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A well-functioning media is a given part of any society, and can be a valuable tool in the democratising process of a country. The media is traditionally given the role of providing citizens with information about political events in society, and as a result enabling them to make informed decisions. Before the 1990s most of the Middle Eastern and North African media was controlled by governments and because of that they often failed in their responsibility as information providers. As new media such as the internet and satellite television were introduced to the region, the media paradigm shifted and a new arena for public debate arose and has continued to grow ever since. During the 2010-2011 uprisings in the region social media platforms were used by citizens to spread news about demonstrations and political moves, not only within countries, but also globally. Livestreaming applications in particular were used successfully, and videos filmed by citizen journalists were broadcast on international media channels This thesis focuses on the use of livestreaming by citizen journalists in Egypt and Syria to accomplish a social change, and on citizen journalism as an act of civic engagement. To provide an analytic frame, this thesis uses the work of Dahlgren (2009) and his six modes of civic engagement, to better and understand the role of citizen journalists in changing society. Through a number of qualitative interviews with citizen journalists, traditional journalists and Bambuser, this thesis concludes that citizen journalism did play and still plays an important role when it comes to civic engagement in Egypt and Syria although weather or not it might be able to take the role of traditional media in society remains to be seen. The interviews with citizen journalists were conducted in Cairo, Egypt and funded through a Minor Field Study grant.

One of the chief international security issues of today is humanitarian militaryintervention. In light of this, some questions have been raised about when and howoutsiders should get involved or if they are morally right at all to engage in humanitariancrises. In this paper Syria is the chosen case study because of its brutal crackdown and amassive human rights violation. The main purpose of this thesis is to understand themoral and legal criteria for launching a military intervention for humanitarian aid in Syriafollowed by a detailed analysis of its ethical, normative and legal issues. The maintheoretical framework of this study is just war theory. This study utilizes the criteria ofJus ad bellum principles, namely ‘legitimate authority’, ‘just cause’ and ‘right intention’in order to asses the extent to which Syria fits into the framework of just war theory. Thispaper also applies legal criteria such as the Charter of United Nations and internationallaw for the purpose of legal examination. The most complex issue in this thesis is the factthat although legitimate authority has the moral responsibilities to protect civilians, but itoften fails to uphold its responsibility mainly because of self-interest and the lack of rightintention.

In my thesis essay I have researched the impact of water management on the outcome of peace negotiation and treaty in the case of Israel and Syria. My research question was “How should the water resources of the Golan Heights be addressed in a coming peace treaty between Israel and Syria for this treaty to be sustainable?”. I emanated from the theory advocated by researchers Ohlsson, Homer-Dixon and Gleick, arguing that the detailed incorporation of water management in negotiations as well as in a final peace treaty between countries is crucial for these to be sustainable. I used this theory in analysing the extended data related to the two countries’ water resources and water policies, as well as two previous rounds of negotiation. I came to the conclusion that for any future negotiation to lead to a sustainable peace agreement between the two countries, it is crucial for them to establish very detailed stipulations on the shared water resources. Both Israel and Syria are in great need of accessing and controlling water resources, however Israel is much more dependent than Syria on the waters of the Golan Heights. When an internationally recognized borderline between the countries in the future will be established, it will by default be situated on or closely connected to vital water resources. Therefore the water management, including use of and withdrawal from these resources needs to be clearly regulated, otherwise conflict might rise again between the two countries. If water management would be included in the peace treaty in as thoroughly manner as the theorists suggests, this would enable the treaty to become sustainable, as well as make feasible the resolution of related conflicting matters.

This study focus on Western constructions of two categories of women – the female Kurdish fighters of the YPJ and the Western Muhaajirat – actively engaging in the Syrian conflict at the time of writing. Using Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis in combination with postcolonial feminist theory, I have scrutinized 12 news pieces selected from Swedish, British and North American influential news media houses, in order to provide a deeper understanding of the discourses underpinning these constructions. The outcome of the analysis show that news media tend to reproduce reductionist and orientalist views on these particular women. The YPJ is generally constructed as the liberated woman and the ideal Other, whereas the Western Muhaajirat tend to be understood as the victim and/or conservative and backwards, thus neatly positioning them as opposites so as to promote specific (Western) ways of progression, development and gender equality. Women’s agency is constructed and judged according to Western standards, and results in the continuous reproduction of imperialist discourses and the European gender order where femininity remains less valuable than masculinity.

After the eruption of the demonstrations along the Syrian cities, in March 2011, the Syrian regime responded with hostile acts against the civilians, therefore, waves of IDPs and refugees occurred for millions of Syrians causing one of the largest catastrophes in the modern era, as a result, the international community specifically the EU and USA intervened to address the needs of those IDPs and refugees.  The thesis aimed at analyzing the Western development interventions in NW of Syria, the interventions were initiated through their development agencies and INGOs and were implemented by local stakeholders.  This thesis explored several impacts of this intervention between 2011 till present, it focused on analyzing from a decolonial approach how the intervention contributed to ngoizing the Syrian Revolution on the basis of community demand driven approach using a historical discourse analysis and interview as methodologies, accordingly, several qualitative interviews were conducted in Gaziantep with thirteen leaders of the revolution and CSOs.  Finally, this thesis reached to conclusions: the Syrians need financial then political and legal support, additionally, it reached to three different dimensions of Ngoisation: A helping strategy that aims at empowering the locals. Wrong implementation of the Donors’ policies, and a hidden agenda of the soft colonial changing tools.

The purpose with this essay is to, through societal discussion via different media, analyze how citizenship and legitimacy is constructed and negotiated through the discourses surrounding two vulnerable groups in the swedish society, the roma people and the syrian refugees. By analyzing different types of texts from two local newspapers and also from new media such as blogs and archived chats it is possible to see how certain groups are stigmatized and objects of discrimination.  The material in the analyze is coded by which type of text it belongs to but it is also categorized by how official the pespective of the writer is, and it is argued that the role of the traditional media still is very important in terms of educating the public about issues and groups in society which they would likely meet and interact with themselves.  The analysis also focus on which geographical perspective the writer has since this could show if an issue, theme or discourse is contextualized with bigger issues and globalization.  The theoretical and methodical frame work of this analyze is critical discourse analysis with the focus on discursive construction of national identity by Wodak. Theories about citizenship and legitimacy according to Lister also applies to the study.  Keywords: Discourse analysis, CDA, citizenship, legitimacy, roma, syria, migrants, refugees

Possessing a vision to correct problems is an area of interest for leadership and political studies, as presumably vision provides the goal to orient upon and overcome problems, and should apply at all levels of leadership. The worsening situation in Syria since the end of the Cold War begs the questions of whether any recent U.S. President tried to address the issues in the relationship with Syria, and what was the vision the President sought to achieve. This study reviews Presidential rhetoric from President's News Conferences, major speeches and Executive Orders for a vision to ascertain the intended direction for U.S. policy for Syria. Also, the study reviews the leadership styles of the five Presidents for consistency and effectiveness in conveying a foreign policy message. Broadly, the study concludes that the Presidents need more than a strategy to engage other nation to fix problems. They need an achievable outcome to aim the U.S. government towards and to effectively broadcast their vision to a broad audience. It takes an appreciation for history, realistic expectations and an eye for the future to form a vision for a coherent way forward. Unfortunately, the Presidents in this study did not give the appropriate time or resources to correct the pervasive problems in Syria. Their overall policies ranged from incoherent to stagnant, therefore hampering the U.S. ability to guide progress fixing the situation. / Master of Arts / The pervasive problems within Syria are some of the more important U.S. foreign policy issues that require guidance and direction to overcome. The worsening situation in Syria since the end of the Cold War begs the questions of whether any recent U.S. President tried to address the issues in the relationship with Syria. Broadly, the study concludes that it takes more than a strategy to engage another nation and fix problems. It takes an appreciation for history, realistic expectations and an eye for the future to form a vision for a coherent way forward. Additionally, Presidents require the ability to effectively communicate their vision to a broad audience. Unfortunately, it appears the Presidents in this study did not give the appropriate time or resources to correct the problems, and therefore hampered the U.S. President’s ability to guide progress to fix the situation.

This research examines the media characterization of the conflict, regime, survivors, and rebels in the aftermath of the 2023 Syrian Earthquake which occurred during the Syrian Civil War. Investigating the effect of these media characterizations on governmental legitimacy. Using a sample of 143 articles from the BBC, DW, NPR, and Al-Jazeera published within the one year of the earthquake, articles were coded as positive, negative, or neutral regarding the conflict, regime, survivors and rebels. The research found media characterization of the conflict, regime, and survivors to be largely negative, while the rebels were characterized as neutral largely because most of the sample articles did not provide details on the rebel groups. This research indicates media characterizations can shape public perception in the aftermath of a disaster which in turn affects governmental legitimacy.