CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Mrocková, Lucia |
|---|---|
| Title | Political Opportunity and the Pope as a Broker in the Normalization of the U.S. - Cuban Relations |
| Summary | On December 17th, 2014, American president Barack Obama and Cuban president Raúl Castro announced the normalization of relations between their countries and future re-establishment of diplomatic ties after 56 years of enmity, while making a point of thanking Pope Francis for his role in the mediation. The aim of this thesis is to investigate why such a major shift in U.S. – Cuban relations occurred in 2014, and what the role of the Pope was in the normalization of the relations between 2008 and 2016. To investigate this question, I used a comparative method in combination with longitudinal analysis and process tracing. Building on the political opportunity structure, social network theory, and the theory of mediation, this thesis argues that the normalization of the relations occurred in 2014 because Pope Francis, who utilized a political opportunity structure presented to him after his anointment in 2013, was able to act as a broker and use his networks to bring the two disputant parties to the mediating table. |
| Supervisor | Erin Kristin Jenne |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/kotulova_lucia.pdf |
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