This thesis questions and examines the role Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) are playing in the political transitions of developing countries. While there is much discussion about the contribution of ICTs in promoting economic growth and supporting the democratisation process, there is less understanding of the ways in which ICTs are often re-interpreted, re-defined and reshaped to fit political and cultural contexts that are substantially different from those of their origin. Focusing on the case of Ethiopia, I analyze one of these processes of selective adoption, examining which components of ICTs have been endorsed and proactively promoted by the government of Ethiopia, which have been constrained or inhibited, and for what reasons. I build on a conceptual framework that combines critical insights from different forms of constructivism, especially as they have emerged in international relations and in the history of technology tradition. I offer a new approach that reframes ICTs from consensual objects with an agreed set of characteristics and possible effects to nodes surrounded by conflict, which can be appropriated or resisted by different actors to pursue potentially competing goals. This thesis draws on extensive fieldwork and employs a variety of methods that have allowed me to analyse both the discursive and the material elements intervening in the adoption and adaptation of ICTs in Ethiopia. The research progressed through an iterative comparison between conceptualizations emerging from interviews with individuals who shaped the path of ICTs in the country, as well as from other textual material, and observations of how the technical artefacts were actually implemented. This process made it possible to understand how the complex nation building project pursued by the government of Ethiopia motivated the development of two large scale ICT projects, known as Woredanet and Schoolnet, and led to the marginalization of alternative uses of ICTs promoted by other components of society, such as the private sector, Ethiopians in the diaspora and international organizations.

Although it is commonly used in a variety of debates in normative political theory, the concept of practical identity is undertheorized and unclear. My dissertation aims to rectify this problem by providing a fully elaborated and philosophically robust account of identity. In developing this account I adopt the theory-indexed approach, which looks to define identity from the viewpoint of some normative conception of the person and society, rather than the viewpoint of shared but unsystematized intuitions about identity. Specifically, my enquiry is nested within the liberal perspective that affords individuals' reasons for action a central place in political justification. Starting from this theoretical background, I examine the prospects for defining identity as a determinant of individuals' reasons. I first discuss some prominent current arguments that link identities to individuals' reasons. I maintain that the Rawls-inspired argument that identities generate reasons grounded in self-respect fails because Rawls's "social bases of self-respect" cannot be understood as the argument requires. Harry Frankfurt's view of identities as constraints on the individuals' power of willing rests, I suggest, on a flawed interpretation of volitional inability. Finally, I find that Christine Korsgaard's view of identities as the subjective grounds for maximadoption vacillates between an unacceptably naturalist understanding of identity and one that cannot account for the particularity of identities. Following these criticisms, I suggest that the link between identities and reasons needs to be investigated by reconsidering the notion of a reason for action. I argue that for a conception of reasons to be acceptable to liberals, it must present reasons as universal in scope. This condition is met by Kant's conception, according to which reasons consist in the conformity of maxims with certain objective principles. Accepting this conception, I argue that identity can be seen as a sensible, but inscrutable, condition for the possibility of universal reasons.

The existing literature has long mused over the questions of who belongs and who does not belong to the extreme right party family, as well as why some extreme right parties seem to be consistently - or occasionally - more successful than others. For decades, scholars have failed to reach a consensus regarding the definition of the extreme right, used a plethora of labels to describe it, and disagreed on the defining characteristics of the party family. In order to progress from this conundrum, this thesis explores the question of whether and how the extreme right can be defined as a multi-dimensional party family based on two strategic-discursive dimensions, and the extent to which the location of each individual member of the extreme right family will affect the number and the nature of the voters whom they will attract. This question is answered - and resulting model tested - in Great Britain, Germany, and France. The thesis combines a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods including text analysis of party manifestoes, face-to-face interviews of extreme right party elites (in two countries), and analysis of survey data. Our model stipulates that extreme right parties emphasise different conceptions of an authoritarian dimension (ranging from a social/reactionary to an institutional/repressive pole) and a negative conception of identity (spanning from a civic/populist to a cultural/xenophobic scale). Based on this bi-dimensional conceptual map, four dominant sub-types of extreme right parties can be identified, all of which are represented in the three party systems, and evidenced by both party manifestoes and elites ' discourse. We also show that the different positions espoused by each party have an impact on the ideological identity of the party, intra-extreme right party competition, the types of voters each party attracts and ultimately, the level of electoral success it obtains.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how Thomas Moore functioned as a political commentator for Ireland. Often Moore has not been taken seriously as a political writer, and his literary reputation in general suffered a downfall after his death. However, this study aims to re-evaluate Moore's place in the society, literature and political fora of his day. This project has added to knowledge in various ways. For example, an examination of the politicised aspects of Moore's writings is an underdeveloped area of Moore scholarship and yet it is an area of study that is vital to a proper understanding of Moore. Secondly, the thesis is closely examining many of Moore's works which have previously been given little, or no, attention, and yet carry an important political message and commentary about that time. This study has involved a close analysis of Moore's writings, from his earliest juvenile works right through to his final publications, including his poetry, prose and personal writings (incorporating his letters, journals, and memoirs). As well as this, the historical, political, literary, cultural and biographical context of Moore and his time is alluded to in order to illuminate Moore's political commentating in his writings. This thesis has taken an interdisciplinary approach incorporating within the study aspects of history, politics and Irish studies, as well as being grounded within the discipline of English. This project has also evaluated the many critical responses which Moore and his writings have received regarding his politics. The study provides much evidence that Moore can be considered as a political commentator for Ireland and that his own writings testify to this. The thesis concludes by carrying out an evaluation of Moore as a political commentator, and examining his political influence.

It can be said that for Plato theory of man and political philosophy are tautologous. This study of Plato's theory of man points to the fact that a key concept in understanding Plato's political philosophy and man comes from the same source, that is , the concept of metaxy. The idea of metaxy is derived from the appreciation of the dialectic movement of arguments, speeches in the dialogues. The oscillation is argued to have been designed by the author of the dialogues in order to guide the reader to experience the existential moment with regard to the nature of the soul. The investigation of the Statesman, the Republic, the Phaedrus, the Symposium, and the Lysis, shows that the nature of man lies in the soul whose nature is metaxy. As regards the Platonic theory of the tripartite soul in the Republic, self-knowledge and the art of statesmanship are inseparable in the same way that the study of the soul and the city are intertwined. The philosopher must become king or statesman. As regards the idea of the pleasurable perception of rhythm and harmony in human nature in the Laws, dialectic and language of the philosopher-king are educational and political at the same time. The interplay of Dionysiac and Apollonian effects play an important role in understanding the metaxy of human nature and politics, or man and the city. However, the metaxy of politics entails the politics of metaxy, which renders a hermeneutic freedom to the reader, that is, he is free to choose or decide what kind of interpretation he is about to take or leave. Besides, the thesis claims a solution, which results from its study of human nature in the dialogues, to the enigmatic geometric riddles in the Statesman and the Republic.

This study of Karl Marx's pre-1844 writings argues that the crucial link between his 'mature' social theory and preceding philosophical traditions lies in the elaboration in these early texts of what is here termed a 'political epistemology'. This can be summarised as a critique of laws and social institutions which treats them as human beings' operative conceptualisations of their practical interdependence. It is on the basis of this implicit equation that Marx transposes the terms of German Idealist investigations of consciousness and knowledge into an original analysis of political power and social conflict. The historical and philosophical background to this idea of a 'political epistemology' is sketched through a consideration of the neo-Scholastic rationalism of the eighteenth century, the critical idealism of Kant, and the post-Kantian idealism of Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. Marx's student writings provide evidence of the importance of key post-Kantian themes and problems in shaping his early intellectual outlook. Marx's political journalism of 1842-3 takes forward these epistemological issues into an engagement with the social antagonisms of Vorm?rz Prussia. Finally, Marx's 1843 critique of Hegel is re-interpreted, not as an outright rejection of the post-Kantian project, but as an attempt to refound it upon new ground, with the aim of realising more adequately its original principle of understanding human experience and activity as radically self-determining. In conclusion it is proposed that a reading of Marx that attends carefully to his redeployment of post-Kantian arguments will help us to make clearer sense of the complex theorisations of society, history, and economy developed in his later writings. Such an interpretation suggests that Marx's central concern remains one of realising a self-conscious and self-determining collective agency in society, and an epistemologically informed diagnosis of the unbridgeable oppositions and illusory misrecognitions that result from the obstruction of this practical goal.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relevance of republican political theory to the current debates surrounding issues of global justice and democracy. I argue that a republican concern with domination contributes to these debates by making a clearer link between political participation and individuals' capacity to protect their interests. The thesis synthesises two major approaches in political theory that draw on the republican tradition in political thought. It argues that Philip Pettit's republicanism provides an appropriate link between participation and the prevention of domination. The thesis uses several rival approaches to the problem of global justice (drawn from Dryzek, Nagel, Held and Cohen and Sabel) to demonstrate that the uneven distribution of state capacities at the global level puts people at risk of domination. However, the rival approaches do not go far enough in explaining the role of democracy and political participation in preventing domination. The thesis develops a more robust theory of domination based on an account of basic interests. It argues that participation is valuable because it is the most effective way to ensure people can protect their basic interests. However, participation itself should be designed so it does not impose excessive costs on individuals. Throughout the thesis, the arguments are illustrated by reference to contemporary problems with developing and implementing international labour standards. In the concluding chapters, the theoretical discussion of domination is applied to develop practical suggestions that a major institution - the International Labour Organization (ILO) - could implement in order to improve the situation of people subject to domination.

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