Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2007.

EN The purpose of my thesis is to analyse the process of secularization in the post-war era in Italy. The study is focused on lower social classes. The aim of my thesis is to show the complexity of the process such as secularization; on the one hand there are statistic numbers showing the trend of falling religiosity, on the other hand we know Italians as believers in God and Italy as a country with catholic symbols appearing openly in public. To understand this ambivalence, it is necessary to distinguish church, religion and faith. As a primary source for my thesis I have chosen novels of the neorealist writers. As neorealism tries to capture predominantly the social reality and the writers show greater capability of uncovering the motivation of historical figure than any other possible sources, selecting the works of the neorealist writers proves to be more than suitable. The main methodology chosen for my thesis is typification, through which I tried to define the social stereotypes. The thesis is composed of nine chapters. Chapters one to three describe the political, economic and social situation of post-war Italy and define the social segment on which the thesis is focused. Presented is a characterization of neorealism and the authors as well as the most important theories of secularization...

Lebanese society involves the Western, i.e. liberal and democratic model, and the Islamic model of society as umma. This Lebanese model originated and has been maintained as a compromise between communities of different value paradigms where no significant shift can be expected as Lebanon is situated at the borders of their territorial expansion. According to my analysis on the basis of theoretical concepts of neo-realism and social constructivism the external players prevail over the internal players. External players have essential influence on the development of Lebanese society and state. It is also the regional status quo or regional and international order that influences the development in Lebanon and is responsible for almost every conflict, conflict initiation or struggle in Lebanon. Lebanese multiconfessional society has always made an effort to achieve and has achieved by itself a consensus for its coexistence. That is why the international community and organizations should promote and use their influence more to maintain the peaceful co-existence.

Konstanz, Univ., Diplomarb., 1998.

Freiburg i. Br., Univ., Magisterarb., 2004/5.

Diss. Univ. Bern, 2005. / Bibliogr. de R. Wolfe: p. 349-360. Bibliogr.

Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 2002. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format

This thesis aims to introduce Moravia's Roman Tales as inspiration for several 1950's and 1960's Italian films. Individual chapters focus on literary and historical context, characteristics of film and literature relationship, an analysis of selected stories and an analysis of films with respect to their linking with their literary basis. Based on the analysis of the selected short stories and films, the concluding part summarizes how individual elements (environment, characters, plot) are worked with, whether the choice of the cast manifested itself, how were the film means, which literature can not take advantage of, used, and to which extent do the films preserve the intention of the original text. A subjective review of the films touched upon is a part of the final part as well. General trends connected with the devolopment of Italian cinematography of the 1950's and 1960's are also mentioned. The appendices briefly introduce work and lives of Alberto Moravia and the directors and scriptwriters of the given films.

of Master thesis Russia's Syria policy: geopolitical interests or defense of great power identity? Marcel Hirling Abstract: Russia has been the dominating actor in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. Researchers disagree what Russia motivates to block UN resolutions, support Assad, and intervene militarily in 2015. Academics have mainly focused on neorealist explanations. Constructivist arguments have been shortcoming so far as they miss a detailed theoretical justification and empirical evidence. This thesis aims to fill this gap by arguing that the objective utility of Syria is marginal. Instead, Syria provided Russia the opportunity to present itself as a global power, able to shape world affairs on eye level with the US. Therefore, this paper conducts a congruence analysis, which evaluates each theory's explanatory power. The analytical section is split into three parts. The first shows that events before Syria did not make a Russian intervention in Syria necessary, but that recognition of Russia's global power identity has been denied. That Russia's actions in Syria are not entirely congruent with neorealist expectations is shown by the second part. Finally, by conducting a content-analysis, several Russian narratives are evaluated that support the argument that Russia seeks...