Thesis (M.F.A.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2005. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Harold Schlotzhauer.

Dunmore’s War was the last colonial war in America before the Revolution. This conflict was the culmination of nearly thirty years of intrigue and violence in the so-called “Western Waters” of the trans-Allegheny region of Virginia, which included the valleys of the Ohio River and its lower tributary system. This thesis traces the origins of the war, and suggests that, among other things, the provisions in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 for the westward extension of the Indian boundary line and soldier settlement contributed mightily to the instigation of the war between Virginia and the Shawnees. Indeed, Virginia’s former provincial soldiers took advantage of the waning authority of the royal government in the west to secure their bounty lands, at the expense of the Shawnees and their allies in the Ohio Valley. Matters reached a climax during the curious administration of Virginia’s last colonial governor, Lord Dunmore. Dunmore, who harbored his own western land ambitions, allied himself with the soldiers and land speculators, and instituted policies aimed at extending Virginia’s jurisdiction over the Ohio Valley and Kentucky against the directives of his superiors in London. Accordingly, the thesis examines the royal governor’s motivations, policies, and conduct in the events leading up to the conflict. Finally, the thesis contributes a fresh, complete narrative of the war itself, which has been lacking for some time in the field of Virginia History. / Master of Arts

In this thesis, I examine the possibility of deriving a normative position and political stance from the theory of Michel Foucault. In an attempt to answer the question, "If power cannot be separated from knowledge, then how can one use knowledge to critique forms of power?" I analyze and judge the arguments against Foucault's perspective by Nancy Fraser and Jurgen Habermas. I argue that the criticisms made by each are incongruent with the position from which Foucault speaks and are the result of their own theoretical frameworks. I then problematize the frameworks of need interpretation and universal pragmatics that Fraser and Habermas, respectively, appeal to revealing the connection between their foundations and bio-power. Following this, I explore William Connolly's suggestion of "dialogical ethics" as a normative foundation for Foucault's suggestions concluding that this approach fails due to its ultimate appeal to an imaginary telos as justification. Rather, I suggest that Foucault's normativity rests in the desire to open up possibilities for being other than what we are and that this translates into a politics centered less on locating and overturning centers of power and more on local struggles against government and market intrusions into our lives. Nevertheless, I conclude that questions concerning the utility of Foucault's work for social theory are better answered not through metatheoretical discussions concerning it, but rather through genealogical analyses of sociohistorical phenomena that draw from it. / Master of Arts

Thesis (M.A.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-108). Also available via the Internet.

In this study I search for the real understanding of the Lauclanian concept of ”populism” from both the viewpoint of William Connollys essentially contested concepts and the conceptual historian Reinhart Koselleck. My starting point for the analysis takes its inspiration from the more contemporary notion of ”constructing the social” but tries to focus on a result that can be free from the highly abstract discourse theory put forward by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The result is a peculiar paradox in which the concept of populism reconstructed by Laclau not only is contested but contested in such way that even the meaning of the word could lose its contextual use in place of another – the political. At the same time, the concepts favorability through a more common usage (or in Koselleckian terminology, its more democratized meaning) must be acknowledged, and in relation to the leftist political parties that uses this theoretic, strategic and analytical conceptual category it instead becomes much clearer why its usage is applied but also favoured by Laclau. It could be said that it is the most effective concept in determining the strategic discursive landscape and to shape it in favour of a future left-wing populist movement. At the same time, the concepts claim of being more democratic is not entirely as convincing in regard to the signifier that must be as empty as possible to fulfill the populistic demands of its political subjects. This means that its value entirely comes from the political subjects meaningful projection, and in one way only can be said to engage with these subjects through the channeling of the already expected dissent and disaffection of the people behind the discursive and overdetermined identities.

James Connolly (1868-1916), Socialist leader, labour union organiser and Irish Republican general, pursued an active career of over thirtyfive years duration in left-wing politics during the period of the Second International. During this time, he played an influential role in the Social Democratic and Labour movements in Ireland, Scotland and the United States. This stuy examines his relationships with the activists and organisations of left-wing labour in Scotland in the period 1890-1916 and moreover, seeks to establish his significance as a "Marxian Syndicalist"; an activist working in a Marxist tradition distinct from both the state socialism of the Social Democratic International and the Marxism - Leninism of the Comintern. Connolly's formative years in the Social Democratic and labour movements of his native Edinburgh (1890-96) are examined in some detail, and an attempt is made to delineate some characteristics both of the mainstream of British Marxism and of the uniqueness of the situation in Edinburgh, which were important for his personal development. Subsequently, his importance in the secession of the Scottish 'impossibilist' faction from the all-British Marxist movement in 1902-3 is analysed. At this point, there is some emphasis on the theories of the Alrerican Marxist, Daniel De Leon, and of their importance both in Connolly's further theoretical development and of the Scottish Left generally. The American contribution to Connolly's thought - and his mature response to it - is then followed up, some consideration being given to his work in the American socialist movement in 1903-10. In the light of this experience, Connolly's further influence on Scottish leftwing labour in the period 1910-15 is traced; particular emphasis is laid on the Syndicalist elements in his thought and on the Scottish responses to it. Finally, there is some discussion of the relationship between the themes of Nationalism, Marxism and Syndicalism within the history of the Scottish Left in the period 1890-1920, and the concrete failure of Marxism within the Scottish working class movement is assessed against the background of the manifest advances of the nontheoretical parliamentary Labour Party.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 104). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Studiens mål är att undersöka hur läroplanens hänvisningar om att demokratiska värden ska genomsyra undervisningen påverkar läroböckernas innehåll kring demokratibegreppet. Studien bygger på en diskursanalytisk metod och resultatet bygger på läroböcker för samhällskunskap på gymnasiet som material. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten i studien grundar sig i diskursteori men även teori kring begrepp demokrati. Chantal Mouffe, William Connolly och Mats Lundström har alla en del i den teoretiska bakgrund mot analysen är gjord. Resultatet påvisar att de analyserade läroböcker tenderar att använda sig av demokratiska fri- och rättigheter för att förklara hur en demokrati konstrueras. Genom detta kommunicerar läroböckerna de demokratiska värdena i termer av vilka fri- och rättigheter det demokratiska samhället ska ha. Det har även påvisats att de demokratiska värdena är odefinierade och därmed görs tolkningar av vad de kan innefatta. / This study aims to present how the democratic values in the curriculum are exposed in the education and content about the democratic concept in textbooks. The study is based on and uses a discourse analysis as a method. The results of the study is based on textbooks for social science in the upper secondary high school. The theoretical point of view for this study is based on discourse theory but also theories about democracy as a concept. Chantal Mouffe, William Connolly and Mats Lundström have contributed to the theoretical background for the analysis in the study. The result showed that textbooks have a tendency to use democratic right and freedoms to legitimize and explain how the idea of democracy is constructed. Through this the textbooks tend to communicate the democratic values in terms of which democratic freedom and rights a society will have. It has also been demonstrated that democratic values ​​are undefined and thus interpreted by what they can include.

This master thesis explores how the use of relatively new conceptual compositions such as "virtue signaling" and "social justice warriors" can alter and/or change the original connotations of "virtue" and "social justice". The study proposes that these compositions can become carriers of ideological structures. Further, it examines what effects these compositions have on the public debate. Using quantitative and qualitative digital text analysis on a selection of articles in Swedish alternative and mainstream media, the thesis finds the new compositions of the words "virtue" and "social justice" to be essentially contested concepts and that they have migrated from alternative media into the mainstream media. The thesis concludes that 1) the new compositions are carriers of the prevailing ideology in alternative media and that 2) the polemic and locked positions in the debate about virtue signaling calls for a discussion about language and its use.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2007. / Title from title screen (viewed 27 February 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts. Bibliography: leaves 250-256. Also issued in print.