Bibliographic Note Sundal, Kendra. 2013. La Frontière/Il Confine: French and Italian Migration Discourse. 85 pages. Master's thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies. Supervisor doc. PhDr. RNDr. Nikola Hynek, M.A., PgDipRes, PhD Abstract This work analyzes the historical background and discourse on migration in Italy and France, focusing on migration from and through former colonies in North Africa. Drawing on a feminist methodological approach, the work discusses how migrants may be perceived or treated differently based on gender, and how this impacts (or is impacted by) policies. In particular, one illustrative event, the closure of the Franco-Italian border in April 2011, is analyzed more deeply using the theory of domopolitics as introduced by William Walters. By tracing the history and the discourse about migration and integration from colonial times to the present, this event and other recent debates related to Mediterranean migration are contextualized. Key Terms: migration, France, Italy, borders, Arab Spring, domopolitics, feminist methodology, discourse analysis, historical representation

The master thesis titled Italian Political Discourse and Securitization of Immigration: the Case of the Maghreb revolutions in 2011 deals with the issue of mass immigration waves reaching Italian shores and, in particular, the tiny island of Lampedusa during the initial phase of the so called Arab Spring. Its main goal lies in reconstruction and interpretation of the political discourse led by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government presenting the immigration crisis as a serious threat to national and potentially to European security. The first part introduces the general theoretical framework. The securitization theory of the Copenhagen School was used as an instrument for the thesis, including major criticism raised by the authors belonging to the social constructivist approach. In the second part, the author tries to characterize the basic historical and political context and clarifies the specifics of immigration in contemporary Italy. The last segment contains structuralized discourse analysis of the 2011 events and explores the extraordinary measures adopted and implemented in reaction to the government rhetoric at both the national and supranational levels. In this respect, the author pays special attention to how the process of negotiations finally led to the revision of the EU...

The people in Tunisia demanded democracy and civil liberties, which led to large-scale demonstrations against the Tunisian regime in December 2010. The demonstrations against the authoritarian regime was considered to be the beginning of the Arab Spring. Of all states that was affected by the Arabic Spring, Tunisia became that one country that succeeded their transition from an authoritarian state to a democratic one. In order to analyze why Tunisia became a democratic state, this study aims to clarify what factors that affected the democratization process. Through the theoretical framework of Samuel P. Huntington, the factors that affected the third wave democratization are used in this study in order to analyze the Tunisian democratization and transition. Through analyzation; deepening legitimacy problems of the regime and economic growth was considered to affect the Tunisian democratization. Actions of external actors partly affected the country’s democratization. However, religious changes and snowballing effects was considered not to have an impact on the democratization and transition towards democracy.

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Muslim women’s rights, and gender equality in the Muslim world, are commonly discussed subjects within the academic world. Feminism, as a term, is often connected to this topic of discussion. This thesis aims to analyze two different perspectives concerning how these rights should be achieved: Islamic feminism, using internal resources, and Muslim feminism, using external resources. Islamic feminism, as a strategy, proposes that by interpreting the Quran, the ultimate revelation of God, Islam could provide the central and egalitarian meaning of the Quran. There is disagreement within the academic community whether Islamic feminism would enable these rights. Muslim feminism, as a counterpoint to Islamic feminism, proposes that the state must become secularized. Rendering Islam and the state as separate entities.    This thesis will utilize the theoretical perspective on Islam and feminism from five feministic academics. They all have different backgrounds, standpoints, and approaches towards the development of Muslim women’s rights, as well as what strategies they suggest to improve them. These strategies encounter different kinds of difficulties. The Islamic feminism, which uses the Quran, runs the risk of being too heavily associated with already established interpretations of the Quran. It may be seen as intertwined with existing fundamentalist views. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Muslim feminism may create a divide between Islam and women’s rights. This thesis aims to present the potential of different theoretical perspectives on Islam and feminism as well as the limitations on suggested strategies for improvement of Muslim women’s rights.

The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the Syrian conflict by usingHistoriographical Comparative Study as a method. The study compared five different books onthe Syrian conflict. The purpose of the study is not to present "pure facts" but the main purposeis to interpret these books on how they view the Syrian conflict. In other words, how have theauthors interpreted and written about the conflict and then compare with each other. It wasnecessary to choose a theory for this work and there was nothing better than realism to explaininternational relations, and the theory was most suited to the study's problem area. The resultshowed that all the authors had different views on the study's issues, it could be found that somebooks had almost the same view while some other books had completely different views. Butall books agreed that external actors have influenced and escalated the Syrian conflict. Asrealism describes, no state sacrifices its self-interest due to moral principles. Which most of thebooks selected for this study agrees that all states involved in the Syrian conflict were due toself-interest. / Syftet med denna studie är att erbjuda en djupare förståelse av den syriska konflikten, med hjälpav Historiografisk komparativ studie som metod. Studie går på att jämföra fem olika böckersom är skrivna om den syriska konflikten. Syftet med studien är inte att presentera ”rena fakta”utan huvudsyftet är att tolka dessa böcker om hur de ser på den syriska konflikten. Alltså hurhar de tolkat och skrivit om konflikten för att kunna jämföra med varandra. Det var nödvändigtatt välja en teori för denna arbetet och det fanns inget bättre än realismen för att förklarainternationella relationer, och teorin var mest passande till studiens problemområde. Resultatetblev att alla författarna hade olika syn angående studiens frågeställningar, det kunde hittas attvissa böcker hade nästan samma syn medan vissa andra böcker hade helt olika syn. Men Allaböcker var överens om att externa aktörer har påverkat och eskalerat den syriska konflikten.Som realismen beskriver att ingen stat offrar sitt egenintresse för moraliska principer. Vilkettalar de flesta böcker som valdes till denna studie för detta påstående och är överens om att allastater som var inblandade i den syriska konflikten var på grund av sitt egenintresse.

[pt] Esta é uma pesquisa no campo da internet e política nos subcampos da esfera pública e do ativismo transnacional. O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar a constituição de públicos transnacionais, que se expressam por meio do ativismo, utilizando as mídias digitais. A partir de uma revisão de literatura, serão analisados dois casos emblemáticos do ativismo transnacional: os protestos coordenados de 15 fevereiro de 2003, realizados simultaneamente em diversos lugares do mundo contra a iminente Guerra do Iraque, e os protestos de 2011 no Egito até a renúncia do então presidente Hosni Mubarak, localizados no contexto da Primavera Árabe, que incluiu eventos parecidos em outros países da região e forte uso das mídias sociais. Serão trabalhadas as seguintes questões nos casos estudados: 1) quais as características desses públicos?; 2) de que forma as mídias sociais são utilizadas?; 3) o que torna esses movimentos transnacionais? Nossa tentativa é a de contribuir para as pesquisas sobre o ativismo - e sobre a esfera pública - transnacional, utilizando como fonte estudos já realizados na área. / [en] This is a research in the field of Internet and Politics in the subfield of the public sphere and transnational activism. The aim of this work is to identify the constitution of transnational publics, which are expressed through activism, using digital media. Based on a literature review, two emblematic cases of transnational activism will be analyzed: the coordinated protests of 15 February 2003, held simultaneously in many countries against the imminent Iraq War, and the 2011 protests in Egypt that took place until the resignation of the president Hosni Mubarak, and were located in the context of the Arab Spring, which included similar events in other Arab countries and strong use of social media. Both cases will be studied in light of the following questions: 1) which are the characteristics of these publics that may be formed around certain issues?; 2) how was social media used?; 3) what makes these publics transnational? By doing so, we hope to contribute to the research on transnational activism and public sphere.

The Arab Spring led to the overthrow of multiple authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa and to the flow of arms and fighters from Libya to Western African countries, triggering the crisis in the Sahel and altering the security landscape of the region. The Sahel, a quite stable region, became vulnerable to the rise of terrorism due to political instability, internal conflicts dynamics and power vacuum which led to ungoverned spaces to be seen as safe havens to terrorist groups. The international community, fearing the spread of terrorism, initiated multiple operations in the region such as an UN mission in Mali – MINUSMA – and the French-led intervention in the G5 – operation Barkhane. After 9/11, a change in perception took place and terrorism now came to be seen as a transnational threat to world peace and stability, leading to the inclusion of a new role during peacekeeping operations – stabilisation – achievable by the use of military power. This study, based on secondary data research, aims to understand the transformation of peace and counterterrorism operations in the Sahel region. The study notes that the view of Sahelian states as fragile and weak and due to that the perfect target for transnational terrorism justifies the West interventions in the region. However, even under a development-security nexus, all interventions were carried out with only one purpose – fight against terrorism – as the global war on terror was seen as required to reinstate security in the Sahel. In this sense, MINUSMA can be seen as a laboratory test, also because it was working side by side with French troops which were under a counterterrorism mandate, which goes completely out of UN’s character. This mission created a dangerous precedent as it goes beyond the normal understanding of peacekeeping missions. This thesis argues that the change of peace and counterterrorism operations in the region happened due to the perception of terrorism as a transnational threat and of the Sahel region as a safe haven for the proliferation of terrorism. Moreover, all interventions had Western interests in mind and not even one was focused on addressing the underlying causes of the conflicts such as political instability, climate change and food insecurity which enlarged the humanitarian challenges in the Sahel.

本文主要關注：何種原因造成2011年阿拉伯之春期間的內戰發生與否。在評估由Boix、Collier和Hoeffler，以及Fearon和Laitin所提出的內戰理論後，我發現單獨適用Collier和Hoeffler即可有效又簡約地解釋阿拉伯之春期間的情況。此外，我認為「和平持續期」(peace duration)和「半民主」(anocracy)可能是內戰的必要條件。為了進一步確認理論的解釋力，我將焦點轉移至探索造成理論預測例外（如阿爾及利亞和利比亞）的原因。最後，我提出對理論發展和政策的一些建議。 / The main concern of this study lies in what is the cause behind whether civil war broke out during the Arab Spring (2011). By evaluating civil war theories by Boix, Collier and Hoeffler, and Fearon and Laitin, I find that applying the theory by Collier and Hoeffler alone can effectively and parsimoniously explains the situation during the Arab Spring. In addition, I identify two variables: “peace duration” and “anocracy”, which might be the necessary conditions behind the civil wars during the Arab Spring. To further assure the explanatory power of theories, I switch the focus to explore the reasons why there are exceptions, such as Algeria and Libya, out of the theoretical prediction. Finally, I present some recommendations for theoretical development and policy.

Ce mémoire porte sur les liens entre les médias, les émotions et la séquence d’événements lors d’une mobilisation sociale. Nous avons fait une étude de cas sur la révolution égyptienne de 2011. L’objectif est de comprendre comment les gens se mobilisent lors d’un événement de cet ordre. Au niveau théorique, nous explorons les travaux de Castells (2012) sur les mouvements de foule. Nous présentons la théorie d’intelligence affective pour résumer ce que les chercheurs ont dit sur la place des émotions en temps de mobilisation. En ce qui concerne la méthodologie, nous avons effectué des entrevues semi-structurées avec des Égyptiens qui ont participé à la révolution de 2011 ou l’ont suivie. Nous utilisons des cartes cognitives pour comprendre leur expérience. Une carte cognitive est une analyse qui vise à révéler les représentations, soit les liens que voient les personnes entre différentes composantes. Les résultats de cette recherche semblent illustrés le fait qu’au début de la révolution, les gens ont surtout utilisé Facebook pour en apprendre sur les manifestations. Plus tard, autres formes de communication ont pris de l’importance pour s’informer sur ce qui se passait dans le pays et pour mobiliser les gens. Par ailleurs, de la colère s’est fait sentir à la fois pendant et avant la révolution. La discussion a permis d’analyser la mobilisation sociale avec l’arrivée du web 2.0 et de s’interroger sur ce phénomène ainsi que sur l’importance de la communication interpersonnelle et des émotions durant une révolution. / In this master thesis, we question the links between the emotions, Medias and the sequence of events during social mobilization. This research is a case study on the Egyptian revolution of 2011. In the chapter on literature review, we summarize the studies on social movements of Castells (2012). We then present the theory of affective intelligence in order to understand what has been said on the presence of emotions during time of mobilization. For the methodology, we have done semi-structured interviews with Egyptians who have either participated or followed the revolution in 2011. Cognitive maps were used to understand what the research’s participants have experienced. The results show that at the beginning of the revolution, Facebook was used by the participants to learn about protests. Later on, other forms of communication became really important to learn about what was happening in the country and to mobilize others. Moreover, anger was highly felt during and before the revolution. The discussion led to the analysis and interrogation of social mobilization with the arrival of Web 2.0, the importance of interpersonal communication as well as the significance of emotions during a revolution.