M.A. (History) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

By May 1945, most major German cities lay in ruins, and a largely demoralised population struggled for subsistence in many areas. National Socialist remnants, Christian faith and communist ideology met in the rubble of the Third Reich. The Protestant and Catholic Churches attempted to ‘re-Christianise’ the Volk and reverse secularisation, while the German communists sought to inspire dynamism for their socialist project in Eastern Germany. This thesis recreates the religious world of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia in the Soviet zone, 1945-9, and analyses ‘religio-politics’ (the interactions between the secular authorities and the Churches), the affairs of the priesthood/pastorate, and the behaviours, mentalities and emotions of ‘ordinary people’ amongst the pews. After the American withdrawal in July 1945, the Soviet authorities occupied the entirety of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, and they proclaimed a ‘freedom of religion’. The realities of this policy were different in each state, and the resolution or non-resolution of local-level disputes often determined Church and State relations. At the grassroots, though, many people engaged in a latent social revolt against all forms of authority. The Churches’ hopes of ‘re-Christianisation’ in 1945 were dashed by 1949, despite a brief and ultimately superficial ‘revival’. The majority of people did not attend church services regularly, many allegedly practiced ‘immorality’, and refused to adopt ‘Christian neighbourly love’ in helping often-destitute refugees. ‘Re-Christianisation’ also did not incur comprehensive denazification or a unified pastorate, and there was even a continuation of the Third Reich Kirchenkampf in some areas. Christian ideas of guilt for a popular turning from God, much less for Nazism and its crimes, rarely resonated amongst the population and some sections of the pastorate. This mentality encapsulated the popular rejection of authority, whether spiritual or political, that endured up to and beyond the foundation of the German Democratic Republic in October 1949.

abstract: The American-led 'war on terror' affected how media outlets and some contemporary literature addressed and stereotyped Islam. One of the most common stereotypes regarded the status of women in society. The constant images of oppressed Afghani women generated a wave of negativity toward Islam. Afghani women were portrayed as passive characters during the Taliban rule awaiting liberation from the west. Defending their rights became one of the moral justifications for waging the 'war on terror' after the tragedy of 9/11. Gender politics in Afghanistan is closely tied to the regime in power. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the social and cultural transformation of society that followed also directly affected women and their identity as Muslims. Both the Soviet and the Taliban regimes envisioned a drastic transformation of women's participation in the public sphere. Each regime's gender politics oppressed Afghani women and sought to take away their agency. Some women welcomed the freedom under the Soviets, but others found the freedoms to be oppressive. The Taliban aimed to preserve men's authority over women. However, Afghani women never gave up the hope of freedom and equality. My main argument is to challenge the contemporary belief that Afghani women were passive characters in their history. This study introduces a fresh perspective on to women's role as change makers in the society. I argue that Afghani women maintained their autonomy and fought for their rights, before the rest of the world rushed to liberate them. They engaged in different forms of resistance from directly attacking the oppressors to keeping their resistance hidden. This thesis challenges the notion of Afghani women as victims in need of saving. On the contrary, they were the agents of change in their communities. On the basis of ethnographic interviews and three memoirs written by women who lived in Afghanistan during Soviet and Taliban rule. Their resistance against the oppressors is an affirmation of their courage and bravery. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Religious Studies 2017

The Soviet Union occupied her southern neighbor Afghanistan on Thursday, December 27, 1979. Soon after the occupation, significant impacts were felt on agriculture and other sectors of the economy. Agriculture was affected in many ways from the integrity of irrigation systems to the cultivation of opium poppies. Agricultural extension, as the main department within the Ministry of Agriculture, was severely affected in terms of programs, organization, personnel, budget, methods, relations with farmers, and transfer of improved technologies. This study was designed to assess the impacts of the occupation and identify recommendations for the future development of the system. A survey design was used. Sixty-two Afghans with detailed knowledge about the Soviet occupation and agriculture participated in the study. The survey included 34 mostly open-ended questions, covering three areas: demographic characteristics of respondents, impacts of the occupation, and prospects for the future of the Agricultural Extension System of Afghanistan. The majority of participants were highly educated and lived in North America after departing Afghanistan. The results also showed that during the occupation many participants were assigned to passive positions or lost their jobs. The occupation affected the attitudes of the farmers, reduced the cultivation of agricultural land, destroyed the infrastructure for delivering agricultural services, altered the types of crops grown and reduced the number of people working in agriculture. Millions of landmines remain a serious threat to those who return to farming. Recommendations are made for the Government, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Higher and Vocational Education, Agricultural Extension System, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), and International Aid Agencies. Agricultural extension rehabilitation should be given high priority to meet the emerging challenges of increasing agricultural production by adopting modern technology, generating suitable marketing channels for surplus agricultural products, providing equal development and working opportunities for Afghan women, protecting natural resources, utilizing professional returnees, and replacing poppy cultivation with regular food crops. Perceptual and structural obstacles may militate against providing proper support for agricultural development in Afghanistan. The overall reconstruction and development of the Afghan Agricultural Extension System is a prerequisite for the future development of the Afghan agriculture sector. Establishing a stable Afghan government and support from the international coalition are essential to rebuilding this important sector of the economy.

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The Soviet Union occupied her southern neighbor Afghanistan on Thursday, December 27, 1979. Soon after the occupation, significant impacts were felt on agriculture and other sectors of the economy. Agriculture was affected in many ways from the integrity of irrigation systems to the cultivation of opium poppies. Agricultural extension, as the main department within the Ministry of Agriculture, was severely affected in terms of programs, organization, personnel, budget, methods, relations with farmers, and transfer of improved technologies. This study was designed to assess the impacts of the occupation and identify recommendations for the future development of the system. A survey design was used. Sixty-two Afghans with detailed knowledge about the Soviet occupation and agriculture participated in the study. The survey included 34 mostly open-ended questions, covering three areas: demographic characteristics of respondents, impacts of the occupation, and prospects for the future of the Agricultural Extension System of Afghanistan. The majority of participants were highly educated and lived in North America after departing Afghanistan. The results also showed that during the occupation many participants were assigned to passive positions or lost their jobs. The occupation affected the attitudes of the farmers, reduced the cultivation of agricultural land, destroyed the infrastructure for delivering agricultural services, altered the types of crops grown and reduced the number of people working in agriculture. Millions of landmines remain a serious threat to those who return to farming. Recommendations are made for the Government, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Higher and Vocational Education, Agricultural Extension System, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), and International Aid Agencies. Agricultural extension rehabilitation should be given high priority to meet the emerging challenges of increasing agricultural production by adopting modern technology, generating suitable marketing channels for surplus agricultural products, providing equal development and working opportunities for Afghan women, protecting natural resources, utilizing professional returnees, and replacing poppy cultivation with regular food crops. Perceptual and structural obstacles may militate against providing proper support for agricultural development in Afghanistan. The overall reconstruction and development of the Afghan Agricultural Extension System is a prerequisite for the future development of the Afghan agriculture sector. Establishing a stable Afghan government and support from the international coalition are essential to rebuilding this important sector of the economy. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Title: Comparison of the Czechoslovak and German prison systems following World War II Author: Klára Pinerová Department: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Economic and Social History Supervisor: prof. PhDr. Jiří Štaif, CSc. After World War II, countries that fell into the Soviet sphere of influence experienced major social, political and economic changes in a process which is in literature usually referred to as "Sovietization". This dissertation analyzes this process in the particular case of prison systems in Czechoslovakia and the Societ Occupation Zone which later became the German Democratic Republic. Its main focus lies on the way the Soviet model was applied in both countries, what kinds of similarities or differences can be traced in its development and what were the factors and reasons causing them. The main argument of the dissertation is that Sovietization, even though it produced similar results, was carried out in different ways in the individual countries, depending not only on previous development, but also on the geopolitical position and specific features of the country as well as on the will of the local communist establishment to adopt the Soviet model. It should be also noted that the Soviet model was not uniformly defined, but subject to konstant...

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The use of arguments containing increasingly technical materials has grown significantly in the recent years. Specifically, arguments that are used to justify military expenditures or to allege violations of international agreements are becoming more sophisticated. This study examines the dissemination and use of technical argument in claims made by the United States government that the Soviet Union violated chemical and biological treaties in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan. This study employs the Jowett-O'Donnell method for analyzing propaganda to determine the extent and effectiveness of the government's claims. The study concludes that propaganda was used extensively by the government in order to justify new weapons programs and that the propaganda campaign was effective because of the technological orientation of its claims.

Darstellung der politischen, fachlichen und kulturell-sportlichen Erwachsenenbildung in der DDR, theoretischer und konkreter Untersuchungsergebnisse in der Textilindustrie des Bezirkes Karl-Marx-Stadt, unter Beachtung der Erziehungsdiktatur der SED.