This thesis evaluates Antonio Gramsci's political thought by focusing on the origins, development and theoretical significance of his theory of the State. It is shown that an important influence on Gramsci was an Italian tradition of political thought the main feature of which is the realistic acceptance that all political power rests on a fusion of force and consent. Also discussed are relevant aspects of the thought of Hegel and Marx and attention is paid to the contribution made by Second International Marxists to the ambiguous foundations upon which Gramsci's thought is partly based. The central concern of the thesis is Gramsci's prison writing. First, his theory of the State is examined in the context of his general conception of politics. Second, his expanded notion of the State based on a distinction between political and civil society is subjected to more thorough investigation. This is developed in a discussion of the analytical applicability of Gramsci's distinction to the Scottish political condition. It is argued that the distinction may be seen to be more than methodological and to be formalised in certain circumstances. Gramsci's theory of the State thus indicates a contradiction in human society which is not reducible to economic factors. Many of his arguments are consistent with those of Marx if not with Second International Marxist orthodoxy. His theory of the State, however, reveals how influenced he was by the "dual perspective" of the Italian tradition. The political realism which Gramsci inherited from the Italian tradition ensures that his comments on the nature of political power in the West are more original and stimulating than his ideas about the revolutionary party and the future socialist society. It is this analysis of the dualism of political power in the West that represents Gramsci's major contribution to the history of political ideas.

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East Asian regionalism substantially intensified after the 1997-8 Asian Financial Crisis (AFC), which was a significant case and an increasingly emerging issue of new regionalism after the Cold War ended in the early 1990s. In contrast with business-led regionalization, government-led regionalism was the key way leading to East Asian economic integration, of which bilateral governmental economic cooperation between China and ASEAN was the substance. The thesis explores China’s shifting role in economic cooperation with ASEAN before and after its WTO accession in 2001 within a theoretical framework of complex interdependence. In the bilateral interdependent economic relations, China became a mutual complementary partner of ASEAN from a natural competitor; and became a foreign direct investment (FDI) source of ASEAN from a net recipient after the WTO accession. This laid a sound basis for China to be well placed as the leader in East Asian economic integration. The thesis investigates the motives that prompted China to shift its attitude towards economic cooperation with ASEAN (clearly illustrated by China’s initiative of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) proposal in 2001) from a Chinese perspective. China’s grand strategy, which highlighted the neighbours’ stability and prosperity in political sense and exploration of regional markets in neighbour countries in economic sense, was the radical motives. In addition, Beijing desired to diminish the two domestic problems: the disparity between East and West China and the gap between the urban and rural areas by enhancing economic cooperation with ASEAN. This, as the key motive, induced China’s shifting attitude towards economic cooperation with ASEAN and towards economic integration in East Asia. This thesis contributed to the second wave of regionalism studies after the 1997-8 AFC by examining the implications of China’s domestic politics on regionalism in East Asian case from a Chinese inward-looking perspective.

This thesis provides an explanation of one RMA issue: the effectiveness of contemporary military technology against tough geography, based upon case studies in the Korean peninsula. The originality of the thesis is that it will provide a sound insight for potential foes’ approach to the dominant US military power (superior technology and sustenance of war). The North Korean defence strategy – using their edge in geography and skill – tried to protect themselves from the dominant US power, but it may be impossible to deter or defeat them with technological superiority alone. This research also provides a valuable example, through Stephen Biddle’s technology and skill theory, which claims that, in the future of war, the skills of the unit (tactical readiness) are as important as the technology involved. By examining three case studies, the thesis aims to reveal that technological superiority alone cannot guarantee military success against the foe that possesses the geographic advantage and the capability to use its benefits. The first case study of the Imjin Wars will examine the significance of geography and capability to using the geographic edge in the Korean peninsula. The second case study of the Korean War will examine how technology alone failed to overcome the skilled and geographically advantageous defenders in modern warfare. Finally, by examining possible conflict scenarios of US-ROK alliance and North Korea, this research will seek to prove that contemporary military technology alone would not guarantee military success and deterrence against North Korea, which is both geographically advantaged and highly skilled. Publication date not given on thesis.

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This dissertation explores the moral and political assumptions contained within the concept of humanitarian intervention in the three areas of political science, political philosophy and politics itself. It is argued that far from shedding light on the concept, many attempts at definition have been built on assumptions regarding the moral and the political, which cloud the issue rather than clarify it. The political aspect of humanitarian intervention in particular has often been disregarded usually due to a tendency to approach the concept from an almost entirely moral standpoint. In consequence, the tensions between the moral and the political aspects in humanitarian intervention have been overlooked. The thesis explores the problems presented by definitions which ignore this. The thesis begins with a short history of the concept, which is traced back to the late 19th century. Although ideas pertaining to the concept may certainly be traced back beyond this, the thesis is only concerned with the term itself, which has no linguistic existence in the English language earlier than the 1820s. The thesis then proceeds to examine definitions of the concept in the literature of political science, political philosophy, and politics. The final part of the thesis applies the discussions from the preceding chapters to New Labour’s attempts to situate humanitarian intervention within its broader ideal of an ethical dimension to foreign policy. This results in a further confusion of the moral and the political. The dissertation concludes by claiming that any discussion of the concept of humanitarian intervention raises questions not only about the part played in it by the political, but also about the academic study of politics from its beginnings as a distinct university discipline until the present day.

One of the innovations of the Treaty of Lisbon has been the renaming of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP): since December 2009 the EU does not only have a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), it also has a Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). When the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, this 'upgrade' have been a mere symbolic act, as EU member states differ in security and defence orientation, security and defence interests and security and defence policy. This work analyses how likely it is that the EU will forge and establish a common policy of substance, how feasible a genuine Common Security and Defence Policy is in view of national diversity. It does so by examining how different EU member states actually are with regard to security and defence issues. The first analysis chapter analyses the legal dimension of ESDP by comparing the national military law systems of EU member states and by answering the question to what extent the national constitutions and military laws impede, facilitate or encourage integration. The second analysis chapter analyses how crucial different national security and strategic cultures are for the creation of a genuinely common ESDP by discussing the following cleavages within the Union: Allies versus Neutrals; Atlanticism versus Europeanism; conscription versus professionalism. The third analysis chapter analyses how the political will and political preferences differ between EU countries by cpaturing the perceptions of key decision-makers and opinion-formers within national assemblies and parliaments in an online survey, both generally with regard to defence and security issues, and specifically in relation to ESDP. This work will show how national diversity - different national military law systems, different national security and strategic cultures and different national political preferences - shapes the development of a genuinely common ESDP,a nd will reveal the most likely face of a future CSDP.