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Recent debates in peace and conflict studies have developed the debate on 'post-liberal' peace and 'hybrid forms of peace'. This debate aims to rethink the liberal rhetoric used by Western governments to justify international interventions and the main components of liberal peacebuilding. This thesis presents a development of the concept of post-liberalism to analyse processes of statebuilding in post-conflict Mozambique. This study argues that liberal peace has depoliticised traditional actors and practices in transition countries, and this depoliticisation of the local is an unintended consequence of the political and normative closure of liberal approaches. In contrast, this thesis acknowledges that traditional healers represent statebuilding emerging from below since healers are subjects of statebuilding performing multiple roles comprising the Mozambican judicial and health system and the political sphere in which spirituality permeates these three areas. By applying hybrid political orders as an analytical framework for examining and exploring statebuilding, this research captures the complexity of statebuilding processes developed by healers in post-conflict Mozambique, challenging neo-Weberian approaches to the state. Whilst this study discusses the three central roles performed by traditional healers throughout the building of the Mozambican state, this research focuses on traditional justice and local governance, considering that Mozambique presents a complex landscape of legal hybrids, reflecting a mixture of different legal orders, including indigenous practices. In this scenario, traditional justice combines healing and justice, underlining the historical importance of traditional healers as traditional actors in the country. Furthermore, it opens up perspectives for the analysis of the power relations in the Mozambican society, on how 'hybrid forms of statebuilding' created can lead to the strengthening of the position of local actors. This study captures the complex roles of traditional healers and the ambiguous relationships between healers and the state. I discuss how traditional healers are recognised and institutionalised by the state through national institutions and how healers lie between acceptance and rejection of state structures, critically discussing 're-traditionalisation' in post-conflict Mozambique. By discussing local contexts and local agency, this research aims to contribute to an alternative view of statebuilding processes in post-conflict Mozambique, bridging gaps between statebuilding, peacebuilding and transitional justice literature. This thesis draws upon empirical material gathered through fieldwork in Mozambique from October 2016 to December 2016, in the provinces of Maputo, Inhambane and Sofala.

This thesis presents the results of an investigation into soil-reinforcement interaction by means of direct shear and pull-out tests. Scale and other factors affecting test results were studied; for this purpose an apparatus able to contain a 1 cu.m sample of sand was designed by the author in order to perform large scale tests. Plastic and metal sheet and grid reinforcements were used in conjunction with Leighton Buzzard sand. Direct Shear tests on unreinforced sand samples showed that soil strength parameters were not affected by the test scale, although the post peak behaviour and the shear band thickness at the centre of the sample were significantly affected by the scale of the test. The presence of a reinforcement layer inclined to the central plane of the box had a marked effect on the strength and behaviour of the sample. The reinforcement increased the vertical stress and inhibited the shear strain development in the central region of the sample. The behaviour of the reinforced sample was found to depend on the type and form of the reinforcement as well as its mechanical properties. Pull-out test results can be severely affected by boundary conditions, in particular by the friction on the front wall of the box. The results obtained in the series of tests showed that interference between grid bearing members is the main factor conditioning the pull-out resistance of a grid reinforcement. The intensity of such interference was quantified on the basis of results obtained in tests using single isolated bearing members and grids with different geometric characteristics. An expression for the bond coefficient between soil and grid, taking into account the degree of interference, was suggested. It was also observed that the maximum bearing pressure exhibited by a bearing member depends on the ratio of the member diameter to the mean particle size.

The women's liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s utilized various means for activism and demonstrations, but women also used the judicial system to fight for equality in the workplace. This study focuses specifically on the field of journalism and how female reporters used the courts to fight the gender discrimination that was widespread and unbridled before the creation of legislation that outlawed it. The lawsuit filed by Mary Lou Butcher and approximately 90 other women against The Detroit News is one such case that exemplifies the process of filing a gender discrimination lawsuit, as well as the events that led to the suits and the impact that it and similar lawsuits had on the field of journalism and the women's liberation movement as a whole. Using textual analysis to examine the coverage of these lawsuits by industry literature and by the publications challenged by the lawsuits demonstrates what the field of newspapers and magazines was like during the time of the cases. Comparing the same media during the times of the lawsuits and post-settlement reveal how they contributed to an adjusted view of female journalists and aided women's acceptance in American newsrooms.