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This thesis focuses on the case of the Muslim-Turkish Minority in Greece, which was excluded from the mandatory population exchange that took place between Greece and Turkey in 1923. This project explores the discourse of minority rights and the use of rights claims by a considerable number of agents operating at different levels. This thesis is mainly preoccupied with the process that is defined as the 'politicization of rights'. Based on this process, the aim is to study and analyze the politics surrounding rights claims, the context in which rights claims are framed, as well as the ways that different rights agendas are drawn.

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Population ageing is transforming the age structure of the electorate in Britain. The pace of the age-shift in electoral politics is being accelerated by the widening gap in turnout rates between younger and older age groups Within this context some writers have begun to believe that the grey lobby will grow ever more powerful and difficult to ignore. Lloyd (2002) argues the UK is beginning to reflect US politics where the MRP has been described as a larger and more powerful lobby than organised labour. Some respected theorists and prominent writers such as Sinn (2002) and Dychtwald (1999a) go as far as predicting ageing democracies such as Germany and the USA will soon become 'gerontocracies'. For other writers the situation is more paradoxical, a case of large numbers but small influence excluded from political influence by the consequences of their exit from the workplace (Walker 1998), with little evidence of increased responsiveness by governments or political parties to organised groups of older people (Vincent et al, 2001). This thesis investigates the rise of the grey vote and the mediation of population ageing by the political parties and the media in response to the demographic transformation of the electorate. It establishes and investigates the theoretical place of age and older people in society, the manner in which the media portrays ageing and the place of age, cohort and generation in electoral behaviour. For the first time the shifting age structure of the electorate is quantified at constituency level and projected forward to the year 2025. In recognition of the close relationship between politics and the media in constructing and negotiating dominant narratives and discourses a content analysis of how the UK press have framed and discussed the implications of population was undertaken. The General Election of 2005 was used an opportunity to further analyse media framing and to conduct a content and discourse analysis of how the political parties constructed narratives around ageing issues and the position of older voters. Qualitative case studies of how flagship current affairs productions by the BBC that focused on the political implications of ageing were also incorporated into the analysis. The continued rise of the grey vote is projected by this research to put older voters in the position of numerically forming majorities in large number of Westminster seats. The emergence of around 300 seats with a 'Grey Majority' leads this research to contend that no political party that seeks to regularly form a majority in the Commons will succeed without securing significant voting support from older people. Population ageing is rarely front page news, but it is frequently incorporated as a sub-theme in a wide range of stories. A 'time bomb' narrative which accepts many neo-liberal normative assumptions is gaining ground particularly in elite journalism. The main parties currently consciously reject these narratives and are involved in developing complex discourses for negotiating the terms of allocating additional resources and attention to ageing issues. The constructions and reconstructions of the baby boomer generation are emerging as a focus point for these competing narratives of the likely implications of the new 'grey politics'.

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Since the latter decades of the twentieth century, environmental threats posed by global industrialization have become a matter of growing public concern. Increasingly grievances are aired in the streets around the world, and are broadcast in the popular media. However, with the prominence of techno-scientific and ecomanagerial approaches to the ‘ecological crisis’ ecological discourse may be in the process of becoming the new rubric of global governance. Here I engage debates concerning biopolitics and the production of subjectivity, in order to assess the implications of the theatricality of interventions for recasting the terms according to which ecological problematics are approached. I pursue this question: How can theatrics intervene in shaping the political ecology of the future? I begin this thesis by presenting a theory of the politics of theatricality as it applies to the development and reshaping of global ecological politics. In the subsequent chapters, I develop this theory in light of the uses of theatricality in the World Urban Festival, an ‘arts-for-social-change’ festival on the theme of ‘sustainability’ held in Vancouver; an environmental health education program launched in Ecuador with international support; and within local and international activist movements in the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas Leak, widely considered to be the worst industrial disaster of the twentieth century. I argue that while the theatricality of such interventions can promote a particular ecological ethic that minimizes the politics at stake, theatrical interventions can also challenge the de-politicized naturalization of ecological problems. I conclude that the context and nature of relationships staged in and through each event shapes the politics of theatricality, and in turn, the production of global ecological subjectivities. As such, I identify the various challenges and opportunities signalled by this trend toward staging ecologies.

Improving African water and sanitation has been a central objective of international development policy for many years. Alongside high profile awareness campaigns and global initiatives such as the Millennium Development Goals, there have been fundamental transformations to African water and sanitation governance since the early 1990s. World Bank and International Monetary Fund structural adjustment policies have led to the adoption of neoliberal water reforms across large parts of the developing world, especially in urban regions of Africa. However, it is only in the last few years that the extent of the social, economic and political impacts of these reforms have begun to become apparent. An investigation has been made of the impacts of recent ly-adopted neoliberal reforms on water and sanitation development in an urban region of Zambia called the Copperbelt Province. Postcolonial theory and interdisciplinary approaches have been used to develop an analysis of neoliberal water policy impacts on: (1) provision of water supply and sanitation; (ii) the politics of development; and (iii) the history of uneven development in the Copperbelt. A critical analysis of neoliberal water and sanitation development reveals that, while the reforms have prompted greater conservation of water, there is continued water and sanitation poverty and widening inequality between the minority water-rich and majority water-poor populations. Also, scrutiny of the politics of water and sanitation development in the Copperbelt reveals that power is concentrated in the hands of a number of visible and less visible non-state actors, most notably the World Bank. These non-state actors are shown to have a considerable influence over decisions regarding the future of Copperbelt water governance. Analysis of neoliberal policies in relation to the history of development revealed the persistence of three key elements of uneven development: water and sanitation inequality; political marginalisation of the urban poor; and uneven power relations between Zambian and non-Zambian development actors. The resilience of these three dimensions of uneven development can be traced back to the policies and practices of British colonial water governance. A number of contributions to knowledge in this field of study have been made. This is one of the first analyses of the impacts of neoliberal water and sanitation development in Africa. It is also one of the first attempts to apply postcolonial theory to the study of an important material issue such as water and sanitation. It has given rise to serious questions over the applicability of neoliberal water reforms in urban Africa. It is concluded that policy makers need to consider the embedded, spatially inscribed, material inequalities that characterise many former European colonies in Africa, such as Zambia.