Despite the rise of Islamist parties and movements in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, there is a dearth of studies addressing their political communication strategies and approaches. In consideration of this fact, this doctoral thesis examines the political communication strategies of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, henceforth the AKP), from 2002 to 2017. Drawing on social movement theory and approaches to political communication, it analyses the transformations that have taken place within the AKP and Turkey and how these have been informed by religion, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s charismatic leadership. The thesis describes how the author carried out ethnographic research during the 2014 presidential election; interviewing key personalities from politics, the media, academia and think tanks, and conducting observations at AKP headquarters and campaign rallies. A quantitative content analysis of Erdoğan’s speeches was then performed to triangulate the findings from the qualitative data, ensuring effective coverage of the entire period under consideration, and to provide continuity. The research reveals how the effective communication of a party’s message is fundamental to its political success. Furthermore, in relation to the AKP it clearly identifies two distinct policy periods: 2002 to 2009, when the party promoted a liberal political ideology and pro-Western foreign policy; and 2010 to 2017, when a pro-Muslim agenda emerged. It also highlights the significance of Erdoğan’s dominance of the AKP, and the consequent lack of institutionalisation within the party, before discussing the implications of the study findings for the AKP, Turkey and the wider MENA region. Of particular interest is how the changes in the AKP’s policy appear to have been reinforced by Erdoğan, who has consistently made effective use of a variety of political communication strategies, including Americanisation, and references to pertinent local images and symbols, to create a sense of collective identity amongst the AKP’s supporters.

by Ng Wing-hong. / Abstract also in Chinese / Bibliography: leaf 91 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983

by Hugh Thomas. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1980. / Bibliography: leaves 133-136.

There has been a steady proliferation of discourses concerned with neutral education in South Korea since the democratisation of 1987. The problem of educational neutrality has been raised particularly by conservative forces. This thesis offers a critical examination of the conservative use of educational neutrality. Three inter-connected questions guide the thesis. First, what events and elements are combined in the discourse of educational neutrality in what ways? Second, how do non-discursive practices (e.g. techniques of power) help realise the discourse of educational neutrality? Finally, how do teachers and students resist pressure to be neutral? In order to address these questions, by drawing on theoretical tools offered by Kim Dong-choon and Michel Foucault, I, first of all, contextualize the conservative use of educational neutrality in relation to war-politics where critical thought and action are punished and regulated in the name of protecting society. I then combine Critical Discourse Analysis with Foucault's genealogical approach in order to grasp multiple dimensions of the discourse of educational neutrality. The construction of the discourse of educational neutrality is investigated through an analysis of a conservative newspaper's editorials. The deployment of power techniques in the realization of the discourse of educational neutrality is examined through a genealogical study of how critical teachers' unions have been regulated and how history textbooks have been sanitised. Last but not least, I explore courageous speech activities carried out by teachers and students. Those speeches, as forms of resistance to the myth of neutral education, serve to introduce a break in war-politics that draws an arbitrary line between what is and what is not say-able and do-able. The thesis concludes by highlighting that education cannot be reduced to the mere transmission of technical knowledge from teachers to students. Rather, education should take on the task of regenerating critical thought and action particularly in a pluralistic democratic society where different individuals, values, and views coexist not in an antagonistic way but in a harmonious way.

This thesis identifies processes of ‘spiritual transformation’ amongst boys from prison in the Philippines. It is a qualitative study for which data were collected largely by means of interviews and observation in jails and rehabilitation centres in the Philippines. The thesis argues that boys who suffer deprivation at home, on the streets and in jail become alienated from society. When events lead to an experience of spiritual awakening, the subsequent treatment they receive can either lead them to make changes in their lives or it can thwart them from doing so. With encouragement, boys are able to consolidate positive life changes and reach a lasting condition of spiritual transformation. The thesis demonstrates how some programmes of rehabilitation in the Philippines allow deprived children to experience and develop constructive relationships of trust, reliance, attachment and commitment, and how this assists the development of faith that is a significant component of spiritual transformation. The thesis shows how such programmes catalyse and nurture this spiritual transformation. This thesis makes an original contribution to knowledge in the area of rehabilitation of Children in Conflict with the Law and the spiritual aspects of rehabilitation. It builds upon previous research in the field of faith development and adds to this body of scholarship. Findings gained from this research can be applied to policy elsewhere.

This research is a fulfilment of the author’s long-standing desire to furnish the Korea Baptist convention with its complete history. Particular emphasis has been given to the ideological development of the denomination from its origin in 1889 to present. It is hoped that this research will provided intellectual guidance for the convention and serve as a credible chapter in the historical and theological development of Korean Christianity especially Baptists and Pentecostals-Charismatics. Being the first attempt in compiling a comprehensive, scientific history of the denomination, this work based largely upon primary sources, many of them are unpublished. The methodology utilized by the author incorporated both documentary study and observation or interview. Accordingly, Korean documents are extensively used, while English sources comprise equally important grounds of information. Proper names have been trans-literate as closely to their original sound as possible. In pursuing the study the author has followed a strictly objective method. Any deficiency that might be found in this undertaking belongs solely to the realm of his judgment. As a foreigner the author is well aware of the lack of his rhetorical subtlety in English language. The writer hopes that this research will give a momentum for both Korea Baptist Convention and Pentecostals-Charismatics within Korean Christianity to reflect on the efforts which had been made for the expansion of Christianity in Korea, and to catch a vision for the future work, which God will reveal through his word and His Spirit.

Between 30 and 14ka the Arabian Gulf was a river valley possibly comprising large freshwater lakes, marshland and estuaries. As a possible environmental refugia this landscape is important, particularly as prehistoric research in Arabia has yet to find any “evidence for human presence between 38 and 11ka” (Bretzke et al. 2013), poignantly at the same time as the Gulf became free of marine influence. This might suggest that attempting to piece together the jigsaw of regional prehistory without reference to the former sub-aerial Arabian Gulf landscape is to ignore a significant part of the puzzle. This research combines the results of excavations on Neolithic Littoral Gulf Ubaid sites with marine fieldwork in order to investigate late Palaeolithic/early Neolithic dispersals. This is contextualised through geomorphology, hydrology, geophysics and environmental analysis. This research has highlighted thousands of new sites in Qatar of all periods, and put in place effective methodologies for conservation and management of both the terrestrial environment and the Arabian Gulf submerged landscape. Importantly, terrestrial research has identified landscape signatures that informs research into the submerged Gulf landscape.

At present, progressive theory‐building in the area of political party organisation is being hampered by the controversy over how much freedom of choice decision‐makers within a party enjoy in relation to their environment. This piece of research will therefore develop an analytical framework that transcends this debate by acknowledging the causal effects of both structures and party leadership. Based on the ideas of historical institutionalism, it will argue that party organisation is the product of strategic decisions made in a strategically selective context. The framework is then applied to political parties in the newer democracies of South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia. The selection of cases is motivated by the fact that East Asia has so far been largely ignored by systematic studies of political party organisation. As will be seen, post‐autocratic environments in the region strongly favour political parties that are mere façades for informal patron‐client networks. However, we can also find parties characterised by a higher level of formal organisational strength, including parties that share many similarities with the classical mass party. These parties thus demonstrate that political actors are able to develop alternative organisational responses to the same structural context.

In 1999, Korea adopted the Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) to enhance fiscal efficiency by preventing unsuitable projects from being allocated a budget in the budget selection (BS) process. The PFS uses both economic and non-economic assessment criteria. However, according to data collected since the introduction of the PFS, about 30 per cent of projects not recommended for budget allocation received a budget. This raises questions about the relationship between the PFS and budget allocation. According to previous research, three issues about the effect of the PFS on budgetary decisions caused concern: the effect of PFS results on budgetary decisions, the appropriateness of the current PFS methodology, and the potential non-neutral behaviour of stakeholders taking part in the PFS. To deal with these, the thesis uses three key research questions: What is the impact of PFS results on budgetary decisions? Does the current PFS methodology lead to inappropriate decisions? And, lastly, what are the types of, extent of, and reasons for non-neutral behaviour by stakeholders in the PFS, and how might such behaviour be reduced? The study suggests that PFS results have a positive impact on budgetary decisions. The thesis also examines the appropriateness of the current PFS methodology and provides potential alternatives through both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Lastly, the thesis provides evidence of non-neutral behaviours by stakeholders in the PFS, which are categorized into four types: Promoter, Blocker, Dr. Pangloss, and Cassandra type. After this, this thesis examines the reasons for non-neutral behaviour and suggests possible policy alternatives for reducing non-neutral behaviour.

The ranging course of terrorism banishing peace and security prospects of today’s Pakistan is seen as a domestic effluent of its own flawed policies, bad governance, and lack of social justice and rule of law in society and widening gulf of trust between the rulers and the ruled. The study focused on policies and performance of the Musharraf government since assuming the mantle of front ranking ally of the United States in its so called ‘war on terror’. The causes of reversal of pre nine-eleven position on Afghanistan and support of its Taliban’s rulers are examined in the light of the geo-strategic compulsions of that crucial time and the structural weakness of military rule that needed external props for legitimacy. The flaws of the response to the terrorist challenges are traced to its total dependence on the hard option to the total neglect of the human factor from which the thesis develops its argument for a holistic approach to security in which the people occupy a central position. Thesis approach is also shown to hold the solutions for eliminating the causes of extremism on which terrorism feeds and grows. In sum the study deconstructs Musharraf’s regime’s response to terrorism by examining the conceptual mould of the strategic players in the country and postulates a holistic and integrated security framework to deal with terrorism on a pro-active and sustainable basis. An approach such as this would logically entail the redefining of the role of the state vis-à-vis its people as the fulcrum and medium of ensuring traditional and non traditional security of the country.