The transformation of the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey involved reforming the government, redefining the relationship between the population and the ruling elite, and navigating ethnic and religious identities and how those identities affected the national identity. Unfortunately, these processes were accompanied by the suppression of religious and ethnic minorities, deportations, violence, and murder.

The following comparative case study of Iraqi Kurdistan and Democratic Federation of Northern Syria-Rojava seeks to fill a gap in literature on the viability of democracy in cases of de facto statehood. There is yet to be an assessment of the potential influence of support from patron states on the degree to which democratization in de facto states is possible. This research expands upon on the argument that the decision to recognize de facto states is at least partially dependent upon the national interests of influential third party states. Syria Rojava has relied heavily on the strength of its internal sovereignty for survival where Iraqi Kurdistan received significant external support in vital phases of the state building process and was not reliant entirely on the strength of its internal unity. Where Kurdistan received essential major power support from permanent UN Security Council members early in the state-building process, as well as afterwards in constructing a divided system of governance, Syria Rojava has received little external support and faces an international community that denies its existence. It is estimated that in the following research the support of Major Powers early in the state-building process fundamentally changes the nature of internal sovereignty. More specifically the strength and weakness of conditions of internal sovereignty influence the type of governance that is practiced in the cases under analysis. Where the conditions of internal sovereignty are strong, the viability for democratization decreases; where the conditions of internal sovereignty are weak, the viability for democratization increases. In the case of Iraqi Kurdistan, the relatively weak conditions of internal sovereignty, while resulting in conditions that are more conducive to democratization, subjects the region to increased dependence on external powers for survival. Whereas in Syria Rojava, the relatively strong conditions of internal sovereignty while resulting in conditions that are less conducive to democratization, subjects the region to less dependence on external powers for survival. Theories that seek to affirm the possibility of democratization in de facto states have so far eschewed consideration of the military and diplomatic support of patron states in the early de facto state building process. There is a need for research that takes into consideration the specific events that lead to the creation of de facto states so as not to overlook the possibility that external actors play a role in shaping conditions of internal sovereignty.

Can a nation without being an independent state reach democracy? According to some researchers a democratization process cannot happen without having an independent state with control over their own territories. The Kurdish people without a given state are divided between four authoritarian states in the Middle east and in opposite to its neighbors' have Kurds ambition to become democratic always existed. The purpose pf this thesis was to analyze if Iraqi Kurdistan is heading towards democracy and to find what the driving factors behind the democratization process are. The thesis used a qualitative text analysis approach with a complementary case study where the thesis focused on Larry Diamonds internal and external factors as a guiding instrument to determine what political mechanisms have driven Kurds and politicians' transition to democracy and peace. The analysis presented that authoritarian division, authoritarian development, free values, civil society, peaceful pressure and limits of sanctions and aid conditionally drove them. For answering the research problem, is a democratization processes possible for non-independent states? It is possible, Kurds in Iraq have so far accomplished to establish an electoral democracy, and a consolidated democracy is not impossible if legitimacy among politicians are increased and if freedom of expression is uncontrolled by politicians and if corruption decreases.

The objective of this study is to describe and analyze the management of communal conflict in the Middle East, focusing on the Kurds. To this end, an effort is made to examine (1) the means that have been used to manage the Kurdish conflict by Middle Eastern countries; (2) the degree of success or failure of applied measures and (3) possible explanations for the first two questions.

Abstract  Master's essay by Pawan Mostafa Autumn term 2017. Supervisor: Magnus Lindh.     A foreign policy analysis of influencing factors explaining Turkey's changed policy towards Syria                                                       This study searching an analytical explanation of factors of influence that possibly will have supported the way Turkey's foreign policy has changed in Syria. The study covers a main question and three different theoretical questions.      Charles F. Hermann's model for foreign policy change is used to produce results. In this context, the current study argues that the Arab Spring has been an important part of the changes in the regional security structure and made these changes the most important determinant of Turkish foreign policy. It further examines the leadership of Turkish foreign policy, the restructuring within the country and external shock as factors that perceive and convey change and lead to results. In this regard, this study focuses primarily on the explanation of the source of change and the intermediate step of the above-mentioned factors of influence.      The empirical purpose of this study is to develop an analytical explanation of the change in Turkish foreign policy in the context of the Arab Spring 2011, specifically focusing on the period 2015 to the now. By applying the explanatory model for foreign policy change in a qualitative content analysis, the study aims at contributing to the empirical studies of foreign policy change. In addition to the empirical goals, this study also has theoretical motives. The theoretical purpose is to contribute to the studies of foreign policy change. Taking into consideration previous literature on foreign policy change is an important dimension that gives the study a functional alternative, partly based on Hermann's three-step model. In addition, the study aims at contributing to the scientific literature, as it combines foreign policy analysis (FPA) with a focus on the actor's devices and analysis of international relations (IR) with a focus on system or structure. / Sammandrag        Magisteruppsats av Pawan Mostafa VT 2017. Handledare: Magnus Lindh. En Utrikespolitisk analys av påverkningsfaktorer bakom Turkiets ändrade policy gentemot Syrien       Den här studien söker en analytisk förklaring av påverkningsfaktorer som kan ha legat bakom hur Turkiets utrikespolitik förändrats vad gäller Syrien. Studien omfattar en övergripande forskningsfråga och tre olika teoretiskt ställda frågor.       Charles F. Hermanns modell för utrikespolitisk förändring används för att få fram resultat. I detta sammanhang hävdar den nuvarande studien att den arabiska våren har varit en viktig del av förändringarna i den regionala säkerhetsstrukturen och gjort dessa förändringar till den viktigaste determinanten inför den turkiska utrikespolitiken. Den undersöker vidare den turkiska utrikespolitikens ledarskap, omstruktureringen inom landet och extern chock som faktorer som uppfattar och förmedlar förändring och leder till resultat. I det avseendet fokuserar denna studie främst på förklaringen av förändringskällan och det mellanliggande steget i de ovannämnda påverkningsfaktorerna.       Det empiriska syftet med denna studie är att utveckla en analytisk förklaring av förändringen i turkisk utrikespolitik i samband med den arabiska våren 2011, specifikt med fokus på perioden 2015 till nutid. Genom att tillämpa den förklarande modellen för utrikespolitisk förändring i en kvalitativ innehållsanalys syftar studien till att bidra till de empiriska studierna av utrikespolitisk förändring. Förutom de empiriska målen har den här studien också teoretiska motiv. Det teoretiska syftet är att bidra till studierna av utrikespolitisk förändring. Att ta hänsyn till tidigare litteratur om utrikespolitisk förändring är en viktig dimension som ger studien ett funktionellt alternativ, delvis baserat på Hermanns trestegsmodell. Dessutom avser studien att bidra till den vetenskapliga litteraturen, eftersom den kombinerar utrikespolitisk analys (UPA) med inriktning på skådespelarens anordningar och analys av internationella relationer (IR) med inriktning på system eller struktur.

This essay investigates the role of non-governmental organizations in Turkey that work with minority rights. The purpose of this study is to get a better understanding on how domestic NGOs understand and prioritize human rights and how different social structures are restricting NGOs from engaging in human rights of the Kurdish minority. To answer this question this study utilizes a qualitative content analyses of the published research on human rights and NGOs. The analysis has been conducted from a postcolonial perspective. The finding has shown that even if Turkish human right defenders are restricted on how they can work with human rights violations in the society there still is an engagement in trying to work with these social problems. This essay concludes that Kurds have been restricted from working with human rights by means of the Turkish anti-terror law, which may have negatively affected the visibility of Kurdish activist, but not stopped them from engaging in social issues. However, there is still a need for development in the Turkish NGO regime, but the westerniza- tion project may not be the answer for Turkish human right development. This essay argues that the human rights education projects in Turkey should be conducted by domestic NGOs own understanding of human rights and only then there will be potential for real human rights development.

What leads a person to become an armed guerrilla? This qualitative case study utilizes select elements of a hermeneutic and existential phenomenology—through a lens of Freirean critical theory and transformative research—to investigate the commonalities in the material, psychological, artistic, and spiritual motivations behind Kurdish guerrillas in the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). Other key elements are the search for an incipient turning point in their early pre-guerrilla lives that placed them on the road to rebellion, and the grounded theory that there exists an ‘Guevarian Archetype’ (derived from Che Guevara) personified by those who are driven to join the PKK. Through an in-depth dissection of Turkey’s historical oppression of Kurds in occupied Northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey), and extensive use of direct quotations by those affected, the author hopes to provide practitioners in the discipline of conflict analysis a new holistic template with which to analyze the metastasizing components behind other armed insurgencies. This prism includes comparison of the testament dataset acquired through in-depth focused interviews with 20 veteran PKK guerrillas, against corresponding testimony of their opposition in the Turkish Army, an anecdotal narrative of episodic vignettes, and a literary exegesis of several metaphysical concepts with their own original definitions. Drawing on the ideas of diverse theorists, philosophers, and past revolutionaries, the author hopes to provide a revelatory milieu for exploring the PKK’s governing ideology of democratic confederalism as espoused by imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, and the emancipatory avant-garde impulses that counterintuitively lead compassionate guerrillas to defensively kill out of universal love.

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This study focuses on humanitarian intervention in Iraq with a special focus on Iraqi Kurdistan. The purpose of the study is to analyze humanitarian intervention from different perspectives, especially in political matters. Despite this, a reasonable selection process is needed as not all international political aspects are particularly relevant. There are aspects which, although closely linked to humanitarian intervention, do not need a detailed analysis due to the already extensive literature and the established nature of the relevant regulation which does not analyze much new information. The study aims to apply theories and concepts in an analysis of humantarian intervention by applying a theoretical model based on humanitarian intervention and the UN's policy process. The analysis will focus on three dimensions: content, organization and legitimacy. By exploring these dimensions, the study will examine and evaluate different aspects of the intervention, including the political arguments, the structure and functioning of the UN policy process, and the legitimacy and support for the intervention from different actors and the world community. The method used in the study is qualitative research to define humanitarian intervention which is heavily dependent on the theoretical model. The most important results of the analysis are that there are no standards for when the UN system for crisis management should be activated and that the political unity in the Security Council is not as strong as the principles express. Other results are that thispolitical field, especially the political decisions about international armed conflicts, has countless very interesting aspects. However, a detailed presentation of these aspects requires a more specific study dealing with this topic, rather than an essay on humanitarian intervention.

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