How does the prevalence of female combatants in a rebel group influence conflict severity? Previous research has investigated the impact conflict has on women but has overlooked women’s contributions to conflict. Diverging from this paradigm, recent quantitative research has investigated why women join rebellions, why rebel groups recruit them, and how this affects conflict dynamics and outcomes. This study contributes to this new direction by asking how the gender composition of a rebel group influences the number of battle deaths amassed during a conflict. I hypothesize that a higher prevalence of female combatants in a rebel group increases conflict severity. I argue that female combatants increase rebel group capabilities, creating parity between rebel-state dyads, which then produces a greater quantity of battle deaths. Using a dataset on women’s prevalence in 211 rebel groups between 1989 and 2014, I run an ordinary least squares regression model to test my hypothesis. This study’s empirical evidence shows support for my hypothesis but does not yield any substantive indication of how female combatants contribute to severity. The causal mechanism behind this relationship remains for future research to uncover.

The intentional killing of civilians by rebel groups is an often observed phenomenon in civil wars. An aspect of civil war that may influence this phenomenon is support by foreign actors to rebel groups. This thesis aims to answer the research question of how external support to rebel groups affects violence against civilians. The theoretical framework used to answer the research question will be built upon two conflicting logics in the current literature. Based on this framework, I argue that the key to explaining how external support affects violence against civilians, lies in the heterogeneity of support and that the various support types can be indexed into two categories, leading to two hypotheses: 1) external support that allows rebels to focus on governance will result in lower levels of rebel one-sided violence, and 2) external support to rebel groups that creates independency from the civilian population results in higher levels of rebel one-sided violence. To test the hypotheses, this thesis uses a quantitative research method and NBRMs using UCDP datasets. The results show that while some types of support align with the expected outcomes, others yield unexpected results, underscoring the importance of considering the varied effects of external support.

Dissertation "Myths of the Czech Music Alternative in the 1980s" presents an anthropological view of the phenomenon of a parallel culture in a limiting situation. On the basis of biographical narratives, additional interviews and data gained from other types of sources, "myths" are constructed for seven major figures of the Czech alternative scene. This is an insider's ethnomusicological interpretation, based on Mircea Eliade's and Bronislaw Malinowski's concepts of myth as recurrent and exemplary models of behavior. The described personalities, Jazz Section (Prometheus), Miroslav Wanek ("hero's journey") Karel Babuljak ("search for paradise lost"), Pavel Zajíček (Odysseus), Mikoláš Chadima ("Rebel"), Oldřich Janota (Hermes), and Marka Míková (Psyche), represent some of the main trends in creative processes of the Czech music alternative scene with myth being used as a metaphor. The metaphor is understood here in the terms of Timothy Rice, i.e. as an organization principle of our thinking, as well as an illuminating image.

The negotiation process of a peace agreement is an uncertain period where adversaries can have a difficult time credibly guaranteeing their commitment to an approaching agreement. However, violence is often ceased before a peace agreement is signed, demonstrating their importance for understanding non-violent and violent behavior by warring actors. Furthermore, research finds that rebels at times comply with laws of war during conflict and negotiations. Hence, the purpose of this study is to derive a better understanding of rebel groups’ non-violent behavior, and whether it relates to the commitment problem and the negotiation process. This paper argues that by complying with international law, rebels can convey a signal with a peace-making objective, increasing the likelihood of a successful negotiation. Through a qualitative, structured and focused comparative case analysis of the FMLN in El Salvador and the NPFL in Liberia, the study finds that rebel’s compliance with IHL may serve as a costly signal that mitigates the credible commitment problem and leads to the signing of a successful peace agreement. However, further research is needed to support this hypothesis.

Self-determination is a peoples' right to freely determine their political, economic and cultural destiny without external interference. However, the cultivation of a culture of respect for self-determination remains the greatest challenge to post-colonial Africa. Dictatorships and other oppressive regimes very substantially affected Africa's efforts to develop a culture of constitutionalism and respect for the right of peoples to selfdetermination. Most African countries typify the failed effort of trying to establish an enduring democracy and respect for the right of peoples to take part in the government. After five decades of transition from colonialism to constitutional democracy, most African peoples are still under the yoke of governments they consider undesirable or oppressive. This work primarily sets out to investigate if the denial of the right of peoples to self-determination justifies the use of force to secure such a right. Since independence, Africa has experienced armed rebel groups seeking either to effect radical transformation of the whole state or to separate from the state to which they belong in order to create a new state. In the main, this study explores the extent to which rebel groups acting on behalf of peoples are or are not allowed to use force for the attainment of self-determination. The thesis begins with an historical development of the right to self-determination in international law. It initially examines how self-determination has developed from a political principle to a legal right. Despite the fact that self-determination is one of the core principles of the UN Charter, there are still many controversies over its precise meaning, scope and application. The thesis considers the two aspects of selfdetermination: external self-determination and internal self-determination. The external aspect implies the right of people to form a new, sovereign and independent state, whereas the internal aspect implies the right of people to participate in the political framework of an existing state. The thesis also assesses the state of the academic literature over the right of peoples to self-determination, with a view to determining whether the right can be used by a group of people whose internal self-determination has been denied to effect secession from the state. It advocates that, outside the colonial context, the right of self-determination does not equal to a "right to secession and independence". The thesis argues, however, that in exceptional circumstances such as gross violations of human rights and the denial of internal self-determination, people should be endowed with a right to secession in the manifestation of a right to unilateral secession as a remedy of such injustices. The thesis further turns to the mechanisms for the protection of the peoples' right to self-determination, the problems and challenges in Africa. The challenges do not only include the legality of the use of force by rebel groups and national liberation movements in seeking to attain self-determination, but also the right of other states to assist them in their struggles. The work probes the nature of international law and critically assesses whether the persistent denial of demands for self-determination led to calls for drastic remedies, including the use of armed force. Before this theory is critically assessed, the thesis defines the differences between national liberation movements and rebel groups. It argues that as far as self-determination struggles are concerned, there must be representative organisations acting on behalf of people whose right of self-determination has been denied. In the light of these contentions, the study examines the general ban on the use of force as laid down by the UN Charter, and finds that the Charter does not expressly refer to self-determination as a situation where people may resort to the use of force for the attainment of such a right. It then turns to the history of and circumstance surrounding the use of force, examines the jus ad bellum regarding "liberation struggles", and concludes that the use of force by national liberation movements against colonial and racist regimes has strong theoretical foundations and support in state practice. Outside of the colonial and apartheid contexts, however, the argument that rebels acting on behalf of oppressed peoples may legitimately use force in pursuit of selfdetermination thus remains ambiguous. In that context, this thesis examines the practice relating to the use of force by rebel groups and the laws of war provisions that apply in civil wars, and concludes that none of them proves that the international community of states accepts rebels' right to use force as a legal entitlement. Finally, based on the lessons learned from and lacunae identified in all norms relating to the enforcement mechanisms of the right of self-determination, this study concludes with a set of suggestions and recommendations. / LLD (Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Self-determination is a peoples' right to freely determine their political, economic and cultural destiny without external interference. However, the cultivation of a culture of respect for self-determination remains the greatest challenge to post-colonial Africa. Dictatorships and other oppressive regimes very substantially affected Africa's efforts to develop a culture of constitutionalism and respect for the right of peoples to selfdetermination. Most African countries typify the failed effort of trying to establish an enduring democracy and respect for the right of peoples to take part in the government. After five decades of transition from colonialism to constitutional democracy, most African peoples are still under the yoke of governments they consider undesirable or oppressive. This work primarily sets out to investigate if the denial of the right of peoples to self-determination justifies the use of force to secure such a right. Since independence, Africa has experienced armed rebel groups seeking either to effect radical transformation of the whole state or to separate from the state to which they belong in order to create a new state. In the main, this study explores the extent to which rebel groups acting on behalf of peoples are or are not allowed to use force for the attainment of self-determination. The thesis begins with an historical development of the right to self-determination in international law. It initially examines how self-determination has developed from a political principle to a legal right. Despite the fact that self-determination is one of the core principles of the UN Charter, there are still many controversies over its precise meaning, scope and application. The thesis considers the two aspects of selfdetermination: external self-determination and internal self-determination. The external aspect implies the right of people to form a new, sovereign and independent state, whereas the internal aspect implies the right of people to participate in the political framework of an existing state. The thesis also assesses the state of the academic literature over the right of peoples to self-determination, with a view to determining whether the right can be used by a group of people whose internal self-determination has been denied to effect secession from the state. It advocates that, outside the colonial context, the right of self-determination does not equal to a "right to secession and independence". The thesis argues, however, that in exceptional circumstances such as gross violations of human rights and the denial of internal self-determination, people should be endowed with a right to secession in the manifestation of a right to unilateral secession as a remedy of such injustices. The thesis further turns to the mechanisms for the protection of the peoples' right to self-determination, the problems and challenges in Africa. The challenges do not only include the legality of the use of force by rebel groups and national liberation movements in seeking to attain self-determination, but also the right of other states to assist them in their struggles. The work probes the nature of international law and critically assesses whether the persistent denial of demands for self-determination led to calls for drastic remedies, including the use of armed force. Before this theory is critically assessed, the thesis defines the differences between national liberation movements and rebel groups. It argues that as far as self-determination struggles are concerned, there must be representative organisations acting on behalf of people whose right of self-determination has been denied. In the light of these contentions, the study examines the general ban on the use of force as laid down by the UN Charter, and finds that the Charter does not expressly refer to self-determination as a situation where people may resort to the use of force for the attainment of such a right. It then turns to the history of and circumstance surrounding the use of force, examines the jus ad bellum regarding "liberation struggles", and concludes that the use of force by national liberation movements against colonial and racist regimes has strong theoretical foundations and support in state practice. Outside of the colonial and apartheid contexts, however, the argument that rebels acting on behalf of oppressed peoples may legitimately use force in pursuit of selfdetermination thus remains ambiguous. In that context, this thesis examines the practice relating to the use of force by rebel groups and the laws of war provisions that apply in civil wars, and concludes that none of them proves that the international community of states accepts rebels' right to use force as a legal entitlement. Finally, based on the lessons learned from and lacunae identified in all norms relating to the enforcement mechanisms of the right of self-determination, this study concludes with a set of suggestions and recommendations. / LLD (Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The main objective of this research is to study the affinities between Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos (1892-1953) and French philosopher and writer Albert Camus (1913-1961). More precisely, we tend to explores the reflections of camusian revolt in three Ramos' prose works: Barren Lives (1938), Anguish (1936) and São Bernardo (1933). The literary and philosophical direction of existentialism is outlined at the beginning of the thesis. Therefore, the first chapter is devoted to an explanation of Camusian existentialism and his philosophical concept of revolt, not only in his philosophical works, but also in his novels. The subsequent chapter focuses on the life and work of Graciliano Ramos. Thereafter the three aforementioned Ramos' novels are analyzed in order to uncover in them motives of existentialism solitude, anguish, revolt against society ─ all of the more or less interlinked by the problem of incommunicability. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar a realização da Copa do Mundo de Futebol de 2014 no Brasil, levando em consideração não apenas seus legados e impactos mais evidentes, mas principalmente compreendendo-a como parte substantiva da dinâmica mais geral do modo de produção capitalista em sua relação com as cidades-sede, os lugares. Como maiores eventos do planeta, as Copas apresentam-se como veículos passageiros e particulares do processo de totalização do capitalismo, sendo simultaneamente matrizes parciais do tempo e do espaço desse período histórico marcado pela crise econômica internacional. Nesse movimento, tendo os lugares como espaços finais de sua realização, esses megaeventos deixam marcas profundas; promovem a qualificação de uma determinada fração do tempo no qual ocorrem, determinados pelas necessidades do capital de se reproduzir lucrativamente, algo complexo nesse momento crítico. A totalidade, essa trama de eventos emaranhada entre as necessidades e possibilidades concretas dos lugares, ganha novos desenhos nas cidades a partir do contato com a agenda estabelecida pelo megaevento. Desde 2007, quando o Brasil foi escolhido como sede do Mundial e a crise econômica já aparecia no horizonte dos Estados Unidos e da Europa, as cidades brasileiras vivem a realidade desta agenda crítica pautada pela Federação Internacional de Futebol (FIFA). Tendo como pano de fundo as estratégias rígidas das corporações patrocinadoras e interessadas no evento, promove-se um verdadeiro estado de emergência para o atendimento das normas e padrões FIFA. Tomadas por uma avalanche de obras e negócios imobiliários desvinculados de planos estratégicos associados às necessidades mais sentidas da população, as cidades-sede tornam-se experimentos de novas formas de privatização e espoliação, sob o regime de leis de exceção e violações de direitos. Tal dinâmica imposta às cidades da Copa como um todo é manifesta de forma evidente na elaboração de uma nova centralidade na Região Metropolitana de Recife por meio da construção do grande empreendimento imobiliário Cidade da Copa, a partir do novo estádio construído para o evento. Trata-se pois, da eclosão no Brasil de uma crise fundamentalmente urbana que, se por um lado estrutura verdadeiras cidades de exceção, no outro vértice promove também a força criativa das resistências. Como demonstraram as manifestações urbanas multitudinárias de junho de 2013 e os protestos ininterruptos que se seguiram a elas, a revanche dos lugares à agenda da Copa pode estruturar também cidades rebeldes como legados. / This dissertation aims to examine the implementation of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil, taking into consideration not only its legacy and most obvious impacts, but mostly understanding it as a substantive part of the wider dynamics of the capitalist way of production in its relationship with the host cities, the places. As some of the biggest events on the planet, the World Cups are presented as individual and transitory vehicles of the aggregation process of capitalism, while being simultaneous matrices of time and space during this historical period marked by global economic crisis. In this movement, having spaces as the places of their full realization, these mega events leave deep marks; they promote the qualification of a certain fraction of the time in which they occur, determined by the needs of capital to play profitably, something complex during this critical moment. The totality, this \"web of events\" tangled between the concrete needs and possibilities of places, gains new designs in cities from contact with the agenda set by the mega event. Since 2007, when Brazil was chosen to host this event and the economic crisis had already appeared on the North American and European horizon, Brazilian cities are living the reality of a critical agenda guided by the International Football Federation (FIFA). In the background of the rigid strategies of the sponsors and corporations interested in the event, a true state of emergency is promoted to meet norms and \"FIFA standards\". Taken by an avalanche of construction sites and real state negotiations unrelated to strategic plans that take into account the needs of the population, the host cities become experiments in new forms of privatization and dispossession, under the regime of emergency laws and rights violations. Such dynamics - imposed on the World Cup cities as a whole - is clearly manifested in the drafting of a new central location in the metropolitan area of Recife through the construction of large real estate project called \"Cidade da Copa\", around the stadium built for the event. This is the outbreak in Brazil of a fundamentally urban crisis, where on the one hand \"cities of exception\" are structured, and in another vertex a creative power of resistance is also promoted. As demonstrated in the multitudinous urban protests of June 2013 and the uninterrupted protests that followed them, the requital that took places in host cities can also structure \"rebellious cities\" as legacies.

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Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar a realização da Copa do Mundo de Futebol de 2014 no Brasil, levando em consideração não apenas seus legados e impactos mais evidentes, mas principalmente compreendendo-a como parte substantiva da dinâmica mais geral do modo de produção capitalista em sua relação com as cidades-sede, os lugares. Como maiores eventos do planeta, as Copas apresentam-se como veículos passageiros e particulares do processo de totalização do capitalismo, sendo simultaneamente matrizes parciais do tempo e do espaço desse período histórico marcado pela crise econômica internacional. Nesse movimento, tendo os lugares como espaços finais de sua realização, esses megaeventos deixam marcas profundas; promovem a qualificação de uma determinada fração do tempo no qual ocorrem, determinados pelas necessidades do capital de se reproduzir lucrativamente, algo complexo nesse momento crítico. A totalidade, essa trama de eventos emaranhada entre as necessidades e possibilidades concretas dos lugares, ganha novos desenhos nas cidades a partir do contato com a agenda estabelecida pelo megaevento. Desde 2007, quando o Brasil foi escolhido como sede do Mundial e a crise econômica já aparecia no horizonte dos Estados Unidos e da Europa, as cidades brasileiras vivem a realidade desta agenda crítica pautada pela Federação Internacional de Futebol (FIFA). Tendo como pano de fundo as estratégias rígidas das corporações patrocinadoras e interessadas no evento, promove-se um verdadeiro estado de emergência para o atendimento das normas e padrões FIFA. Tomadas por uma avalanche de obras e negócios imobiliários desvinculados de planos estratégicos associados às necessidades mais sentidas da população, as cidades-sede tornam-se experimentos de novas formas de privatização e espoliação, sob o regime de leis de exceção e violações de direitos. Tal dinâmica imposta às cidades da Copa como um todo é manifesta de forma evidente na elaboração de uma nova centralidade na Região Metropolitana de Recife por meio da construção do grande empreendimento imobiliário Cidade da Copa, a partir do novo estádio construído para o evento. Trata-se pois, da eclosão no Brasil de uma crise fundamentalmente urbana que, se por um lado estrutura verdadeiras cidades de exceção, no outro vértice promove também a força criativa das resistências. Como demonstraram as manifestações urbanas multitudinárias de junho de 2013 e os protestos ininterruptos que se seguiram a elas, a revanche dos lugares à agenda da Copa pode estruturar também cidades rebeldes como legados. / This dissertation aims to examine the implementation of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil, taking into consideration not only its legacy and most obvious impacts, but mostly understanding it as a substantive part of the wider dynamics of the capitalist way of production in its relationship with the host cities, the places. As some of the biggest events on the planet, the World Cups are presented as individual and transitory vehicles of the aggregation process of capitalism, while being simultaneous matrices of time and space during this historical period marked by global economic crisis. In this movement, having spaces as the places of their full realization, these mega events leave deep marks; they promote the qualification of a certain fraction of the time in which they occur, determined by the needs of capital to play profitably, something complex during this critical moment. The totality, this \"web of events\" tangled between the concrete needs and possibilities of places, gains new designs in cities from contact with the agenda set by the mega event. Since 2007, when Brazil was chosen to host this event and the economic crisis had already appeared on the North American and European horizon, Brazilian cities are living the reality of a critical agenda guided by the International Football Federation (FIFA). In the background of the rigid strategies of the sponsors and corporations interested in the event, a true state of emergency is promoted to meet norms and \"FIFA standards\". Taken by an avalanche of construction sites and real state negotiations unrelated to strategic plans that take into account the needs of the population, the host cities become experiments in new forms of privatization and dispossession, under the regime of emergency laws and rights violations. Such dynamics - imposed on the World Cup cities as a whole - is clearly manifested in the drafting of a new central location in the metropolitan area of Recife through the construction of large real estate project called \"Cidade da Copa\", around the stadium built for the event. This is the outbreak in Brazil of a fundamentally urban crisis, where on the one hand \"cities of exception\" are structured, and in another vertex a creative power of resistance is also promoted. As demonstrated in the multitudinous urban protests of June 2013 and the uninterrupted protests that followed them, the requital that took places in host cities can also structure \"rebellious cities\" as legacies.