Over the past decade, several European Union (EU) member-states have expanded the process. of decentralisation by granting further autonomy to subnational regions. This recent push for devolution is described by Michael Keating (1998) as new regionalism, the subnational answer to globalisation. Regions around Europe are now more accessible to one another to share commonalities across trans-national networks which in turn can help foster a greater sense and desire for autonomy (Keating 1998: 89). Furthermore, sub-state nationalism can consequently affect a region's desire for integration within Europe. Traditionally, European integration public opinion studies have remained focused at the national and individual levels, rarely taking the regional level into account. This dissertation attempts to break this mould and demonstrate that public opinion towards European integration can vary as much within member-states as it does between them. Through the use of quantitative investigations of public opinion data, this study reveals that several factors which contribute to 'new regionalism' also contribute to variations in regional EU support. These factors include regional contrasts within the realms of economy, politics and identity. In addition, this research notes that individuals may perceive certain national evaluations from within the regional context. Furthermore, the relationship between regional assertiveness and European integration is also analysed. While it is demonstrated that most regional political parties tend to favour European integration, this is not often the case amongst the public of these assertive regions. Regions where assertion is high and identity is stronger will less likely support European integration. The results of this research demonstrate that the nature of public opinion in Europe is possibly more complex than initially thought. Moreover, it builds on previous research of public opinion towards European integration by adapting to the continuous change in the multilevel structure of Europe taking into account the contextual dynamics of which Europeans shape their opinion.

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The civil war in Pakistan in 1971 and the subsequent break-up and the emergence of Bangladesh wrought important changes in the political map of the South Asian Subcontinent. In the context of India's friendship with Bangladesh during the war and the break between former East and West Pakistan, it was uncertain whether interstate relations on the subcontinent would be marked by any significant departure from the pre-1971 bitterness between India and Pakistan and whether a more co-operative relationship would ensue. The present study makes an attempt to examine how far the elements of convergence and divergence have really worked in the post-Bangladesh subcontinent. Thus it sets out to identify the roots of conflict and their impact upon the relations between India and Pakistan, India and Bangladesh and Bangladesh and Pakistan. An attempt has also been made to show how far Great Power interests and rivalries contribute to either co-operation or conflictual relations among the nations of the region. The study has been organized in five chapters with a conclusion summing up the major findings. It has been found that in the post-1971 subcontinent there has been a change in the pattern of relations among India, Pakistan and Bangladesh but not always to the extent or in the direction that had been expected and forecast. There has been some reduction of tension between India and Pakistan, but the potential for conflict between them is far from eliminated. India-Bangladesh relations, after a phase of extreme friendliness, have now reached a stage of caution and at times even muted hostility. The Great Power involvement has not greatly changed. Moscow maintains its traditional closer links with New Delhi while maintaining connections with Islamabad. China has its closest link with Pakistan and has recently recognized and established links with Bangladesh where its influence will increasingly grow. The United States maintains as part of its global policy a close link with Pakistan, Bangladesh and China providing tactical support to its allies against the Soviet Union even though this offends New Delhi.

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This thesis is focused on the main challenges which faced the progress of the GCC when it was established in May 1981. The core topic is the security challenges and the bilateral boundary disputes, internal and external, as well as the steps which resulted in the establishment of the GCC. The importance of the GCC is that the six Arab Gulf States contain 60% of the world's total oil reserves. This study focuses on the political and historical development of the reasons behind the establishment of the GCC, and the main internal and external challenges, which prevented these countries from achieving a trustful co-operation on the objectives for which the Council was established. External security in the Arab Gulf States was and still is the main responsibility of the West, Britain and the United States in particular. The boundary disputes, along with the other secondary challenges, are the main obstacles in the way of the GCC's achievements. This thesis is divided into seven chapters. Two of the core chapters concentrate on security (internal and external), and three on boundary disputes (internal and external and maritime). The first chapter provides a historical and political survey of the six states of the GCC. The second concentrates on the political developments which led to the establishment of the GCC. The third and fourth chapters address security in the Gulf, both external and internal; the fifth, sixth and seventh concentrate on the boundary challenges between the GCC states on one hand and the GCC states and their neighbours (Iraq, Iran and Yemen) on the other. The introduction of the thesis is a review of the relevant literature.

The objective of this dissertation is to reinstate the significance of Hegel’s thought to the theory of International Relations (IR). It seeks to demonstrate that Hegelian thought can offer an alternative conceptualisation of agency, freedom and ethics which enriches our understanding of inter-state relations, citizenship, security and international development. Although Hegel’s insights have inspired certain IR scholars before, yet their approaches are limited, mainly because they underplay his notion of Spirit (Geist) and the contribution of Hegel’s method of immanent critique and since they fail to take into consideration - coherently - the content of Hegel’s work. These IR scholars focus primarily on specific excerpts of the Philosophy of Right or the Phenomenology of Spirit and treat Hegel as a proto-realist thinker, ignoring Hegel’s notion of immanent critique and his philosophical system of Spirit (Geist). In that respect, these IR approaches are unable to follow Hegel’s thought consistently and fail to unveil not only Hegel’s intellectual wealth but also the contribution of his insights to the field of International Relations. In short, this dissertation after following Hegel’s thought consistently and taking into consideration Hegel’s philosophical system of Spirit (Geist), seizes novelty as it: a) rectifies and enriches Hegelian thought in the field of IR; and b) forms an additional philosophical point of reference which was previously ignored by IR theorists. This Hegelian perspective is strong enough to counterbalance the highly influential Kantian and Foucaultian philosophical IR approaches after exposing their theoretical shortcomings while providing a more complete, if not superior, philosophical alterative. Moreover, the consideration of Hegel’s notion of Spirit (Geist), reveals the distinctive contribution of immanent critique, which overcomes the separation between: 1) the subject from the object of knowledge; 2) the universal from the particular dimension (providing a content to empty supranational norms); 3) empiricism and idealism after re-approaching the conjunction of reality and reason. The value of these points which provide a deeper understanding of knowledge, subjectivity, freedom, reality and reason become evident throughout the five chapters of this dissertation which enrich our conceptualization of agency, security, ethics and citizenship. Specifically: The first chapter, with the title - Revisiting Hegel’s Contribution On Interstate Relations, War and Security - traces the limits of IR thought with regard to subjectivity and the method of knowledge. Specifically, after focusing on the evolution of the consciousness forms as found in the Phenomenology of Spirit, it is stressed, how a flawed understanding of subjectivity is responsible for a flawed method of acquiring knowledge regarding interstate relations and the issue area of security. An immanent critique of the (neo)realist, the Copenhagen and the critical school of security unveils these flaws and demonstrates the shortcomings of separating the subject from the object of knowledge (point 1). Separating the subject from the object of knowledge conveys a problematic account of subjectivity which accommodates only a descriptive or a prescriptive approach to knowledge. Thus, Hegelian thought helps us see how IR thought and security studies are committed to a divide between prescriptive and descriptive theorizing, which is limiting and misleading. The second chapter, titled - The Shortcomings of Foucaultian Application In The Theory of International Relations From A Hegelian Perspective, departs from the point the previous chapter ended. Namely, how the problematic account of subjectivity and knowledge is echoed in Foucaultian thought. Specifically, it is argued that Foucault unsuccessfully attempted to reconsider reality without transcendental means via the notion of power. It is demonstrated that Foucault failed where Hegel’s immanent critique and his philosophical system of Spirit (Geist) succeeded as the Foucaultian notion of power is based on transcendental premises and forms a misleading account of subjectivity which separates empiricism from idealism (point 3) rendering knowledge and subjectivity relativistic. Such a relativistic treatment of subjectivity promotes a self-alienated agent who is controlled by the administrative mechanisms of power and lacks consciousness. Thus, any attempt of the subject to emancipate itself is selfdefeating, since an infinite succession of Foucault’s power regimes, renders the subject eternally contingent and relativist. This chapter will in turn clarify the implications of Foucaultian approaches on IR thought. Specifically it is shown that IR scholars tend to take uncritically for granted Foucault’s concepts of power, subjectivity and freedom. Here, it is argued that an elaborate examination of these concepts, from a Hegelian perspective, reveals the intellectual flaws these concepts entail which IR scholarly debates leave unexamined. Foucaultian inspired IR scholars promote too a flawed understanding of subjectivity in the form of a relativistic and self-alienated individual that lacks self-consciousness and free will. Foucault’s notion of power is guilty of promoting a problematic account of subjectivity and freedom since it fails to promote the selfconsciousness of the subject. The third chapter titled - Hegel’s Contribution Towards Unveiling the Limits of Conceptualizing Freedom in Foucaultian, Kantian and IR Thought - elaborates further on Hegel’s understanding of freedom. Hegel’s notion of immanent critique unveils that Foucaultian, Kantian and IR thought accommodate a misleading account of freedom. In particular an immanent critique of Foucault’s and Kant’s perspective reveals that their conceptualisation of freedom rests on transcendental and contingent premises which promote a misleading conceptualisation of subjectivity and ethics. Highlighting Hegel’s enriched account of subjectivity and consciousness (point 1) as well as the interplay between the universal and the particular dimension (point 2) demonstrates not only the limits of Kantian and Foucaultian thought, but also how a problematic understanding of subjectivity and freedom is promoted in IR thought too by the scholars who are inspired by Foucault and Kant. The transcendental premises of their thought which immanent critique reveals, separate the universal from the particular dimension and promote a misleading understanding of freedom with excluding and non-emancipating effects. Similarly the IR scholars who separated the universal from the particular dimension and promoted a misleading understanding of consciousness such as Mervyn Frost and David Chandler promote too a self-defeating understanding of freedom. Their understanding of freedom too is responsible for nourishing liberal ideals with socially excluding effects which promote coercion and undermine the agents’ free will. The fourth chapter titled - Hegel’s Contribution Towards a Richer Understanding of Citizenship - stresses how an immanent critique of certain universalist or cosmopolitan perspectives on citizenship unveils their transcendental theoretical premises. Specifically, Hegel’s immanent critique and his philosophical system of Spirit (Geist), allows us to see how the distinction between the universal and the particular dimension of citizenship is misleading, demonstrating the significance of (point 2). The universal approaches of citizenship which celebrate only one the two dimensions are based on the promotion of the cosmopolitan character of (liberal) rights.

This study is concerned with European micro-states and their continual survival in the international system. Micro-states are sovereign states with populations up to one million people. The existence of micro-states raises a number of serious questions involving the granting of statehood, recognition of sovereignty and the ability of micro-states to maintain their presence in the international system. The study begins with some background into small state theories, writings on micro-states and debates concerning sovereignty. It is argued that being sovereign members of the international system does not fully explain the extantism of the micro-states but that a functional account can. A <i>theory of disfunctionality</i> is outlined prior to a review of empirical evidence in support of this framework. It is argued that a functional account of the state is central to the survival of European micro-states. In particular, it is suggested that micro-states ‘contract-out’ important state functions to others in the international system to ensure their continued survival. From this proposition, a <i>theory of disfunctionality</i> is outlined. This theory incorporates a functional matrix of statehood, the impact of small size upon states, dependency upon others and that the logic of appropriateness is in play for the micro-states. The conclusion indicates that it is possible to identify three types of states in the contemporary system: functional states, dysfunctional states and non-functioning states. The final part of the study also suggests that the question of statehood is somewhat erratic and that a proliferation of micro-states may be expected in the 21^st century.

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