This thesis examines constraints of the EU’s engagement in the frozen conflicts of the South Caucasus, namely, the Abkhazia, the South Ossetia, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts. The study begins with a puzzle in which the EU’s ambition for prioritizing the resolution of frozen conflicts mismatches with the reality related to the status quo of frozen conflicts. By using an abductive reasoning in an observed surprising fact, the research highlights that the complexity of the region can be the main contributor to the EU’s limitations.   With this purpose, the ENP as a normative power of the EU is analyzed to identify how the EU is attempting to be a major actor in the region in order to secure its borders. Subsequently, the limitations of the EU in engaging in frozen conflicts are examined from ‘security dilemma’, ‘balance of power’ and ‘bandwagoning’ neorealism perspectives together with a comparative study on the three conflicts. The results show that the complexity of the region is a principal constraint for the EU. In particular, geopolitical rivalries with Russia and small states with their alliances contribute to the complexity of the region. However, this study also explores the idea that the complexity of the region is not only the best explanation for the EU’s limitations, but also the EU’s structure per se creates a lack of credibility with relations to the respective Caucasian states. For future studies, I suggest that the analysis of the social learning mechanism of the EU will be an asset for understanding the region and avoiding Eurocentric approaches towards Caucasian political systems and people. Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, policymakers can consider that it is possible to change the EU’s low profile either by having clear strategies concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or replacing one of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group with the EU.

In recent years geopolitical developments which involve powerful states clashing have demonstrated the fragility of small states and their positions within the international system. It is evident that changing hegemony has a greater impact on small states than the most powerful ones. This paper aims to research how one can understand - to a certain extent - the intractable situation between the People's Republic of China and Republic of China Taiwan through a Singaporean narrative. The objective is to further develop critical thinking on the issue by applying and testing neorealism as well as defensive realism as a theoretical approach. Realism is considered as the most sufficient theoretical framework to examine the research topic with. The critical assesment is based on empirical research and relevant circumstances as well as a historical dimensions. By analyzing the case of Singapore as a small state in southeast Asia with core elements within realism such as neorealism and defensive realism, it generates further understanding of the Singaporean standpoint in the China-Taiwan issue. The study found with regards to ethnical history as well as military and economic power that China possess, it is evident that further tension and possible escalation of the conflict would have a major impact on Singapore both economically and politically.

No description available.

The aim of this essay is to explain how IR theory relates to the European Union. Thisis motivated by the extensive use of empirical and descriptive studies on the EU. Togenerate knowledge on how theory relates to the EU, two seemingly differenttheories are compared. Neorealism and social constructivism are used to generatehypotheses, which are then tested on a quantitive study on the EU’s Common Foreignand Security Policy. The study covers the years of 2003-2005 and uses a statisticalmethod to present to empirical findings, which is supplemented by previous studieson EU’s foreign policy. The theoretical framework enables comparison of the twoemployed theories’ explanatory powers. The essay concludes that none of the theoriesprovides satisfactory explanations of in regard to EU’s global power and/or influence.Nevertheless, they are able to explain different aspects of the developments of EU’sforeign policy. Further theoretical studies should be undertaken in order to highlightthe issues of theory vis-à-vis the European Union.

Scholars tend to approach small states’ military strategies in terms of restraints and opportunities in the external security environment, largely overlooking the influences of a state’s domestic particularities. This thesis aims to explore how the theory of strategic culture, regarded here as an inherent, domestic context in which strategy is formulated, can add nuance to such realist analyses of how small states build and adjust their defence capabilities. Through a comparative case study design and a qualitative content analysis method, this thesis examines the adjustments in Denmark and Sweden’s military strategies following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the central similarities and distinctions between those. The influence of strategic culture on the respective states’ strategies is examined based on three foundational elements, dominant threat perception, approach to strategic partnerships, and geographical patterns and strategic exposure. The findings of this thesis demonstrate that the neorealist perspective of adjustments in small states’ military strategies can indeed be complemented with a view of the states’ unique strategic cultures, particularly with regard to the differences between the two empirical cases. Most notably, such a view allows for a deeper understanding of distinctions in the underlying rationales which guide the development, organisation and mission of the respective states’ Armed Forces.

The classically idyllic, carefree world of childhood would appear to be diametrically opposed to the horrors of war and world-wide conflict. However, throughout film history, filmmakers have continually turned to the figure of the child as a prism through which to examine the devastation caused by war. This thesis will investigate the representation of childhood experience of the Second World War across six fiction films: Roberto Rossellini’s Paisan (1946) and Germany Year Zero (1947), René Clément’s Forbidden Games (1952), Andrei Tarkovsky’s Ivan’s Childhood (1962), Jan Nemec’s Diamonds of the Night (1964) and Elem Klimov’s Come and See (1985). Spanning forty years, I will examine how these films, whilst sharing many thematic and formal concerns, are unquestionably diverse. They are products of specific socio-cultural milieux, but are also important works in the evolution of cinematic style in art cinema. The films can be aligned to various trends such as neorealism (Paisan, Germany Year Zero), Modernism (Ivan’s Childhood, Diamonds of the Night) and Neo-expressionism (Come and See). Structured in four parts – on witness, landscape, loss and play – I will suggest that just filmmakers utilise childhood experience – often fragmented and chaotic in terms of temporality - to reflect the chaos of war. The first part of my study focuses on the child as witness, the child as Deleuzian seer. I draw on the writings of Gilles Deleuze as well as post-Deleuzian interventions of Tyrus Miller and Jaimey Fisher to argue that whilst Deleuze’s characterization of the child figure as passive is somewhat problematic when applied to the neorealist works, it can, however, be more rigorously applied to Come and See, a film in which, I suggest, the child embodies a much purer form of the Deleuzian seer. In the second part of my study, drawing on the work of Martin Lefebvre and Sandro Bernardi amongst others, I discuss the representation of landscape and its relation to the figure of the child. The third part will examine the representation of loss as well as the symbolic quality of water and its links to the maternal with reference to psychoanalytic theory and the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. The fourth and final part also draws on psychoanalysis in examining the role of play in the six films with particular reference to the work of D.W Winnicott and Lenore Terr. My study seeks to contribute to the comparatively under-explored subject of the child in film through close analysis of film aesthetics including mise-en-scène, editing, and film sound.

Nesta dissertação, foi analisada a maneira como os estereótipos dos italianos são representados no roteiro de Os eternos desconhecidos, considerado este filme inaugural da commedia allitaliana. Para tanto, inicia-se com uma introdução sobre a commedia dellarte e a importância que teve posteriormente na cultura cômica italiana, principalmente na commedia allitaliana. Em seguida, apresenta-se o percurso do cinema italiano, partindo das comédias chamadas telefoni bianchi, passando pelo neorrealismo e chegando à commedia allitaliana. O período neorrealista do cinema italiano iniciou no imediato pós-guerra (1945), tendo seu período de produção mais importante entre 1945 e 1948. Paralelamente, desenvolveu-se a commedia allitaliana que, com características próprias, dava continuidade aos temas neorrealistas. As mudanças bruscas ocorridas relativamente em curto espaço de tempo, entre o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial (1945) e a retomada econômica da Itália (décadas de 50 e 60), repercutiram em uma mudança comportamental dos italianos, resultando em um novo modelo identitário. Assim, a commedia allitaliana apresenta os retratos/estereótipos do novo italiano. Neste trabalho foram analisados dez personagens de Os eternos desconhecidos que, colocados em confronto entre si, refletem as mudanças sociais e de mentalidade dos italianos nesse momento inicial do boom econômico. / In this dissertation, an analysis was made of how the stereotypes of the Italians are represented in the script of Big deal on Madonna Street, which was considered the inaugural film of the commedia all\'italiana. Therefore, it begins with an introduction about the commedia dellarte and the importance it had on the Italian comedy culture later on, mainly on the commedia all\'italiana. Next, the course of the Italian cinema is presented, starting from the comedies telefoni bianchi, passing through the neorealism and arriving at the commedia all\'italiana. The neorealist period of the Italian cinema began immediately at the post-war (1945), having its most important production period between 1945 and 1948. At the same time, it was developed the commedia all\'italiana which, with its own characteristics, gave continuity to neorealist themes. The abrupt changes that took place, in a relatively short time, between the end of the World War II (1945) and Italy\'s economic recovery (in the fifties and sixties), had repercussions in the behavioural change of the Italians, which resulted into a new model of identity. Thus, the commedia all\'italiana presents the portraits / stereotypes of the new Italian. In this work, ten characters of Big deal on Madonna Street were analysed, which, once placed against each other, reflect the social changes and the mindset of the Italians during this economic boom.

Nesta dissertação, foi analisada a maneira como os estereótipos dos italianos são representados no roteiro de Os eternos desconhecidos, considerado este filme inaugural da commedia allitaliana. Para tanto, inicia-se com uma introdução sobre a commedia dellarte e a importância que teve posteriormente na cultura cômica italiana, principalmente na commedia allitaliana. Em seguida, apresenta-se o percurso do cinema italiano, partindo das comédias chamadas telefoni bianchi, passando pelo neorrealismo e chegando à commedia allitaliana. O período neorrealista do cinema italiano iniciou no imediato pós-guerra (1945), tendo seu período de produção mais importante entre 1945 e 1948. Paralelamente, desenvolveu-se a commedia allitaliana que, com características próprias, dava continuidade aos temas neorrealistas. As mudanças bruscas ocorridas relativamente em curto espaço de tempo, entre o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial (1945) e a retomada econômica da Itália (décadas de 50 e 60), repercutiram em uma mudança comportamental dos italianos, resultando em um novo modelo identitário. Assim, a commedia allitaliana apresenta os retratos/estereótipos do novo italiano. Neste trabalho foram analisados dez personagens de Os eternos desconhecidos que, colocados em confronto entre si, refletem as mudanças sociais e de mentalidade dos italianos nesse momento inicial do boom econômico. / In this dissertation, an analysis was made of how the stereotypes of the Italians are represented in the script of Big deal on Madonna Street, which was considered the inaugural film of the commedia all\'italiana. Therefore, it begins with an introduction about the commedia dellarte and the importance it had on the Italian comedy culture later on, mainly on the commedia all\'italiana. Next, the course of the Italian cinema is presented, starting from the comedies telefoni bianchi, passing through the neorealism and arriving at the commedia all\'italiana. The neorealist period of the Italian cinema began immediately at the post-war (1945), having its most important production period between 1945 and 1948. At the same time, it was developed the commedia all\'italiana which, with its own characteristics, gave continuity to neorealist themes. The abrupt changes that took place, in a relatively short time, between the end of the World War II (1945) and Italy\'s economic recovery (in the fifties and sixties), had repercussions in the behavioural change of the Italians, which resulted into a new model of identity. Thus, the commedia all\'italiana presents the portraits / stereotypes of the new Italian. In this work, ten characters of Big deal on Madonna Street were analysed, which, once placed against each other, reflect the social changes and the mindset of the Italians during this economic boom.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:31:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cleonice Elias da Silva.pdf: 1450941 bytes, checksum: 7db5ba4ea50f7f3c058645bcd8f288b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research aimed to analyze the film Rio, 40 Degrees (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1955) and the mobilization occurring between Brazilian intellectuals after censorship by the colonel and chief of police Geraldo Menezes Cortes. To study this mobilization we analyze texts published in the Brazilian press in the second half of 1955. The sources of this research correspond to the film and the press articles published in that period. An important guiding principle for reflection that we present are the questions raised by Marcelo Ridenti (2000, 2010) about the appreciation of the people in the Brazilian culture and the revolutionary brazilianness. We propose a new analytical bias to think the film as historical and aesthetic document, this bias concerns the aesthetic and ideological project of national-popular. In the case of mobilization that emerged after the censorship of the film, we stated that it gave discussions on film production in Brazil, touting the issues surrounding the early '50s Cinema Congress, the main one, the defense of national cinema. However, the proportions assumed by the mobilization in support of the release of the film, printed a new dynamic in discussions of the Cinema Congress / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar o filme Rio, 40 Graus (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1955) e a mobilização surgida entre os intelectuais brasileiros após a sua censura pelo coronel e chefe de polícia Geraldo Menezes Côrtes. Para estudar essa mobilização, analisaremos textos publicados na imprensa brasileira no decorrer do segundo semestre de 1955. As fontes desta pesquisa correspondem ao filme e aos textos da imprensa publicados no referido período. Um eixo norteador importe para a reflexão que apresentamos são as questões trazidas por Marcelo Ridenti (2000, 2010) sobre a valorização do povo na cultura brasileira e a brasilidade revolucionária. Proporemos um novo viés analítico para pensar o filme como documento histórico e estético. Esse viés diz respeito ao projeto estético e ideológico do nacional popular. Tratando-se da mobilização surgida após a censura do filme, afirmaremos que ela proporcionou discussões sobre a produção de filmes no Brasil, agenciando questões presentes nos congressos de cinema de inícios dos anos 50, sendo a principal delas a defesa do cinema nacional. Todavia, as proporções assumidas pela mobilização em defesa da liberação do filme imprimiram uma nova dinâmica nas discussões realizadas nos congressos de cinema

<p>In the course of this master thesis I will argue the following:</p><p> a) ESDP project is an interesting initiative and concern issues that stand at the core of the EU integration processes. It relates to the most significant and updated development of the EU institutional, conceptual and strategic design, but is yet relatively unexplored and underdeveloped. </p><p>b) The aim of this study is to evaluate the efforts to enhance cooperation among European countries in the provision and use of military force. To set the scene and illustrate constrains and complications that bear upon activities in this field. Indeed, the author intends to recommend a theoretical framework, as a fundamental prerequisite for the proper study of EU Defense and Security Policy. </p><p>c) Constructivism and neo- Realism and their theoretical tenets offer an unexplored avenue to investigate and account for the development of the European Security and Defense Policy. </p><p>d) The efficiency of such an account depends on a meticulous evaluation of proposed theoretical approaches versus the emerging security complex. This theoretical choice allows for a construction beyond that of the unit or system levels of analysis and may therefore grant a causal role to perceived interests in terms of non- traditional approach to research in social science. Also it may thereby provoke an interest in terms of security and threat. </p><p>e) The originality and validity of a combination between Realism and Constructivism as a starting point for inquiries in IR may not only be relevant to an understanding of how such a development can unfold, but mostly how a real social phenomena can be unfolded by such a non-traditional theoretical approach.</p>