Suchergebnisse

This thesis compares and contrasts the portrayal of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) as presented by Egyptian intellectuals, using the newspapers as a medium, and the message disseminated by the ICPD. The primary objective of the thesis is to assess the validity of the concerns of some of the arguments put forth by the Egyptian intellectuals by reference to an analytical discussion of these issues within a global debate as well as concurrent debates within Egypt. Locating these concerns in both the Egyptian and global contexts will identify the nature of the controversy and enable the thesis to present a critical account of these debates. The thesis' selection of the ICPD as a case study serves as a gateway into a multitude of complex relationships and debates that have shaped the population discourse historically as well as those that determine them in the contemporary period. An analysis and comparison between the views of some of the Egyptian intellectuals writing in newspapers and the themes that ICPD put forth about itself in its publications is done to bring to the surface the different types of vocabularies on population. A deconstruction of such languages on population reveals the different types of political power dynamics (in terms of alliances between different groups and governments) that create what appear to be two different - not necessarily opposing - discourses on population. Thus, an examination of the various arguments and reactions towards the ICPD's Final Program of Action, put forth by both media sources, as well as references to arguments that have been neglected by both, is done in order to raise the question pertaining to how far we can call the ICPD a successful conference, as well as what can be expected of global conferences on population in the future.