Master Degree in International Security. Master Thesis
http://hdl.handle.net/10230/43640
2024-03-29T11:29:43ZExploring the effects of foreign partisan election intervention on corruption
http://hdl.handle.net/10230/52654
Exploring the effects of foreign partisan election intervention on corruption
Reimal, Emily
Foreign partisan election intervention is a persistent tactic that may become increasingly prevalent as technological advancements and the growth of social media facilitate new low-cost, yet effective mechanisms for intervention. Despite expansive documentation of numerous cases of foreign partisan election intervention, there has been little systematic research on its effects, largely due to lack of sufficient data. This paper leverages the recently published Partisan Electoral Interventions by the Great Powers dataset to contribute to filling this gap. Specifically, this paper is an exploration of the effects of foreign partisan election intervention on changes in corruption levels. I hypothesize that because elections are important accountability mechanisms, tampering with them via foreign partisan intervention can facilitate the growth of corruption in targeted states. In particular, covert interventions typically require cooperation between the intervener and the beneficiary, and so they support politicians who are willing to engage in illicit activity to attain power who may be more likely to engage in corruption once in office. Election interventions can propel these candidates into office as challengers or shield corrupt incumbents from consequences and allow them to retain power. I find that successful covert intervention slightly increases the likelihood of corruption growth, with larger effects when the intervention benefits a challenger, and when the targeted state has a relatively low level of democracy.
Treball fi de màster de: Master’s in International Security. Curs 2019-2020
2020-01-01T00:00:00ZMicro-level motivations of combatants in inter communal conflicts: a look into the case of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh
http://hdl.handle.net/10230/52617
Micro-level motivations of combatants in inter communal conflicts: a look into the case of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh
Williams, Andréanne
The micro-level determinants of fighting is a growing research topic. However, little research has been done on the reasons why people take part in communal violence, which I define as violence between non-state groups that are mobilized along a shared communal identity. This research attempts at filling this gap by looking into the micro-dynamics of violence through a case study of the conflict between the neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh in Tripoli, Lebanon. This area has seen more than 20 rounds of clashes between Sunni and Shia communities between 2008 and 2014, which have left hundreds of dead and wounded. The research draws on interviews with 13 former combatants from both neighborhoods. In line with expectations on motivations from the civil war literature, I find that financial incentives, sectarian grievances and religious motivations as well as self-defense are important motivations. However, the findings also go beyond the ‘rational violence’ framework and highlight the importance of the psychological functions of violence. The interviews show that the desire to gain respect from the community, to be seen like a man and thrill-seeking are important drivers. Identifying motivations for communal violence is a novel contribution to research on political violence.
Treball fi de màster de: Master’s in International Security. Curs 2018-2019
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZContemporary populism in India : assessing the Bharatiya Janata party’s ideological features
http://hdl.handle.net/10230/43490
Contemporary populism in India : assessing the Bharatiya Janata party’s ideological features
Ammassari, Sofia
This paper analyses the ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the aim of characterizing populism in contemporary India. In fact, while the great majority of the research on the topic has pointed its attention towards either the US and Europe or South America, very little work has been done on other regions, and most of it has focused on populist leaders, rather than populist parties. Understanding populism as an ideology whose core principles are people-centrism and anti-elitism, this study conducts a qualitative content analysis of the BJP’s electoral manifestos, and integrates the main findings with interviews conducted with 13 party officials. I assess firstly whether the party can be labelled as populist, and secondly its position alongside the left-right political spectrum, by looking at six distinctive features drawn from the literature on right-wing and left-wing populism: “the people”, “the elites”, “the others”, authoritarianism, egalitarianism, and internationalism.
Party literature and interviews show that the BJP is a populist party which combines elements from both ideologies; however, the way it conceptualizes “the people”, “the elites” and “the others” is clearly nativist, and in the interviews its right-wing positions emerge even more visibly.
I conclude that the scholarship should address more cases from the Asian or African continents, to assess whether a sort of “southern” populism is emerging in the Global South which adopts nativist stances, while remaining attached to its post-colonial ideological roots. Moreover, the paper highlights an overlooked type of internationalism that the BJP professes, that towards the Indian diaspora.
Treball fi de màster de: Master’s in International Security. Curs 2017-2018
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZYes we fear : an issue saliency analysis of the impact of terrorist attacks on electoral campaigning rhetoric in Europe
http://hdl.handle.net/10230/43485
Yes we fear : an issue saliency analysis of the impact of terrorist attacks on electoral campaigning rhetoric in Europe
De Marchi, Anna
Since 2014, the European continent has suffered a great number of terrorist attacks carried out by ISIL, jihadist movements and Islamic lone wolves. The rise of Islamic terrorism has affected various levels of society, instilling fear and incentivizing political parties to act on the matter. While traditional literature on terrorism and party competition focuses on the frame and discourse around the politics of fear, this study contributes with a different perspective on the debate. In this work, the impact of terrorist activities on electoral campaigning rhetoric is assessed through Budge and Farlie’s issue saliency theory, which extrapolates party stances from the varying emphases given to different issues. The research introduces the comparison of three sets of pre- and post-attack case studies: France pre and post 2015 November attacks, Germany pre and post 2016 Berlin attack, and United Kingdom pre and post 2017 Westminster attack. Drawing on saliency theory, the analysis of party manifestos from the selected countries uses as baseline the coding system developed by the Comparative Manifesto Project and adds specific codes to draw attention on statements on terrorism. The comparison is based on the study of variations in saliency of terrorism and security issues, measuring party responsiveness to the terrorist threat. The findings reveal that parties react to terrorist attacks by increasing terrorism saliency but right- and left-wing parties differ in their way of setting the agenda around the issue. Right-wing parties resulted more responsive to terrorist activities and prime the issue in their campaigning rhetoric to gain electoral advantage.
Treball fi de màster de: Master’s in International Security. Curs 2017-2018
2018-01-01T00:00:00Z