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The general homogeneity of artifacts of the Intermediate Early Bronze - Middle Bronze Age in Palestine has been acknowledged for some years, but the evidence for a relative chronology and typology of objects within the period is based largely on the contents of tombs. Since the surveys of Nelson Glueck in Transjordan it has been apparent that in this region there exist a very large number of EB.MB settlement sites with artifacts directly comparable to those of Contemporary Palestine. It was hoped therefore that some evidence for development within the period might be more readily discernible in Transjordan than in Palestine, where regional differences between cemeteries were sufficiently marked to make any chronological succession very difficult to establish. If the order of succession could be achieved in Transjordan, it would therefore elucidate some of the most difficult problems of chronology in Palestine, as well as shedding light on an area that was in itself insufficiently well known. Subsequently the scope of this research was widened to include all areas within which this homogeneous culture was discernible. This study is based therefore on the field work of several seasons in Syria, Lebanon and particularly Transjordan. It is primarily a collation of most aspects of archaeological evidence in the areas where objects typical of the EB.MB period have been found, and a discussion of the inferences which may be drawn from this evidence. The period is defined chronoigically c. 2350 - 1900 B.C., and at the outset the general basis of terminology and chronology accepted in this study are defined, as there are a multiplicity of terms currently in use. The first section attempts a very short summary of the literary and historical evidence from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Syria-Palestine which bears on the questions of the ethnic identity of the occupants of Palestine - Syria in the late third - early second millennia and what evidence there is for population movements. Although there is no direct historical solution to these problems, such historical evidence as there is must provide a framework within which the archaeological evidence can be more accurately assessed. The second section is concerned with the geographical evidence. The first topic is the limits of settlement of EB.MB peoples based on the evidence of archaeological survey, only in terms of people using artifacts directly comparable to those in Palestine. Sources and methods are described. The discussion which follows suggests topographical and climatic factors which appear to have influenced settlement at this time, and finally some tentative suggestions are made concerning political and social organization, and direction of settlement. Distribution of sites and the surface evidence suggest that new influences are most likely to have come from the north-east, penetrating Palestine and TransJordan by way of the major river valleys. Section three, dealing with the pottery, contains the weight of the evidence for the conclusions. It deals first with a description of the excavations and pottery from Tell Iktanu, which provided the basis for the pottery typology and relative chronology of the EB.MB in Transjordan. There follows a discussion of the comparative material from surface survey and excavation in Transjordan which suggests where this material should be placed in relation to regional and chronological variations. The main inferences which can be drawn from this pottery evidence are that much of the pottery is directly derived from that of the local EBA, and secondly that there are definable "innovating features" as opposed to mere typological developments from EBA to EB.MB; and that therefore if the origins of these innovations can be traced, a clear case for the origins of the new population element which intermingled with that of the EBA should also be indicated. A brief survey of the contemporary archaeology of areas to the north indicates that apart from the south Lebanon cemeteries no direct contacts for either EB.MB pottery or the "innovating features" are found in Lebanon. The central Syrian pottery shows greater complexity, but the conclusion is that a sequence Kama K - Kama J - Qatna Tomb IV -r Hama H excludes the "innovating features" observed in TransJordan, and that contemporary Hama J develops from three major urban traditions a) late Early Dynastic III of north Syria indicated mainly in Hama J8-7, b) Sargonid of north Syria from Hama J7 onwards, and c) Levantine EBA throughout. The direct links for the "innovating features", dated c.2350 B.C. in Transjordan, are found in the ED III traditions of the central Euphrates region, from Mari, Til Barsip, Harran, Amarna and Hammam, and it is concluded that people who were associated, but not perhaps directly part of that urban tradition, migrated south from their homelands following the campaigns of Lugalzagesi, the Akkadian expansion in north Mesopotamia and campaigns of Sargon. A secondary influence is traced c.2100-2000 B.C. affecting Palestine more considerably than TransJordan, of which the origins are not clearly discernible, but which are probably due to new influences rather than influxes of new people. The degree of continuity in population and pottery typology is however stressed for the whole period. Sections four and five deal with the stone and metal work. The flints in particular indicate continuity of "Canaanean" traditions from EBA through EB.MB to MBA. There are not many metal objects on which to base a relative typology, but it is also suggested that throughout the period the pin types in particular indicate greater continuity of early inland Syrian traditions than has previously been recognised. Section six shows that there is considerable diversity of grave types, but again tentatively suggests there is a clear, and probably early, north Syrian influence on a basically EBA tradition, and concludes by suggesting that traditions of burial are one of the very few factors by which the assimilation of the EB.MB population in MBA society post-1900 B.C. can be detected archaeologically. Section seven is concerned with the evidence of habitation. It is generally agreed that the EB.MB period is one of nomadic or semi-nomadic occupation, but in some respects the evidence for sedentary occupation has been denigrated. The evidence for both ways of life is reviewed and it is concluded that there are two major processes involved, i) the decline of EBA urban civilization which nonetheless has a lingering influence in the EB.MB period and ii) the introduction of a semi-nomadic element in the population which gradually shows a tendency to settle permanently in fertile areas. In the concluding chapter a few other aspects of the EB.MB period are discussed, including the suggestion that cattle played an important part in pastoralism, and that there was sufficient agriculture to indicate not more than partial nomadism. A brief summary of other views of typology and the origins of the people of the EB.MB period is then followed by conclusions based on the evidence of the previous chapters. These conclusions are that c. 2350 B.C. semi-nomadic people arrived in Transjordan from north Syria and intermingled with the probably West Semitic EB III population. These newcomers may also have been West Semites, but there is no definite evidence that they were Amorites though the evidence does not exclude the possibility. This population remained largely unchanged, and in considerable isolation, until c. 1900 B.C. There are new influences apparent c. 2100 B.C. but the basic continuity of artifacts and social order is clear, and the changes probably do not indicate a large influx of new people.

Abstract   In 2005 the United Nations (UN) unanimously agreed setting up a framework for the responsibility to protect (R2P) populations facing mass death and large scale atrocities consisting of three pillars. This responsibility was primarily for states to protect their own population (pillar 1). However, the second pillar of R2P mentions the responsibility for outside actors to engage protecting populations if their home government fails to ensure this protection. This study is about the emergence of R2P and why it has failed to protect the population in the ongoing Syrian intra-state war. Applied to the case of the Syrian conflict is Amitav Acharya’s (2013) model of norm circulation which will serve as the analytical framework for this research. Furthermore, the implementation of R2P is hampered when a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decides to veto a resolution. This study suggests that when the UNSC is unable to act to protect populations at risk of mass death, a regional organization should have the authority to respond with necessary actions, even though that action would violate the sovereignty of the third state (see Williams et. al, 2012). As to date, the emerging norm of R2P still needs further diffusion in order to reach global acceptance. This research search to continue the development of the understanding of R2P and the emergence of global norms.   Keywords: R2P, Syria, emerging norms, the United Nations

In contemporary Damascus, the modern oboe and an instrument known as its predecessor, the zurna, are heard on a daily basis as they continue to be employed in Syrian popular and folk music practices. After observing the pervasiveness of the sounds of these instruments in Syria, I proceeded to investigate the socio-cultural processes surrounding their usage. This study provides a history of the zurna, traces its development in Europe into the modern oboe, and explores the oboe's re-entry into musical practices in the Middle East. Through empirical fieldwork, I collected data that allowed me to observe the social significance of the sounds of these instruments for musicians and listeners alike in the Greater Damascus area. Using Jonathan Shannon's modernity improvisation model (Shannon 2006) as a departure point, I analyze the way Syrians use instruments such as the zurna and oboe in seemingly diverging ways to create their own "modern" subjectivities. Additionally, I demonstrate how these sounds reflect what Clifford Geertz refers to as the inevitable struggle between essentialism and epochalism in post-colonial nations such as Syria (Geertz 1971) through the analyzation of discourse surrounding instruments so deemed "modern" or "authentic" (such as the oboe and zurna, respectively) in contemporary Syrian society. Musical examples are included in order to demonstrate performance practice and provide perspective on the music theory behind the ways composers and musicians include the sounds of the oboe and zurna in particular works and genres.

Marine turtles are wide-ranging, long-lived, iteroparous species of conservation concern. From indirect threats, such as development at their breeding grounds and negative fisheries interactions, to direct take of eggs meat and shells, they are impacted at all stages of their life-cycle by the activities of Man. A better understanding of their reproductive and spatial ecology together with knowledge of population status can inform conservation and management actions for their protection. This thesis presents a collection of chapters covering three species of marine turtle, from four countries in two regions where major knowledge gaps existed on marine turtle biology and ecology. In Oman we identify plasticity in adult loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) internesting behaviour combined with globally-atypical, predominantly oceanic habitat use and we raise concerns over potential bias derived from temporally-restricted tracking studies. Conversely, we show that adult female individuals of the principally oceanic olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) remain in neritic waters outside of the breeding season, with some local turtles unusually utilising the same location both during and after the breeding period. We also show that green turtles (Chelonia mydas) nesting on Masirah Island are long distance migrators, travelling 2000 km or more into the Red Sea. Together with our tracking data for the other species in Oman we highlight the threat that fisheries interaction, in a region with poor fisheries regulation, is likely to have on these populations. We describe the recent status of green turtle populations in Kuwait and Syria. In Kuwait nesting habitats have recently been halved through development of one of the two critical nesting areas and with the remaining nesting population estimated at no more than 5 females per year. For Syria, we describe the discovery of a regionally important nesting aggregation located south of Latakia city, with 30 individuals estimated nesting in 2004. Using satellite telemetry we identify potentially important foraging locations for individuals from both locations. Results from Syria further highlight the importance of neritic habitats off north Africa for adult turtles in the Mediterranean and results from Kuwait revealed the potential threat from the use of the unselective coastal fish traps locally known as a ‘hadra’. Lastly, in Greece we investigate the status of turtles in a neritic coastal habitat through a boat-based mark-recapture study. Combining flipper tagging, satellite telemetry and genetic research we verify that Amvrakikos Gulf hosts regionally important numbers of 3 loggerhead turtles (300 individuals identified from 67 days fieldwork) that establish distinct home ranges and maintain long-term associations to the area. A male-biased sex ratio was revealed in the area. These turtles are predominantly derived from local breeding stocks, especially from Zakynthos Island, and we hypothesise that a combination of environmental and biological factors specific to Zakynthos Island are the cause of this bias. The results presented here, generated from a range of techniques including field surveys, satellite telemetry and genetic analysis, contribute to our knowledge of the status of several under-reported or previously unknown sea turtle populations, including evidence of their spatial footprint, and demonstrate the utility in adopting a variety of methods to corroborate results on migrations and linkages at individual and population levels.

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This dissertation sets out to rethink, contextualise and historicise a commonplace notion in the Scottish Enlightenment which poses nations and societies as either improving or primitive. The Scottish Enlightenment philosophers were the eighteenth-century pioneers in an intellectual project of improvement pointing the light emerging in Europe, particularly in Britain. The Act of Union with Scotland (1707) and the process of modernisation in the Highlands of Scotland allowed for rhetoric of improvement which called upon Scotland with its Highlands to join the great British modernising project. The Scots literati were aware that joining this project jeopardises older cultural habits and values and also brings corruption into society but the other option was nothing but the dilemma of living in premodern, less commercially advanced age, one which, as they thought, prevailed in Arabian deserts and Islamic societies. Their rhetoric of improvement was one of difference between an improving Britain with technological and commercial progress and a backward Middle East with primitive modes of subsistence. For them, modernity did not cast its light on the eighteenth-century Middle East. They fixed Middle East on a lower stage of a universal grid of progress. In the cross-cultural encounters between Britons and Muslims which took place on the Syrian-Mesopotamia overland routes to India, as this dissertation argues, the polarising rhetoric of the Scottish Enlightenment proves to be one of conviction. It was not necessarily the only way of referring to the modern moment of change taking place in Britain. The four British writers which this dissertation examines were interested in the Enlightenment question of improvement. They were believers in progress but had their own doubts about the dominant notions in the habit of interpreting improvement in their own culture. By writing on material progress, commerce, manners and forms of morality which they encountered in Islamic lands they set out to offer their new understanding of the notion of progress. While doing so, they did not posit Islam and the Middle East as the fixed categories of backwardness the Scots literati had always celebrated in their defence of modern British commercial improvement. Rather they showed how Europeans can learn things and improve themselves by interacting with Muslims: caravan chiefs and merchants, political leaders and servants. All these cross-cultural scenes of interaction in which Britons gained improvement occurred in a period in which Britain was not a colonial power in the Middle East but rather a commercial and political partner with local Arabian and Muslim leaders. And writing about Islamic cultures, as this thesis demonstrates, was a way of rethinking British dominant views of the meaning of improvement in the modern age.

The focus of this thesis is the analysis of a Greek–speaking Muslim community that resides in Syria and Lebanon and who claim Greek identity and Diaspora membership on the basis of Greek language and customs. My empirical research on the community was guided by the following research question: in which ways do the members of the Greek-speaking community practice and project their Greek identity? This thesis draws on theories regarding identity construction, community building, memory, gender, diaspora and immigration. All of them have been useful in order to understand and analyze the empirical data gathered during the fieldwork. Anthropological research was conducted for more than 17 months in Syria, Lebanon and Crete. Modern Greeks have constructed their identity around Orthodox Christianity, the Greek language, the glory of Ancient Greece and around policies in support of the Greek state; all concepts that people should respect, support and identify with in order to be included in the Greek fold. The voices of the members of the community in this study tell a counter narrative to that of the official Greek state, and to the formal Greek nationalist historiography that accompanies it. In this counter narrative, Greek history incorporates Muslims, and relates that good relations amongst religious groups are possible and desirable. Significantly, Greek identity is disconnected from Orthodox Christianity, while it does remain attached to Greek customs and Greek language. The community under examination constructs its identity around memories of Crete, gendered norms and practices, and the experience of living in Crete as illegal immigrants.

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The dramatic increase in the number of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war has caused great concern when individuals join extremist terrorist organisations, such as ISIS. These foreign fighters can later return to their country of residence to commit a terrorist attack, or recruit other individuals to join ISIS. Some governments, particularly within Europe, have amended their laws to criminalise foreign fighters and recruiting for terrorist groups. However, if these new laws themselves become a way of framing the West as opposed to Islam is yet to be systematically analysed. This thesis argues that through framing theory, by creating frames that show the legislation as a problem that needs to be solved by ISIS, frame alignment will take place so individuals will shift their views and beliefs to agree with the problem stated by ISIS. Through a comparative case study of four European Union countries, firstly by examining the conditions of the legislation and secondly by studying statements by ISIS, this thesis finds no support for the theory in those four cases, as the predicted outcome did not happen in each case.