Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Clash of civilizations'

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Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Humanities

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Bachelors
Sciences
Political Science

The purpose of my thesis was to counter Samuel Huntington’s argument that the world’s conflict is over differing civilizations, religions, or cultures. Whether or not religion is declining or growing, it cannot be used to portray the world in a 'cosmic war,' or a battle between 'good and evil'. Natural resources, not religions, rest at the basis for the Islamic fundamentalist and militant movement due to its response to the Western structural pressures that are modernizing Muslim societies. Oil and water become vital tools for exercising power and authority of one nation over another, and are identified as the true culprits for a conflict that is often furtively concealed.

Denna uppsats är en kritisk granskning av Samuel P. Huntingtons modell att förstå världspolitiken utifrån, som han presenterar i boken The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Granskningen utgår från en analys av hans grundläggande begrepp, ”civilization” och ”clash”, och från ytterligare en analys av hur hans modell skiljer sig från andra modeller om världen. Med hjälp av dessa analyser diskuterar jag rimligheten i den tes som han ställer upp och konsekvenserna som hans förutsägelser och policyrekommendationer får, för att sedan kunna bedöma om hans modell är användbar eller inte. Min slutsats är att den inte är särskilt användbar, främst på grund av den oklara betydelsen av hans begrepp. En modell utifrån fler faktorer skulle istället ge oss en bättre förståelse av världen.

This paper is a critical examining of Samuel P. Huntington’s model for understanding world politics, that he presents in his book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. The examining is based on an analysis of his basic concepts, “civilization” and “clash”, and on another analysis of how his model differs from other models about the world. With the help of theses analyses I discuss the reasonableness of the these he formulates and the consequences that his predictions and policy recommendations have, to be able to judge if his model is useful or not. My conclusion is that it’s not very useful, mainly because of the unclear meaning of his basic concepts. Instead, a model based on more factors would give a us a better understanding of the world.

The portrayal of collective identity of Muslim populations in Europe presents an increasingly important issue within identity politics. While European Muslims represent a diverse population that has experienced longstanding socio-political concerns, they are also increasingly portrayed in light of wider global perceptions of Islam in a post-9/11 era. Consequently, there is growing concern over a confusing of such pre-existing domestic issues and larger international problems of radical fundamentalism and Islamic terrorism. The misrepresentation of European Muslims as linked to such issues in turn often exacerbates domestic problems and contributes to an evolving sense of oppositional Muslim identity in Europe. In light of these concerns over inaccurate depictions of Muslims and their harmful effects, many of which will be expounded upon below, a more critical and deliberate approach is necessary in scholarly assessments of Muslim populations. This thesis examines the situation of European Muslims amidst such portrayals of commonality and international influence. After discussing some facets of political identities and critiquing other approaches to this issue, the study focuses on the case of Muslims in France. Using the lens of universalism, I examine the context of Muslims in France and evaluate the accuracy of assertions of common identity. After illustrating the diversity of French Muslims, the study then turns to the situation of Muslims in Europe, comparing the French case with those of Great Britain and Germany. Finally, it returns to the recent French national identity debate for concluding remarks. The study demonstrates that, while portrayals of Muslims as a uniform threat to European identity are at present inaccurate and misleading, such assertions also carry potentially harmful effects in stigmatizing Muslims and contributing to oppositional identity formation.

This essay evaluates social constructivist theory by analyzing how it brings understanding to an empirical case. The case under study is the Danish Muhammad Cartoon Controversy of 2005-2006, and by using a constructivist conceptualization of identities and norms this essay attempts to demonstrate how constructivism helps in understanding the event where rationalist theories fall short. This essay concludes that these two concepts do further understanding of various social elements that contributed to the explosiveness of the conflict but that there is a difficulty in establishing causality and outlining in detail how they do so.

The case of Kosovo conflict serves as tool to test the validity of Huntington's theory. Owing to the fact that Mr, Huntington himself described the Balkans and Kosovo as an example of a fault line war, my aim is to verify his assumptions that the roots of the Kosovo conflict are to be found in the religion. During this work the conflict is reconstructed using Mr. Huntington's hypothesis and claims as well as interpreted by three hypothesis. Firstly, Kosovo could represent a conflict at the fault line, which would mean that the theory of the clash of the civilizations is verified. Secondly, the intervention of NATO implies participation of the third civilization in the conflict. To put in differently, the democratic West (NATO) intervened against the orthodox civilization (Serbia) in order to prevent the humanitarian catastrophe the Albanian population of Kosovo (Islam) was to face. Verification of this theory would imply that if there was a conflict between the civilizations in Kosovo, it was between the West (and Kosovo as an integral part of it) and the orthodox civilization. The third hypothesis interprets the Kosovo conflict as a war of the Civilization to promote its own values. Despite the fact that this explanation of the Kosovo conflict could possibly be the most probable one, original assumption of Mr. Huntington stating that the problems of Kosovo are of religious character would be falsified.

This Master's Thesis deals with the famous work of a Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington. The topic is described to full extent. First of all, there are defined basic terms connected with culture. Afterwards, the conception of a Clash of Civilizations is described in its basic concepts, whereas there are not omitted consequences connected with the author's other works as well as his life. A special chapter is dedicated to the impact that this work caused. This chapter is devided into two parts. In the first part, there are presented general references of several authors. In the other part, there are discussed comprehensive conceptions of certain authors. Concretely, they are represented by Francis Fukuyama, Immanuel Wallerstein, Alvin Toffler and Michael Novak. After description of basic ideas of these big thinkers, there is made a comparison of their conceptions, which is based on the following terms -- universalism, democracy a capitalism, world order and modernization. In the last part of this Master's Thesis, there are deduced conclusions from the comparison of these conceptions that deal with the international system, which makes this issue more clear for both public and academic people.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis was to examine how traditional news media vis-à- vis alternative news media in Sweden portrayed the Quran burnings and the riots which followed during august in the summer of 2020. With the basis in framing theory and intermedia agenda setting we examined these research questions: How do the news papers frame the Quran burnings? What discourses are reproduced? How do the traditional news papers and the alternative news papers framing of the Quran burnings differ from each other?  The qualitative methods used in this bachelor thesis were Robert Entmans framing theory combined with Rens Vliegenthart & Stefaan Walgraves intermedia agenda setting theory. Also, we used different theories regarding populism, clash of civilizations and freedom of speech in order to find various themes in the reporting. For instance, the study applies Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque to examine how the alternative news paper Samnytt framed the Quran burnings.  Through examining news articles, we discovered several preexisting frames and some additional ones. The results showed that the traditional news papers framed the Quran burnings in a laconic way as an intolerant act against Muslims, while the alternative news papers framed the Quran burnings as a clash of civilizations and simultaneously as an act of freedom of speech. In relation to the alternative news papers overly dramatic and sensationalistic discourse, the traditional news papers discourse was more moderate. In this way the populist discourse in the alternative news media and their focus on the “man on the street” is an example of how the alternative news media defines itself as an opposition to the hegemonic “elite” news media institutions. In the alternative news papers, we also found one specific frame concerning anti-Semitism in Malmö, which was not given the same amount of attention by the traditional news papers.  The result of this study shows differences in framing, in line with previous research regarding alternative news media and populism, that could be an example of how the alternative news media is born and defines itself as an alternative to a narrative they deem wrong or lacking in traditional news media. This is primarily an effect of the fact that the traditional news papers lacked diversity in their interviewees since they mostly relied on authority sources, or in one case their own opinion piece writer, to tell the story. The results of this study highlights processes and effects that lies at the core of several phenomenon in this sphere, therefore it should be used to further the research on framing, alternative news media and populism.

En kvalitativ analys av traditionella kontra alternativa nyhetsmediers gestaltning av koranbränningarna i Malmö 2020. 

Este trabalho propõe o estudo da ideia de “fim da História”, conforme apresentada pelo cientista político norte-americano Francis Fukuyama. Em um primeiro momento, delimitamos seu conceito de “fim da História” a partir do artigo original The End of History?, de 1989, e de suas publicações seguintes, até o livro The End of History and the Last Man, de 1992. Na segunda parte, após contrastar a ideia ao paradigma de “choque de civilizações”, de Samuel Huntington, aproximamos a estrutura conceitual proposta por Fukuyama de tópicos da teoria da história e história da historiografia relacionados ao conceito moderno de História e sua eventual exaustão identificada por diversos autores. No terceiro momento, o trabalho aborda o percurso da obra de Fukuyama após a repercussão inicial de sua proposta de “fim da História”, até os dias de hoje, buscando eventuais novidades à estrutura conceitual delimitada anteriormente. A título de conclusão, abordamos o cenário atual dos debates da historiografia para especular acerca do futuro do campo do conhecimento e do ofício do historiador.
This work proposes the study of the idea of the “end of History“, as it is presented by the North American political scientist Francis Fukuyama. At first, we delimit the concept from his original article The End of History?, published in 1989, and from his following publications, up to his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man. In the second part, after contrasting Fukuyama’s idea to Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” paradigm, we put the conceptual structure proposed by Fukuyama alongside topics regarding theory of history and history of historiography related to the modern concept of History and its eventual exhaustion, already signaled by several authors. The third part approaches the long course of Fukuyama’s work regarding “the end of History”, after the repercussion of his initial article up until the present days, looking for eventual innovations in the conceptual structure previously designed. For the sake of conclusion, we approach the current debates around the topic, to speculate about the future of the field of knowledge and the role attributed to the professional historian.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004.
Thesis advisor(s): Lyman Miller, Donald Abenheim. Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-103). Also available online.

Depuis la fin de la guerre froide, les Etats-Unis militent en faveur de l’intégration de la Turquie à l’UE et deviennent, sous la présidence Clinton, les plus ardents défenseurs de la cause turque, avant même Ankara. Comment expliquer ce positionnement de la superpuissance mondiale, elle qui n’appartient pourtant pas au continent européen et ne dispose pas d’un pouvoir décisionnel dans l’UE ? Cet activisme s’explique par la mutation des enjeux et des défis au XXIe siècle : résurgence éventuelle de la Russie, influence iranienne dans le monde musulman, montée de la menace djihadiste ou « choc des civilisations » prédit par Huntington. Pour y faire face, Washington regarde l’alliance de l’UE chrétienne à la Turquie musulmane comme une stratégie préventive : l’adhésion d’Ankara, outre son aspect symbolique qui permettrait de contrer la rhétorique des djihadistes tout en signalant aux musulmans vivant en Europe qu’ils ne sont pas étrangers au continent, ferait de la Turquie un modèle pour l’ensemble de son voisinage et une force de projection occidentale dans le monde musulman. L’UE, grâce à son pouvoir normatif, est indispensable à cette fin : sans elle, la démocratie ainsi que le libéralisme politique et économique pourraient-ils s’implanter en terre d’Islam ? Sans elle, la Turquie restera-t-elle un Etat laïc ancré à l’Occident ? Les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 propulsent cette stratégie au sommet des priorités des administrations Bush : elle s’intègre désormais dans leur Freedom agenda. Si la survenue des printemps arabes en 2011 aurait dû rendre indispensable l’ancrage de la Turquie à l’UE afin de s’assurer qu’elle puisse influencer les événements en propageant les valeurs occidentales auprès de ces populations en quête de démocratie, l’Amérique cesse pourtant progressivement son militantisme envers une adhésion qui devient chimérique. Au lieu de souder l’alliance entre les Etats-Unis, la Turquie et l’UE, les printemps arabes auront fissuré les fondations déjà écornées de ce partenariat, si bien qu’à la fin du mandat d’Obama, la relation triangulaire est déliquescente
In the aftermath of the Cold War, the US has asserted a strong lobbying in favor of Turkey’s accession to the EU, and became the first supporter of this integration, before Ankara itself. How could we explain the US involvement since it doesn’t belong to the European continent? The new world order brought new challenges for the 21st century. Therefore, such an integration was perceived as a preventive strategy by Washington to deter upcoming threats facing the West, such as Russian resurgence, Iranian influence in the Muslim world, jihadism, or the « clash of civilizations ». Indeed, it would help bridging the growing gap between the West and the Muslim world by uniting under the same roof Christian countries within the EU, and the former Caliphate. It would also enable Turkey to be a Western projection force in its neighborhood — stretching from the Balkans to the Middle East — by becoming a model. To do so, Turkey has to become more liberal politically and economically. However, would it be possible without European prospects? From a US perspective, the normative power of the EU is necessary to see Turkey succeeding in proving that Islam, secularism and democracy are compatible and to spread Western values in its neighborhood while anchoring Ankara firmly in the West. 9/11 reinforced the significance of this strategy, which got integrated into the Freedom agenda and the global war on terror. Therefore, supporting Ankara’s accession became a top priority of Bush administrations. Barack Obama maintained this policy, even though the US lobbying slowed down, since it appeared this integration might never occur. The Arab awakening could have been the perfect occasion to bring closer together Turkey and the EU so that Ankara could become the model Arabs were calling for. However, instead of strengthening the US-Turkey-EU relations, those events damaged their alliance, which was already strained. At the end of Obama’s presidency, this triangular relation seemed on the verge to collapse

This action research study investigated the effectiveness and impact of instructional uses of computer gaming on student comprehension of major themes and concepts in United States history. A concurrent embedded experimental mixed method design (Creswell, 2009; Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007; Greene & Caracelli, 1997) was used to determine what impact gameplay has upon student learning as well as student perceptions of the gaming experience upon their learning using Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization in an eleventh grade high school United States History class. This study addressed key issues concerning computer gameplay in an educational setting, asking what impact does computer gameplay have on student understanding and academic performance, and what impact does social interaction surrounding computer gameplay have upon student understanding of content. The quantitative phase of this study focused on the relationship between computer games and academic performance. The qualitative phase of the study focused on student understanding and comprehension of historical content, perceptions of computer gameplay and the social interaction surrounding gameplay.

Students were randomly assigned to one of two classes: one class engaged in gameplay utilizing Civilization IV: Colonization and served as the experimental group, the other class engaged in traditional research and served as the control group. Quantitative data was collected from a pretest administered at the beginning of the semester as well as a posttest administered at the end of the semester. Additional quantitative data was collected from term project presentation grades from both groups at the end of the semester. Scores from the pretest/posttest and student presentations were analyzed to determine if there was a significant difference in learning between the two groups.

Qualitative data was collected at multiple points throughout the study from the experimental group utilizing observation, teacher-researcher reflections, individual interviews, focus group interview, and student data sheets to explore student understanding of the exploration and colonization of North America as well as perceptions of the gaming experience. The qualitative data was analyzed to inform and better understand the impact of computer gaming on student learning.

The findings of this study indicated students who engaged in gameplay with Civilization IV: Colonization scored significantly higher on the postest and presentation scores as well as developed a deeper understanding of major themes, concepts and content in United States History than students who conducted traditional research. The findings of this study also supported and built upon previous research concerning computer game-based learning, specifically within social studies education, as well as addressed a specific void in the research – what impact does computer game-based learning have upon student academic performance?

The times coming with the End of the Cold War were very turbulent. Politicians had to take into the consideration lots of scenarios and the next global trends to make correct decisions. Most of the very numerous visions of the future global order followed more or less the twofold pattern: order or anarchy. "The End of History and the Last Man" and "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order" written by two prominent American political scientists Francis Fukuyama and Samuel P. Huntington and published at the beginning of the 90s are the most representative works that fit into this pattern. These provocative and controversial theories have been criticized and empirically challenged by many on one side, on the other side it hasn't impeded others to use them as a starting point for their next analyses. This dissertation thesis is a contribution to the debate between the dissenters and the supporters of these theories from a predictive point of view. Through the research theoretical methodology it is argued that the examined theories are still valid even nowadays because their theoretical essence (or hard core in the Lakatosian research program) has not been refuted yet. Nevertheless, the hard core of the theories determines their very specific character which puts forward the importance of the factors labelled in the Lakatosian framework as an external history of a science. These factors organized according to the Mehtas criteria of so called strong idea are, especially in the social sciences, decisive for how a theoretical construct is accepted in a broader non-academic context. It is demonstrated that both theories fulfill all criteria to be very influential in practice, although the idea of clash of civilizations is even more powerful in this respect. The specific features of all theories are illustrated on two case studies: Union of South American Nations and Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Firstly, the selection of these case studies is justified and secondly, the anomalies in terms of the Lakatosian methodology are identified and then explained. There have been found no unexplainable anomalies, which practically confirms the validity of both research programs on one side, on the other side it facilitates a better assessment of the studied theories in a sense of their interpretative scope and possibilities.

This thesis examines the neglected architectural decoration from the late antique Mediterranean city (ca. 300-650 A.D.). It aims to address the omission in scholarly literature of any discussion about the decoration of non-monumental secular buildings, namely porticoes flanking streets, agorai, macella and ornamental plazas, small public baths, shops/workshops and ‘middle class’ houses. The decoration of non-monumental secular buildings has been overlooked at the expense of more lofty buildings and remains thus far one of the least known aspects of the late antique city. Considering that public porticoes and their associated structures (shops and workshops), along with small public baths and ‘middle class’ houses were crucial elements and accounted for the large part of any urban built environment starting from the Hellenistic period, the examination of their architectural decoration in this thesis represents the first attempt to redress this imbalance. Drawing upon an array of archaeological evidence, written sources, and depictions this thesis attempts to reconstruct how public porticoes, small public baths, shops/workshops, and ‘middle class’ houses might have looked on a daily basis. The geographical area entailed in this study presents more challenges than when focusing on a single site or province. Such a cross-regional approach of the topic allows to consider the decoration of public these structures as both as part of the history of individual cities and as part of Mediterranean-wide trends, guiding as such toward a more reliable visualisation of the late antique built environment. The picture conveyed in the Mediterranean cities is inevitably not the same. It is argued that as much as they shared similarities on the decoration of these structures, so did they also vary. The topic of this thesis is broad and definite answers cannot be given, nevertheless, it is hoped that a preliminary synthesis can be offered as a basis for future work.

Esta tese consistiu em uma investigação do trabalho concreto em sala de aula das 5ª e 6ª séries do Ensino Fundamental em um colégio particular religioso da cidade do Rio de Janeiro próximo à Favela do Vidigal e da Chácara do Céu - que fez uma opção inovadora para atender as camadas populares dessas comunidades. Foi a história dessa opção pelos pobres que chamou nossa atenção, uma vez que acenava com a possibilidade de alguma atuação transformadora no sentido de atender uma população desfavorecida. A literatura pedagógica centrada sobre o que hoje se tem nomeado cultura escolar compreende que o ritual da própria organização interna a cada escola configura um feixe de rotinas, usos e costumes, saberes e valores, que não apenas fazem parte da instituição, mas, sobretudo, fazem a instituição. O principal eixo de análise foi de perscrutar esse universo cultural específico dessa escola para aferir o que se passava no seu dia-a-dia. Compreender tais formas requer do investigador uma atenção mais detida sobre: o que se passa em sala de aula, o que acontece nos corredores com as turmas, as constatações da equipe administrativa, as disposições dos professores, os depoimentos dos pais dos alunos, os sinais mediante os quais os alunos registram sua percepção da vida escolar. Busca compreender as implicações socioculturais e alterações do projeto político e pedagógico do Centro Popular Stella Maris, que antes atendia alunos de classe média e média alta, e que, mantendo o mesmo corpo docente, passou a atender as camadas populares. As estratégias usadas na pesquisa de campo foram: observação da sala de aula, estudos de caso e entrevistas com os principais atores: alunos, professores, coordenadores e mães da comunidade atendida. Na análise dos dados tivemos como categorias: a cultura tanto na visão da comunidade como na visão dos professores e coordenadores; a escola na perspectiva dos pais da comunidade e a visão da comunidade do ponto de vista dos professores e coordenadores; as relações pedagógicas e o estabelecimento de vínculos; e as estratégias e recursos pedagógicos nas formas de ensinar. Pretendemos com essa pesquisa trazer para domínio público essa inovação que re-significa o espaço escolar para as camadas populares, com o intuito de auxiliar a escola pública a pôr em prática experiências inovadoras no que diz respeito à possibilidade da superação das dificuldades de aprendizagem do corpo discente a partir da escola. Os estudos de Souza Patto, Bourdieu e Dubet, entre outros, nortearam nossa pesquisa e fundamentaram nossas análises sobre essa experiência educativa. Nossas conclusões foram que a escola na modernidade apresentou progressivamente seu aspecto civilizador ou o desejo de inscrever, na formação das crianças e dos jovens, um dado modelo cultural prévio e anteriormente prescrito que ainda se encontra presente na atualidade e, em particular, nas experiências que pretendem oferecer um ensino de qualidade às camadas populares.
This thesis consisted on an investigation into the practical work in the classrooms of 5th and 6th grades of Elementary School in a private religious school in Rio de Janeiro close to Favela do Vidigal and Chacara do Ceu which had made the innovative choice of attending to the lower class from these communities. It was their option for the poor which drew our attention as it waved the possibility of some transforming act as they were attending to a disadvantaged population. The literature on education centered in what today is called school culture understands that the ritual of every school internal organization frames a beam of routines, uses and costumes, knowledge and values which are not only part of the institution but above all they form the institution. The main axis of analysis was to look round this schools specific cultural universe to see what was happening in their daily life. For the comprehension of such forms the researcher is requested a more attentive look upon: what is going on in the classroom, what happens with the groups along the corridors, the administrative staffs observations, the teachers dispositions, the students parents statements, the signs through which the students register their perception about life at school. He sought to understand the socio-cultural implications and changes in the politic-pedagogical project by the Centro Popular Stella Maris which had previously attended to middle and upper-class students and now attends to the lower class and kept on with the same board of teachers. The strategies used in the field survey were observation in the classroom, case studies and interviews with the key stakeholders: students, teachers, coordinators and mothers from the community. For the data analysis we established as categories: culture as seen by the community and according to teachers and coordinators view; the school viewed by the community parents and the teachers and coordinators view of the community; the pedagogical relations and the establishment of ties; the strategies and pedagogical resources used for teaching. With this research we intend to bring this innovation into public knowledge as it re-signifies school environment for the lower class in order to assist public schools to put into practice innovative actions in what concerns to the possibility of overcoming students difficulties in learning by means of the school. Studies by Souza Patto, Bourdieu and Dubet among others guided our research and based our analysis on this educational experience. Our conclusions were that the school in modernity has gradually presented its civilizing aspect or its desire to inscribe a previous cultural model, prescribed beforehand, in childrens and youth education which is still present today and particularly in the practices which intend to offer good quality schooling to lower classes.

The purpose of this study is to examine the medial depiction of Muslims in the case of Pastor Terry Jones' intention to burn the Quran. Our study is based on theoretical framework regarding an alleged clash of civilizations, how that leads to global conflicts and controls the world politics. It’s also based on the western way of characterize Muslims as violent, irrational human beings, and how mass media have a tendency to depict Muslims as “the others”. The questions we aim to seek answers to are: How were Muslims portrayed in CNN's and Al-Jazeera's reporting regarding Terry Jones plan to burn the Quran? Which discourses exist about Muslims in each news channel and what are the main differences between them? The qualitative method used is a critical discourse analysis on empirical data consistently of twelve articles. A profound thematic and schematic analysis of each article is applied in order to make interpretations and relate the result to our theoretical framework. The result of the study shows that Muslims are, to a high level, portrayed as violent or dangerous with a strong connection to terrorism. A slight difference existed in the themes and discourses between each news channel. CNN objectified Muslims, as a whole, as a safety threat to the western community when Al-Jazeera, on the other hand, had the similar portraytion, but with an explanatory approach.

This project investigates the social role of gentleman in Victorian England as defined in two Victorian novels, Dinah Maria Mulock's John Halifax, Gentleman and Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Mulock and Dickens promote the middle-class gentleman as a role that prioritizes the fulfillment of duty. Mulock's protagonist, John Halifax, displays this gentlemanliness throughout his social and economic rise. He bridges the upper and lower classes and embodies both a model and a pathway to middleclass gentlemanliness. Dickens's protagonist, Pip, develops this middle-class gentlemanliness as he learns from his own and four other characters' experiences. Dickens separates the inward, duty-focused gentleman and the outward, appearance-focused gentleman in the four characters that influence Pip, thus emphasizing their relationship and the power of social role encoding. These two novels reveal the performances of roles as social constructions that utilize the power of group definitions and the role writers play in shaping those definitions.
Department of English

碩士
國立中山大學
國際經營管理碩士班
102
Drawing on the work of David Keen, theories of contemporary conflict, this master thesis seeks to unravel the sustainability of an insidious mechanism through which identity is instrumentalized as readily ascertainable within a multi-ethnic-civilizational society perverting collecting identity toward a conflict path. Through the correlation of ethnic conflicts and the clash of civilizations, this master thesis evaluates the counter-productiveness, self-perpetuating global war on terror in Afghanistan with Operation Enduring Freedom –A. Violent ethnic and civilizational clash is not caused by inherent and genuine differences between groups, instead, it is the use of indiscriminate violence along ethnic and civilizational fault line resulting in the consequential by product of human natural tendency and relative right to retaliate

碩士
國立嘉義大學
公共政策研究所
99
On September 11, 2001, suicide attacks by al-Qaeda terrorist organization on the United States led to the collapse of the World Trade Center's twin towers and part of the Pentagon building. The Bush administration therefore embarked on a momentous change in US security strategy- the United States secured a resolution on 12 September from the United Nations Security Council endorsing antiterrorism efforts. Bush’s policies on antiterrorism consisted of two main contexts- ‘Homeland Security’ and ‘War for Antiterrorism’, of which the latter resulted in US wars to Iraq and to Afghan. These two wars not only arouse arguments onto the justice issue of wars, but also verify Huntington’s theory on ‘clash of civilizations’. This study points out there may be factors like history and culture conflicts explaining US action on terrorists, it is the America’s hegemony that really legitimates US action against emerging threats as well as eliminating all potential challengers especially those labeled as ‘terrorists’, and that in turn provokes terrorism. Keywords：President George Walker Bush, 911 Terror Attacks, Antiterrorism Policy, War for Antiterrorism, Clash of Civilizations, Hegemony

The diploma thesis describes theory of Samuel Huntington about the clash of civilizations. Its focus is on the clash between Islam and the West. The thesis describes also history of Afghanistan until 2001 and the fall of the Taliban movement. In accordance with Huntington's thesis, and taking into account his critics, it aims to answer the question, whether there is a clash of civilization in Afghanistan. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

In this thesis I address the topic Islam and democracy. I argue that rather than asking whether Islam and democracy are compatible, Western theorists should be seeking out how Muslims practice democracy. The ultimate aim of this thesis is to present a groundwork for meaningful and inclusive cross-cultural democratic dialogue to use as a basis for a global discourse on democracy. My main argument is that the Islam and the West paradigm has occluded dialogue by miring the topic Islam and democracy in debate over whether the two are compatible. Accordingly, the contents of this work are dedicated to (1) deconstructing the Islam and the West paradigm and demonstrating its inadequacy as a viable approach to the topic Islam and democracy, and (2) presenting arguments for, and exploring sites of, Muslim democracy and post-Islamism as starting points for cross-cultural dialogue between Muslim and Western societies and theorists.

碩士
國立中山大學
中國與亞太區域研究所
100
The current world population of Muslims is in the range of 1.2 to 1.6 billion (20% of the world’s population), and their numbers are spread out over various geographical areas and religious groups. After the Cold War, America has experienced several international conflicts with the Islamic world at large. Huntington, an American scholar, wrote a thesis “The Clash of Civilizations” to explain the cause of conflict. While there are significant culture differences, it is difficult to conclude that it is a simple case of conflict in culture. Upon closer inspection of the conflict situation, we find that the American dispute with the Islamic world has largely been focused on the Middle-Eastern group of countries. It would be dangerous to take a stand point that the basis of conflict is in terms of culture, because it over-simplifies the situation and leaves an undesirable stereotype on the Islamic civilization. Using a historical sociology perspective, the author found that there have been several different changes at different times in the international relationship between the American and Middle-Eastern Islamic countries after the Cold War. In fact, before the Cold War, Afghanistan was a crucial ally in the Anti-Soviet movement. It is therefore worth pondering why Afghanistan became the first Middle-Eastern country target in the war against terrorism. This thesis serves to use a geo-political perspective to further examine and explain the intricate transitions and changes in the American-Islamic relationship, in order to demonstrate that the conflict is a struggle for power, rather than a mere “Clash of Civilizations” as in Huntington’s paper.

Despite the general academic consensus that liberal democracy has triumphed over communism, Marxist-inspired movements continue to thrive across the global south. This is a curious phenomenon in the post-Cold War era. This paper explores the recent growth of both The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India, and compares the two groups. It analyzes the factors that have led to their resurgence, in particular, the political and economic dimensions. Specifically, it addresses the impact of two dominant factors in fomenting their resurgence: neo-liberalism and political exclusion. First, recent growth of both groups seems to correlate with the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies and progressively draconian structural adjustments, which aggravated existing poverty and inequality, in their respective countries. Second, recent growth of both groups seems to correlate with political exclusion of marginalized groups, an exclusion increasingly enforced by state violence. The survival and growth of Marxist-inspired armed movements across the globe also raises important questions about the future of liberal democracy. This paper asks whether the persistence of Marxist-inspired movements across the global south has given the lie to the "end of history" theory, and what their resurgence says, if anything, about the "clash of civilizations theory. It concludes that the success of these movements challenges the apparent triumph of liberal democracy in both Colombia and India, and perhaps in the post-Cold War era globally.

This research investigates the intersection of religion, self-identification, and imperialism in a number of Arab American literary works. It engages a wide array of, and contributes to, scholarship from American Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic Studies, Global Studies, and Transnational Literary Theory. The project examines two groups of writers: the first group consists of American cultural conservatives of Arab or Muslim descent, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish, Bridgette Gabrielle, and Wafa Sultan, while the second includes Arab American literary writers Mohja Kahf, Leila Ahmed, Ibrahim Fawal, and Alia Yunis. The former employ the traditional autobiography genre to produce master narratives, while the latter utilize the memoir, novel, and short-story cycle genres to challenge hegemonies and master narratives. The cultural conservatives, I contend, belong to a growing transnational body of writers whose phenomenon constitutes an extension of what Matthew F. Jacobs calls an “informal network” of transnational self-identified specialists (4). In their autobiographies, Ali, Gabrielle, Darwish, and Sultan concentrate on the Middle East, Muslims, and Arabs, but they are unique in the sense that their policy-oriented personal narratives explicitly seek to influence not only American attitudes and practices aimed at Arabs and Muslims, but also those directed at American citizens of Arab or Muslim descent. Furthermore, their culturally-conservative traditional autobiographies Infidel (2007), Nomad (2010), Heretic (2015), Now They Call Me Infidel (2006), Because They Hate (2006), They Must Be Stopped (2008), and A God Who Hates (2009) deem American multiculturalism a serious danger to the United States and the West, a thesis not unlike Samuel P. Huntington’s in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996). In this research project, I claim that Arab American literary writers have had to face, and write against, the predominance of this old-new clash of civilizations idea which has evolved into a discourse promulgated by the self-identified experts of the “informal network” and the cultural conservatives of Arab or Muslim descent. The Arab American literary novels, memoirs, and short-story cycles my study closely examines trouble the clash of civilizations discourse. Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006), Ahmed’s A Border Passage (1999), Fawal’s On the Hills of God (1998), and Yunis’s The Night Counter (2009) are arguably representative of trends in, though not limited to, the contemporary Arab American memoir, novel, and short-story cycle genres and are best understood as literary writing within the context of this broader American tradition of interpreting the Middle East, Arabs, and Muslims and the specific cultural conservative fixation on Arab and Muslim Americans.
Graduate

The thesis looks at Protestant missions to the Ottoman Empire and the countries which emerged from it through Bosch's "Enlightenment missionary" (2003) and Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" (1996) paradigms. It argues that Muslim resistance to Christianity is rooted in innate Muslim intransigence and in specific historical events in which missionaries played important roles. The work utilizes a simple formula: it contrasts the socio-political and cultural framework missionaries imbibed at home with that of their host environment, outlines the goals and strategies they formulated and implemented, looks at the results, and notes the missiological implications. The formula is applied to four successive periods. We begin with the pre-World War I missionaries of the late Ottoman Empire. We look at their faith in reason, their conviction in the cultural superiority of Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, their attitude towards Islam, their idea of reaching the Muslim majority by reviving the Orthodox churches, and the evolution of their theology and missiology. World War I changed the landscape. The Empire's demise led to a struggle for Turkish and Arab national self-determination leading to the establishment of the Turkish Republic and various Arab entities, notably French and British mandates. Protestant missions almost disappeared in Turkey, while a small number of "veterans" kept the enterprise alive in the Arab world. While the Arabs struggled to liberate themselves from the Mandatory Powers, these veterans analyzed past failures, recognized the importance of reaching Muslims directly and began experimenting with more contextualized approaches. The post-World War II era saw the retreat of colonialism, the creation of Israel, a succession of wars with that country, and the formation of a Palestinian identity. Oil enabled the Arabian Peninsula to emerge as a major economic and political force. The missionary enterprise, on the other hand, virtually collapsed. Unlike their veteran predecessors, the pre-Boomer generation, with a few notable exceptions, was bereft of fresh ideas. During the 1970s the evangelical Baby Boomers launched a new enterprise. They tended not to perceive themselves as heirs of a heritage going back to the 1800s, though the people they "targeted" did. Their successors, the GenXers, products of post-modernism and inheritors of Boomer structures, face a region experiencing both increased political frustration and the re-emergence of Islam as a socio-political power. In closing we look at Church-centered New Testament spirituality as a foundational paradigm for further missions to the region.
Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology
D. Th. (Missiology)

Despite the recent proliferation of work around the subject of residential schools, few analyses have deconstructed the concept of "civilizing the Indian" which animated the schools' agendas. This thesis examines the discourse of "civilization" as it was expressed and enacted in two missions in late nineteenth-century British Columbia. Archival primary sources and published secondary sources are drawn on to provide an understanding of what "civilization" meant to Euro-Canadians, specifically missionaries, and how it was to be "taught" to the indigenous peoples they encountered. Colonial images and photographs, in particular, reveal how missionaries constructed a vivid and compelling contrast between "civilization" and "savagery." An intersectional framework is employed to highlight the ways in which ideas about "race," class, gender and sexuality were essential elements of the "civilizing" project. The goal of the thesis is to show how "civilizing the Indian" was premised not only on a specifically hierarchical construction of Whites versus Natives, but also intersecting binaries of men versus women, normal productive heterosexuality versus deviant degenerate sexuality, bourgeois domesticity versus lower class depravity, and others. Ultimately, it is argued, the discourse of "civilization" regulated both the "colonized" and the "colonizers" as it secured the hierarchical foundations of empire and nation.

Deux décennies après la chute de l'URSS (1991), ce mémoire propose une réévaluation de la thèse de Francis Fukuyama sur la Fin de l'Histoire, élaborée en 1989, qui postule qu'avec la chute de l'URSS aucune idéologie ne peut rivaliser avec la démocratie libérale capitaliste; et de la thèse de Samuel P. Huntington sur le Choc des civilisations, élaborée en 1993, qui pose l'existence d'un nombre fini de civilisations homogènes et antagonistes. Pourtant, lorsque confrontées à une étude approfondie des séquences historiques, ces deux théories apparaissent pour le moins relatives. Deux questions ont été traitées: l'interaction entre Idéologie et Conditions historiques, et la thèse de l'homogénéité intracivilisationnelle et de l'hétérogénéité antagoniste intercivilisationnelle. Sans les invalider complètement, cette recherche conclut toutefois que ces deux théories doivent être nuancées; elles se situent aux deux extrémités du spectre des relations internationales. La recherche effectuée a montré que les idéologies et leur poids relatif sont tributaires d'un contexte, contrairement à Fukuyama qui les pose dans l'absolu. De plus, l'étude de la Chine maoïste et particulièrement de la pensée de Mao Zedong montre que les traditions politiques locales sont plus hétérogènes qu'il n'y paraît au premier abord, ce qui relativise la thèse de Huntington. En conclusion, les rapports entre États sont plus dynamiques que ne le laissent penser les thèses de Fukuyama et de Huntington.
The central purpose of this research is a revaluation, two decades after the 1991 demise of the USSR, of Francis Fukuyama's 1989 "End of History" theory, which postulates that with the fall of the USSR no major ideology is a challenger to the domination of liberal capitalist democracy; and of Samuel P. Huntington's 1993 "Clash of Civilizations" theory that postulates the existence of a finite number of antagonistic homogeneous civilizations. When confronted with the actual unfolding of historical events, these two absolute and uncompromising theories appear increasingly relative. Two questions were researched: the interaction between Ideology and Historical conditions in the case of Fukuyama, and that of the presupposed Intra-civilizational homogeneity and Inter-civilizational antagonistic heterogeneity. This research, not dismissing them totally, comes to the conclusion that they constitute the two opposite poles of a continuum that encompass most types of interactions between polities. First, this thesis comes to the conclusion that ideologies and their relative weight are part of a broader picture rather than absolutes in themselves, as Fukuyama argues. Furthermore, the study of Maoist China and especially of the thoughts of Mao Zedong strongly suggests the heterogeneity of political traditions locally, contrary to Huntington's thesis. In other words, interactions between polities seem more dynamic than the simplistic linear approaches of Fukuyama and Huntington.

Celem rozprawy jest analiza i interpretacja stworzonego w Kronice przez Leoncjusza Machierasa (XV w.) obrazu kontaktów wyznaniowych na średniowiecznym Cyprze pozostającym pod panowaniem frankijskiej dynastii Lusignanów, czyli między grekami, łacinnikami i muzułmanami. Kronika interesuje mnie nie tyle jako źródło historyczne, na podstawie którego można rekonstruować stosunki wyznaniowe w tej epoce (XII–XV w.), ale jako obraz literacki takich stosunków, stworzony przez Machierasa w konkretnym celu i dla konkretnych odbiorców. W mojej pracy, która ma charakter interdyscyplinarny, dowodzę, dlaczego Kronikę można badać przy zastosowaniu wybranych pojęć wypracowanych przez studia kolonialne i postkolonialną szkołę interpretacji, takich jak: „ja” i „inny”, „tożsamość” i „różnica”, „różnienie się”, „centrum” i „peryferia”, „wyobrażone geografie”, „trzecia przestrzeń”, „ambiwalencja’, „kataliza”, „hybrydyczność”, „kontrapunktowe czytanie”, „etos kolonialny” itp. a także przy pomocy pojęcia 'zderzenie cywilizacji' (Samuel Huntington). Badam technikę, przy pomocy której Machieras konstruuje odmienność, oraz przyglądam się temu, jak inni pod piórem autora Kroniki postrzegają siebie nawzajem: Cyprioci – Franków oraz Frankowie – Cypriotów. We wprowadzeniu omawiam przedmiot badań, stan badań, metodę badań (teoretycznoliterackie pojęcia szkoły postkolonialnej i teorii zderzenia cywilizacji), strukturę pracy, uwagi terminologiczne i wykaz skrótów. W rozdziale pierwszym prezentuję życiorys Machierasa oraz referuję treść Kroniki. Próbuję znaleźć odpowiedź na pytanie, do kogo jej autor kierował swój przekaz i jaki cel mu przyświecał. Fakt, że Kronika została napisana w potocznym dialekcie cypryjskim, mógł świadczyć o tym, że docelową grupą odbiorców byli jego rodacy. Objaśniam najistotniejsze cechy tego dialektu, aby zaakcentować jego odmienność w stosunku do greki bizantyńskiej. Porównuję dzieło Machierasa z wybranymi kronikami bizantyńskimi i zachodnimi pod względem celu, stylu, języka i konstrukcji, żeby określić stopień oryginalności ujęcia tematu przez Leoncjusza. Omawiam inne, wybrane źródła o tematyce cypryjskiej, aby pokazać, jak była ona ujmowana i czym, na ich tle, różni się dzieło Machierasa. Sprawdzam, czy język, którym posługiwał się kronikarz, można uznać za język manipulacji, i na koniec weryfikuję, jakie elementy narracji w Kronice zadecydowały o tym, że zinterpretowałam ją jako taką, która przedstawia sytuację „kolonialną”.Tematem rozdziału drugiego jest opisany w Kronice kontakt pomiędzy ortodoksyjną ludnością Cypru, grekami, i łacińskimi przybyszami: templariuszami i szpitalnikami oraz Lusignanami. Obecność których ostatnich utrzymywała się na wyspie przeszło cztery wieki, co dało podstawy do głębokich procesów konfrontowania się reprezentantów dwóch wyznań chrześcijańskich. W rozdziale trzecim, w którym zawężam pole analizy do zakresu wyznaczonego przez kulturę łacińską, koncentruję się na zagadnieniach związanych z przedstawieniem w Kronice religijności grup jednego wyznania (łacińskiego), ale różnych nacji – głównie cypryjskich Franków, Genueńczyków i Wenecjan. Badam,jakie cechy nadaje im kronikarz i w jaki sposób wkomponowuje w opis tych kontaktów religię.Rozdział czwarty poświęcony jest analizie wybranych ustępów Kroniki opisujących spotkania chrześcijan z muzułmanami, które mają znamiona „zderzenia cywilizacji”. Zastanawiam się nad tym, czy Machieras różnicuje reprezentantów islamu i czy wykazuje się w swoim dziele wiedzą na ich temat.Dysertację wieńczą wnioski końcowe, w których podsumowuję dotychczasowe ustalenia, oraz formułuję uwagi natury ogólnej dotyczące funkcji, jaką w kontaktach międzykulturowych opisanych w Kronice pełni wierność odziedziczonemu po przodkach wyznaniu (religii). Aneksy zawiera omówienie położenia geograficznego Cypru, kalendarium głównych wydarzeń z historii IV–XV wieku związanych z dziejami Cypru i chrześcijaństwa oraz mapy greckich i łacińskich biskupstw.
The aim of the dissertation is to analyze and interpret the image of interdenominational/interreligious relations in Cyprus under the Frankish Lusignan reign, i.e. between Greeks, Latins and Muslims, as depicted in the 15th-century Chronicle of Leontios Makhairas. I strive to prove that this text can be effectively analyzed by applying concepts elaborated by the colonial studies and the postcolonial school of interpretation, such as: ‘the self’, ‘the other, ‘identity’, ‘difference’, ‘alterity’, “the o/Otherness’, ‘othering’, ‘imagined geographies’, ‘the third space’, ‘center’, ‘periphery’, ‘catalysis’, ‘hybridity’, ‘ambivalence’, ‘contrapuntal reading’, ‘a colonial ethos’ etc. The idea of choosing the postcolonial theory is a consequence of the situation in which Makhairas was found to be. He was born on the island that had been captured three centuries earlier by the Franks, in the family of the chancellor of the royal court. He pursued a career within the Frankish elite and this very decision had an impact upon his personal commitment in affairs he described. In the Introduction, I discuss useful concepts of the postcolonial theory in literature-specified application and I consider whether the Chronicle of Makhairas can be analyzed with their help. Although the thesis is of literature-oriented character, I found it appropriate to refer to concepts connected with cultural and – to a lesser extent – religious studies. I bring forward the theory of the clash of civilizations, promulgated by Samuel Huntington, treating the literary image of this phenomenon in the Chronicle as derived from the image of colonization. In the first chapter I present Makhairas’s biography and literary work – emphasizing the factors that influenced his sense of identity and I summarize the content of the Chronicle, because it is widely unknown. I try to answer who is intended to be the recipient of his text and what it aims at. The fact that the Chronicle has been written in the vernacular Cypriot dialect is the evidence that it was directed towards the author’s countrymen. I compare Makhairas’s work with selected Byzantine and Western chronicles in respect of style, language and structure, in order to determine a degree of uniqueness of Leontios’s vision and form. I carry out the comparative analysis of Makhairas’s text and works of the other chroniclers presenting the interdenominational and interreligious relations in medieval Cyprus.The subject of the second chapter is a multidimensional contact, described in the Chronicle, between the Orthodox inhabitants of Cyprus and the Latin newcomers, such as the Templars and the Hospitallers, and finally – the Franks. I emphasize the terms, such as: ‘negotiations’ or ‘hybridisation’ with reference to the character of these relations, and I examine the models of the contextual theology. In the third chapter I focus on issues concerning the manifestation of religiosity of the Latins in the Chronicle – the Cypriot Franks, the Genoese and the Venetians. I investigate whether the image of the Genoese and the Venetians presented in the Chronicle is a consequence of the specific situation in Cyprus of this period and which of its features are recognized by the chronicler. The fourth chapter is devoted to the analysis of selected passages of the Chronicle describing various encounters between the Christians and the Muslims. On the one hand there is the Cypriot society, inherently Orthodox, but dominated by the Westerners, on the other hand – the Muslim civilization. I see if Makhairas differentiates their representatives and whether he demonstrates any knowledge of them. The thesis’s final part is recapitulation of all conclusions and general remarks on the nature of religion in the Chronicle in the intercultural contacts. Religion, recognized by me as a crucial element of the Chronicle’s narration, is pivotal to the whole argument, both in its spiritual aspect and the political one.

This dissertation examines two educational piety projects competing for control over popular conceptualizations of piety and what it means to be a good Muslim, as presented by Al Azhar 31 Islamic Primary School and Luqman al Hakim Integrated Islamic Primary School in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Al Azhar 31 promotes an Indonesian Islam, pluralistic and inclusive of multi-tradition approaches to Islam that is flexible in regards to acceptable forms of worship. Luqman al Hakim SIT promotes a transnational Islam, inspired by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and linked to the Indonesian Islamic political party, Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejatera, PKS). The school's purificationist approach pushes for the removal of local customs and traditions from mainstream Islam and promotes exacting observance of standardized practices. These two schools' disparate approaches to Islam are emblematic of the larger polarizing trends in approaching Islam in Indonesia today. This dissertation has particular significance for understanding the intersection of Islamic movements, Islamic education, and the religious middle class. Based on 15 months of ethnographic research, this dissertation demonstrates how schooling can be a tool for shaping socio-religious and political climates of a community and country. It adds to the growing literature on the educational spaces developing alongside Islamic piety movements throughout the Muslim world. Additionally, this dissertation provides a rare example of the influence on Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood ideologies on education, rather than politics. It also illustrates how the schools' disparate approaches to Islam shape distinct religious subjectivities within their students. The documentation of the innovation of the extended-day Islamic school model and integrated Islam ideology employed by both schools adds to the rich history of Indonesia's Islamic schooling traditions. Finally, this dissertation demonstrates how middle class parents' classed aspirations and anxieties regarding education, wealth, morality, and corruption coalesce to create ready consumers for a particular type of Islamic school: one that provides a longer school day, strong academics, and a robust religious curriculum focused on Islamic morals and values.

in English This particular MA thesis concentrates on the portrayal of Indians in captivity narratives of the early seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the essential source material being Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, first published in 1682. The thesis explores the relationship between Native Americans and settlers who saw Indians as a threat to their own existence and also as a threat to the western expansion. It also focuses on the confrontation of savagery and civilization from the point of view of common presuppositions and prejudices about the Native Americans that are very often depicted in several captivity narratives. Moreover, the thesis provides necessary definition of the genre of the captivity narrative with regard to the reaction of the reading public in the period of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From the first arrivals of settlers and explorers the American continent symbolized a land of vast opportunities. Nevertheless, the continent not being fully explored was shrouded in a veil of mystery. Explorers and adventurers were fascinated by the extensive natural resources they found in the New World. Moreover, the New World was often called New Canaan or the Garden of Eden as it symbolized for the newcomers a possibility to start a new...