1989年中東歐政局發生重大變化，波蘭、匈牙利與捷克斯洛伐克共黨在社會團體與民運人士大規模抗議下交出政權，結束此區域長久以來的共黨統治。1991年斯洛維尼亞正式脫離南斯拉夫，波海三國亦獲獨立，中東歐新興國家開始民主轉型。本文首先探討促成1989年中東歐民主革命的外部因素，如較和緩的國際情勢、蘇共自由化政策、美國及國際組織援助等，接著以捷克為個案，分析外部因素對絲絨革命及民主化之作用。 赫爾辛基最後議定書等關於民主與人權的文件，鼓舞了七七憲章之草擬；波蘭與匈牙利的政局變化，對捷克斯洛伐克產生示範作用，異議人士、環保團體或宗教力量跨國串連，輔以西方媒體作用，是絲絨革命動員的契機。與1968年受華約軍隊鎮壓的布拉格之春相比，絲絨革命得以成功，蘇共總書記Mikhail Gorbachev (Михаил Горбачёв)放棄干涉中東歐國家內政是重要關鍵，強硬的捷共政府因而失去壓制國內民主訴求的正當性。 此後捷克「回歸歐洲」外交走向，使歐安組織、歐洲理事會與美國運用民主、人權規範及各項援助，深化其轉型程度。北約和歐盟以會籍作為條件設定，直接或間接散播民主規範，並透過捷克當地政治菁英及政黨，歐盟外部治理成功使人民對歐洲化及歐盟產生認同。2003年入盟公投通過後，歐盟外部治理有了民意基礎，影響力更為強化，主導捷克民主發展。 / In 1989 the unexpected enormous democratic revolutions in Central and Eastern European countries led to the crash of the communist governments in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Two years later, officially departing from Yugoslavia, Slovenia started its own democratic transition, and the Baltic states also attained independence from the Soviet Union. First of all, we would like to discuss the external factors triggering the democratic revolutions in this area in 1989, such as the less tense international circumstances, the liberal reforms of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the assistance from the US and the relative international organizations. Then the discussion goes further to the case of the Czech Republic to make it clear how external factors affected the Velvet Revolution and how democratic values were promoted in the Czech Republic. The Helsinki Final Act, announced for democracy and the human rights in 1975, inspired the publication of Charter 77. The political change in Poland and Hungary turned into demonstration effect on Czech politics. Besides, the transnational connection of dissidents or the religion groups, and the western media both facilitated the mobilization for a democratic regime. Compared to the Prague Spring of 1968, crushed by the invading Soviet troops, the success of the Velvet Revolution was largely contributed by Mikhail Gorbachev’s decision not to interfere in the internal affairs in this area. Thus, the Czech communist government lost its legitimacy to suppress democratic campaigns. With the slogan “Return to Europe,” Czech Republic had made it possible for international activists including OSCE, COE and the US to impose their influences on Czech’s transition to democracy. In the accession process to the EU/ NATO, western activists spread democracy norms into the Czech Republic directly or indirectly by conditionality. Through local political elites and political parties, the EU successfully built Czech people’s identity toward EU by its external governance. Meanwhile, the positive result of Czech’s EU entry referendum in 2003 even strengthened EU’s influence as a leading external role in Czech’s democratization after the Velvet Revolution.

This study deals with the historical compromise between Labour and Capital—the so-called “Swedish model”—and the abandonment of this compromise in connection with the third industrial revolution. The focus of the study lies in the transformations in working life and labour internationalism from 1973 to 1993. The strategies of the trade union regarding the protection of workers’ rights at local, national and international levels are of particular interest. The relations between the Company Union Group at LM Ericsson, the Swedish Metalworkers’ Federation and the local union at Ericsson’s work premises in Colombia (Sintraericsson) are examined in depth. The research is conducted through archive studies and interviews according to oral history theories. The theoretical perspectives in the dissertation are mainly inspired by postcolonial and materialist world system theories. The examined relations took place in a time that from the point of view of the trade union was characterized by uncertainty and anxiety about the future. The visible effects of the technological and industrial processes of transformation in Sweden as well as in Colombia had increased, and one of the main manifestations of the changes was the decreasing demand of manual labour. The introduction of the electronic AXE-system at LM Ericsson industries constituted a significant pass toward increasingly minimized and decreasing labour-intensive telecommunication systems. In Colombia, the local management took advantage of both the political unrest and instability and the absence of functional legislation praxis of work in order to set back and, finally, repudiate Sintraericsson. Many obstacles were mounted impeding the realization of collected and vigorous international labour actions which, had these been successful, would have constituted a response to the union-hostile actions initiated by the company. The Swedish Metalworkers’ Federation and the Company Union Group at LM Ericsson in Sweden were faced with several strategical and ideological issues resulting in their support of Sintraericsson appearing as obligatory or even absent. The study further shows that LM Ericsson as a company had advantages when compared with the Labour Organizations in Sweden and Colombia. The company early established business connections in Colombia and had knowledge about, and was an active part of, the Colombian society. The company was not driven by moral principles though it on the one hand could point at Colombian laws and norms, and on the other hand at overreaching economical “laws” when it came to motivating the politics vis-à-vis the employees, the local union and the frequent dismissals of union activists at Ericsson de Colombia.

" Le sujet de cette thèse traitera du Liban entre les deux retraits israélien et syrien, 2000 - 2005.En effet, cette récente période s'inscrit comme l'une des plus critiques dans l'histoire contemporaine du Liban. La guerre civile déclenchée en avril 1975 est officiellement terminée en octobre 1990 par une " paix syrienne " imposée aux belligérants Libanais, soutenue par la Ligue Arabe et la communauté internationale. Cette période de paix entre 1990 et 2005, fut d'une part une période de reconstruction et de développement du Liban. Mais d'autre part, ces quinze années témoignent d'un profond malaise et mécontentement inscrits dans une situation globale apparemment paisible mais en fait marquée de fragilités politiques, sociales et communautaires profondes.Deux évènements majeurs - les retraits : israélien en 2000 et syrien en 2005 - viennent bouleverser ce statut quo libanais et déclenchent le processus inévitable d'une nouvelle " démocratisation " du Liban dont les conséquences ne cessent de se ressentir et de rebondir à ce jour. Entre ces deux retraits, un troisième " évènement choc ", le 11 septembre 2001 semble au regard de certains Libanais la perspective d'une nouvelle politique américaine et européenne dans la région.Cette période sera marquée au Liban, par les événements d'août 2000, arrestations arbitraires à l'encontre des opposants au régime prosyrien, la fermeture forcée de la chaîne de télévision libanaise anti syrienne MTV, les discours virulents des prélats maronites de l'église du Liban et du patriarche du Liban contre le régime en place, la nouvelle politique du leader druze Walid Joumblatt, l'éloignement du Premier Ministre libanais Rafic Hariri de la politique syrienne, et le début de la création d'une opposition multiconfessionnelle contre la reconduction du président libanais prosyrien Emile Lahoud, le vote de la résolution 1559 au conseil de sécurité de l'ONU, et finalement le " 11 septembre libanais " ou l'assassinat de Rafic Hariri, en février 2005 et la " révolution du Cèdre " qui en suit.

This thesis discusses the impact of the Haitian Revolution on the United States as a lens through which to view the transnational nature of American exceptionalism. It concludes with an articulation of the necessity of incorporating this relational nature of United States identity development into high school coursework, and advocates for teaching about the Haitian Revolution as an effective means through which to do this.

The plays of James Boaden, an author all too often forgotten in the pages of theatre history, are usually dismissed by scholars as mercenary adaptations of popular Gothic novels for the stage. Boaden’s plays of the 1790s—Fontainville Forest (1794), The Secret Tribunal (1796), The Italian Monk (1797), Cambro-Britons (1798) and Aurelio and Miranda (1799)—were certainly popular successes in their own time, but this should not discount them from serious consideration as aesthetic and ideological objects. In fact, these plays are intelligently wrought, using popular Gothic conventions to further a conservative ideology that was not originally associated with this genre. This fact has gone unrecognized by scholars partly because these plays have not been previously analysed for their dramaturgical structure as adaptations: Boaden borrows conventions from the Gothic, to be sure, but he also borrows dramaturgical techniques from Shakespeare. In so doing, Boaden harnesses both popular appeal and theatrical legitimacy to write Tory propaganda at a time when the stage was a key tool in the ideological war against France and French sympathizers in Britain. Political threats, both domestic and foreign, were of ongoing concern in Britain in the years following the French Revolution. Immediately after 1789, the Gothic was ideologically charged in ways that promoted revolutionary thinking. Boaden’s adaptation of the Gothic form responds to the revolution and the Reign of Terror by replacing the genre’s iconoclasm with a strongly nationalist orientation, drawn, in part, from eighteenth-century Shakespeare reception, itself often strongly nationalist in tone. Boaden’s plays are reactionary in that they comment on the current political situation, using allegory to play on the audience’s emotions. In his first phase, Boaden depicts the demise of a villainous usurper, a scapegoat figure, but his second phase reintegrates the villain into domestic and social harmony. In so doing, Boaden serves as a case study in the shifting attitude towards Britain’s revolutionary sympathizers, the Jacobins, and illustrates the important use of the Gothic mode for conservative purposes. Boaden emerges, in this study, as a figure whose relevance to theatre history in this fraught period requires reassessment.

This study examines ways in which supporters of William III and his opponents used literature to buttress their respective views of government in the wake of the Glorious Revolution. Understanding the polemical character of this art provides more insight both into the literature of the 1690s and into the modes of political debate in the period. As the English people moved from a primarily hereditary view of monarchy at the beginning of the seventeenth century to a more elective view of government in the eighteenth century, the Glorious Revolution proved to be a watershed event. Those favoring James II relied on patriarchal ideas to characterize the new regime as illegitimate, and supporters of the coregent asserted the priority of English and Biblical law to assert that the former king forfeited his right to rule. Chapter one examines three thinkers – Robert Filmer, John Milton, and John Locke – whose thought provides a context for opinions expressed in the years surrounding William of Orange’s ascension to the English throne. In chapter two, John Dryden’s response to James II’s abdication is explored. As the deposed Poet Laureate and a prominent voice supporting of the Stuart line, Dryden sheds light on ways in which Jacobites resisted the authority of the new regime through his response to the Glorious Revolution. Chapter three addresses the work of Thomas Shadwell, who succeeded Dryden as Laureate, and Matthew Prior, whose poetry Frances Mayhew Rippy characterizes as “unofficial laureate verse.” These poets rely on ideas similar to those expressed by Milton and Locke as they seek to validate the events of 1688-1689. The final chapter explores the appropriation of varied conceptions of government in pamphlets and manuscripts written in favor of James II and William III. Focusing on the polemical character of these works from the late 1680s and the 1690s enhances our understanding of the period’s literature and the prominent interaction of politics and writing.

Undersökningen syftar till att med kvantitativ innehållsanalys besvara frågeställningarna: Vilka synliga källor förkommer i den svenska nyhetsrapporteringen? Hur ser fördelningen mellan de undersökta källorna ut? I vilken utsträckning används sociala medier som källa? Uppsatsen bygger på en explorativ totalundersökning av samtliga källor förekommande under den svenska nyhetsrapporteringen om revolutionen i Egypten under perioden 2011-01-26 – 2011-02-12. Materialet består av nyhetsartiklar från Sveriges sex största nyhetstidningar (Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, Göteborgs-Posten, Svenska Dagbladet och Sydsvenskan). Teoretiska utgångspunkter är teoribildningar runt journalistikens roll i samhället, demokrati och källteori. Resultaten visar på att Twitter och de sociala medierna har slagit igenom som kanal för nyhetskällor i Sverige och i än större utsträckning används dessa kanaler som omvärldsbevakningsverktyg av journalister. De undersökta nyhetstidningarna har sammanslaget använt Twitter som primärkälla vid tolv tillfällen.

In this study, anisotropic shells of revolution subject to symmetric and unsymmetrical static loads are analysed. In derivation of governing equations to be used in the solution, first order transverse shear effects are included in the formulation. The governing equations can be listed as kinematic equations, constitutive equations, and equations of motion. The equations of motion are derived from Hamilton&rsquo / s principle, the constitutive equations are developed under the assumptions of the classical lamination theory and the kinematic equations are based on the Reissner-Naghdi linear shell theory. In the solution method, these governing equations are manipulated and written as a set called fundamental set of equations. In order to handle anisotropy and first order transverse shear deformations, the fundamental set of equations is transformed into 20 first order ordinary differential equations using finite exponential Fourier decomposition and then solved with multisegment method of integration, after reduction of the two-point boundary value problem to a series of initial value problems. The results are compared with finite element analysis results for a number of sample cases and good agreement is found. Case studies are performed for circular cylindrical shell and truncated spherical shell geometries. While reviewing the results, effects of temperature and pressure loads, both constant and variable throughout the shell, are discussed. Some drawbacks of the first order transverse shear deformation theory are exhibited.

This dissertation aims to uncover the main parameters, the decisive dynamics within Kyrgyz politics not only through an examination of the socio-political context of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, but also through an analysis of the events that came to be known as the &lsquo / Tulip Revolution&rsquo / . It examines the general and immediate contexts, course of events, dynamics and implications of the &lsquo / Tulip Revolution&rsquo / in order to understand what kind of dynamics account for the continuing instability in Kyrgyzstan in its aftermath. Despite a variety of factors can be considered as relevant, this study argues that the continuity in the decisive role of informal dynamics in shaping Kyrgyz politics accounts for the continuing instability in Kyrgyz politics. Bases of the informal dynamics are embedded in Kyrgyzstan&rsquo / s historical context and they are strengthened by its transitional context / they played decisive roles in shaping the course of events during the &lsquo / Tulip Revolution&rsquo / and their decisive role remained as such in its aftermath. Not only various developments in Bakiev era, but also the events that led to the end of it provide reinforcing evidence for such continuity. Hence, the &lsquo / Tulip Revolution&rsquo / did not bring about an &lsquo / impetus for democratization&rsquo / , but indicated to an &lsquo / impetus for the decisive role of informal dynamics&rsquo / in shaping Kyrgyz politics, which paves the way for the persistent instability in the country.

This project charts the emergence of the Cuban Theatre of the Absurd, or teatro del absurdo, over the course of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, its suppression by the revolutionary government, and its revival during the "Special Period" of the 1990s. Rather than understand the category as either an extension of the European Theatre of the Absurd, or as the invention of scholars intent on exporting such a schematic to Latin America, the Cuban teatro del absurdo should be recognized as a material phenomenon that evolved organically within the Havana theatre community, proposed a historically specific Cuban absurd as its object of representation, and assumed great ideological importance within the cultural and political landscape of the time. Its chief pioneer and practitioner was Virgilio Piñera, while José Triana and Antón Arrufat produced foundational absurdist works of the post-revolutionary period. Their plays and critical essays affirm the teatro del absurdo as a site of edification for audiences because of the anti-ideological nature of the works performed, and the authority these performances bestow on spectators as meaning creators. Because the teatro del absurdo opened conceptual space for difference in reception, while also operating as a cosmopolitan margin where European influences were incorporated within plays that spoke to the absurdity of Cuba's socio-political reality, it posed a threat to the univocal ideological control of the revolutionary government. The absurdo's resonance during the Special Period and within contemporary Cuban theatre is a testament to its enduring viability as a dynamic form that allows multiple truths and voices to be heard. Chapter one of the study explores the critical archive surrounding both the European Theatre of the Absurd and the Theatre of the Absurd in Latin America and Cuba. It argues that, rather than discard the category as imperfect or perpetuate a paradigm that privileges text over performance, critics should account for its unique ideological currency within the specific context of pre and post-revolutionary Cuba by tracking the material extension of the term and the works subsumed by it within Havana's theatre and performance archive. Chapter two investigates the historical basis of the Cuban absurdo, localizable in the concept of choteo, and maps the concept's valence in the context of 19th century teatro bufo as well as Piñera's early theatre of the 1940s and 50s. Chapter three considers the role of the teatro del absurdo in post-revolutionary Cuba by examining works by Piñera, Triana and Arrufat in conjunction with their critical essays of the time, in order to capture the political significance of the genre as a zone of dissidence and opposition to the total system of the revolution. Chapter four tracks the revival of the teatro del absurdo as a source of endurance during the privation of the Special Period of the 1990s. The re-emergence of voices like Piñera's signaled a return to a past of provocation and confrontation in order to generate a future in which space for difference would be preserved. / text