Critical Geopolitics of Foreign Involvement in Namibia: a Mixed Methods Approach
CRITICAL GEOPOLITICS OF FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT IN NAMIBIA: A MIXED METHODS APPROACH by MEREDITH JOY DEBOOM B.A., University of Iowa, 2009 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Arts Department of Geography 2013 This thesis entitled: Critical Geopolitics of Foreign Involvement in Namibia: A Mixed Methods Approach written by Meredith Joy DeBoom has been approved for the Department of Geography John O’Loughlin, Chair Joe Bryan, Committee Member Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. iii Abstract DeBoom, Meredith Joy (M.A., Geography) Critical Geopolitics of Foreign Involvement in Namibia: A Mixed Methods Approach Thesis directed by Professor John O’Loughlin In May 2011, Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy issued a controversial new policy requiring that all future extraction licenses for “strategic” minerals be issued only to state-owned companies. The public debate over this policy reflects rising concerns in southern Africa over who should benefit from globally-significant resources. The goal of this thesis is to apply a critical geopolitics approach to create space for the consideration of Namibian perspectives on this topic, rather than relying on Western geopolitical and political discourses. Using a mixed methods approach, I analyze Namibians’ opinions on foreign involvement, particularly involvement in natural resource extraction, from three sources: China, South Africa, and the United States.
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