The current forms of representative democracy have come to face various fundamental challenges such as: decrease in political participation, distrust in partisan politics and politicians and perhaps increase of ideological polarization. To take solace in the belief that the current democratic tools are far from perfect yet the finest in modern societies, has not contributed to solution-oriented modifications of its efficacy. In this thesis Lua Nazerian intends to address the inadequacies and inherent limitations in the current form of representative democracy, by analyzing its underlying assumptions through a critical examination of the fundamental challenges in Classical pluralism, Agonist and Deliberative democratic theory. Furthermore, it proposes some modifications drawn from the Socratic idea of the non-pursuit of power, the bottom-up political approach and the learnings from the worldwide Baha’i community. The study is carried out within the field of international relations with a normative approach as well as it incorporates a case study of the Baha’i electoral and decision-making principle. Nevertheless, by using the Socratic idea together with the Baha’i principles in a bottom-up approach shifts then the paradigm from the inherent competitive culture of representative democracy to a more inclusive solution-oriented culture of learning.

This paper explores femicide and social movements impact on politics, a phenomenon where national, international and transnational politics overlap. The Mexican anti-femicide movement belongs to the global justice movement and struggle for women’s right to life. This study highlights the differences the movement faces even within a state, on the subnational level, through a comparative and theory developing case study. The variables of mobilization structure and political opportunity are examined in the three cases of the Mexican states Chihuahua, Yucatán and the Federal District. The study indicates the movement’s alliances and its connection between the local and international level in the post-2007 context. The hypothesis which connects the anti-femicide movement as part of the political opportunity on subnational level and varying rates of femicide is explored. The study concludes that the aspects of repression, threats of violence and impunity, aspect most prominent in Chihuahua, impact the anti-femicide movement and consequently femicide rates to some extent.

This paper explores theoretical propositions derived from offensive realism, applied to the instance of military export and foreign policy strategies of Russia and the U.S in the field of Africa during the post- Cold War period. The sections of this paper have disserted paradigms of this phenomena by applying the congruence method under the overarching theoretical umbrella of foreign policy analysis, to answer the question regarding does offensive realism provide relevant explanatory insight on the foreign policy of Russia and the U.S in the realm of the African security nexus?

The study concludes that the degree as to which offensive realism provides relevant explanatory insight on the foreign policy strategies of the actors is strongly competitive in contrast to other explanatory theories. The study further adds to the propositions of the theoretical framework by arguing that it is conceivable that the ambition to prevent the rise of another hegemon is likely to be prioritized within foreign policy strategy to a greater extent than has been previously asserted, and has in some cases been seen as more imperative than the aspect of maximizing the domestic security, and thus survival.