早稲田大学　国際教養学部　AO入試　志望理由書　提出例(グレイ マシュー バリー 教授参考)

早稲田大学　国際教養学部　AO入試　志望理由書　提出例(グレイ マシュー バリー 教授参考)

Dear Admission Office,

I am writing this letter with an intention to explain my purpose in applying for School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University, hoping to pursue a major in Political Economy and Arab Cultural Studies later in my academic year. I would be more than grateful if you could kindly give it a read and grant me an unconditional admission or an opportunity to the next in-person interview. I would also be delighted to expand more on my area of studies and what I can achieve upon joining the school.

Just like 2011, 2019 has seen a recurrence of wide scale popular protests all around the world, but especially in Arab this time in Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq. There are many differences between the countries and ethnic groups in the wider Middle East and North Africa, yet the protesters decry grievances that are shared throughout the region. Which is, failing public services and infrastructure, unemployment and the soaring cost of living, that can only be attributed to the unblooming economy after Arab spring and nationalism. In search for recognition by the state, solidarity between communities flourishes, in another word, a common struggle for dignity and better governance resulted in the pursuit of a bottom-up nationalism. Because of this, I feel the need to study Rentierism, Nationalism and why the Arab uprising has turned out the way it did, on the contrary to what the international society thought it would be.

Despite the media coverage and interest from the international society, the EU’s response to the new wave of uprisings was quite reluctant. It consists of statements that acknowledge the events and call for peaceful resolution and stability, underlining the countries’ sovereignty and political independence but nothing more. There are reasons any country couldn’t take apparent measure to support the Arab spring started by a civilian. I think there are six important factors in Arab politics—Islam, geopolitics, oil, regime institutions and coalitions, the military, and civil society. Many scholars point to the role that geopolitics have played in keeping Arab autocrats in power and suppress liberal forces. Some arguments focus on the role of Western, particularly U.S., support for Israel and for the incumbent Arab regimes in oil-producing countries. To explain, the United States and European countries have shored up repressive Arab regimes willing to help ensure Israel’s security often despite their people’s opposition and to maintain the free flow of energy resources to the global economy. Second, for decades the struggle against Israel and the threat of a rising Iran gave these Sunni Arab regimes a justification to build up strong militaries and security forces, which they used to repress their own people as well. Another factor is, the strength of civil society that existed, meaning in countries like Tunisia and Egypt where civil society made of educated civilians was fairly big, it helped revolution to spread, host fair election and win against the old regimes.

Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 is the latest and most ambitious iteration of the region’s movement for economic diversification, intended to adapt one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies for a transition to a post-oil future and corruption free society. Comparing that to Asian miracles, there was no single Southeast Asian recipe for success nor in Arab countries. What is in common, is all successful countries have generally avoided a reprise of the catastrophic military conflicts of the 1960s and 1970s, made education more accessible, moved on from extremists and nationalism thinking by allowing communities tools to provide for its people and fought corruption by cutting ties over natural resources with the West. Many Asian countries got integrated with international economies by benefiting from neighboring richer Asian countries, and ideal scenarios in the Middle East is to have rich spread from countries like UAE through trade, education and political agencies.
Before realizing my dream of working for international institutions, I wish to study a course of complex development in the Arab societies with comparative cultural studies approach. In order to attain high-level education and equip myself with what is needed to survive the next decades of globalization and competition, it is extremely important for me to study various international studies among like-minded students at Waseda where liberal studies is offered. I am very much looking forward to hearing good news.

Sincerely Yours,