Bücher von Magdalena Zettl

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 1.4, , language: English, abstract: Poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) are claimed to be the 'crucial link' between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the global level and poverty reduction and growth strategies on the nation level as PRSPs incorporate more and more MDG goals and indicators. Ethiopia, a low-income country in Sub-Saharan Africa, is used as a case study as it has not only made significant advancements in terms of achieving the MDG goals since 2000 but has also made extensive use of PRSPs. Ethiopia has already issued its third generation of PRSPs (2002; 2006; 20011), including an interim PRSP in 2000. The essay analyzes how well MDG 2 'Primary Universal Education' and MDG 5 'Maternal Health' have been absorbed into Ethiopia's PRSPs. Findings confirm that PRSPs are a crucial means to implement MDGs within national policies and programs. Moreover, the study hints to how different processes of MDG incorporation into PRSPs influence the achievement of the respective MDGs on the national level. PRSPs have to be given considerable importance in the post- 2015 agenda; however, a revision of PRSPs is urgently needed to compensate PRSP's criticism and its lack in adhering to some of its most crucial principles, which play a significant role in the post 2015 agenda.

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - History of Political Systems, grade: 1.7, , language: English, abstract: The end of the Cold War left many IR scholars puzzled: how could, after 40 years, the Cold War end that peacefully? Why did Soviet foreign policy change so drastically within a few years? How come US perception of the Soviet Union (SU) changed within a decade from the "evil empire" to an allied partner? Neither realism nor liberalism could have predicted or fully explained this event. Realism failed - firstly, because rivalry between the US and the SU ended peacefully; secondly, moving from a bipolar to a unipolar system clearly contradicted realist expectations on balance of power and power equilibrium (Risse-Kappen, 1994). Instead, the end of the Cold War proved the "unbashed victory of economic and political liberalism" (Fukuyama, 1989). SU's move toward liberal order brough forward the end of the Cold War, but this does not answer why the SU chose to adopt liberal order, why to such an extent and why around the mid 1980s. Hence, domestic factors, having been excluded from the analysis so far, must have played a key role.After a theoretical review on domestic variables in IR, I will analyze how domestic factors influenced Soviet foreign policy, especially Soviet "new thinkers", economic factors and domestic political infrastructure. To provide a complete analysis, I will also shed light on the influence of US5 domestic variables.

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - Region: Other States, grade: 1.8, , language: English, abstract: Realism and liberalism have long been the dominant theories within IR. However, these failed to give a full-fledge explanation about the peaceful end of the Cold War, thereby giving way to more alternative IR views, such as Feminism. The increased use of violence against women as a weapon of war1, sexual trafficking, military prostitution2 as well as women's increasingly important role as peace activists and wives of statesmen (Baylis & Smith, 1997: 174) prove that women do influence politics. This lets Feminist scholars, such as C. Enloe, pose the legitimate question "Where were the women in world politics" (1990, p. 133). The establishment of the International Feminist Journal of Politics in 1999 (Taylor & Francis Online, 2012) and the UN Resolution 1325 "Women, Peace and Security" in 2000 (Women for Peace, 2012) seem to prove that Feminism has finally been granted a place in IR. Nevertheless, the relatively low number and the rather aggressive, male-like behaviour of female political actors3 let us question this presumption.After outlining the main strands and concepts of Feminist Theory, the essay highlights feminist critique on traditional IR theory4. I, then, explain how Feminism allows for a re-evaluation and expansion of basic IR concepts, thereby enriching IR theory.