orient, et la politique étrangère des pays de la région sont souvent interprétées selon des principes réalistes : la recherche du pouvoir et de sécurité guide la politique étrangère. Ce mémoire cherche à souligner l’importance de dynamiques domestiques sur le processus de prise de décision politique, mais également l’influence qu’a le conflit israélo-arabe sur la structure, le fonctionnement et la société des pays concernés. / This thesis looks at the conditions that led to the outbreak of the 1967 Six Day War in the Middle East. Specifically, my thesis investigates the domestic dynamics that influence the political decision-making process. The main hypothesis suggests that the type of societal management chosen by the government in power will influence and determine the foreign policy options available. A regime may choose between two types of societal management: exclusion and inclusion, which can be applied to greater or lesser degrees. Depending on the type of societal management chosen, the government will need more or less resources to implement and maintain it. The quantity and nature of resources used domestically will determine the foreign policy options available to the regime. In the Middle East, wars and foreign policy are often interpreted according to realist principles: the quest for power and safety are said to be the main determinants of foreign policy. This thesis seeks to highlight the importance of domestic dynamics in the process of political decision-making, but also the influence of the Arab-Israeli conflict on the structure, development and society in the countries involved.