This thesis called "The United States and the strategic triangle of China-India-Pakistan" examines how the states balance mutual threats. It also focuses on the aspect of U.S.-Pakistani relationship which is a key factor for the further development of the relations in the region. Strategic triangle relations can be defined by Sino-Pakistani alliance, Sino-Indian differences and Indian-Pakistani rivalry. The work is based on a realist concept of the balance of power theory with further focus on the Stephen M. Walt's concept of balance of threat. Based on the theoretical framework, the main threats of the triangle states and the ways they balance these threats are analysed. The growing economic and military power of China and India has resulted in intense balancing, with China using an alliance with Pakistan and strengthening its economic strategies, and with India strengthening the ties with the U.S. and other countries in the region. This ignites a significant security dilemma between China and India, further leading to a potential conflict. The paper further argues that the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan is key for maintaining regional balance. Therefore, to maintain the strong ties with Pakistan, a setting of long-term U.S. strategy in Pakistan is crucial for increasing the...

Ce travail s’appuie sur les études culturelles et historiques, la géopolitique, la narratologie, et la sémiologie de l’image pour étudier la guerre contre le terrorisme et ses représentations dans les séries télévisées américaines "24 heures chrono" et "Homeland". Produites à dix ans d’intervalle, ces deux fictions majeures de l’après-11 Septembre ont souvent été mises en opposition du fait de leur idéologie supposée, dans la lignée de la présidence républicaine de George W. Bush pour la première, de la présidence démocrate de Barack Obama pour la seconde. Cependant, l’on trouve de nombreuses ressemblances qui tendent non seulement à rapprocher "24" et "Homeland", mais également les présidences Bush et Obama. Notre travail consistera ainsi à mettre au jour l’ambivalence politique des deux programmes afin de s’interroger plus généralement sur les ruptures et les continuités de cette guerre mondiale contre le terrorisme que les États-Unis mènent depuis bientôt deux décennies. / This work uses cultural and historical studies, geopolitics, narratology, and visual semiotics to analyse the representations of the War on Terror in "24" and "Homeland", two emblematic post-9/11 American television series. These shows, which started airing almost a decade apart, have often been opposed to each other because of their presumed ideologies. Both dealing with the War on Terror, "24" has been said to reflect the conservatism of the Bush years, while "Homeland" would correspond to Obama’s liberal presidency. However, upon closer examination, many similarities can be found – which would not only bridge "24" and "Homeland", but also George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s presidencies. This work thus aims to deconstruct the preconceptions surrounding the two series by exploring their political ambivalence in order to question the ruptures and continuities in the global War on Terror which the United States has been conducting for almost twenty years now.

Master thesis deals with the concept of "rogue states" and strategies of the United States that are used towards rogue states. Concretely, attention is focused on two such labeled countries - Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Strategies used by the United States are further observed during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama and with regard to two typical characteristics of rogue states - effort to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the support of terrorism. Despite expectations, it appears that strategies used by the United States differ significantly and they are often influenced by historical experiences and strategic interests. Bush's and Obama's foreign policies were significantly different on the rhetorical level. However, as shown in the thesis there can be found certain continuities between the strategies towards rogue states.

ObamaCare 2010: Political Aspects of U.S. Health-care Reform Katarína Dujčíková Abstract The enactment of the comprehensive health-care reform in March 2010 is one of major political achievements of the administration of the 44th president of the United States of America, a Democrat Barack Obama and the 111th Congress with the majority of Democrats in both chambers. Democratic politicians reacted to the need to answer three major problems of American health care system; rising cost, average quality and limited access to standard health care services for million Americans. The historical passage of health-care reform enacted despite unified opposition by Republicans was possible due to the rare combination of favorable conditions, or so-called window of opportunity and legislative tactic, which had to be adopted in order to diffuse opposition and secure enough votes from undecided congressmen. Compromises that had to be made necessarily altered an initial reform proposal. This diploma thesis has focused on two major aims. First, it examines in detail the legislative process of health-care reform, actions of its major players (public, congressional parties, president, and interest groups) as well as its result (the reform bills), which compares to the initial reform proposals of President Obama. The findings...

The master thesis called Security of the Russian Federation: (de)securitization of the U.S. by Russian representatives deals with the security of Russia from the top representatives points of view. The analyzed time is determined by the presidential term of Dmitry Medvedev (2008 - April 2012). The aim of the thesis is to find out, why the U.S. was (de)securitized during the Medvedev's presidential term and confirm or disprove the predefined hypothesis. President, prime minister and minister of foreign affairs create the foreign politics of Russian federation. Their speeches and interviews are the main source of the data. The basic security terms and the theories (de)securitization are discussed in the first part of the thesis. The Russian point of view of security is defined in the following part. There are analyzed oficial documents focusing on definition of the national security, foreign policy and military field. There are also discussed the Russian media discourse since 90s of the 20 century and Russian- American relations. The last empirical part analyzes the interviews and speeches of the president Medvedev, of the prime minister Putin and of the minister of foreign affairs Lavrov in terms of their attitudes to the U.S.

This dissertation consists of three essays in the field of environmental economics. The first chapter provides the first causal evidence that hostile activities online lead to physical violence. Given the recently documented relationship between pollution and social media, I exploit exogenous variation in local air quality as the first step to instrument for online aggression. In an event study setting, I find volatile organic compounds (VOCs) increase by 7% when refineries experience unexpected production outages. Together with higher air pollution, I find more aggressive behaviors both online and offline, as well as worse health outcomes near refineries. A one standard deviation increase in surrounding VOCs leads to 0.16 more hate crimes against Black people and 0.23 more hospital visits per thousand people each day. Second, I consider how emotional contagion spreads through social networks. On days with pollution spikes, surrounding areas see 30% more offensive and racist tweets and 12% more crimes; those geographically distant but socially networked regions also see offensive and racist tweets increase by 3% and more crimes by 4.5%. Nationally, overlooking spillovers would underestimate crime effects of pollution by 24%. My findings highlight the consequences of social media hostility and contribute to the public debate on cyberspace regulation. The second chapter, which is coauthored with Andrew Wilson, analyzes the relationship between weather and railway accidents. Rail thermal expansion and contraction are key considerations in rail design and construction; rail operators and rolling stock may likewise exhibit vulnerability to temperature changes. We quantify the sizes of these effects by leveraging a comprehensive dataset of railway malfunctions in the United States spanning 1997-2019. We find that both heat and cold cause elevated rates of railway malfunctions, with relatively larger increases in the number of incidents leading to a casualty as well as the number of injuries and deaths resulting from these incidents. We find that exposure to daily temperatures averaging over 30°C (86°F) leads to a 16% increase in the number of rail malfunctions, a 13% increase in the number of incidents leading to a casualty, and 18% and 36% increases injuries and deaths-effects net of any operational adjustments made to mitigate these effects. Further, while we also find that warmer locations exhibit a weaker relationship between heat and railway malfunctions, we find no evidence that companies are learning, year-over-year, how to reduce accidents. Finally, we note that effects of heat are strongest for derailments (versus other types of malfunctions) and freight trains (versus passenger trains). Our findings highlight the vulnerability of the railway system to the climate. The number of injuries and deaths associated with weather exposure-especially in comparison to operators' reported private costs of equipment failure-suggests a role for enhanced rail safety regulations and adaptation funding to protect critical heat-exposed infrastructure. The third chapter, which is a joint work with Douglas Almond and Muye Ru, explores the impact of federal policy rollback on methane leakage. Improvements in satellite measurement enable independent assessment of regulatory and climate policy. In August 2020, the Trump Administration lifted Obama-era requirements that oil and gas firms detect and repair methane leaks. We merge geo-identified data from the European TROPOMI (satellite instrument) to the specific locations of the US oil and gas infrastructure. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find a prompt increase in US methane emissions following the summer 2020 rollback. The number of high-methane emission events from the oil and gas sector more than doubled after the rollback relative to the coal sector, which did not experience the same regulatory rollback. While the oil and gas industry claims it faces a persistent, profit-making incentive to stem natural gas leaks and emissions, we find a large and nimble response by industry to changes in federal policy. Public policies that reduce methane externalities are critical given that global methane concentrations are rising at an increasing rate.

Notre étude relève d’une analyse exploratoire fondée sur une étude de cas. En partant d’un exemple de débat articulé autour d’un enjeu public, en l’occurrence la responsabilité sociale d’entreprise (RSE), nous appréhendons le discours comme un instrument de pouvoir déployé par des acteurs en position conflictuelle. Nous prenons comme un cas d’étude la crise écologique provoquée par British Petroleum (BP) au large du Golfe de Mexique le 20 avril 2010. Pour sélectionner notre corpus, nous avons désigné deux populations cibles de discours, en l’occurrence le discours tenu par le gouvernement américain (discours d’Obama) et le discours représentant l’avis officiel de BP (communiqués de presse de BP). Nous avons analysé les discours publics d’Obama et de BP datant du 20 avril 2010 jusqu’au 19 septembre 2010. Nous avons considéré tout discours produit dans un contexte conflictuel travaillé par une crise comme un instrument porteur symboliquement des signes de pouvoir et mobilisant des rapports de force entre les acteurs impliqués. Nous partons de l’hypothèse suivante : les discours organisationnel et gouvernemental étudiés et produits dans un contexte de crise, sont forcément des discours conflictuels au sens de Windisch (1987). Et nous avons utilisé la grille d’analyse élaborée par Windisch (1987) pour mettre en exergue le fonctionnement interne d’un discours conflictuel envisagé comme un vecteur du pouvoir et de légitimation. Nous avons précédé l’analyse de discours, méthode principale dans notre étude, par une analyse de contenu qualitative. Le recours à l’analyse de contenu se justifie par notre souci de déterminer les divers thèmes développés dans le discours, d’examiner comment les acteurs imprègnent de sens le thème de la RSE et de poser le corpus dans sa réalité propre, en ayant recours au logiciel d’analyse de contenu qualitative HYPERRESEARCH. En outre, en mobilisant les présupposés théoriques et les outils méthodologiques issus de l’analyse de discours, nous avons ausculté le potentiel performatif légitimateur des discours construits et élaborés dans un contexte de communication conflictuelle. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé le logiciel d’analyse textuelle TROPES reconnu comme un outil d’analyse textuelle capable de générer des modèles représentatifs de la structure du corpus et de son organisation thématique. NOTIONS-CLÉS Discours conflictuel, stratégies discursives, RSE, légitimité, pouvoir, tandem État/firme. / Our study is intended to be an exploratory analysis based on a case study. Starting from a sample debate articulated around a public issue, namely the corporate social responsibility (CSR), we apprehend the discourse as an instrument of power deployed by actors in a conflict position. We take the ecological crisis caused by British Petroleum (BP) in the Gulf of Mexico since April 20, 2010 as a case study, and the reaction of the U.S. administration to intervene and reassure the public opinion alarmed by this crisis. In order to select our corpus, we have identified two target populations of discourse, in this case the speech given by the U.S. government (Obama's speech) and discourses representing the official opinion of BP (BP's press releases) dated April 20, 2010 until September 19, 2010. We considered any discourse occurring in a context of conflict symbolically as a power signs carrier and a mobilizing instrument of power relations between the involved actors. We start from the hypothesis stating that organizational and governmental discourses, studied and produced in a crisis context, are necessarily conflictual discourses within the meaning of Windisch (1987). And we used the analytical framework developed by Windisch (1987) to highlight the internal functioning of a confrontational speech seen as a vector of power and legitimacy. In our research, we preceded the discourse analysis, the main method in our study, by a qualitative content analysis. The use of content analysis aims to determine the various themes developed in the discourse, examine how actors define the CSR topic and put the corpus in its own reality, by using the HYPERRESEARCH qualitative content analysis software. In addition, by implementing the theoretical assumptions and methodological tools from discourse analysis, we auscultated the performative legitimating potential of discourses constructed and developed in a conflict communication context. We used the TROPES text analysis software recognized as a textual analysis tool able to generate representative models of the corpus structure and its thematic organization. KEY CONCEPTS Confrontational discourse, discursive strategies, CSR, legitimacy, power, tandem of government and enterprise.

Cette thèse inscrite dans la tradition intellectuelle de l’American Political Development analyse les liens dialectiques entre l’entrepreneuriat des présidents des États-Unis sur la question de l’assurance maladie, l’essor du système de santé américain contemporain et son produit le plus récent, le Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010). Il s’agit d’analyser les influences réciproques entre un exécutif qui subit de très fortes contraintes institutionnelles dans ce champ précis des politiques publiques et un système de santé dont les fondements et les contours sont en perpétuelle mutation. Les réformes de santé, de par leur nature transversale et polémique, leur complexité mais aussi leur poids dans l'économie américaine, agissent directement sur les équilibres de la gouvernance publique. Elles doivent être considérées comme un laboratoire et un accélérateur d’innovations pour la présidence, dans un système politique où sa sphère d’action est limitée, tant par les freins et des contre-pouvoirs que par l’influence d’autres entrepreneurs politiques dotés d’une légitimité d’action égale voir supérieure à se saisir de la question épineuse de la santé. L’adoption du PPACA, sa promulgation par un président démocrate après un siècle de rendez-vous manqués avec les réformes ambitieuses de l’assurance maladie, ainsi que sa mise en œuvre compliquée, offrent un cas d’étude de premier plan sur les évolutions de l'exécutif étasunien et sur la normalisation d’un entrepreneuriat présidentiel hétérodoxe. / This dissertation which falls within the intellectual tradition of American Political Development explores the dialectical links between the entrepreneurship of US presidents on health care reform, the development of the American health care system and its latest product, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which was signed into law in 2010. This work analyses the mutual forces of influence at work between a deeply constrained executive in this particular field of public policy and a health care system whose foundations and contours are in constant mutation. Given its controversial nature, its complexity and its weight in the US economy, health care reform directly affects the dynamics of public governance. Health care reform must therefore be considered as a laboratory and an accelerator of innovations for the presidency, in a political system in which its sphere of action is limited, as much by checks and balances as by the influence of other entrepreneurs who enjoy equivalent if not greater legitimacy than the executive branch to take action on the thorny issue of health care. The passage of the PPACA, the fact that it was signed into law by a democratic president after a century of failed attempts at ambitious reform as well as its arduous implementation, are a picture perfect case study on the evolutions of the presidential institution and on the routinization of heterodox presidential entrepreneurship.

The aim of this thesis is to study how the international media CNN frame their news reporting with the change of presidency in America, after a year of being accused of spreading fake news by president Trump. By using a Critical Discourse Analysis, CDA and a rhetorical analysis I examined a selection of articles published in CNN. In total I examined ten articles from 2015 focusing on how CNN choose to portray the identity of the president at the time Barack Obama. I also selected ten articles from 2017 to analyze how the CNN choose to construct Trumps identity a year after his ascent to the president office. The result show that Barack Obama is portrayed as an inspiring president always there for his people. Donald Trump is instead portrayed as a bad leader for the country while CNN started to focus on regaining the trust of the public. In 2015 CNN also used more pathos and ethos arguments than in 2017 when they instead focus on arguments through logos. CNN show that they stand by their goal to control and oversee the power of governments in democracy. Media and governments in a democracy work together to balance their power. / Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att studera hur det internationella mediet CNN gestaltar sin nyhetsrapportering, med förändringen av olika presidenter, efter ett år att ha blivit anklagade att sprida falska nyheter av president Trump. Genom att använda en kritisk diskursanalys och en retorisk analys undersökte jag ett urval av artiklar publicerade i CNN. Totalt studerade jag tio artiklar från 2015 som handlade om Barack Obama som var president det året. Sedan valde jag tio artiklar från 2017 för att analysera hur CNN valde att gestalta Trumps identitet, ett år efter han blivit president. Resultatet visade att Barack Obama gestaltas som en inspirerande ledare som alltid finns där för sitt folk. Donald Trump gestaltades istället som en sämre ledare för landet och CNN fokuserade på att vinna tillbaka förtroendet från allmänheten. 2015 använde CNN också mer patos och etosargument än 2017 då de istället fokuserade på logosargument. CNN visar att de står fast vid sitt uppdrag att kontrollera och bevaka demokratiska länders regeringar. Medierna och regeringar arbetar tillsammans för att balansera sin makt.

The diploma thesis The White House Presents: The Media Image of Barack Obama examines the media presentation of the President of the United States, Barack Obama, through the official media channel of the White House. Five video recordings of President Obama's speeches are analyzed with a focus on linguistic, visual and auditory sign systems with the use of the qualitative semiotic content analysis. Before the analysis itself, an explanation of theoretical terms related mostly to the representation of reality is provided. On these grounds the analysis is then approached as a description of different means of achieving media construction of reality, to which both the President himself and the White House Office of Communications contribute. This Office is in charge of the content of the above-mentioned channel. To broaden the context, general information about the functioning of the President's media communication is included. The aim of this thesis is an interpretation of the communication tools presented by the White House media channel and the analysis of their symbolic meaning in order to explicate the process of a specific media image of the President coming into existence. The approach to the analyzed content from the perspective of intercultural communication is also of importance. It must be...