This research theorises militant groups' meso-level evolution from their emergence to their potential non-violent transformation. The central argument of this thesis is that the timing of militant groups' adoption of violence in semi-authoritarian regimes is crucial in accounting for their subsequent ideational and organisational evolution, according to a path-dependent model. When a militant group predates its legitimisation of armed violence, the time period preceding the latter encourages low-risk activism mobilising patterns, which are defined as safer modes of mobilisation that are not directly opposed by the state and therefore do not entail high individual costs. These mobilizing patterns facilitate the creation of strong horizontal ties between the group's leaders and the development of collective group identity shared by its leaders and members. These three factors collectively ease the internal legitimisation of shared horizontal and vertical organisational norms, which respectively refer to the norms uniting the leaders of the group and the norms uniting the leaders to their followers. Theses norms include the normalisation of the prerogatives of the group's leadership, an internal culture of consensus and shared decision making processes. These factors subsequently shape the group's evolution, whose possible non-violent transformation becomes contingent on the ability of its leadership to exploit external macro stimuli or internal learning processes, and to draw on the group's collective identity to internally legitimise a new strategic direction. Conversely, the second type of militant group is defined by its members' immediate engagement in high-risk activism forms of mobilisation, defined by their high individual cost caused by their intrinsically violent nature (e.g. staging a military coup). The combination of early ideational justifications of violence and its associated mobilising patterns fuel internal factionalism and hinder the legitimisation of internal norms of decision making and the consolidation of a controlled collective group identity. This mobilising pattern often sparks splits over any new tactical and strategic issues which may arise overtime, and eventually impedes the successful consensual transformation of this type of group in changing macro circumstances. This theorisation of militant groups' evolution is applied to the Egyptian Islamic and Jihad Groups. This thesis is based on a social movement theory framework. It is a qualitative small-n comparative case-study research using field research and interviews with numerous leaders and members of these two groups.

Much of the academic literature portrays North Korea as an irrational rogue state whose behaviour is aggressive and dangerous, as exhibited through the regime’s continuous efforts to obtain nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, and attempts to threaten neighbouring countries with words or provocations. North Korea is viewed as a cause of regional instability since the regime’s high level of defence preparedness and acts of provocation drive the other regional powers to search for their own security in an attempt to offset the belligerence of this state. Although International Relations theory has long recognised the problem of the insecurity states experience in living in the system of international anarchy, the case of North Korea seems to shows that states can have an excessive deterrence threshold that arises from a high level of threat perception, which is driven by the environment of the regime and specific internal determinants inside the North Korea system. Nuclear weapons development has some connection with the regime’s internal system when it can help support the legitimacy and power of the leader and at the same time is used in a strategic way to cover the regime’s failures in supplying essential. Moreover, the strategy of excessive deterrence is used by North Korea for international leverage with the United States and the international community as the nuclear weapons will be used by North Korea in the negotiating process. The question then arises if North Korea’s deterrence strategy conforms to assumptions of rational actor behaviour when it is clear that the situation of high tension benefits North Korea more than peaceful coexistence and the deterrence strategy is used beyond the survival purposes of a normal state. It is the aim of the thesis to find out if North Korea’s behaviour and deterrence strategy are rational or irrational when considered through the theory of rational deterrence and the idea of security dilemma. In particular deterrence theory suggests that states should not actively seek a security dilemma with multiple antagonists yet seemingly this is what the DPRK posture of excessive deterrence achieves. It is hoped to explain if North Korea is one of the normal states calculating its own survival and interest in the condition of anarchy or is an irrational actor that uses unpredictable and criminal behaviour in promoting security dilemmas in the inter-state system from its own distorted view of regime legitimacy and survival.

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In this case study an attempt is made not merely to describe a sequence of events in decision making, but to critically examine the procedure revealed and to consider it in terms of administrative theory. The decision concerned was that to raise the Bank rate by two per cent on September 19th 1957. After the decision had been announced, there were rumours and allegations that there had been an improper disclosure of information about the decision, and a Tribunal of Inquiry was later set up to investigate the allegations. This study has been based on the Minutes of Evidence given before the Tribunal. The first chapter contains an explanation of the object of the study and the method to be used. The second chapter explains how and why the Bank Rate Tribunal was set up and who had the legal responsibility for the decision to raise the Bank rate; it also explains the economic situation in 957 and how the position deteriorated during the summer of that year. Chapter three is a reconstruction of the decision-making process, showing how the people concerned consulted each other and accumulated authority to make the decision. Chapter four traces the history of communications between the bank of England and the Treasury, showing how the institutions have worked together in the past, and in particular, how closely they were working at the time of the 1957 Bank rate decision. The next three chapters are concerned with three important factors in the making of this particular decision. These are the significance of holidays in 1957, the backgrounds of the decision-makers, and the growth of consensus. The final chapter is concerned, with conclusions from the study. The conclusions include general comment about Tribunals of Inquiry, and in particular about the 1957 Bank Rate Tribunal; secondly, there are some reflections on the organization of the Bank of England and its relations with the Treasury; thirdly, there is a discussion on aspects of democratic administration in relation to the case; and finally there is a discussion Oil the administrative process revealed by the study.

Logical, theological, and artistic considerations are presented which cast doubt upon the original, and now traditional, interpretation of this episode as an allegory of the Sacrament of Penance. The symbols of the steps, the angel, the threshold, Dante's submission, the seven P's, the keys, and the door are then examined individually in the light of biblical, classical, patristic, and Scholastic texts, of the Comedy itself, and of the early commentaries. After it has been shown that the steps could represent a preliminary process of self-awareness and ascent, the other symbols are seen to allude to various themes, notably the Church, the Papacy, Rome, and the doctrine of satisfaction. The episode's thematic and poetic importance in the narrative structure of the whole work - looking back to hell and Antepurgatory and forward to the cornices and Paradise - derives primarily from the fact that in it Dante is defining the rest of Purgatory as the Church Suffering, with lessons which are to be read back to the corrupt earthly Church of his time. A further level of symbolism may be traced in the associations between this episode and contemporary descriptions of the Jubilee of the year 1300. This leads to investigation of the hypothesis that Dante was in Rome at the end of Lent in 1300 and of the possible polemical and personal importance of the episode of the door in the poem's account of Dante's 'other journey' (Inferno, l:91) from hell to salvation at that time. An Appendix describes related research on the theme of the Exodus in the Epistle to Can Grande and in the Purgatorio, with results which confirm the figural and realistic approach to the Comedy and assist in elucidating its fundamental polysemy and its function as an exemplum.

This thesis examines theories of crisis management as they relate to 'sub-nuclear' crises, a term which refers to a class of international crisis occurring in an international system dominated by two superpowers, but not taking place directly between the United States and the Soviet Union. It is stressed that the approach adopted is not 'scientific' as are, for example, laboratory simulations and game theory analyses. However, the first two chapters do examine the nature of the theoretical models which underpin existing notions of crisis and crisis management and also formulate a definition of the term 'crisis' which is used in this thesis. Such a definition rests primarily on the perceptions of decision-makers themselves rather than on 'objective' systemic evaluations. Hence, the main unit of analysis is the decision-making group responsible for the formulation of policy. Yet, it is argued that a number of conceptual problems arise from an apparent predisposition, in the literature concerned with crisis and crisis management, towards the generation of theories which are designed primarily to explain the development of superpower crises. What is suggested is that a way of resolving these difficulties would be to try and reconcile the concept of 'crisis management' with that of the rationality of a use of 'limited war' as a means of ameliorating perceived political problems. It is noted that the purposes for which limited war was waged prior to the advent of nuclear weapons resemble the assumptions which govern behaviour observed during sub-nuclear crises. However, that there are significant factors which distinguish 'sub-nuclear crisis management' from both conventional crisis management and pre-nuclear era limited war strategies. The hypotheses of the first two chapters are tested in an analysis of the three historical crises which form the subject matter of the case studies: the crisis preceding the first world war, the Suez crisis of 1956 and the Falklands conflict of 1982. The concluding chapter of this study assesses the theory and practice of 'sub-nuclear crisis management' in the nuclear age.

It is often said that many of the canonical rights we enjoy today are the achievement of past political struggle. While these struggles are typically invoked as a source of political inspiration, this thesis argues that they are also key to understanding the nature and significance of rights as a philosophical concept. The thesis marks a new contribution to the literature on rights, which is predominantly oriented to the formal analysis of rights in relation to the law and to their achievement and enforcement through the institutions of the constitutional state. Part I of the thesis sets out and defends an activist theory of rights that explains the special value the concept has as claims that empower agents with the moral standing to challenge and replace unjust laws, institutions and social practices according to critical moral norms. Part II uses the activist theory of rights as a framework to examine the strengths and weaknesses of four influential models of rights politics: the juridical model of Ronald Dworkin; the parliamentary model of Jeremy Waldron and Richard Bellamy; the liberal civil disobedience model of John Rawls, and the radical critique of rights from within the Marxian tradition. The evaluation of these four models generates an argument in support of the legitimacy and effectiveness of activist citizenship for the achievement and enforcement of rights on the basis of democratic inclusion, moral innovation and civic education. Part III of the thesis provides an illustration of activist citizenship taken from a contemporary squatting movement centered on the right to housing, ‘Take Back the Land’. In exercising the moral right to housing, for which they demand political recognition, the group’s practices reflect the adversarial dimension of rights in keeping with the concept’s historical role in empowering subordinate groups to challenge unjust relations of power and inequality.

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