Freedom is a fundamental concept for anarchism; but what does that mean, exactly? What sort of freedom do anarchists seek, and how do they hope to realise this freedom? Starting with the premise that such questions, though vital to the anarchist project, have mostly been ignored, this thesis argues that the basic libertarian impulse of anarchism is in need of a critical analysis. Such an analysis, however, highlights a number of problems with the anarchist demand for a world without domination, so anarchist understandings of ethics, and of power, are explored in search for answers. However, anarchist approaches to ethics and power prove to be equally problematic, and serious doubts are raised about the potential for anarchism to provide a world where freedom is absolute, and, conversely, where all forms of coercion are rejected. One possible response to this is to be found in the contemporary support for consensus-decision making, which many anarchists argue has the potential to resolve conflict; however, it is argued that far from offering a response to the concerns raised in previous chapters, the possibilities of consensus must be seen to be greatly reduced, once such concerns are properly taken into account. Unable to live up to its libertarian promises, anarchism may appear to have reached a dead-end. However, the thesis concludes by arguing that anarchism s prefigurative approach to politics, as well as its sustained critique of hierarchy, offer both radical and realisable possibilities for creating a world of much greater equality and freedom even if such freedom can never be absolute. In accepting the limits of anarchism, its possibilities can be seen more clearly.

Thèse confidentielle / Confidential PhD thesis

The world views of Economics and History which derive from the writings (themselves often derivative) of Karl Marx have been further progressed through two channels - which I here first categorise as STATIST and ANTI-STATIST. The historical Communist parties, and those Social Democrats who accepted a measure of Marx's analysis, have sought to gain control of some form of State apparatus. In this, they shared an objective with other groups to the Right who may well have been travelling the same route for much longer. To the Left, in the other channel, are those who refute any claimed superiority for statist formulations and who, as an alternative, offer the concept of federation among localities. In instrumental terms, this is the difference between Parliamentary or representative 'democracy' and Councillist or participatory 'self-government'; between the delegated and the mandated. It should be noted that both systems offer potential for extended, cross-boundary, co-operation; in the self-governing mode through a. federation of federations for specific purposes. This latter arrangement, which may be properly termed 'Anarchist', allows for negotiated contract as in the international postal service. By definition, Anti-Statist concepts contain the eventual intent of a total break with, and replacement of, the historically developed 'State' - which latter is seen as a ruling-class invention and as maximising reification. Local institutions, economic and more widely cultural, can be created within the interstices of existing states as seeds of desired, post-State, circumstances. But, again by definition, Anti-Statists cannot look to take over existing Governmental systems. Rather, they must view a different perspective of change and the practice of their ideas in modern times has so far been restricted to short experiments during, for example, the Paris Commune of 1871 and the Spanish worker-managed co-operatives of 1936-1939. These were both genuinely 'bottom-up' growths, but the Anarchist dream (or tendency to be pursued) has also influenced the decentralised organisation of some more conventionally originating Socialist states - as in Algeria, Libya and Yugoslavia for different periods during the second half of the twentieth century. The linking of Anarchism with trade-union activity in large-scale industry (Anarcho-Syndicalism) is usually associated with the nineteenth-century school of Michael Bakunin, but anti-statists also connect with more general examinations of 'freedom' such as those set out in William Godwin's Enquiry Concerning Political Justice of 1798. This Thesis is concerned with the acceptance of Marx AND Bakunin's thinking into the mindset of Libertarian British working-men during the four decades immediately preceding the First World War, and relates that acceptance to longerstanding notions of 'rationalism' It does so with particular reference to the intellectual journey of one very special artisan: Samuel Mainwaring (1841-1907), South Wales born but lastingly internationalist. A fuller summary of the content of Chapters is given in the Introduction, but the salient points are as follows. In Chapter One, I look at Mainwaring's earliest subversive, neighbourhood, links with Welsh Unitarianism and the most radical elements in the seventeenth-century English Revolution. In Chapters Two and Three, I examine the nature of early nineteenth-century proto-Syndicalism in England and its 1850s influence on the first of the New Model trade unions, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers – which Mainwaring joined as soon as he was of an age to do so. In Chapters Four and Five, I find similarities between Capitalist Exploitation in the United Kingdom and the United States (where Mainwaring lived for some years during the 1860s and 1870s), compare the writings of American mechanic Ira Steward with those of Marx and Bakunin, and discuss the Marxist-Bakuninist split in America following the transfer of the First International's controlling Council from London to New York. In Chapter Six, I show the existence of a 'Bakuninist' strand on the British Left in the last quarter of the nineteenth and early years of the twentieth centuries. Explaining Mainwaring's prominent position in that alignment, I also indicate his leading role in international Anarchist initiatives. My research involved what I believe to be a closer reading of three relevant London-based periodicals (The Crisis, The Pioneer, and The Leader] than had previously been carried out by historians, and I also draw on largely unpublished material held at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, and at the State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin. In my Conclusion, I compare the 'hidden from history' story of the Anarchist Left with that encountered by Feminist researchers.

Cette thèse porte sur le rôle du compromis politique dans des conflits liés à la pluralité religieuse. Comment prendre une décision collective lorsque le désaccord touche aux convictions religieuses de certains groupes ? Le compromis est défini comme une procédure de prise de décision collective reposant sur des concessions réciproques. Nous en proposons une analyse conceptuelle ainsi qu’une défense de type procédural que nous illustrons par des cas précis de disputes mobilisant des acteurs religieux, en particulier les controverses françaises sur l’objection de conscience au service militaire et sur l’avortement. L’intérêt de réfléchir au compromis en relation avec la pluralité religieuse est l’antithèse supposée entre religion et compromis. Tandis que la politique est souvent décrite comme « l’art du compromis », le religieux est perçu comme le domaine de l’absolu et de l’intransigeance. Notre argument n’a pas pour objectif de confirmer cette assertion ou de l’infirmer : il ne s’agit pas de démontrer que les personnes religieuses sont plus ou moins conciliantes que leurs homologues séculiers. Nous soulignons, en revanche, la valeur procédurale du compromis notamment lors de disputes opposant des acteurs à religieux à une loi de l’État libéral et séculier. Si la politique est bien « l’art du compromis », elle ne se réduit pas au seul marchandage des intérêts. De même, si la religion touche au sacré et au non-négociable, la coexistence et la coopération dans une société plurielle ne se font pas sans concessions. / This dissertation deals with the role of political compromise in conflicts stemming from religious diversity. How can a collective decision be made when disagreement affects the religious convictions of some groups? Compromise is defined as a decision-making procedure based on reciprocal concessions. I propose a conceptual analysis and a procedural defense of compromise which I illustrate with cases of disputes that have mobilized religious actors, especially the French controversies on conscientious objection to military service and on abortion. Reflecting on compromise in relation to religious diversity is interesting because of the putative antithesis between religion and compromise. While politics is often described as the “art of compromise,” religion is perceived as the realm of the absolute and the intransigent. My argument is not intended to confirm or to invalidate this assertion. I do not demonstrate that religious people are more or less conciliatory than their secular counterparts. I emphasize, however, the procedural value of compromise particularly in disputes opposing religious actors and the law of the liberal and secular state. If politics is “the art of compromise,” it can not be reduced to a mere bargaining of interests. Similarly, if religion touches the sacred and the non-negotiable, coexistence and cooperation in a plural society are not achieved without concessions.

This study analyses a number of Hannah Arendt’s books and essays written over four decades and suggests that a common thread can be detected that links together the different stages of her thought. The need to do this follows from having to treat with caution Arendt’s own judgement that in the mid-1930s her thinking changed when she became political. In relation to writings she produced throughout her life, what can be seen is that she was actually preoccupied by one and the same question, namely, what it means to be with other people, she just looked for answers in different places and used different methods. The study shows how in her dissertation on Saint Augustine’s treatment of love and such early published pieces as ‘The Enlightenment and the Jewish Question’ and her commentary on Rilke’s Duino Elegies, Arendt was already challenging Heidegger’s ontology, in Being and Time, of ‘being-with-one-another’. Her thinking at this time was purely empirical though, dependent upon interpretations of history alone. Her later work, The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition, for instance, reveal that Arendt’s political conversion amounted to the realisation that ontology and history are as necessary to each other as Kant’s concepts and intuitions. Her defence of plurality therefore, represented both a reaction to the evils of totalitarianism on the grounds that it is an anti-political form of government, and a revised challenge to Heidegger’s assessment of das Man on his own terms. In addition though, Arendt’s depiction of public space and public discourse, suggested that choosing to be with others politically, is an antidote to the solitude of the individual engendered by mass society.

L'objet de cette thèse est d'étudier d'une part la place que tient la guerre dans l'œuvre de l'historien et philosophe italien Benedetto Croce (1866-1952), à la fois lorsqu'il étudie l'Histoire, notamment celle du XIXe siècle, et lorsqu'il réagit aux événements dont il est le contemporain : guerres d'Ethiopie de 1896 et 1935, de Libye de 1911-1912 et « pacification » dans les années vingt et trente, Première Guerre mondiale, Guerre d'Espagne, Seconde Guerre mondiale. La guerre est-elle parfois légitime ? Est-elle nécessaire à la construction et à l'affermissement de l'état italien ? Ou au contraire est-elle à éviter à tout prix ? Ces questions sont complexes car la guerre n'est pas l'apanage du fascisme, mais a déjà été l'un des caractères importants du régime libéral qui a précédé le fascisme en Italie. Ce travail de recherche porte également sur la pensée et l'action de Benedetto Croce en ce qui concerne le maintien puis la réinstauration de la paix, notamment après les deux guerres mondiales, et son engagement pro-européen. L'étude s'est appuyée sur le croisement entre les œuvres de Benedetto Croce et les documents contenus dans les Archives d'Etat à Rome, comme les dossiers de la Police Politique fasciste qui a surveillé Croce pendant des décennies à cause de son engagement antifasciste. / The purpose of this thesis is first to study the part that war plays in the works of the Italian historian and philosopher, Benedetto Croce (1866-1952), when he studies History -in particular that of the 19th century- as well as when he reacts to the events of which he is a contemporary: wars in Ethiopia in 1896 and 1935, in Libya in 1911- 1912 and “pacification” in the nineteen twenties and thirties, First World War, Spanish War, Second World War. Is war sometimes legitimate? Is it necessary to the construction and strengthening of the Italian State? Or on the contrary is it to be avoided at all costs? These are complex questions, for war is not the prerogative of fascism but has already been one of the important characteristics of the liberal regime that preceded fascism in Italy. This research is also focused on the thought and action of Benedetto Croce concerning peace maintaining and then restoring, in particular after both world wars, and his commitment to Europe. The study is based upon the interplay of Benedetto Croce’s works and the documents found in the State Archives in Rome, like the files of the fascist political police who watched Croce during decades because of his anti-fascist commitment.

Cette thèse a pour but d’interroger la pertinence des catégories d’objet et de sujet dans le champ politique, à la fois comme outils d’analyse, mais aussi comme support de l’action. Il s’agira ainsi de montrer que les objets, c’est-à-dire tout ce qui vient à occuper une place dans le champ politique, sont le produit d’une construction subjective, dont la mise en œuvre est à la fois individuelle et collective : le monde n’apparaît comme réalité d’objets qu’en tant qu’il est fixé à travers la perception humaine et le langage.Les processus de subjectivation seront alors envisagés selon le double critère d’opposition aux objets du monde, ou de leur utilisation stratégique. Le développement de cette thèse sera l’occasion d’adopter une approche pluri-disciplinaire : seront convoqués la psychanalytique, la philosophie, des écrits d’esthétique musicale, ainsi qu’une analyse théorico-historique de certains courants politiques, singulièrement le maoïsme chinois et sa réception française. / The aim of this thesis is to question the relevance of object and subject categories in the political field, as tool for the analysis but also as props for action. The focus will be on showing that objects, namely, everything that comes to occupy a place in the political field, are the product of a subjective construction, which is carried out both individually and collectively : the world appears as a reality of objects only insofar as it is established through human perception and language.Subjectification processes will then be considered using the double criterion of opposition to world objects or of their strategic use. The central part of this thesis will afford the opportunity to adopt a pluridisciplinary approach : it will rest on psychoanalysis, philosophy, drawn mainly from the Works of J. Derrida and A. Badiou, writings on musical esthetics, as well as a theoretico-historical analysis of a few political movements, particularly Chinese Maoism and its French reception.

Engelbert Dollfuß, chancelier et dictateur autrichien entre 1932 et 1934, mourut le 25 juillet 1934 au cours d’une tentative de putsch de Nationaux-Socialistes. Aujourd’hui, il constitue l’une des personnalités les plus controversées de l’Histoire Contemporaine autrichienne. Alors que de nombreuses recherches ont déjà été menées sur le régime dictatorial mis en place par Dollfuß et repris après sa mort par Kurt Schuschnigg, aucun travail ne s’est porté jusqu’à présent sur le mythe entourant la figure de Dollfuß. Comment est née la controverse qui survit aujourd´hui autour de Dollfuß ? Sur quels schémas narratifs le mythe a-t-il été construit puis développé? Quels en ont été les acteurs ? Quelles fonctions politiques et identitaires a joué le mythe de Dollfuß pour chacun des grands partis politiques autrichiens et, au-delà, dans l’avènement tardif de la « nation autrichienne » ? C’est à ces questions, jusqu’alors toutes inexplorées, que cette thèse tente de répondre. / In an experimental biographical form, this thesis traces the “posthumous life” of the Austrian Chancellor who ruled as a dictator from 1933, and was killed by the Nazis on 25 July 1934. Although the majority of the population is ignorant of Dollfuss, he remains, paradoxically, the most controversial figure in contemporary Austrian history, and his legacy continues to provoke political scandal and controversy. The theoretical part of the dissertation deals mainly with the mechanisms of construction of political myths and their social functions; in addition, it considers the possibility of the posthumous survival of a historical figure as part of his or her biography. Using the tools of both historical and critical discourse analysis, this project investigates the evolution of the versatile Dollfuss myth, considers its various forms of expression through different media, and assesses its actors and their political and ideological interests. / Am 25. Juli 1934 wurde der seit März 1933 diktatorisch regierende österreichische Bundeskanzler Engelbert Dollfuß im Laufe eines Putschversuchs der illegalen österreichischen Nationalsozialisten getötet. Nach seinem Tod „überlebte“ Dollfuß in Form eines facettenreichen Mythos, der bis heute geschichtspolitische Wellen schlägt und in politischen, religiösen und akademischen Kreisen weiterhin kontrovers diskutiert wird. Diesem bewegten Nachleben widmet sich diese Dissertation in Form einer experimentellen „Biographie des Posthumen“. Der theoretische Teil der Arbeit widmet sich zunächst den Mechanismen der Entstehung politischer Mythen sowie ihren identitätsstiftenden Funktionen. Darüber hinaus wird der Stellenwert von Personenmythen in der Biographieforschung hinterfragt und die Relevanz der Einbeziehung des „Posthumen“ in die biographische Perspektive hervorgehoben. Gestützt auf diesen theoretischen Unterbau und mithilfe der Instrumente der historischen und kritischen Diskursanalyse analysiert die Dissertation die Entstehung des Dollfuß-Mythos und dessen Entwicklung im Laufe der letzten 78 Jahre, untersucht seine verschiedenen medialen Ausdrucksformen und fragt nach den geschichtspolitischen Akteuren des Mythos sowie ihren politischen Interessen. Diese Untersuchung bettet sich in eine breitere Reflexion über die Opportunität oder Inopportunität des Dollfuß-Mythos im Hinblick auf den langwierigen Prozess der österreichischen Nationsbildung und Identitätsstiftung ein.