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The tussle between borders, identity, and territory continues to dominate politics in postcolonial South Asia. While critical perspectives in International Relations tend to regard borders as increasingly dispersed and vacillated; in South Asia’s literature, borders are considered territorially sacrosanct and stringently fixed to their traditional location. Challenging both these perspectives, this thesis questions the diffuse and abstract notion of borders while simultaneously exploring the border beyond the borderland. For this, the thesis adapts the conceptual framework of border as method to analyse narratives, processes, and practices of borders in three locations: the border, the city, and diaspora. I develop this framework of border as method using the interpretive tools of sensitivity, the work of the imagination, and the figure of the stranger to guide as well as draw connections between these seemingly disparate locations. The three cases explicate the relationship between physical and imagined borders by demonstrating how ideas, practices, and narratives of the border converge and diverge at the border, within the nation, and outside the nation. The empirical case studies combine insights from fieldwork, interviews, and observations at the border between (i) India, Bangladesh and Pakistan; (ii) in chhota or mini-Pakistans in Mumbai; and (iii) South Asian ethnic enclaves in Birmingham and London. The thesis puts forth a multi-layered argument. Firstly, it argues that there is a need to rethink the way in which we approach the study of borders. For this the thesis argues in favour of studying the border as method. This suggests that it is important to study the border on its own terms, by being in dialogue with the border, and by thinking of the border as a way of knowing. Secondly, the thesis demonstrates that the ideational border plays an important role in reproducing the border. The thesis finds that borders in postcolonial South Asia are durable and resilient. Overall, the thesis views borders holistically through an engagement with the three dimensions of the borders i.e. epistemology, ontology, and phenomenology to foreground the rigidity and territoriality of the imagined border.

This thesis investigates whether talking can contribute to the transformation of conflicts characterized by terrorist violence. It begins by questioning the understanding of terrorism put forward by traditional terrorism scholarship and its contention that talking in contexts of terrorism is useless and/or counterproductive. Drawing on Frankfurt School critical theory and in particular its application by the Aberystywth School of critical security studies, it develops a critical theory-based approach to terrorism that overcomes many of the hurdles seen as impeding talking in terrorism contexts. This investigation then examines how dialogical responses to terrorism can be understood and puts forward the concept of talking. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s practical theory, the thesis develops an understanding of talking that overcomes the negotiations-dialogue dichotomy, re-embeds the practice in the daily lives of social actors, and restores the potential for transformation to human interaction. Bourdieu’s theory is then used to develop an understanding of transformation that includes both practice – modus operandi – and that which results from practice – opus operatum. It examines several practices (calculation, the symbolic impact of talking, self-entrapment, persuasion, familiarization/humanization, empathy/sympathy, and trust) through which talking may contribute to the transformation of means as well as personal, relational and structural transformation. This theoretical framework is applied to two case studies: talking from 1988 to 1998 aimed at transforming the conflict in Northern Ireland; and talking from 1996 to 2007 between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Based on numerous interviews with key actors, documentary analysis and participant observation, the case studies examine how talking contributed to the transformation of these conflicts. The thesis concludes by arguing that although talking must not be seen as a panacea, it cannot be ruled out as a potential response that can contribute to the transformation of conflicts marked by terrorist violence.

Weapons collection programs have become a critical activity of post-conflict reconstruction, a product of the merging of development and security policy in the post- Cold War era. However, while the discourse of the impact of small arms in developing countries centres on human security, disarmament activities favour the creation of strong states by returning the monopoly of the use of force to the state irrespective of the local norms on gun possession and use. The logic of weapons collection programs thus suffers an incongruity between the referent object to be secured (i. e. individuals) and the actual means of achieving a subjective state of security. Previous literature has favoured the international and national levels of analysis to develop a standard model of microdisarmament to the detriment of the particular local and gender sensitive context of the programs. This dissertation will use the case study of the 2001-2002 weapons collection program in Karamoja, Uganda to explore the difficulties of reconciling the creation of a strong central state with the needs of a pastoralist community in East Africa. Based on the current understanding of conflict in Africa and the strategy of peacebuilding amongst external stakeholders, this research will examine to what extent the disarmament program adequately addressed the demand side issues of small arms and light weapons in Karamoja. It questions whether the security needs and perceptions of all stakeholders were met, in particular, the more vulnerable members of the community such as women and children. The objective of the dissertation is to contribute an original and critical analysis of the policy of disarmament programs by examining the utility and limitations of microdisarmament activities in the peacebuilding and development process in Uganda

Over the last two decades, social cohesion has become a widespread political concern. Governments across Western Europe consider how social cohesion may be at risk and propose political initiatives to safeguard cohesion. This objective is usually seen to require the active contribution of citizens who are called upon to evince responsibility for social unity. Cohesion agendas have been developed with the intention to instil this responsibility through measures of social activation. The proximity between cohesion and activation, however, has rarely been explored. While their mutual dependence tends to be considered as a given or a natural fact, this thesis seeks to show how the two orientations have been conjoined as a result of changing conceptualizations of society in political debate. In studies of such debates and of agenda-setting moments, the thesis examines the development of new concerns, concepts and political measures in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Cohésion sociale was introduced in the context of ambiguous definitions of social exclusion that had emerged in French political discourse since the early 1980s. It was developed as a political objective that would respond to Jacques Chirac’s diagnosis of fracture sociale. Bürgergesellschaft in Germany was defined against the background of anxiety about collective immobility, social sclerosis and political apathy. In the early 2000s, it proved to be a vehicle for a turn towards activation in welfare state reform. In Britain, community cohesion was introduced in response to a spate of unrest in the English North. In its most prominent conceptualisations, it responded to the diagnosis that these and other social problems were the result of misguided multicultural objectives and behavioural deficiencies among ethnic minority populations. The thesis treats the formation of these agendas as a challenge that requires both interpretation and critique. It proposes a perspective on how society is imagined in the course of the formation of social cohesion agendas. It suggests that in particular the imaginary coincidence of disintegration and unity is characteristic of this social imaginary and provides for a sense of urgency that frequently underpins remedies of activation. The thesis concludes that where cohesion is said to be lacking, populations are selectively targeted and ethnic minority groups, welfare recipients, or the unemployed are being subjected to new demands. The critical concern of the thesis is to explore how new concerns with social unity have led to the adoption of requirements that are placed on the doorstep of those that are less able to comply.

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Over the past decades, there has been a growing consensus that rape is a weapon of war. Placing issues of gendered violence into international focus, feminists have registered an unease with the way in which the narrative ‘reproduces a limited register through which we can hear, feel, and attend to the voices and suffering of ... those who are raped’ (Baaz and Stern, 2013, p. 2). Building upon this insight, and tracing its implications in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), I ask after the ways in which the subject of wartime sexual violence is rendered visible, produced, and recognised through post-conflict justice processes in BiH. I begin with an examination of the visibility lent to the subject of wartime sexual violence from the 1990s to the contemporary context, arguing that the dominant subject has been the Muslim-female-victim. Seeking to move beyond this limited register, I examine the multiplicity of subjects that are produced through sites of post-conflict governance in BiH, including sites of legal-bureaucratic recognition, psychological intervention, and witnessing. Examining each site, I engage with the production of the subject of wartime sexual violence, asking which forms of recognition are made possible. I argue that while the subject of wartime sexual violence is often rendered visible through these processes, this does not equate to the subject’s social recognition in any straightforward sense. I conclude with an examination of the conditions of possibility for social recognition in post-conflict BiH. Drawing together feminist methodological approaches with the concept of witnessing, I develop a notion of the feminist researcher as witness, enabling an examination of questions of intersubjectivity as a basis for forms of social recognition. In developing this concept, I make a broader, feminist critique of post-conflict justice practices to the extent that they actively limit the possibilities for social recognition.

This thesis explores the politicality of political violence through the consideration of two conflicts: the EOKA organisation’s struggle against the British administration of Cyprus (1955-59) and the Italian anni di piombo (years of lead) where armed organisations challenged the state between 1972 and 1987. Academic literatures have often attributed the moniker of politicality to terrorism, but such ascriptions have regularly been shallow. They signify the adherence of militant groups to certain ideologies without interrogating the dynamics of power and resistance which characterise the deployment of counter-discourse, or that constitute struggle. This thesis uses an understanding of politicality which relates to the disruption of discourse. Through interviews with the protagonists of armed organisations it explores the ways in which political violence might be considered political, but also the constraints that can engender the reproduction of politics within resistance. The contrasting post-conflict situation of interviewees from the ‘victorious’ EOKA organisation and the defeated anni di piombo groups enables the thesis to introduce considerations of victory and defeat to literatures on terrorism, but also to engage with literatures on memory. The thesis develops the engagement of Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) with armed groups by exploring how memories and narratives of political violence are altered in divergent post-conflict scenarios. It also appropriates the concept of ‘counter-conducts’ from Foucault’s work to model political violence within the dynamics of power and resistance, where practices of governmentality can produce instances of reversal. Counter-conducts can enable critical engagements with militant groups and the transition of persons into armed struggle – disrupting discourses of radicalisation. The thesis attempts to contribute to literatures which address memory, political violence, resistance and ‘the political’. The experiences of interviewees are used to explore questions about what it means to be political, and why certain types of violence are called political.

This thesis can be read as a piece of contemporary political history, which demonstrates quite how flexible and variegated the response of the political right can be to the ‘national question.’ In particular, the thesis examines the British and Canadian Conservative parties, and their respective records in relation to key aspects of Welsh and Quebec nationhood. In exploring the parties’ relationship to the ‘national question,’ this study not only traces the development of the parties’ policies and attitudes in relation to self-government and devolution, but also examines their broader policy programmes for Wales and Quebec, especially in relation to language and culture. The study examines the British Conservative Party’s attitude to Welsh culture and the Welsh language; how the party viewed Wales’ relationship to England, Britain and Britishness; its relationship with Welsh nationalism; and the discourse offered by the party in relation to Welsh history. Similarly, the study will examine the Canadian Conservative Party’s attitude towards Quebec nationhood; its attitude towards the French language and culture; its approach towards Quebec’s place within confederation and its relationship with the wider Canadian state; the party’s relationship with Quebec nationalism; and finally the narrative provided by the party in relation to Quebec’s history.

Scholars have regularly presented the EU as a ‘normative power’ that promotes human rights as a legitimate standard of international behaviour. Yet, the legitimacy of EU normative power within enlargement has not been well-defined or investigated. The overarching issue that this thesis aims to address concerns the legitimacy of EU human rights promotion to Turkey. It aims to provide an answer to a politically and intellectually challenging question: How should the European Union promote human rights to Turkey, if the country’s human rights progress is to be understood not simply as a result of domestic dynamics, but as dependent on the legitimacy of EU human rights promotion? The central aim of the thesis is to explore ideas and practices that contribute to improving the EU policy of human rights towards its non-European partners. The theoretical focus offers a fresh perspective to the study of Turkey-EU relations that relates to ‘normative power Europe’ and the legitimacy of human rights promotion. The empirical focus of the thesis explores legitimacy as being a highly significant issue which affects the long-term success or failure of EU human rights policies. It assesses the prospects and implications of EU policy and determines what is required in terms of external incitements for optimal outcomes. The original contribution of the thesis lies in its argument that EU normative power within enlargement is not intrinsic to the EU, but ought to be recognised as such through its interaction with non-European ‘others’.