Suchergebnisse

In 1994, in a small African nation of Rwanda, a civil war between the Hutu and the Tutsi turned into 100 days of genocide. As the Western world watched, the Hutu looted, raped, and slaughtered an estimation of 800 000 Tutsi as well an estimation of 10 000 Twa. First brushed off as a civil war fuelled by tribal hatred in the Western media, it has now been established that the Rwandan genocide was a result of ethnic hatred strengthened by colonial involvement of the past and meticulous mobilisation of the Hutu population by the nation's elite. Narratives play a central part in the societies' processes towards holistic forms of justice, reconciliation, and stability in transitional societies. All discourse on ethnicity is banned and classified as "genocidal ideology" in contemporary Rwanda. It has been argued that the state-sanctioned narrative, which suppresses any reference to pre-genocide differences and Hutu -Tutsi conflict, has not affected the root causes of political and social insecurity in the country nor has it cultivated holistic forms of justice. Instead, the narrative operates as a tool to suppress political opposition and silence underlying tensions, preventing effective reconciliation processes in Rwanda. I examine how the Franco-Belgian comic book Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen contributes to the construction of the representation of the Rwandan genocide, especially in the context of Western knowledge tradition. Ultimately, I investigate how comics and graphic narratives in general as a visual and verbal construct can contribute to the creation and contestation of narratives around political crises and atrocities. I do this by examining the comic book's aestheticization of trauma and postcolonial criticism while relying upon a theoretical framework provided by postcolonial theory, trauma theory, and art and international politics. I employ narrative, textual, and visual analysis which in their manifoldness help to tackle comics' qualities as a unique form of expression that combines ...

Finland has succeeded in reducing a significant prison population, lowering its recidivism rate, and bringing its imprisonment rate in line with the rest of Nordic countries since the 1960s. Finland's "soft" penal system and its open prisons have attracted a lot of attention from around the world in recent years, much of it positive, thanks to the liberal penal system and substantial rehabilitation programs. Finland also faces some criticism for its adoption of humane criminal policy and "gentle justice" for prisoners. Although Finland's political and public policy settings have recognized evidence-based crime prevention and control as a priority, little is known regarding the impact of Finland's "gentle justice" in the global context. Should we punish all offenders harsh and lock them up? Most rational theories on criminal deterrence implicate severe punishment has a little effect of reducing recidivism rate and criminal behaviour. Many reputational economists and scholars, Ehrlich (1973), Sieberg (2005), Western (2013), have argued that alternatives to punishments such as rehabilitation programs and other enhancing legal human capital investments in prison, including educational, work-related training, and post-releases programs, may substantially support and foster reintegration into the society by improving prisoner's accessibility to future labour market, while encouraging them to invest in legal human capital during incarceration. Because human capital is subject depreciation. Individuals may enhance their legal human through investments. Thus, the master thesis is a study of the three-period model of optimal participation in legitimate and illegitimate market activities, which is inspired by Ehrlich (1973) model that harsh punishment does not rehabilitate. In every period, the individual can choose the optimal allocation of time between conducting either legitimate or illegitimate income-generating activities. While the rehabilitation effect on punishment may affect individual's choices and preferences in ...

Facing demographic ageing, Germany and Austria have reformed their old age security systems to be sustainable for the future. With reforms starting at the turn of the century, a trend towards later retirement has been set by these governments. Especially interesting for governmental bodies is the question, which factors determine retirement after the statutory pension age. Germany and Austria promote late retirement in order to keep their pension systems sustainable, despite having cut the benefits of their public pension systems drastically since the early 2000s. Using wave 7 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE), this thesis compares Germany, Austria and a sample of all SHARE countries to determine which individual, occupational and institutional factors affect late retirement significantly. The results show that a key characteristic of determining retirement timing is age. The older a population gets, the more likely retirement is. This is especially true for Austria. Among German citizens, receiving public pension benefits decreases the odds of having income from gainful employment dramatically. Further, comparing both countries with the SHARE sample, a pattern for educational attainment is visible. The data shows that the odds of working in retirement increase significantly with a medium and high level of education.

The world, and everything on it, is changing. Local and global justice movements have developed to demand action on issues such as climate change, environmental justice and social justice, drawing attention to systemic mismanagement and abuse. It is becoming increasingly clear that new and creative approaches to peacebuilding is needed. This research draws inspiration from the concept of "permaculture", a systems design approach to sustainable farming and living, in order to create an alternative "permaculture peace framework". To aid this, the research uses a case study approach to allow for the exploration of how a small NGO in Kosovo makes use of permaculture in their work. GAIA Kosovo and their "3peas: Permaculture as a path to peace" project is at the heart of this study, as they navigate social and ethnic divides while trying to address issues of climate change and environmental justice. The study uses elements from ethnographic content analysis and critical discourse analysis, to analyze the content available on the websites of GAIA Kosovo and 3peas. The case study found that much of the work and events had connection to the 3 ethics and 12 principles of permaculture, and the use of creative ideas and events can create alternative and local approaches to peacebuilding. It was further found that, despite the war in Kosovo ended in 1999, social and ethnic divides are still an everyday reality, but that small and local civil society initiatives can alleviate such divides. Taking inspiration from the case study, the research concludes with the adaptation of the original 12 permaculture principles, to create 11 principles as the foundation of the tentative "permaculture peace framework". The framework aims to give people working with peacebuilding, as well as regular civilians, an inclusive and creative approach that acknowledges the inherent value of people, that can be utilized all levels of society.

[EN] This paper introduces the framework conditions of the internationalization process of the higher education system in Germany and gives an overview of the implementation of international Master's programmes in engineering education and the characteristics of student migrants in this field of studies. Developments on the macro-level clearly indicate political interest to attract more international students for German universities and the technical disciplines in Germany are already very successful in this endeavour. With a special focus on higher education reforms in engineering, this paper is based on an investigation directed at the meso-level, the motivations and strategies at the level of university and faculties for establishing such international study programmes. The results of a qualitative study will be presented that was conducted at the engineering faculties of the Ruhr-Universität in Bochum between December 2014 and August 2015. With the overall aim of investigating in how far the decisions made on university and faculty levels are related to the general political endeavors to attract international talent, the different stakeholders' interests and implementation strategies such as language policy were considered ; Strenger, N.; Frerich, S. (2016). Implementation of International Master's Programmes in Engineering Education in Germany. En 2nd. International conference on higher education advances (HEAD'16). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 152-159. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD16.2015.2617 ; OCS ; 152 ; 159

Abstract Sustainability science is an emerging, free-standing scientific discipline. It has introduced a new approach to both sustainability research and educational programmes, while evoking novel perspectives to stronger societal contextualization. Among several other areas of sustainability research, competencies for sustainability have become a focal topic of sustainability education research. This research explores the educational programmes and the representation of the theory-based key competencies for sustainability. Through a qualitative content study of 45 master programmes associated with sustainability science, we aim to understand what kind of sustainability competencies can be found in sustainability science master's programmes and how they reflect the current discussions of the discipline of sustainability science and possibly drive the future education in the field. The study reveals that commonly suggested competencies including systems thinking, anticipatory, strategic, interpersonal, and normative competencies were frequently mentioned as content and learning outcomes in the curricula and are firmly present and widely employed in sustainability education. Additionally, this study identified three other clusters of competencies: diverse modes of thinking, methodological plurality, and competencies for autonomy. In addition to the contribution to education in the field by suggesting three emerged competencies for sustainability science specifically, we aim to contribute to the ongoing discussion about the discipline by suggesting a process-oriented framing of sustainability science.

Colombia endured civil war for over half a century. In 2016, the government and the guerrilla forces Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia signed a peace treaty emphasising the development of the rural regions, which established the foundations for the concept of Territorial Peace. However, the violence persists as the other armed forces and gangs maintain control over the areas where the government is inefficient in providing security. Large parts of the implementation process fall behind the schedule, increasing inequalities. The young individuals are suffering the most, and at the same time, they have limited opportunities to join the institutional peacebuilding efforts. This thesis aims to investigate a local youth peacebuilding project in the context where direct and structural violence is limiting the young individuals' opportunities to practice everyday peace. The research is framed by the theories of everyday peace, territorial peace, and youth's role in peacebuilding. The data consists of an expert interview and videos produced by the youth during the peace project. The method used to analyse the data is qualitative content analysis. The results indicate that the project focusing on territorial peace contributes to post-liberal peace research as a case study, and in more detail, to the everyday peace theory. The answers indicated that where territorial peace has features of consciousness and dependence on spatiality, everyday peace is more abstract and subconscious. Furthermore, the peacebuilding efforts should provide the youth spaces where they become heard and where they can creatively express their selves.

The aim of this master's thesis is to examine how the United Nations portrays the interlinkages between climate change and conflict in the context of the South Sudan. The study is narrowed down to focus specifically on one UN specialised agency (FAO) and three UN programmes (UNEP, UNDP and WFP). The analysis is conducted by mapping a set of hypothetical discourses, drawn from the theoretical framework, against the data retrieved from the examined UN documents. The UN discourses are then further critically examined with the help of Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional framework theory to elaborate on the results from a linguistic, discursive and contextual perspectives. Further on the thesis also discusses the extent to which the UN discourses reflect the academic debates on the topic as well as the situation in South Sudan. The thesis concludes that the UN actors portray the interlinkages with a mixture of different argumentation types, which form so-called hybrid discourses that are often represented, unconsciously or consciously, in a rather vague and discrepant manner. Interestingly, almost half of the examined documents did not contain any references emphasising the interlinkages between climate change and conflict. The further critical examination of the UN discourses also unveiled several alarming linguistic factors regarding particularly the concepts of responsibility and agency. Furthermore, the thesis found only weak alignment between the UN discourses, the academic debates and the existing situation on the ground. All of the highlighted factors run the risk of having a negative impact on the work of the examined UN actors, in addition to hindering the overall credibility of the whole UN system.

Both populism and conspiracy theories are gaining attention as they tend to saturate everyday political rhetoric. Earlier research notices how populist and conspiratorial rhetoric intertwine, yet they rarely focus on them as explanations for current social change, and even more, as arguments against it, in defence of an 'authentic' way of life. Both populism and conspiracy theories are often pathologized, while their explanatory aspects are neglected. This thesis aims to fill these gaps: it is interested in how right-wing populism and conspiratorial rhetoric used by them highlight the difference between an 'authentic', organically evolved society and unwanted, dangerous changes in it. Therefore, it does not only explain social change: it claims that 1. it is an attack on the 'authenticity' of a given society and 2. this attack is planned by conspirators 3. who are in fact 'the elite', acting against 'the people'. As case study, this thesis analyses speeches held by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, between 2015 and 2020, three in each year, held publicly and translated to English on official government websites. The research question is, how epistemic work is found in the data, using the methodological toolkit of epistemic governance and membership categorization analysis (MCA), built in the framework of World Society Theory and the Bordieuan field theory. The thesis is interested in how basic assumptions on our world appear in the data, how actors in the political field are re-arranged, and how certain qualities are attached to them. Findings show how the issue of European immigration after 2015 and the influence of the European Union was understood as an attack on the 'authenticity' of Hungary and Europe and constructed as a global conspiracy against national sovereignty. Also, by utilizing MCA, the thesis reflects on how populism re-arranges actors of the political field compared to how it is understood in liberal democracies.

AbstractAssuming that higher education has a role in the professionalisation of humanitarianism, this article discusses humanitarian work as a subject in higher education. The Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA) joint master's programme in International Humanitarian Action is used as a case study for understanding the challenges and potentials in teaching the subject. Teaching challenges are discussed in relation to three themes: interdisciplinary, work-integrated learning and intercultural competencies. These themes are an integrated part of the professionalisation of humanitarian work, since they concern how humanitarian action should be understood and implemented. The NOHA joint master's programme incorporates a variety of approaches, such as student mobility and a range of courses, to strengthen the student's education in each of these themes. The last part of the article discusses the future prospects of the programme in response to trends that affect higher education: online teaching and rapid technological change. It is argued that the NOHA network and the NOHA joint master's programme are well positioned to navigate these trends and continue to be relevant for educating humanitarian professionals.

Afghanistan has been in turmoil in recent decades. US-led coalition forces invaded the country in 2001 when it had already suffered from decades of ongoing conflict and gender relations had been radicalized to a point of extremity. Alongside intensive fighting against the Taliban and the other insurgency groups, the US and its allies took an active role in rebuilding the country, where the SSR played a key role. Women were for the first time in the history of Afghanistan formally accepted in the police forces and gender equality was promoted throughout the security forces. However, the number of women in police forces has not increased as expected. The varying insurgency groups have taken policewomen as their targets and their presence has awakened dissonance inside the forces and among the larger society. At the same time, they are seen by the international community as crucial actors for increasing the human security of the whole nation. This thesis seeks to increase knowledge on how Kabul based female police officers navigate their lives around their contested profession. The research is based on thematic interviews with seven female police officers living in Kabul. The main focus of the study is on gender identities; how they are constructed in surroundings which may be characterized as an extremely patriarchal society, excessively internationalized state-building reforms, and a highly masculine professional context. The data reveals that the presence of female police officers in Afghanistan threatens the existing gender order as they occupy positions that are commonly seen as best performed by men in a context where the duty to protect has traditionally been connected to men`s pride. Thus the participants have not been able to build their identity vis-à-vis the traditional roles assigned to men and women. In a civilian context, the post-conflict setting, the institutional changes as well as the re-organizing of social action it has brought, have enabled participants to stretch the norms related to gender and find new positions for themselves. However, the sustainability of these new roles and statuses may be questioned as the state-building has been excessively internationalized and the reforms have lacked real legitimacy among Afghans themselves. Furthermore, it should be re-considered whether the female police officers really have space to express themselves as individuals or whether their lives have been essentialized to another rigid interpretation of womanhood, as saviors of all the Afghan women. In a professional context, participants were more willing to obey the security sector`s particular and persistent gender norms. This was especially strong among the youngest participants, whose lives the new profession has affected more comprehensively. This thesis concludes that from the participants` perspective gendered social hierarchies in the security sector have remained stagnant as there is very limited space for ideas of gender to change or to develop in comparison to a civilian context where the participants have been able to stretch the norms related to gender, although their sustainability may be questioned due to the present situation in the country and the complex historical context of Afghan women. Furthermore, it may be stated that the present data reveals that there have been deficiencies in SSR`s ability to form representative police forces in terms of gender.

This thesis examines indigenous women's activism against the so-dubbed 'Monsanto law', in Guatemala, in 2014. It aims at informing about the gendered aspects of activism that have been eluded in other research. Scientific inquiry was utilised to analyse this social phenomenon via its associated discourses in the media, more specifically from news articles written about it. The data consists of articles published online by independent and mainstream media outlets. It comprehends articles written in English and Spanish; from circa 50 initial articles collected, seven were analysed. Critical Discourse Analysis was the method utilised to analyse the discourses present in the data. The subject was chosen due to the fact that it is about Global South indigenous women's activism, and it is a struggle against a law that was an outcome of a free-trade agreement, CAFTA-DR. Being passed, the law would dictate the Guatemalan agricultural sector dependency on big American agrochemical and genetic engineering corporations, thus collocating at stake the indigenous and peasants' lives, land ownership and food sovereignty. Moreover, this is a case in which the activism achieved its intents, enhancing my motivation toward its analysis. The purpose of the study was to determine how did indigenous women's activism against the 'Law for the Protection of New Plant Varieties' manifest itself and how did gender, sex, race/ethnicity and class make part of that activism, unfolding the gendered aspect of this activism and formulating an understanding about a form of non-violent activism that worked toward the promotion social justice and equality. Intersectionality is the methodology utilised to explore the multiple dimensions of the phenomenon and the coalition politics that emerge from it, whilst questioning canons. Hence, the theoretical framing initiates by acknowledging and analysing discourses and practices of racialisation/ethnicity, along with gendering, language, class differentiation, and religion regarding the Maya people in Guatemala, to understand how subjectivities and social differences are produced. The second part of the theoretical analysis concerns the structures of domination, such as patriarchy, racism or colonialism, and the power relations enmeshed in them. This theoretical framework is followed by the actual analysis of the data. The data analysis shows that indigenous women's activism manifested itself at different levels; from activism towards the protection of Nature, the body-territory, the Maya identity symbolised by the corn and the indigenous people's right to food sovereignty. The research also reveals that gender, sex, race/ethnicity and class are all intermeshed in the activism of these women against the 'Monsanto law' in the same manner as they are intermeshed in the everyday lives of indigenous women in Guatemala. These aspects shape indigenous women's lives, collocating them both at the margins of the social system and in the front row of every struggle towards social justice simultaneously. One conclusion that emerges is that, even though indigenous women are leading the resistance to colonial structures and neoliberal policies, the level of awareness regarding their struggle is very low; it is diluted within indigenous people's activism as if it were a homogenous whole. A second important inference is that indigenous women's activism, as in the phenomenon at study, is what truly leads to the (return) to sustainability as a way of living.

After the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union on June 23, 2016, one of the most pressing concerns has been over Northern Ireland, and the land border that divides the island of Ireland between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. After the 1998 Peace Agreement, which ended the period of time known as 'Troubles', the border disappeared from view, which scholarly has considered to be one of the major successes of the Agreement. If the border in Ireland becomes "EU's Western Wall", it seems unlikely that the border could remain the same. Because the fate of the border remains unclear, this research focuses on the Brexit negotiation period of June 23, 2016–January 31, 2020, and seeks to understand how the border in Ireland has become more visible during that time period. The analysis of the border's visibility has been divided into three sections, which look at the visibility of the border as a physical divider, a connective space and something that is performed. The research concludes that the border has become visible in all three ways, but the most visible aspect of the border has been the everyday dimension of it, which consists of the reality of the border to those who live near it, and whose lives have always been shaped by the presence of the border, and having to navigate it as a part of their daily lives. There is then a major drift between the idea of Brexit, which aims to control the borders of the UK, and the lives of local communities who have always had the right to belong to the border and shared it as a space, and wish to also do in the future.