The Arab Spring and its different outcomes: Explaining the variation in the state of democratisation

The theme of this study is the Arab Spring and democratisation. The Arab Spring affected every country in the region very differently. This study aims to explain the variation of the state of democratisation in the different countries, as well as identify the factor(s) behind this variation. Six countries are selected for the analysis; half of them experienced major changes, the other half just minor political changes. These are tested against the modernisation theory, while controlling for Huntington's theory about waves of democratisation. The chosen method is a comparative politics method, together with quantitative analysis. The result shows that, contrary to the modernisation theory and the hypothesis, economic and socioeconomic development does not explain the variation in the state of democratisation. Countries with minor political changes are, to some extent, also more developed. The result further suggests that other factors such as economic failure and monarchy’s resilience could possibly explain the variation in the state of democratisation

The decision behind Diplomatic Recognition: A quantitative study of Taiwan and Kosovo

This study is about diplomatic recognition, and why some states have not received full diplomatic recognition from the international community. The central research-problem focuses on the factors that affect a state's foreign policy decision not to recognize other states. Taiwan and Kosovo are chosen as research-cases through a strategic case-selection. The theoretical framework used in this study is a traditional Liberalism theory on international relations. Hypotheses are based on the Liberalism theory and previous research done in this field. These hypotheses are then tested through a quantitatively analysis. Furthermore a logistic regression analysis is being conducted on the two cases, in order to find a general factor behind the decision of non-recognition. The result shows that states with low democracy status are less willing to recognize other states in general. It also shows that states without a colonial heritage have a lower tendency to recognize Kosovo. Therefore it shows support for the liberalism ideas about democratic values and how a state’s domestic interests and inner structure affects its foreign policy