The goal of my dissertation is to describe the history of the South Korean1 space program and to use it to offer some insights on reframing space history from a global point of view. South Korea is a new player among the space faring nations. While some of the necessary infrastructure was put in place in the 30 years after the launch of Sputnik, the country only really made a commitment space in the 1990s, developing rapidly to become a significant presence today. The launch of KITsat-1 (Uribyul-1, the first Korean satellite) in 1992 marks its first major achievement, after which it built up its technological capabilities in the space sector in a relatively short period. South Korea now has twelve satellites and operates several space projects, and successfully developed its first space launch vehicle, KSLV-1, also known as Naro, in 2013. Although KSLV-1 is derived from the first stage of the Russian Angara rocket, combined with a solid-fueled second stage built by South Korea, its successful launch was the crucial step for the development of the country’s civilian space program. South Korea aims to develop the first wholly Korean-made launch rocket, KSLV-2 by 2020, which will additionally be used to launch a moon orbiter later that year. Korea’s recent aspiration to space exploration can be seen as part of global narrative in which the conquest of space is not dominated by a few superpowers. Our understanding of the past half-century of space development is, however, still firmly rooted in the framework of the old Cold-War-centered approach to space history. Until recently, only large and powerful nations have been able to mobilize the resources necessary for access to space, so the early years of space exploration produced a simple narrative: a fierce space competition between the Soviet Union and the U. S., with a few countries following behind in a struggle to increase their presence in space. Yet emerging powers’ stories of space development were barely noticed in comparison with the abundant literature on the space history of the super-powers and the increasing literature on middle-range space powers. In order to situate the South Korean space program in this evolving global context, this dissertation attempts to answer the following critical questions: What is the origin of Korean space development? Why is South Korea a late-comer in space, and why is it becoming more active today? How have its motivations and rationales evolved in defining relationships with other countries including the U.S., Russia, France, China, Japan, and even North Korea? Why does it continue to emphasize the need for “Korean” technology in space? In essence, what is Korean about the Korean space program? I seek answers to these questions by examining the relationship between a “space program” and “the construction of national identity” in a political, social, and transnational context. Through historical analysis, I will show that South Korea’s space program has been primarily driven by nationalistic rationales implicit in the argument that space development served “modernization,” “self-defense,”, “economic security”, and “national prestige.” By tracing the multiple links between technological prowess and national imagination, I connect these four rationales using to periodization; 1950s~1960s, 1970~1984, 1985~1997, and 1998~2013. A close examination of the history of the development of space exploration in South Korea offers a fertile ground for exploring the question how the rationales of space development have evolved as the Korean state worked on nation-building in a global context.

The social sciences' interest in transnationalism has grown rapidly over the previous decade. The ethnographic case studies informing this burgeoning transnational literature, however, typically focus upon migration flows with one endpoint in the global North. This dissertation explores the experience of Indian transmigrants in contemporary Bahrain, one of the six petroleum-rich states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as the impact of these transnational flows upon the Bahraini state. Like all the nations of the GCC, foreign guestworkers comprise a majority of the workforce in Bahrain, and a near majority of the absolute population--two aspects of the many that mark the transnational context of the contemporary Gulf as significantly different from those typical of the transnational literature.The arc of my ethnographic analysis draws upon transnational theory, diaspora studies, and critical approaches to the state, and visits three plateaus. First, I use migration narratives gathered from Indian transmigrants to delineate the structure of dominance that shapes relations between guestworker and citizen-host. The parameters of this structure stretch from the global political economy to the apparatuses of the Bahraini state and, through the kafala sponsorship system, to the individual relations between citizen-sponsors and guestworkers. This structure comprises the basis for the systemic exploitation of foreign labor. Second, I analyze the strategies different classes of the Indian transmigrant community utilize against this structure of dominance. For the poorest transmigrants, these strategies are often limited to movement between legal and illegal status, while the diasporic elite employ a strategic transnationalism to combat the vulnerabilities rendered by this system. Finally, I analyze the impact of these transnational flows upon the Bahraini state and citizenry. The structure of dominance, I argue, is essential to understanding the articulation of state-based power in Bahrain, for it provides a mechanism for citizens to cull profit from the private sector while maintaining a system for distributing state-controlled wealth that favors those well positioned in traditional social, familial, tribal relations. In essence, the Bahraini state comprises a form of resistance to the neoliberal logic of the global political economy--one that simultaneously structures inequities via those traditional fissures.

This dissertation examines the processes by which Central American women and men face unprecedented forms of violence and exploitation as they migrate through Mexico. Central Americans are regularly subject to abuse, extortion, rape, kidnapping, dismemberment and death as multiple actors profit off of their bodies, labor and lives. In turn, the political economy of violence and security along the migrant journey permeates into local Mexican communities, creating new tensions and social ruptures. Going beyond a simple accounting of abuse, I engage ethnography as a lens through which to understand the social effects of historical and contemporary processes of war, displacement, economic restructuring and social dislocation as people move through local spaces. Throughout the journey, the logics of migration and violence rework social relations based on race, gender and nationality where migrants are both victims of and agents within the often de-humanizing processes of human mobility. I use a lens of gender in particular to understand the ways larger processes impact the intimate spaces of people's lives and the intimate labors they perform as parents, migrants, partners, laborers and activists. I also examine the ways violence is not simply destructive, but also generates new possibilities for solidarity and political action through social movements around humanitarianism and migrant rights. In particular, I examine the emergence of a movement of Catholic-based migrant shelters and a transnational feminist movement of mothers and families of disappeared migrants.

The emergence of English as a global language has led to a huge demand for TESOL language educators around the world (Davies, 2009). This has resulted in greater intercultural encounters with the cultural Other; hence, the need to understand the experiences of these teachers to prepare teachers for their work and support them to achieve favourable outcomes of intercultural learning emerges. This is especially important in light of the failure of teacher education programs to prepare these teachers for the realities of their work and in light of inadequacy of intercultural learning theories to theorize intercultural learning based on these teachers’ experiences. This thesis sought to explore TESOL teachers’ experiences using a grounded approach that is based on the teachers’ experiences as central to their intercultural learning. Drawing upon the intercultural experiences of seven global TESOL teachers who are working in Saudi Arabia, this thesis sought to understand the types of intercultural experiences that they went through, the factors that affected these experiences and the intercultural learning that these experiences generated. Interpretative qualitative study methodology was employed in my study to examine the TESOL global teachers’ lived intercultural experiences in Saudi Arabia. Qualitative data were collected through conducting in-depth narrative interviews and examining personal correspondence (where available), with seven experienced global TESOL teachers. The findings suggested that the global TESOL educators’ intercultural experiences were enormously complex with many factors and four facets affecting these experiences. The global TESOL educators’ experiences of interculturality were mainly found to be Othering experiences. The factors related to the global educators’ social positions and the four facets were wider discourses, dispositional positions, contextual realities and situated value systems in Saudi Arabia. The findings highlighted the importance of “translocational positionalities” in understanding the TESOL global teachers’ intercultural experiences and learning. Contrary to the literature, the thesis suggests that intercultural learning was not about intercultural competencies and developmental stages, but about how the participants negotiated their positionalities and developed awareness of their positionalities in relation to the Other. The thesis also uncovered two insights that have potential to contribute to preparing and supporting global TESOL educators in global contact zones. These insights related to the educators’ need to talk about their intercultural experiences and the need to interrogate these educators’ understanding of culture. The findings and the insights offer some theoretical and practical implications for understanding intercultural learning experiences in a new light. The theoretical implications suggest a new experiential model for intercultural learning in global contact zones. The practical implications highlight suggestions for a pedagogy of dialogue for teacher education programmes to promote favourable intercultural learning outcomes.

Sweden is today faced with one of the most extensive refugee waves in the history of the nation. The refugees’ attain valuable competences which are not being exploited, and alienation is becoming a serious societal problem. Researchers have stressed the importance of entrepreneurship and its positive effects on national socio-economic growth. The experience of immigrating has shown to trigger entrepreneurial activities, and it has become an apparent strategy of immigrant entrepreneurs’ to include home country resources and networks in their businesses in order to stay competitive. This has come to be known as transnational entrepreneurship, and the concept has proven to be even more favorable due to its positive socio-economic effects on dual contexts. This thesis considers the idea of refugees engaging in transnational entrepreneurship as a strategy to diminish the ongoing crisis. To enable this, a qualitative study was conducted to analyze the process of already established entrepreneurs with a refugee background. By doing so, practical and theoretical implications were able to be identified, subsequently contributing today’s refugees with valuable information on how to successfully engage in transnational entrepreneurship. By applying the theory of Effectuation on four individual cases, the authors were able to identify key aspects, allowing them to draw generalizations and final conclusions.   The outcome of this study suggests a distance to the homogeneous perspective given transnational entrepreneurs, and instead an added dimension considering the immigrants’ motives to migration. The findings in this thesis present how the resources and networks held by the transnational entrepreneurs relocate as a consequence of the additional aspect of the immigrants’ background as refugees. Furthermore, the findings of this thesis have added the dimension of multiple contexts to the theory of Effectuation and thereby enabled the theory to be applicable on an international business level.

The Kingdom of Thailand currently faces internal and transnational Islamic insurgent threats that have the potential to disrupt Southeast Asian regional stability. As a Major Non-NATO Ally and the signatory of several bilateral and multilateral security arrangements with the US, Thailand has solidified itself as a security alliance partner whose stability and influence in Southeast Asia has become increasingly more important to the US and its War on Terror. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a history and analysis of the Islamic insurgency and transnational terrorist operations that exist in Thailand today. Secondly, this thesis will highlight current Thai, US, and regional security initiatives and underscore policy deficiencies. Finally, this thesis will recommend a solution strategy necessary for the purge of radical Islamic insurgency and transnational terrorism in Thailand. By accepting current policy deficiencies and implementing the courses of action recommended in this thesis, the US and Thailand will both contribute to a greater Southeast Asian security.

This study compares independent films from different countries (Turkey, Denmark, Iran and Spain) in a transnational context. Making use of schizoanalytic concepts, it presents an analysis of filmic space in relation to character construction in the internationally acclaimed contemporary films: Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002), Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002), Two Girls (Kutluğ Ataman, 2005), Allegro (Christoffer Boe, 2005), The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001), Destiny (Zeki Demirkubuz, 2006), Offside (Jafar Panahi, 2006), Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003) and Climates (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2006). I argue that these films are feminist texts, in which becoming-woman of the female character deterritorializes the patriarchal ideal of home(land) as a political statement. In the above listed films filmic space is never configured as a harmonious unity of a righteous woman and a peaceful home. Despite the pervading homelessness, the female characters turn the male dominated public space into a habitable place through the filmic assemblages with space, objects and other characters. I also argue that the homelessness and the problematic connection between the female character and the storyworld posits a metaphor for the disconnection between the auteur-filmmakers and their home(land)s.

In Europe, legal parent-child family reunifications are regulated by policies specifying the eligibility criteria that migrant parents must fulfill – two of the general conditions is having a long-term residence permit and fulfilling standardized income requirements. The emergence of transnational families – border crossing family arrangements – is often blamed on the conditions set by immigration countries. On the other hand, qualitative studies in the West African context indicate that transnational family life can be a strategic choice, arguing that West African family practices, such as fostering, are compatible with transnational family life and that parent’s preferences for the child to be brought up in the country of origin is one driver behind separation. Taking the case of Ghanaian migrant parents in the UK and Netherlands, the aim of this study is to explore what factors are associated with if and where parent-child reunification takes place – in the immigration country or the country of origin, with a focus on the interplay between family reunification policies, migrant family practices/norms and gender. The research question is: Do the policies that frame family reunification in the UK and Netherlands determine whether and where parent-child reunification takes place? And, how is the outcome affected by Ghanaian family practices/norms and gender? The analysis is made using binomial logistic regression on a selection of 167 current and return migrant parents from the MAFE-Ghana data, collected in 2009. The results indicate that having a high occupational status has a positive effect on reunification in any location, while a long-term legal status only increases the likelihood of reunification in the immigration country. Indicators for family status show mixed results; while having a partner in the UK or Netherlands has a gendered positive effect on the likelihood of reunification in Europe, it also tends to prolong parent-child separation for migrants who do not reunify in Europe. Against expectations, the availability of alternative caregivers in Ghana does not impact the outcome in any direction and no significant difference is found between the likelihood of reunification in the UK or Netherlands. The findings do not support the notion that transnational family life is a strategy for Ghanaian migrant parents; the conclusion is that policies strongly influence whether and where transnational parent-child separation ends.

In the last thirty years, European local authorities have played a pro-active role in the realm of sustainable development, taking part in several European initiatives and projects and setting up municipal networks. The latter, which connect cities scattered across Member States, may focus on specific environmental issues, such as sustainable mobility or energy, or include sustainable development in a wide range of policy priorities. These socio-ecological urban networks (hereafter SEUNs) have attracted growing academic attention. However, the bulk of the literature is located within Geography and Urban Studies, and it is more focused on the structure of the networks, the process of decision-making, and the policy outcomes than on the drivers of cities’ membership of SEUNs. Within this debate, the contribution of Political Science has been scant, and the political and economic drivers of cities’ engagement in European socio-ecological municipal networks have been overlooked. Understanding why local governments decide to participate in these networks is important for two main reasons: firstly, it contributes to shedding light on how contemporary local political elites govern cities within the European context; secondly, it allows us to understand why European cooperation for sustainable development has become a dominant discourse in urban politics. Conversely, this thesis adopts an urban approach to isolate the urban-level economic, political and institutional factors that impact on local authorities’ participations in European socio-ecological urban networks. Using a nested research design that combines a quantitative and qualitative analysis, the thesis seeks to shed light on the factors and motivations underlying the choice of cities to participate in European networks for sustainability. The results show that cities’ European commitment to sustainable development is part of a broad strategy to achieve urban regeneration. Therefore, participation in SEUNs is not necessarily motivated by environmental preoccupations but is functional to achieve economic and political objectives.

In my work I will deal with mergers of companies in the Czech Republic in 2000-2008. I will concentrate on the share of foreign mergers and try to find out whether the year 2004, when the Czech Republic joined the EU, had an influence on the change of the number of foreign mergers. Then I will devide them according to the classification "OKEČ". In my analytical part I will use the date from the collection of statistics and decisions of "ÚOHS". I will describe the process of approving the mergers and the benefits that lead to business connections. I will mention the most important mergers, which have been realised in the Czech Republic in recent years.