Securitising Kurdistan

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the Kurdish question in Turkey has affected the country‘s security policies during the time between 1984 and 2005. To do this, several different factors are analysed, such as the securitisation of the Kurdish question, the (non)involvement of the civil society, and several state institutions. These institutions are the armed forces (TSK), the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), and the National Security Council (MGK). These specific institutions are chosen because they are crucial in the securitisation and handling of the Kurdish question in Turkey. Furthermore, Turkey‘s foreign policies will also be analysed insofar it has been affected by the Kurdish presence in Turkey and its neighbouring countries. This thesis will seek to show that the Kurdish question have indeed affected Turkish policies and the Turkish society on virtually all levels. The securitisation of the issue has meant that the military has gained a notoriously strong position in the society; it has brought with it a negative spiral, where the securitisation have led to increased violence, which in turn have justified both the initial and further securitisation. The securitisation have also meant that the use of extreme measures, such as murder, torture and kidnappings, have been normalised not only among the military personnel, but the wider Turkish civil population as well. The thesis argues that the Kurdish question, and indeed Turkey as a whole, would have been better served had it not been a securitised issue

Assessing the Benefits of CDD to Support Capacity Building in Haiti

Taking direct action at the community level to improve welfare and mobility prospects has become a increasingly common trend in poorer countries. Action of this brand is yet concentrated among few community members and is often uncoordinated. Successful community initiatives are typically confined to communities of origins and despite the potential for expansion domestically, countries fail to learn from cases to coordinate national development strategies that is in once sense decentralized and targeted for the poorest communities within a country. Community Driven Development (CDD) offers an approach to providing micro-economic advancement, improved social cohesion, and more effective governance at the local level. It puts community members at the center of decision making and project management and advocates for budget support rather than targeted financing by external agents. The conditions in Haiti provide an opportunity to inquire on the expansion of CDD as a feasible development strategy beyond the continent of Africa. It has been prevalent across the continent since the late 1990s as these countries face government instability stagnant economies, and social divisions. The progress achieved resulting from CDD implementation can prove helpful in finding solutions in Haiti. Decades of political turmoil in the country has produced a country in which administrative functioning is severely lacking. Various social and economic indices show that Haiti has experienced regression and depreciation in critical areas where the rest of the world has improved. Haitians have been forced into a self-help system of obtaining resources. Additionally, the density of post- earthquake international aid via NGOs and governmental organizations has exhibited mixed results. In this context, CDD has potential to assist the country’s transition out of poverty. This paper will review prevalent literature on the concept of CDD, consider specific examples from African countries and provide insight into the Haitian context to propose the consideration of CDD as a part of Haiti’s growth

What is your story?:Exploring narratives of patients with cancer using visual tools, literary texts, and art

This dissertation focused on the application of visual methods, literature, and art to support patients with cancer. Having cancer impacts people in many ways, from physical discomfort to the loss of life goals. Therefore, it can be described as an experience of contingency. Contingency means that everything could have been different in life, that what happened was not impossible, but also not necessary. When an experience of contingency arises, patients need to make meaning of their life with cancer and integrate the diagnosis and prognosis in their life story. In other words, they need to adjust their life story. To be able to support patients with cancer with such adjustments, insight into their experiences is needed first. However, talking about what it means to have cancer can be difficult. For this reason, the present dissertation had two objectives. First, we explored the potential of using visual tools to gain insight into the story of patients with cancer. Second, we examined how patients may adapt their story using literature and art-based interventions. We adopted two visual tools to gain insight into the stories of patients with cancer: rich pictures (RPs) and photovoice. RPs are visual representations in the form of a drawing, that attempt to capture an individual’s perspective of a difficult or complex situation. In photovoice, participants are invited to make photographs to document meaningful aspects of their experience. We investigated two examples of interventions in which art is used to adapt the story of patients with cancer: art therapy and co-creative art-making