795 research outputs found

    The Individual And Their World

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    Neo-Nazi Postmodern: Right-Wing Terror Tactics, the Intellectual Neue Rechte, and the Destabilization of Memory in Germany since 1989

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    This dissertation argues that from 1989 onwards an increasingly terroristic neo-Nazi underground in Germany became gradually entangled with the reactionary Neue Rechte, whose crusade against the German culture of remembrance is also a crusade against European integration, increased migration, and the conceits of liberal democracy. This entanglement produced an ideologically coherent extreme-right political movement with a heavily armed and tactical paramilitary faction that has, contrary to what various governments of the Federal Republic have wanted to believe, been developing in Germany since the early 1990s. Moreover, tactics of information warfare initiated by so-called “postmodern” terrorists of the 1990s would, by the 2010s, take an epistemological turn, sewing global anxiety about the instability of knowledge and truth itself. Throughout the 1990s the Neue Rechte increasingly aimed its rhetorical ammunition at the stability of historical truth and the German culture of remembrance by engaging in historical revisionism. Epistemic chaos was further deepened by a trend of left-wing apostasy to the Neue Rechte, culminating in recent years in a lateral politics that uses the instability of truth to its advantage. In an intellectual turn referred to in this dissertation as “right-wing postmodernism,” the Neue Rechte of the 1990s and beyond has successfully weaponized anxiety concerning the knowability of facts, from its attack on the liberal media to its online disinformation campaigns in recent years. While other nations such as the US and Britain have experienced their own “post-truth” climates in which concepts such as “alternative facts” and “fake news” abound to discordian effect, in Germany, historical memory is the specific target of the Neue Rechte’s campaign in info-terror precisely because memory of the Holocaust is synonymous with a central and terrible truth about German history and identity. In weaponizing memory, the extreme right is able to call the very basis of the Bundesrepublik’s self-image into question; attacks on European integration, on asylum policies, and on the perceived liberal hegemony of the German media all begin and end with the claim that the Holocaust is used as a moral cudgel by liberal politicians and historians

    Fringe platforms: An analysis of contesting alternatives to the mainstream social media platforms in a platformized public sphere

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    Social media companies are ubiquitous in our social lives and public debate. They provide spaces for discussion and grant us access to journalism. In his 1962 Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit, JĂŒrgen Habermas described how the public sphere was transformed through the introduction of modern communication systems. With the advent of social media platforms, the public sphere has transformed again through ‘platformization’. Platformization is the process by which Big Tech companies infiltrate infrastructures, economic processes and governmental frameworks of entire public sectors, structuring them around their own practices and logics. This dissertation studies the contemporary platformized public sphere, not by focusing at the center of the public sphere, but by looking at the edges of the platform ecology, where radical or counter platform technology are situated. I do this through the concept of ‘fringe platforms’, which are defined as; alternative platform services that are established as an explicit critique of the ideological premises and practices of mainstream platform services, which strive to cause a shift in the norms of the platform ecology they contest by offering an ideologically different technology. One such platform is alt-right microblogging service Gab.com, which was subjected to a process of 'deplatformization' in 2018, when its user base was implicated in white supremacist terrorism. Deplatformization refers to tech companies’ efforts to reduce toxic content by pushing back controversial platforms and their communities to the edges of the ecosystem by denying them access to the basic infrastructural services required to function online. By studying Gab through three case studies this dissertation poses the following research questions: What is the role of fringe social media platforms in a platformized public sphere? What hierarchies and shifts in power do they signify? And how can they inform us about the platform ecosystem? In the first case study, I explore Gab as an ecosystem, and conclude that the study of fringe platforms entails a more explicit role in the analyses for a platform’s self-positioning and narrative, as well as a shift in focus from a platform as an ecosystem towards a lens that takes into account the (infra)structural consequences of a platform as part of an ecosystem of services. In the second and third case study, I oblige to this conclusion and examine Gab as part of the platform ecosystem, shifting the analytical lens to the power dynamics and infrastructures of the platformized public sphere. There, I conclude that deplatformization demonstrates how the power and influence of private technology platforms reaches far beyond their own boundaries, which reveals platform power as infrastructural and rule-setting power. In the conclusion chapter, I argue that the aforementioned fringe lens is useful, not only for the analysis of fringe platforms, but also for the platformized public sphere as a whole, as it makes the structures and infrastructures of the platformized public sphere visible; highlights power and discourse; focuses on dynamics, conflict and breakdown; and incorporates the dominant and democratically productive as well as the marginal and illiberal, in its analyses

    Security Elites in Egypt and Jordan after the Arab Spring : A Case Study on Securocracies’ Role on National Security, Domestic Power Politics, Regional Order and Middle Eastern Alliance Making between 2011 and 2021

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    The doctoral dissertation studied changes in the balance of power, alliance making and the hegemonic struggles of security elites within a Middle Eastern regional context over a ten year reference period between 2011 and 2021. The study focused on two case study countries: Egypt and Jordan. The results were compared within a historical context to the pre-Arab Spring era. The theoretical approach combined the English School of Thought and Middle Eastern Studies with a conceptual model of securocracy developed by the author. The primary contribution of the research is the realization of the core importance of securocracy within autocratic state systems. Inside securocracies there exists rivalling groups and organisations that counterbalance each other. The study points to the fact that the power struggle between executive powers – either purely domestic one or supported by foreign involvement, is the main driver behind why case study countries were in varying degrees dragged into instability and turmoil in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Securocracies can be divided into two main types: centralised and decentralised. The centralised model occurs when different elites groups have the same ”distance” to the ruler while having equal privileges and equal access to political power. The model predicts durability and stability of the regime (status quo). In the de-centralised model, there is an ongoing struggle amongst elite groups and “distances” to ruler are not equal, neither are the privileges. In Egypt the hegemonic struggle amongst elites took precedence over the interests and stability of the state after the Arab Spring and has continued since then. The situation at the end of 2021 is a de-centralised model where all executive powers are concentrated within President al-Sisi’s family dynasty (palace) and the leadership of military intelligence. This de-centralised type of securocracy makes Egypt’s situation fragile. Any impact from the outside, such as the Biden administration’s decision to impose additional conditions on U.S. financial military aid, could lead to a new hegemonic struggle challenging al-Sisi’s power. The securocracy’s survival strategy found in the study was the use of vertical power at all levels of the state hierarchy (” the winner takes it all”). In the situation of a power struggle, the ruler uses omni-balancing i.e., alliance making with powerful foreign states in order to gain an advantage against domestic rivals and revisionist regional states. The Egyptian example is al-Sisi’s rapprochement with Russia’s President Putin and his distancing of Egypt from its previous role of being the United States’ loyal Middle Eastern ally. The Jordanian example however, is the opposite, resulting in even closer relations with the United States since January 2021 when the two countries signed an updated Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The study also highlights that decisions concerning ruler succession in authoritarian states take place behind-the-scenes amongst the securocracy as it, per rule, prefers to choose a member inside its own interest group or alternatively a political figurehead that commits to protect securocracy’s privileged interests in exchange of their own power position. Within the Middle East, the recent U.S. pivot to Asia-Pacific created an opportunity for Russia to make a come-back. Russia, however, does not have the resources to compensate for the loss of U.S. financial military aid to the security elites. This in turn, and with Russia’s consent, has given space for regional state actors, particularly, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi-Arabia, to increase their influence. Gulf support to the regional clients is not free of charge: they request their clients adopt their own threat perceptions, take sides in armed conflicts and contribute to military capabilities which support the sponsors’ regional foreign and security policy goals.VĂ€itöstutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin kymmenen vuoden ajanjaksolla voimatasapainon muutosta LĂ€hi-idĂ€n alueellisessa valtarakenteessa, liittolaissuhteiden muutoksia sekĂ€ turvallisuuseliittien roolia maan sisĂ€isessĂ€ valtataistelussa. Tuloksia verrattiin historiallisessa kontekstissa arabikevĂ€ttĂ€ edeltĂ€vÀÀn aikaan kahdessa tapaustutkimusmaassa: EgyptissĂ€ ja Jordaniassa. TeoriaviitekehyksenĂ€ sovellettiin Englantilaisen koulukunnan ja LĂ€hi-idĂ€n tutkimuksen teoriamalleja, sekĂ€ tutkijan kehittelemÀÀ sekurokratian konseptuaalista mallia. Tutkimuksen keskeinen tulos on havainto sekurokratian merkittĂ€vĂ€stĂ€ roolista osana autoritaarista valtiomallia. Sekurokratian sisĂ€lle on luotu useita toinen toistaan tasapainottavia ryhmittymiĂ€. Tapaustutkimusmaiden arabikevÀÀn jĂ€lkeisen turvallisuustilanteen muutoksia selittĂ€vien tekijöiden joukossa turvallisuuseliittien valtakamppailu nousi merkittĂ€vÀÀn rooliin. Valtakamppailua kĂ€ytiin eliittien kesken joko pelkĂ€stÀÀn maan sisĂ€llĂ€ tai vaihtoehtoisesti osin myös valtion ulkopuolisten voimien tukemana. Tutkimuksen perusteella sekurokratiat voidaan jakaa kahteen pÀÀtyyppiin: keskitettyyn ja hajautettuun malliin. Jos eri turvallisuuseliitti-ryhmien edut, vallankĂ€yttö ja etĂ€isyys vallan keskipisteeseen ovat tasapainossa puhutaan keskitetyn sekurokratian mallista, mikĂ€ ennustaa vallassa olevan regiimin pysyvyyttĂ€ ja vakautta. Jos taas sekurokratian rakenne on hajautetun mallin mukainen, sen valtakamppailu voi johtaa yhden osan pyrkimyksiin hegemonia-asemasta. Egyptin tapauksessa arabikevÀÀn jĂ€lkeinen turvallisuuseliittien valtakamppailu asetettiin maan vakauden edelle ja eliittien valtakamppailu on jatkunut tĂ€hĂ€n pĂ€ivÀÀn. Tilanteessa vuoden 2021 lopussa valta on al-Sisin perhedynastialla ja sotilastiedustelun eliitillĂ€ (hajautettu malli). Hajautettu malli ei ennusta pitkĂ€aikaista vallassa pysymistĂ€; vahva ulkopuolinen herĂ€te, esimerkiksi Bidenin hallinnon sotilaallisen talousavun lopettaminen voisi johtaa uuteen valtakamppailuun ja al-Sisin valta-aseman haastamiseen. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, ettĂ€ sekurokratoiden selviytymisstrategiana on vallanvertikaalin kĂ€yttö valtiohallinnon eri tasoilla. Valtakamppailun tilanteessa kĂ€ytetÀÀn tasapainotusstrategiaa (omni-balancing), missĂ€ alueellisia vahvoja valtioita ja suurvaltoja pyritÀÀn yhdistĂ€mÀÀn hallitsijan puolelle kilpailevia eliittiryhmittymiĂ€ tai revisionistisia ulkovaltoja vastaan. EgyptissĂ€ presidentti al-Sisin valtaannousu johti maan lĂ€hentymiseen presidentti Putinin VenĂ€jĂ€n kanssa sekĂ€ etÀÀntymiseen aiemmasta Yhdysvalloille uskollisen LĂ€hi-idĂ€n liittolaisen roolista. Jordaniassa puolestaan maa on nyt entistĂ€ tiiviimmin liittoutunut Yhdysvaltojen kanssa. EsimerkkinĂ€ tĂ€stĂ€ on tammikuussa 2021 maiden kesken solmittu sotilasyhteistyötĂ€ ja jordanialaisten tukikohtien kĂ€yttöÀ sÀÀtelevĂ€ isĂ€ntĂ€maatuki-sopimus. Tutkimustulosten valossa autoritaariselle vallanperimykselle tyypillistĂ€ on se, ettĂ€ julkisuuteen nĂ€kymĂ€ttömĂ€n sisĂ€isen valtakamppailun jĂ€lkeen uudeksi valtionpÀÀmieheksi pyritÀÀn nostamaan sekurokratian sisĂ€ltĂ€ sen oman intressiryhmĂ€n edustaja, tai vaihtoehtoisesti sekurokratian valitsema ulkopuolinen poliitikko, jonka vastuulle korporaation intressien vaaliminen lankeaa vastapalveluksena sekurokratian tuesta keulakuva-poliitikon vallassa pitĂ€miseksi. Alueellisen turvallisuusjĂ€rjestyksen osalta tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat sen, ettĂ€ Yhdysvaltojen painopisteen siirto Tyynellemerelle vii ja Aasiaan on antanut VenĂ€jĂ€lle mahdollisuuden palauttaa vaikutusvaltaansa LĂ€hiitÀÀn. VenĂ€jĂ€llĂ€ ei kuitenkaan ole resursseja kompensoida Yhdysvaltojen arabivaltioiden turvallisuuseliiteille allokoimaa taloudellista tukea. TĂ€mĂ€ on antanut tilaa alueellisten toimijoiden kuten Yhdistyneiden arabiemiirikuntien ja Saudi-Arabian vaikutusvallan kasvattamiselle - tosin VenĂ€jĂ€n hyvĂ€ksynnĂ€llĂ€. Tuki ei myöskÀÀn tule ilmaiseksi, sillĂ€ sponsorit edellyttĂ€vĂ€t, ettĂ€ niille alisteisessa asemassa olevat maat omaksuvat tukijavaltioidensa uhkakuvat, sekĂ€ konfliktitilanteissa kontribuoivat sotilaallisia kyvykkyyksiĂ€ nĂ€iden valtioiden ulko- ja turvallisuuspoliittisten pÀÀmÀÀrien saavuttamiseksi

    The Iranian-Saudi Rivalry: Prolonging the War in Yemen. External Actors, Securitisation, Sectarianisation, and Digital Media.

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    Despite the scale of the conflict in Yemen and the influence of external actors, few studies to date have analysed the nature, impact, and scope of their media campaigns surrounding the war. Across digital media, especially on online news platforms and social media, Iran and Saudi Arabia have exhibited a range of behaviours, in attempts to frame their involvement in the conflict. Thus, this thesis addresses the following research question: How have Saudi Arabia and Iran used digital propaganda to legitimise and frame their involvement in Yemen to international audiences? This is the first study to examine the impact of these two competing propaganda networks on the Yemen War. In doing so, it traces Iranian and Saudi securitisation narratives across the conflict, testing their success in gaining the support of elite and non-elite actors in the international arena. It also shows the ways in which these narratives have aided Iran and Saudi Arabia in their struggle for supremacy in the region. The thesis develops an innovative approach to securitisation theory. It also incorporates critical discourse analysis and visual analysis to explore how Tehran and Riyadh have used digital media as part of their regional competition. Using evidence from the most intense periods of fighting in Yemen and tension between the two actors between 2015 and 2021, the thesis show that Saudi Arabia successfully securitised their intervention in Yemen. Ironically, however, this worked to benefit Tehran far more than it did Riyadh. Several episodes of significance for the Saudi-Iranian relationship, and for the war in Yemen, are analysed, including: Operation Decisive Storm in 2015, The Riyadh Conference in 2017, instances of prominent Saudi airstrikes in 2017-18, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 and the Houthi ‘Operation Victory from God’ in 2019. Through discursive and visual analysis, the thesis explores the ways in which the representation of these events had an impact on framing the conflict, to the detriment of the people of Yemen. Securitisation narratives, dispersed across the Internet, regularly had a sectarian tone. These narratives fanned the flames of war, preventing any room for a meaningful prospect for peace. They also exacerbated the humanitarian situation, a dynamic properly detailed in the thesis’ conclusion. Such narratives created a deeply polarising environment, in which extraordinary measures were justified. Through visual analysis, critical discourse tracing, and analysis of dynamics specific to the world of digital media, this thesis traces this process, providing a holistic analysis of the impact of the Iranian-Saudi rivalry on the war in Yemen. The thesis offers new methodological, theoretical, and empirical insights, emphasizing the importance of digital narrative warfare as a worthwhile and insightful field of study

    Exploring Intercultural Becoming Dynamics of Change: Algerian Ph.D. Students’ Experiences in the UK

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    The current research project explores the intercultural becoming dynamics (Chapter 5, Section 5.1) of change of eight Algerian Ph.D. students in study abroad contexts. Drawing on a non-essentialist perspective (Holliday, 1999, 2022) to culture and interculturality, and informed by conceptualizations of dialogic (Bakhtin, 1981) and transactional learning (Dewey, 1983/2008); the study seeks to generate a holistic understanding of the dynamics of intercultural self-positioning shifts in light of negotiated meaning making in participants’ lived experiences. Driven by a narrative theoretical and methodological foundation, the study sheds light on the lived experiences of participants through narratives, documenting the intercultural positioning of self vs the other, the different perspectives and attitudes of the language-culture interplay, and the various factors affecting the course of change in a sojourn abroad. Through a constructivist and intersubjective/subjective meta-theoretical rationale, the project followed a qualitative approach, with a longitudinal dimension to the data generation. The investigation took place over the course of 8 months, with narrative interviews conducted over three rounds, resulting in 28 interviews in total. Stimulated recall episodes were used as a technique to overtly elicit positionality perspective shifts during the period of the investigation. The research data was analysed by combining narrative thematic analysis with a refined positionality lens that broadly mirrors Bamberg’s (1997, 2004) three-level positioning. A thorough analysis of the data set featured three basic findings pertinent to the research questions. Firstly, the study introduced intercultural becoming as a process of self-negotiation whereby positioning is enacted through discrete, non-linear trajectories of perspective shifts in new intercultural settings. Participant narratives were a reflective projection of the dynamic shifts they have undergone during the study abroad experience, and the various processes negotiated including stereotypes mechanism shift, self-other positionality, and cultural background perspective re-evaluation. Secondly, participants demonstrated various aspects of negotiating the language-culture relationship which contributed to the process of their intercultural becoming and the self-positioning dynamics. The language-culture attitude, the UK experience as a super diverse context, and self-other positioning dynamics are all entangled to introduce shifts in both the ideological and intercultural becoming. Perceiving the negotiation of this language-culture net from a nonessentialist perspective provides a holistic explanation of the inherent reciprocity of ideological becoming (Bakhtin 1981) and language learning in the intercultural (Harvey, 2016). Finally, a key facet of shaping the course of participants’ intercultural journeys lies partially in the interference of distinctive factors prior to and post coming to the UK including, cultural identity effect, perceived intercultural awareness and knowledge, and the role of institutional bodies. These factors contributed to identifying the course and nature of their intercultural becoming at various levels and with distinctive degrees of interference

    Palestinian Solidarity on Social Media: The Distribution of Images of Occupation on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram by Advocacy Organisations

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    This study investigated the use of social media by international Palestinian advocacy organisations for the distribution of still and moving images that documented interactions between Israeli security forces and Palestinians. There were four research questions: RQ1: What are the visual frames present in the still and moving images of interactions between Israeli security forces and Palestinians? RQ2: How does the text caption interact with the image? RQ3: How were the affordances of social media platforms leveraged by the advocacy organisations to amplify visual content? RQ4: What do the responses by social media users show about the potential for using social media to build affective solidarity for the Palestinian cause? A cross-platform approach was taken, with data collected from the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts of eleven organisations that posted on these platforms in English for an international audience. Images, text captions and responses (likes, shares and comments) were collected, and a quantitative and qualitative analysis was carried out to understand the types of images that were posted, the ways that the organisations used the features of social media platforms to share images, and the public response to images. Images were found to depict both physical and non-physical violence against Palestinians and were posted with text captions that situated these acts within a settler-colonial context. Overall, the majority of social media users across all three platforms were supportive of the cause and expressed agreement with claims being made by the organisations, although a minority disputed them. The study builds upon research into digital image activism and shows how images recorded by those witnessing state violence can be used as part of the social media strategy of advocacy organisations to build solidarity and support for the cause in distant, international publics

    Fictional Practices of Spirituality I: Interactive Media

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    "Fictional Practices of Spirituality" provides critical insight into the implementation of belief, mysticism, religion, and spirituality into worlds of fiction, be it interactive or non-interactive. This first volume focuses on interactive, virtual worlds - may that be the digital realms of video games and VR applications or the imaginary spaces of life action role-playing and soul-searching practices. It features analyses of spirituality as gameplay facilitator, sacred spaces and architecture in video game geography, religion in video games and spiritual acts and their dramaturgic function in video games, tabletop, or LARP, among other topics. The contributors offer a first-time ever comprehensive overview of play-rites as spiritual incentives and playful spirituality in various medial incarnations
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