Können Araber Demokratie? Im Jahr II des Arabischen Frühlings werden erste zarte Triebe der Hoffnungen, die in diese Richtung neigten, von Soldatenstiefeln und flüchtenden Demonstranten zertreten. Die versiegelte Zeit brach auf, doch was ist erreicht worden? In der neuen Ausgabe ziehen wir eine Bilanz, die ebenso sachlich wie zwiespältig ist. Sie zeigt Erfolge, ohne zu beschönigen. Probleme werden sichtbar gemacht, aber auch Wege zu ihrer Lösung. Auch Europa ist gefragt: Wir müssen zu einem neuen, partnerschaftlichen Verhältnis mit den sich wandelnden arabischen Nationen finden!

Today there exists a legal norm that declares the existence of a global responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities. Previous doctrines of non-intervention and permissibility were inadequate and demonstrated the need for a new outlook. From a commission proposal to international acceptance the doctrine of a responsibility to protect (R2P) developed quickly and legitimately. Recent events, especially the events in Libya during the Arab Spring, highlight the conceptual evolution of the norm and, more importantly, an international acceptance of its binding quality. Therefore, it is apparent R2P has achieved the status of a legal norm of international law.

Today there exists a legal norm that declares the existence of a global responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities. Previous doctrines of non-intervention and permissibility were inadequate and demonstrated the need for a new outlook. From a commission proposal to international acceptance the doctrine of a responsibility to protect (R2P) developed quickly and legitimately. Recent events, especially the events in Libya during the Arab Spring, highlight the conceptual evolution of the norm and, more importantly, an international acceptance of its binding quality. Therefore, it is apparent R2P has achieved the status of a legal norm of international law.

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This dissertation explores the role of female political actors in the gendered rebuilding of Tunisia’s post-Ben Ali political infrastructure and how gender both informed and featured in the early stages of the democratic transition. Drawing on thirteen months of fieldwork and over 300 hours of interviews, it narrates a yet untold story of the transformation of female political actors from object to subject of the state. In the post-revolutionary political terrain, gender and women’s rights were imbued with broader discursive significance, becoming a vehicle through which to distinguish two broad political categories of Islamism and secularism, which showcased continuity with the historical deployment of gender in pre-independence and post-colonial authoritarian contexts. However, analysis of the development of gender parity legislation from its introduction in the interim electoral law in advance of the 2011 elections, through the constitutional and electoral law drafting processes, and its implementation in the 2014 elections, reveals the inadequacy of gender as a metaphor for broad political characterisations and the fluidity of the Tunisian political terrain as seen through a gendered lens. It was only through the collaborative work of female political actors across the ideological spectrum within the National Constituent Assembly that the foundational texts of the Second Republic were gendered, acknowledging and addressing the ways that the lived experiences of women, as socially and historically constituted subjects, can mediate access to rights. By virtue of this process, these female deputies, whose own subjectivities were transformed through interaction with male-dominated political institutions, enacted and embodied new modes of the female citizen as subject. Finally, in tracing the development of the gender parity laws through the formative years of Tunisian democracy, this dissertation illuminates the ways in which access to newly democratised political power remains gendered, mediated through the complex interplay between larger political, social, and economic structures.

Este estudo teve por objetivo comparar grupos de mídia ocidentais e não ocidentais no que diz respeito à guerra na Síria, em curso desde 2011, no rastro das chamadas primaveras árabes. Foi realizada uma analises de conteúdo, quantitativa e qualitativa, seguindo parâmetros de Herman e Chomsky em A manipulação do Público (2003), porém adaptados à mídia global. Na divisão dos veículos, utilizou-se o conceito de mídias do fluxo dominante e do contra fluxo, para ilustrar a posição dos grupos analisados em relação ao atual panorama global da mídia. Os resultados apontaram para uma cobertura global da guerra na Síria polarizada, alinhada com interesses geopolíticos, e com maior unidade no Ocidente. Como conclusão, a hegemonia dos conglomerados ocidentais midiáticos ou o fluxo dominante da mídia global ditou a pauta mundial sobre a crise na Síria, em um espaço de disputa com as mídias no contra fluxo. Estas vão buscando expor melhor seus interesses e os de seus países, à medida que a guerra na Síria começa a afetá-los / This study aimed to compare Western media groups and non-Western regarding to the war in Syria, ongoing since 2011, in the wake of the so-called \"arab spring\". An content analysis, quantitative and qualitative was conducted following Herman and Chomsky parameters in Manufacturing Consent (2003), but adapted to the global media. In the groups division, we used the concept of media dominant flow and contra flow (THUSSU, 2007), to illustrate the position of the groups analyzed in relation to the current global panorama of the media. The results showed an overall coverage of the war in polarized Syria, in line with geopolitical interests and greater unity in the West. In conclusion, the Western media hegemony promoted by media Western conglomerates in a dominant flow of global media, dictated an agenda on the Syria crisis, in a space of content with the media in contra flow. These will seeking to better expose their interests and those of their countries, as far as the war in Syria begins to affect them

The thesis focuses on the progress of the oil economies in MENA since 90's. Due to the outbreak of unrest in the Arab world, the thesis deals with the political area and causes leading to the Arab Spring. The importance of oil in the world economy and it's discovery in the Middle East and North Africa increased strategic importance of this region. Arab countries have for the past three decades undergone significant social, economic and political transformation and their oil wealth played a major role in this transformation. The first chapter focuses on economic theory dealing with raw materials and their impact on economic growth of countries. The next chapter focuses on presentation of the MENA region. The third chapter deals with the development of four selected countries - Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Libya since 90's, the impact of the global financial crisis on Arab countries and the Arab Spring.

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The Arab Spring, the protests that spread through the Arab world, led to very different outcomes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. That some regimes survived during the Arab Spring and some experienced regime-change has been explained through political, economic and social perspectives. This desk-study investigates how the Moroccan government addressed popular discontent during and after the Arab spring in 2011. In order to examine the case study through a new theoretical angle, this research applies the Theory of Policy Substitutability by Amy Oakes (2012) to the chosen case study. This study identifies that the Moroccan government used political reform, repression, a sort of economic reform and the use of cultural symbols were put in place to lower the intensity of protests. The findings underline that the government used a number of tactics that can be analyzed through the concept of diversionary tactics, meaning the diversion from internal struggle.   This research adds value to the discussion about regime survival in the case of the Moroccan Arab Spring not only by applying the Theory of PS as a structuring device for existing explanations of regime survival, it furthermore adds value by giving an example of how scholars can examine qualitatively how the concept of diversionary tactics (military and non-military responses) can have applicability.

This study delves into the post-Arab Spring period when political Islam was at the forefront of the drive for democratisation in the MENA region. The theories of political Islam and liberal democracy are used as the theoretical framework for the study. A qualitative approach was undertaken with a focused textual analysis of a variety of academic papers and opinion pieces on the theory of political Islam in order to discuss the compatibility of political Islam and democracy. The study makes use of Tunisia and the Ennahdha Movement as a case study to assess the practical application of political Islam. The research is limited to the 2011-2015 period in Tunisia in order to specifically make use of the electoral periods to determine the political Islam credentials of the Ennahdha Movement. What the study has determined is that there is sufficient evidence of the symbiotic relationship between political Islam and liberal democracy, making political Islam a viable approach for political movements in Muslim majority countries. This study contributes to the literature on political Islam as well as analysis of the post-Arab Spring developments in Tunisia. It provides a more in-depth focus on what makes Ennahdha a political Islam movement and uncovers its liberal democratic character. / Political Sciences / M.A. (International Politics)