The present research aims at examining the interaction between transition from centrally planned economies to market based economies and its subsequent effects on populations’ happiness and life satisfaction in Algeria, Egypt and Morocco. It also aims at advising policy makers on how economic policies may affect population’s subjective well-being. It is widely accepted that economic reforms affect individuals’ lives. In contrast, the populations’ values, attitudes and perceptions may also play a major role in the success of these reforms. The first study examines the determinants of happiness and life satisfaction by gender in Algeria and their attitudes and perceptions towards economic policies’ reforms. The survey reports that the female population in Algeria is happier and more satisfied with life than its male counterpart. It has been found that healthier individuals and those in the medium level of income are most likely to be happier and satisfied with their lives. Also, happiness is inversely “U-shaped” in age for the female population contradicting previous studies. Although, both genders believe that rapid market reforms do not have a negative impact on national stability, and are confident with the major companies, privatisation is found to be most likely having a negative effect on the life satisfaction among the male population. The second study examines the changes in the levels of life satisfaction in Egypt and Morocco over the first decade of the present century. It has been found that Egyptian women’ satisfaction with life is “U-shaped” in age, whereas in income that applies only to those at the medium, upper-medium and high levels of income. By contrast, Egyptian men are satisfied at all income levels. In Morocco, unemployed men and women are found to be satisfied with their lives in the beginning of the decade contradicting previous findings. While in the late 2000s, among the employed populations, females and males at the medium and the upper medium levels of income are satisfied, along with the lower level for women and the higher level for men. The third study examines the effect of relative income on individuals’ self-reported life satisfaction, assuming that the individual’s subjective judgement of his or her life satisfaction depends on both absolute and relative incomes. Absolute refers to the individual’s income, relative is the income of others around him or her called a reference group. The findings are that Algerians and Moroccans feel ambitious when self-reporting their levels of life satisfaction and referring their income to others’ income, but Egyptians feel jealous.

This thesis identifies the relationship between economic factors and non-economic factors, and the relative weight of each, in the conduct of Middle East foreign policies but with special reference to Saudi Arabia and Iran between 2001 and 2012. In the Saudi case, economic factors are contextualized within its traditional themes of maintaining security and stability through international alliances and promoting stable and long term energy export markets. In the case of Iran, economic factors such as the role of sanctions in facilitating closer ties with a range of anti-western states are put into perspective by other factors such as national security issues and emerging splits in the decision making elite. The research draws on a conceptual hybrid of constructivism and omni-balancing and by doing so pays particular attention to the perceptions of foreign policy decision makers in their assessments of the domestic, regional and international environments. The conceptual framework therefore accounts for historical events such as the Islamic revolution and perceived hostility to it, and enduring Saudi-Iranian tensions based on sectarian and ideological struggles for dominance across the Middle East. Oil policy, including oil production, pricing and security of supply and demand, is found to be the paramount economic factor in the foreign policies of Saudi Arabia and Iran, but weighted in favour of the former. As swing producer in OPEC, Saudi Arabia needs to maintain sustainable oil supplies to its allies in the West, and increasingly East, whilst leveraging its oil reserves against adversaries such as Iran. In contrast, Iran has the incentive, but a dwindling capability, to maximise its oil revenues to fund the national budget amid tightening U.S.-led sanctions designed to curb its nuclear programme. The thesis also finds that economic factors such as ‘riyal politik’ as well as non-oil trade and investment deals are less effective in Saudi and Iranian foreign policy. This is because they tend to be offered or utilised as short-term leveraging mechanisms in new or unstable bilateral relationships with a variety of state or nonstate actors which do not always share their ideological perspective or interests. To overcome significant geo-strategic and ideological incompatibilities, reciprocal confidence building measures and active engagement on a broad set of contentious issues is prescribed.

Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / Women are potent symbols of identity. They signify a vision of society that identifies a nation. The Middle East provides a perfect example of this. It has one of the highest rates of population growth in the world, yet maintains one of the lowest literacy rates and labor force participation among women. This has a direct impact on their ability to be seen as modern states. Furthermore the Middle East has come under attack for having one of the poorest records of human rights, particularly in reference to women. Contrary to this implication Middle Eastern women have taken extremely active roles in the gender debate and the socio-political struggles within their societies. The results of this participation have yielded a number of different interpretations of what it means to be a feminist and if this title is even something that Muslim women want. It has also created a very complex relationship between the west and western feminism which has deep implications in contemporary gender politics.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans les débats sur le rôle du régime de change et de la règle de politique monétaire. Elle développe une analyse empirique sur les 17 pays du Moyen-Orient et d'Afrique du Nord (MOAN). A contre-courant de l'idée répandue d'une supériorité des régimes extrêmes, ces pays ont souvent opté en faveur de régimes de change intermédiaires. Ceci soulève deux questions : d'une part, quels sont les facteurs qui expliquent ce choix particulier ? D'autre part, comment se situent les performances macroéconomiques qui en résultent ? Dans cette recherche, nous apportons des éléments de réponse sur ces deux interrogations. Le premier chapitre traite de la question du choix du régime de change. Les principaux facteurs que la théorie suggère pour expliquer le choix du régime sont testés empiriquement. L'analyse confirme le rôle des facteurs qui relèvent de l'hypothèse de la peur du flottement. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous évaluons l'impact de ce choix sur la performance en termes d'inflation. L'adoption d'un régime de changes fixe est souvent motivée par la recherche d'une plus grande maîtrise de l'inflation mais l'efficacité de cette stratégie n'est pas garantie. L'analyse empirique indique que la modération de l'inflation est plus liée à la stabilité de facto du taux de change qu'à l'annonce d'un régime de change fixe. L'incidence de la flexibilité du taux de change sur la croissance économique est analysée dans le troisième chapitre. La théorie conventionnelle attribue des propriétés stabilisatrices aux taux de change flexibles mais la variation du taux de change peut être une source de volatilité macroéconomique. La dollarisation des dettes publiques et privées explique la peur du flottement observée dans certains pays du MOAN et réduit la possibilité de recourir à cet instrument. Le quatrième chapitre fournit une évaluation de la politique monétaire et de taux de change dans le cas de la Syrie dans la décennie des années 2000. / This thesis lies within the debate about the role of the exchange rate regime and the monetary policy. It develops an empirical analysis in 17 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Contrary to the widespread tenet of the superiority of corner regimes, MENA countries have often chosen intermediate regimes. This raises two questions: first what are the reasons for the choice of an intermediate regime? Second how do these countries perform in macroeconomic terms? In this research we bring about material for answering these two questions. The first chapter deals with the choice of the exchange rate regime. We test the main factors suggested by the theory. The empirical analysis confirms the role of factors that are related to the fear of floating hypothesis. In the second chapter we assess the impact on inflation of the choice of an exchange rate regime. The adoption of a fixed exchange rate regime is often motivated by the desire to keep inflation under control, although the success is not guaranteed. The empirical analysis shows that low inflation is rather associated to a de facto stable exchange rate than a formal fixed exchange rate. The third chapter analyses the effect of exchange rate flexibility on growth. The conventional theory states that flexible exchange rates have a stabilizing effect. But an excess in exchange rate volatility may undermine the real macroeconomic performance. In fact the dollarisation of public and private debts generates the fear of floating observed in MENA countries, and reduces the capacity to resort to this instrument. The fourth chapter develops an assessment of monetary and exchange rate policy in Syria in the 2000 decade.

M.A. / The potential for conflict over water can one day become a reality. This so, especially when the world’s population is growing at a phenomenal rate. Regions that are vulnerable to this sort of conflict are semi-arid to arid in character. One can ask the question if conflict over water in these regions is possible. In examining the situation surrounding waterpolitics in two regions, and drawing comparisons, one can shed light on state’s interaction when it comes to the allocation of international water sources. The Middle East has vast experience in international water politics, while countries in Southern Africa seem to be still learning the game of international water politics. Using a framework for analysis, four case studies will be looked at. The Orange and Okavango Rivers are the subjects in Southern Africa where, it seems, cooperation on international water resources is the norm. The Tigris-Euphrates and the Jordan Rivers are considered in the case of the Middle East. Here a much higher level of conflict can be seen. The main reason for this difference in dealing with international water resources in the two regions seems to be the will (or lack thereof) among states to cooperate over water sources. In Southern Africa this will is evident, especially after 1994 when a new democratically elected government came to power in South Africa. In the Middle East, however, the region is still going about international politics in ways reminiscent of the Cold War. The theory of realism helps to explain the situation in this region, where mistrust plays a very big part in the interaction between states. Complex interdependence by contrast characterises the international political interaction between the states in the Southern African region. International and national water projects, in both regions, play a very big role in water politics. In both the regions there seem to be a number of these projects, that contributed to either conflict and/or cooperation between the states. In the Orange River it is the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a cooperative endeavour between Lesotho and South Africa and in the Okavango Namibia’s Eastern National Water Carrier (ENWC). In the Tigris -Euphrates, Turkey’s Greater Anatolia Project, in the Tigris -Euphrates, is influencing the interaction between the three riparians, and the Jordan River had it’s share of projects in the past, and here Israel’s National Water Carrier had a role to play. / Prof. D.J. Geldenhuys Dr. M.M.E. Schoeman

Traditional historiographies of the Cold War Middle East read into Britain's postwar economic decline a corresponding demise of British regional influence. According to these accounts, the Suez Crisis served to teach Britain new limits to its military capabilities, occasioning a break from independent endeavours to project power in the region. However, the case studies presented in this thesis demonstrate that the Suez Crisis did not mark a precipitous turning point in Britain's political influence in the Middle East in the short- to medium-term. Britain's power in the region rested upon not only its material assets, but other less tangible bases as well. Most importantly, Britain's power in the Middle East during the period examined increasingly included its ability to influence the policies of United States – a country with great resources and an emerging presence in the region.

In this thesis I use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and GPS geodetic observations, along with numerical models, to examine the distribution of strain, assess seismic hazard, and study the dynamics of deformation across Turkey and Iran. I measure interseismic strain accumulation across the Ashkabad fault using InSAR, and find that atmospheric corrections using MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) data are necessary in order to retrieve the tectonic signal in the presence of large atmospheric delays. I estimate a slip rate of 5-12 mm/yr for the Ashkabad fault which is faster than previous geodetic estimates. I also attempt to validate atmospheric corrections derived from the ERA-Interim numerical weather model and find that they do not work satisfactorily for this region. I produce InSAR-derived velocity maps for five overlapping tracks in Eastern Turkey, covering both the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) and East Anatolian Fault (EAF), and measure slip rates for the NAF and EAF of 20+/-3 mm/yr and 10+/-2 mm/yr respectively. I calculate a velocity field for Eastern Turkey from these InSAR data and a compilation of GPS data, and find that strain is mainly localised across the NAF and EAF and that there is negligible differential vertical motion across the Anatolian Plateau. I construct a thin viscous sheet model for Iran and find that the GPS velocity field is well described by deformation of a ductile lithosphere. Contrary to previous suggestions, a rigid central Iran is not required to match the kinematics of Iranian deformation, but buoyancy forces acting in the lithosphere are found to play an important role. I develop a new method to assess slip rates and therefore seismic hazard on major faults in Iran from this continuum model. In this thesis I have measured slip rates across three major strike-slip faults using InSAR; the first time this has been achieved for the Ashkabad fault and the EAF. I have demonstrated the importance of atmospheric correction for these results, and have shown that Iran deforms as a continuous medium.

This study assumes that political terrorism results from conscious decision-making by groups opposing a governing system, policy or process. The kinds of terrorist activity employed depend upon such factors as the philosophy, goals, objectives, and needs of the terrorist group. This presents a comparative analysis of three types of terrorists in southwest Asia: Palestinians, Marxist-Leninists, and Muslims. The first section summarizes and compares the three groups' motivational causes, philosophies, histories and sources of inspiration. The second section compares their behavior from four perspectives: trends and patterns, level of violence, tactical preferences, and lethality. The third section identifies and categorizes socioeconomic, political and military variables associated with tactic selection and acts of terrorism.

The formation of state borders is often told through the history of war and diplomacy. What is neglected is the tale of how borders of seemingly peaceful and long-extant places were set. In drawing Egypt’s borders, nineteenth-century cartographers were drawing upon a well of knowledge that stretched back into antiquity. Relying on the works of Greco-Roman writers and the Bible itself, cartographers and explorers used the authority of these works to make sense of unfamiliar lands, regardless of any current circumstances. The border with Palestine was determined through the usage of the Old Testament, while classical scholars like Herodotus and Ptolemy set the southern border at the Cataracts. The ancient cartography of Rome was overlaid upon the Egypt of Muhammad Ali. Given the increasing importance Egypt had to the burgeoning British Empire of the nineteenth century, how did this mesh with the influences informing cartographical representations of Egypt? This study argues that the imagined spaces created by Western cartographers informed the trajectory of Britain’s eventual conquest of Egypt. While receding as geopolitical concerns took hold, the classical and biblical influences were nonetheless part of a larger trend of Orientalism that colored the way Westerners interacted with and treated the people of Egypt and the East. By examining the maps and the terminology employed by nineteenth century scholars on Egypt’s geography, a pattern emerges that highlights how much classical and biblical texts had on the Western imagination of Egypt as the modern terms eventually superseded them.

Bibliographic note Author. ISIS: Terrorist state or terrorist organization . 65 p. Master thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Economic and Political Studies. Supervisor. Abstract The thesis deals with the investigation of the terrorist activities run by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an entity in the Middle East which is commonly referred to as a terrorist organization. By evaluating the activities run by ISIS in the seized territories, the organization of civil governance and public administration in them, the investigation of the propaganda model applied by ISIS for attracting new members from around the globe, and the analysis of the main sources of funding used by the Islamic State, the author proves that ISIS significantly differs from classical terrorist organizations, and therefore might be assigned the status of a terrorist state. Abstrakt Diplomová práce se zabývá. Keywords Insurgency, ISIS, Islamic State, propaganda, terrorism. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)