This study is a comparative analysis of how Hollywood portrays people from the Middle East before and after 9/11. The films used to conduct this study are True Lies (1994), The Siege (1998), The Kingdom (2007) and Body of Lies (2008). With a qualitative methodology, discourse analysis and postcolonial theory this study analysed not only how people from the Middle East is portrayed, but also how the Americans in the films are presented and how the characters in the films changed in the movies produced after 9/11.      The results show that people from the Middle East are portrayed in a negative way and that Hollywood uses stereotypes. However, people from the Middle East are more gradated in the films post-9/11. There is a bigger focus on Islam in the movies produced after 9/11 and the study also shows that family values play a less central part in the story in the films made after 9/11 and that work is of more importance. The American characters have a greater need to help their country in the war against terrorists in the films produced after 9/11 compared to the American characters in the films made before 9/11.

Egyptian-Israeli relations from 1977 to 1979 as seen through the headlines, news articles, opinion pieces and editorials of three major Israeli newspapers: The Jerusalem Post, Yedioth Aharonoth and Ha'aretz

During the interwar period in Iran and Egypt, local and regional manifestation of tajadod/al-jidida (modernity) as a “cultural identity crisis” created the nationalist image and practice of zan-e emrouzi-e shahri/al-mar’a al-jidida al-madani (the urban/secular “New Woman”). The dynamics of the process involved performance art, including the covert medium of journalism and the overt world of the performing arts of music, play, and cinema. The image of the “New Woman” as asl/al-asala (cultural authenticity) connected sonnat/al-sunna (tradition) with the global trends of modernism, linking pre-nineteenth century popular forms of performing arts to new genres, forms, and social experiences of the space of the performing arts. The subversive transnational character of performance art operated across borders to promote both the discourse of modern womanhood in-the-making among intellectuals, and the public practice of women’s presence among the masses. However, the trans-border effects of the medium were limited by local cultural and political ideologies of nationalism. The spectacle of women on the screen addressed national independence and the creation of a national film industry to resist the financial dominance of Europeans. In Iran, zan-e emrouzi-e shahri served the project of founding a modern nation-state, elevating of a culture of the city and urban development, and institutionalizing performing arts, mirroring the upholding of “male-guardianship.” In Egypt, in the absence of an authoritarian modern state and long-term experience of foreign occupations, al-mar’a al-jidida al-madani accompanied the traditional figure of bint al-balad (the countryside girl) to present modern advancements in film production with a traditional accent, to oppose European cultural values, to provide a tangible space for women’s multifaceted anti-colonial maneuvering, and to connect Egypt’s past history to its future. Performance art helped women to convey their cultural nationalism and a sense of imagined identity by letting them see and be seen by each other, create interactions between the artist and the audience, and emphasize music as the heart of a society’s culture and art. A culture of body performance, a female visual public sphere, and a feminine (and feminist) interpretation of cultural authenticity in performance art led women to claim the profession as a legitimate career.

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One of the most critical tasks facing the world in the post-cold war era is to eliminate nuclear proliferation. With the recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, the subject of nuclear proliferation has returned to the forefront of international politics. Taking issue with the complacent belief that only a few states unnecessarily jeopardize international peace by acquiring nuclear weapons, I argue that many states in territorial protracted conflict are generally proliferants because of their specific security concerns. Demonstrating how individual and domestic level motivations are not the key determinants of the nuclear choices of the South Asian and Middle Eastern states, I emphasize the role of systemic level motivation, particularly security, in their nuclear decisions. Through a close examination of these states' nuclear weapons choices, I develop a new appraisal of the territorial protracted conflict states' potential to proliferate. While high war-probability has provoked virtually all of these protracted conflict states to seek nuclear deterrent capability and become proliferants, the variations in the type of conflict, regional power structure and geographical proximity have brought about variations in the pace of proliferation among these states. Finally, I expand the implications of this study for IR theory, especially with regard to Realist theory, nuclear deterrence, post-cold war world order, and nuclear arms control treaties. I conclude that the resolution of the roots of regional conflicts will most effectively ensure that more states do not embark on a nuclear weapons program. It is, however, naive to expect the new nuclear states to roll back their weapons programs.

An analysis of literature on security issues and its effect on destination image suggests that that to date little research has been done on the specific issue of the security image of the Middle East destinations, particularly as perceived by travel intermediaries. In this context, and due to the current situation of the Middle East, especially the Islamic countries, this research is a response to the urgent need to investigate and evaluate the safety and security perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of travel intermediaries towards Middle East destinations, and also seeks to compare between such perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of travel intermediaries based in the region and those of travel intermediaries based outside the region. This research may be described as phenomenological research that employed qualitative research tools. As a result of this perspective, the development of research methods is geared toward qualitative methods of study. The phenomenological approach employs qualitative research tools to interpret meaning from the reactions of individuals to experiences of dealing with Middle East destinations. Therefore, the present study adopts, as a primary method of data collection, interviewing of individuals representing the travel intermediaries in UK and Egypt. Results from the evaluation of the Middle East security image held by travel intermediaries showed that the Middle East is mostly positively perceived by majority of travel intermediaries despite the security problems that might occur in some of its destinations. Also it was made very clear that each destination in the Middle East is sold and promoted separately based on its unique image and identity as presented by travel intermediaries and not as apart of the Middle East.

Through quantitative and qualitative methods, this dissertation endeavors to explain why the rate of female labor force participation (FLFP) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the lowest in the world. Using panel data models for fifty-four developing countries over thirty-five years, the first essay suggests that the most likely factor affecting the rate of FLFP negatively in MENA is the institution of patriarchy. Being part of MENA, which is characterized primarily by the institution of patriarchy, is associated with lower than average FLFP. Oil income appears to have a positive effect on FLFP for countries outside MENA but no effect for countries inside MENA. Moreover, Muslim countries outside MENA do not have lower than average FLFP, while Muslim countries in MENA do. Using ten proxies for patriarchy, the second essay quantifies patriarchy in order to compare MENA countries with the rest of the world. Using principle component analysis (PCA), the study measures patriarchy for fifty-nine developing countries over thirty years. The technique creates three main components for patriarchy, namely; the gender gap in education and demography, children’s survival rate, and participation in public spheres. The results show that MENA has the highest level of patriarchy with regard to women’s participation in public spheres, education and demography compared with non MENA countries. The region’s culture and religion seem to be associated with high levels of patriarchy in MENA. The third essay focuses on women’s unpaid work as well as women’s participation in the informal sector in MENA. The results point to a severe undercounting of women’s work. Since women are expected to provide care and produce goods and services for their family at home, women do not participate in the formal labor force in large numbers. Because of the patriarchal culture, patriarchal family laws and labor laws, many women including educated women have to choose to work in the informal sector in MENA. Since women’s unpaid work and their participation in the informal sector are not recorded in labor statistics, the MENA region appears to have a lower rate of FLFP than it does in reality.

武器出口與外交政策: 以德國為例 / Informed by realist and liberalist theory, conditions for a logical relationship between arms exports and the relative importance of foreign policy goals are evaluated as part of a case study of Germany’s arms export behavior to three Middle Eastern states. Apparent contradictions between foreign policy goals are resolved, using only data of arms export behavior and constructing a gradient of importance of different policy goals, some consistent with realist predictions, some consistent with liberal predictions. Overall, no theoretical framework describes German government behavior to a degree of being able to make reliable predictions for future action. Therefore usage of empirical data including actions with significant political ramifications, such as arms export behavior, is highly suggested for future research on German foreign policy instead.

In this thesis, I try to proceed one step further towards an understanding of the biogeographic processes forming the distribution patterns of organisms that we see today. Babblers and warblers are diverse groups of passerines that are phylogenetically intermixed with other groups in the superfamily Sylvioidea. First, the gross phylogeny of the babblers and associated groups was estimated. Five major lineages of a well-supported monophyletic babbler radiation were recovered, and we proposed a new classification at family and subfamily level. Further, the genus Pnoepyga was excluded from Timaliidae, and we proposed the new family Pnoepygidae fam. nov. Second, the systematic position was investigated for the Albertine Rift taxon Hemitesia neumanni, which was found to be nested within the almost entirely Asian family Cettidae, and possible biogeographical scenarios were discussed. We concluded that the most plausible explanation involved late Miocene vicariance in combination with local extinctions. Third, the historical biogeography of a Leiothrichinae subclade, the Turdoides babblers and allies, was inferred. We concluded that the Middle East region probably played an important role in the early history of this clade, followed by local extinctions in this region. Fourth, a Bayesian method to reconstruct the historical biogeography under an event-based model was proposed, where the total biogeographic histories are sampled from its posterior probability distribution using Markov chains. In conclusion, I believe that, especially with more sophisticated methods available, we will see an increasing number of studies inferring biogeographic histories that lead to distribution patterns built up by a combination of dispersals and vicariance, but where these distributions have been extensively reshaped, or litterally demolished, by local extinctions. Therefore, my answer to the frequently asked question dispersal or vicariance? is both, but not the least: extinctions. / At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows; Papers 3 and 4: Manuscripts

This thesis has dealt critically with U. S. diplomacy during the 1956 Suez crisis. The American approach was correct in opposing the use of force by the allies, but was at times confusing to them. The main conclusion of this thesis is that such misunderstandings are inevitable in the complicated realm of International politics. The American response in 1956 represents a search for a viable American policy toward the Middle East. A study of these events also helps one to understand the present tension in that area of the world, a tension that is of crucial importance to international peace and security.