This thesis examines the role of Muslim women in the implementation of ethno-religious minority policies in the UK from 2001-2014. Using Muslim women as a case study, I aim to understand how this relationship works in practice and whether the role played by Muslim women is symbolic or substantive. Also, I attempt to explore whether the engagement between the government and Muslim women has increased since 2010, with the change in the government from New Labour to the Coalition. Last but not least, the representative claims of the women involved in the policy process is examined to determine the legitimacy of the whole process. Specifying the ‘decentred’ theory of policy making, I employ a ‘hybrid’ approach to policy implementation and take further insight from ‘Saward’s (2006; 2009) ‘representation’ theory to answer the aforementioned questions. The theoretical framework helps me to justify the three level analysis, e.g. national, local and individual case studies. Using evidence from the documentary analysis and in-depth elite interviews, I highlight the positive role of non-elected Muslim women in the implementation of policies towards the Muslim community. The particular importance of the thesis lies in the way I apply the ‘decentred’ government’ approach and the ‘hybrid’ model of policy implementation to appreciate how Muslim women and local actors can ‘twist’ national policy to suit local needs. The empirical findings on how women approached engagement through Prevent, and how local actors negotiated a ‘grey space’ to pursue more locally appropriate approaches, are both significant interventions in the wider debate on Prevent and its implications for Muslim women’s and state-Muslim engagement.

This thesis is about non-party and non-governmental organisations campaigning for and against European integration in Britain between 1945 and 1986. These groups have been largely overlooked by studies on Britain’s relationship with Europe. The thesis will examine how these groups operated between the spheres of public activism and institutional politics. They targeted the general public directly with the aim of becoming popular mass movements, and focused on emotive and populist themes and adopted a moralistic tone as part of a broad non-party or cross-party appeal. Old-fashioned methods of activism, including pamphleteering and mass meetings, were used to cultivate a groundswell of support. However, these groups were not able to wrest control of the EEC membership issue away from Westminster. In the case of anti-EEC groups, attempts to acquire political influence and attract more parliamentarians to the campaign were at odds with the “anti-establishment” or “anti-political” tone adopted by sections of their support. Divisions over whether to adopt a more “insider” strategy of lobbying and adopting the model of a research-based think-tank or whether to continue seeking mass support stifled the campaign. Disagreement over strategy, and the confused position between public protest and Westminster politics, caused the anti-EEC campaign’s to fail.

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This thesis presents a comprehensive account of the complex relationship between the British government and the domestic military-naval arms industry from the armistice in 1918 until the period of rearmament in the 1930s. Challenging traditional 'declinist' assumptions, it offers a multifaceted interpretation of the industry's strengths and weaknesses and its place in national security. In this regard, British governments always prioritised national interests over the private armament manufacturers' particular concerns and never formulated a specific policy to help them adjust to peacetime conditions. Indeed, the wartime experience of industrial mobilisation – the mass production of war material by ordinary firms – made specialist arms producers appear less important in supply planning: a view that proved more important than disarmament and retrenchment in damaging state-industry relations and, together with Britain's liberal economic traditions, helped to foster an enduring but exaggerated sense of relative weakness. Faced with the government's apparent indifference, the overextended arms industry underwent comprehensive internal reorganisation, led by Vickers and supported hesitantly by the Bank of England. This reduced the overall number of manufacturers but it also brought modernisation and a comparatively efficient nucleus for emergency expansion. Internationally, British firms retained a large share of the global arms market despite rising competition. Policymakers rarely accepted widespread public criticism that private armaments manufacture and trading were immoral but believed that the League of Nations' ambition to enforce all-encompassing international controls posed a far greater risk to British security. Although the government imposed unilateral arms trade regulations to facilitate political objectives, and was forced to address outraged popular opinion, neither seriously damaged the manufacturers' fortunes as the country moved towards rearmament. Indeed, the arms industry was never simply a victim of government policy but instead pursued an independent and ultimately successful peacetime strategy, before rearmament led to a cautious renewal of state-industry relations.

Between 1660 and 1880 a number of Royal Patents were granted and Acts of ParI iament passed whose purpose and effect, it has generally been acknowledged, was to restrict the spread and availability of English theatre, in particular that within the two cities of the metropolis, and to limit its potential as a forum of debate for the examination of ideas or the promotion of political dissent. During the same period, although not necessarily at the same time, theatre came under fire from religious groups of many different denominations. This condemnation and the measures taken by this special interest group in society to combat the influence of the stage has also been held to have had a restrictive effect on the institution of theatre. This research has been primarily based on an examination and analysis oflegislation, parliamentary debates, religious tracts, papers and letters in Lambeth Palace Library, letters in the Manuscript Department of the British Library, theatre texts, the writings of contemporary theatre critics, articles in contemporary newspapers and journals specialising in theatrical topics, specialist reports and magazines published by various religious denominations, contemporary pamphlets, diaries, biographies, theatre ephemera and current critical writing in specialist magazines and books devoted to theatrical and religious topics. After discussing the reasons for setting the parameters of 1660 and the late 1880s for this research, the thesis considers the importance of the institution of theatre in the particular period studied and its relationship to the whole panorama of the history of theatre. After detailing a number of questions regarding the purpose of theatre and the effect it has and has had on society, this research examines the objects, effects and motivation behind the main statutes that were enacted to deal with the phenomenon of theatre between 1660 and 1880. In particular the genesis and context of The Restoration Patents, the Licensing Act (1737), the Disorderly Houses Act (1751), the Theatrical Representations Act (1788), the failed Sadler's Wells Bill (1788), and Interludes Bill (1788), and the Theatres Act (1843) have been examined, the aims of each debated and the effects of each of the legislative measures on theatre as a whole is explored. The opposition that came from religious forces within the country during the period under study is also examined and analysed. The complaints from Church and Chapel were various: blasphemy, indolence, vice, perversion (particularly of the young), consorting with unwholesome company and drawing people away from God were all cited as sins of the stage. The underlying causes ofthe censure of important religious figures as well as that which came from different denominations is examined. The various measures put into operation to combat the dangers perceived to be coming from theatre are explored and their efficiency debated. Finally the study examines the nature of the theatrical experience and how this has been affected by the legislation and condemnation of the religious interest in the country. A principal conclusion is that theatre in England was not repressed or rendered impotent by any of the legislation nor was it by the tactical opposition of the religious faction in society. Indeed theatre gained strength and potency by finding ways to circumvent the opposition it encountered. So successful was it in overcoming the ploys of the legislature and religious interests and so instrumental was theatre as a focus for life in England during the period under study that both of the forces of opposition eventually had to adopt theatre as an ally in the implementation of their own political agenda.

This doctoral thesis will examine how relations between the United States and Britain, and internal dynamics within each country, affected the nature and development of the two countries’ information strategies in a shared theatre of war. It examines the two governments’ distinct organisational cultures and bureaucratic structures in explaining the shape this took. Going beyond the policy level it considers how cultures and power relationships contributed to propaganda war planning. The research emphasises important changes in policy development and circumstance which, it is argued, despite the obvious power imbalance, situated Britain in a key position in the Anglo-American propaganda effort. The analysis draws on empirical research conducted in both countries. This fieldwork involved elite interviews focussing on the period of the ‘War on Terror’, including policymakers, key bureaucrats, intelligence personnel, contractors and military planners in both Britain and America.