This thesis is focused on the intersections of ontology and politics in the work of Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. In particular it concerns the ways in which these two thinkers offer accounts of (ethical, social, political) relations which exceed a traditional dichotomy between transcendentalism and empiricism. Both Derrida and Foucault show universal foundations to originate in an anterior play of differences 'between' the transcendental and empirical. However, as this thesis shows, each thinks this anterior 'medium' of relations in radically incommensurable ways: as differance or aporia in Derrida and as power and problematization in Foucault. As such, each necessarily views the other as failing to account for the ‘true medium’ of relationality and so of its violent effacement and disavowal. This incommensurability, it is argued, results in a polemic between them which is explicit in their competing accounts of Descartes’ Meditations and implicit throughout all of their work. This thesis traces the polemic between Derrida and Foucault across their accounts of subjectivity, ethics and politics. It is argued that in their engagements with each of these fields they employ parallel politicizing strategies which are nevertheless wholly exclusive of one another. The incommensurability between Derrida and Foucault reflects a broader problematic which any political thought affirming its own finitude cannot explicitly recognize. Postfoundational accounts of relationality, it is claimed, violently exclude competing philosophical strategies without the capacity of accounting for this exclusion.

The increasing prominence of multiculturalism and moral diversity over the past few decades has coincided with a theoretical expansion of the democratic project. In particular, so-called „deliberative‟ and „strong‟ theories of democracy have been offered and expanded as solutions to the various moral and political problems that have arisen. However, while democrats disagree in the literature about what form a strongly participative democracy should take, there has been little circumspection about the wisdom of expanding democratic mechanisms. This thesis attempts to fill this lacuna by examining the merits of the various democratic theories on offer. By analysing the dilemmas posed by diversity and multiculturalism, it shows that the efficacy of deliberative democracy rests upon its epistemic virtues. If a stronger democracy is to overcome the problems of pluralism, it needs to greatly improve the flow of information around society. The principal argument offered is that, in practice, strong theories of democracy would not be able to deliver the epistemic outcomes necessary to provide a desirable alternative to modern liberal democracy. Multiculturalists and strong democrats do offer compelling reasons to reject modern liberalism, but the various democratic positions they advance rest upon prima facie controversial assumptions about the good society. By presuming both the means and the end of social life, deliberative democracy would likely close down rather than increase the flow of information between social actors, to the detriment of those already marginalised by the liberal democratic system. As such, it is contended on pragmatic grounds that we would do better to return to a classical, „Austrian‟ form of liberalism to find a theory of multicultural accommodation. Since we cannot know in advance how we should live our lives, our best response to pluralism would be to renounce the political management of society in order to strengthen those social mechanisms which help us learn about and adapt to one another.

This thesis examines how the government of Edward Heath (Prime Minister 1970-74) managed the two most significant domestic political and economic crises which determined both its fate and its long term reputation; first, the 1972 miners’ strike and secondly, the 1973-4 miners’ dispute and the three-day week. Its defeat by the miners in 1972 was an enormous humiliation from which the Heath government never fully recovered. The violent mass picketing which accompanied the strike shook both the government’s and the public’s confidence in the ability of the state to maintain law and order. Their victory boosted the miners’ confidence to take industrial action again in the autumn of 1973 when their position was strengthened by the oil price rise in the wake of the Yom Kippur war. This led to the imposition of a three-day week on industry which ended in the general election of February 1974 and the fall of the Heath Government. This thesis uses the new material in the National Archives to examine the interplay between these events and the government machinery for handling civil emergencies. It reveals the manner in which Heath’s first attempt to reform the system was defeated by Whitehall resistance. The incompetent handling of the 1972 miners strike then strengthened the case for reform and led to the thorough overhaul of contingency planning which laid the foundations for the system which exists to the present day. It examines the factors which influenced the handling of the crises, including the relationship between the Prime Minister and his colleagues, between ministers and officials, the problems posed by external events and the cumulative exhaustion which placed ministers and officials as well as the machinery of government under increasing strain.

This thesis examines the development of female homework as a social and political issue from 1880-1909. Special attention is given to homework in Spitalfields, East London. The study examines the formation and conduct of the campaign to reform the law and preserve the 'sanctity' of the Victorian home. We focus on the role of philanthropists, social reformers, the medical profession and the Press in bringing about greater public awareness of the problem of women's homeworking; and evaluate the impact of the campaign on government policy and legislation. The thesis traces the formulation and definition of the homework problem in. four distinct but overlapping phases: as a public health issue; as a 'dangerous trade'; as a problem of Motherhood, Race and Empire; and finally of underpaid labour. The Parliamentary processes which led to the 1909 Trade Boards Act are examined. The supportive response to the legislation by The Women's Industrial Council and women trade unionists (Clementina Black and Mary MacArthur); by the militant women's suffrage campaign (the Women's Social and Political Union); and by the Press (The Lancet and The Daily News) and the Anti-Sweating League (George Cadbury, Gertrude Tuckwell et al. ) is considered as indicative of the large measure of consensus on homework which was to remain in force for more than half a century.

This thesis is concerned with social justice in the distribution of social goods from public institutions. It seeks to determine applicable theoretical perspectives of social justice suitable for allocating council housing. The thesis reviews different moral principles related to procedural and distributive justice concepts in the rationing of public goods. The research particularly draws on views proposed by authors who have theorised social justice as universal or pluralist in nature and for groups, institutions or territories. Literature and policy concerning the pnupose and history of the council housing sector and the relationship to social justice also informs the work. Emphasis is placed on housing as a basic human need and the links to disadvantaged and excluded groups and localities. Research techniques are triangulated in four case studies, of council housing in Tower Hamlets, between 1984 and 1998. Public and restricted documents concerning administration of council housing in the borough and interview data with tenants and housing officials are used in two case studies. Computerised data from housing records are used in a further two case studies. The research showed that the intervention of the Commission for Racial Equality, using a legal interpretation of social justice, led to actions that reduced discrimination in the housing allocation system. Within the borough localities, the research identified decentralised governance and stakeholders actions as contributing and influencing the contestation of justice in housing procedures and outcomes. New tenancies analysed in terms of different concepts of social justice, showed that some criteria of justice were met, but those placing strongest emphasis on reducing inequalities were not achieved. The location of housing received by groups in Tower Hamlets appears to contribute to continuing spatial polarisation. New residential areas perpetuated disadvantage for some groups.

This thesis analyzes the dynamics of ethnic conflict evolution, mobilization and radicalization with a focus on Nagorno-Karabakh (1987–1992) and Northern Ireland (early 1960s–1969). It concentrates upon the periods when intersocietal communication was gradually being reinterpreted and reshaped on an ethnic basis, which also became increasingly crucial to public discourse. I argue that many of the weaknesses of the existing interpretations of these conflicts arise from an absolutization of single theoretical and methodological approaches. This study utilizes a synthesis of the literatures on ethnic conflict, social movements, collective action and nationalism. The perspective offered in this research sees nationalist activity as embedded in cultural contexts, social networks and intersubjective relations of reciprocity. I stress that the understanding of these dimensions is crucial to account for temporal evolution within and variation across nationalist movements. Securing the success of a specific nationalist agenda requires operating in an interdependent field of rival strategies of legitimation. The study also highlights unintended consequences in the trajectory of conflict development. Many academic accounts approach this subject from the point of view of one of the respective communities without recognizing the value of alternative conceptualizations. This study systematically examines the interactions, perceptions and attitudes of the main parties to the conflicts in question avoiding one-sided and often static interpretations. The thesis builds on extensive documentary and press material, archival research and over 50 semi-structured interviews. New empirical evidence presented here casts doubt on strong versions of the ‘ethnic entrepreneurship’ literature by emphasizing the fact that the connection 3 between developments on the ground and elite conduct was not purely automatic, and drawing attention to the symbolic repertoires, selfperceptions, categorizations and ideas that feed into the collective representation of the nation. I suggest that the constraints facing elites within each ethnic bloc, as well as ‘external’ (state) leaders, are built into the process of ethnic contestation. Overall, the thesis makes a strong case for greater attention to the limits of elite flexibility in sustaining uniform group preferences, freely opting for the path of compromise and/or (constitutional) reform.

The thesis is primarily concerned with the practical formulation and implementation of immigration and asylum policies in the UK between 1996 and 2006. The focus is on these ten years because I contend that it is the legislation and the circumstances, rather than the specific party of government that has been responsible for perpetuating further legislation. This thesis argues that the development of immigration and asylum legislation has created an undeliverable framework for implementation. It examines the difficulties of the decision-making process using a bifurcate approach; there is a macro-view of immigration and asylum trends over the past century presented, focussing on increases in numbers of migrants during recent years. This overview is brought into sharp contrast through an empirical study of the communication of policy to Home Office staff, which provides the basis for micro analysis. This combination of evidence illustrates that the successful implementation of legislation and policy is wholly dependent upon the accurate communication to, and interpretation by, frontline staff. The paradox of this thesis’s title lies in the fact that it is the increase in the volume of legislation and policy, introduced and intended to prevent the use of discretion by caseworkers, that has directly contributed to difficulties in implementation and to the increased use of discretion by caseworkers. The thesis concludes that by seeking to control immigration purely through the enactment of new legislation, rather than enforcing or reviewing existing controls, the government has succeeded in undermining their own legislation. In addition, a lack of institutional memory has resulted in the duplication and unnecessary proliferation of legislation, which in turn has created information overload for implementers and the increased use of bureaucratic discretion. I contend that it is this confusion and the resulting effects of discretion that has lead to the introduction of further legislation.

This thesis is concerned with the changing relationship between political parties and civil society, focusing on the turn to community organising by the British Labour Party in the aftermath of its 2010 General Election defeat. It documents the model of community organising developed by Movement for Change (M4C), the application of this model within the Labour Party, and the impact of this model on the Labour Party's relationship to civil society. This thesis finds its theoretical home in debates about the role of political parties in modern democracy, the ability of parties to represent the myriad interests of civil society, and the extent to which parties with strong linkages to place-based forms of civil society associations are capable of bridging the divide between society and the state. Additionally, this thesis contextualises the Labour Party's turn to community organising within a history of the party's relationship to civil society from the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, focusing on the ideas of Eduard Bernstein, Anthony Crosland and those associated with Blue Labour. Empirical material within the thesis was collected during a twelve-month period of participant observation within M4C between September 2012 and September 2013. This provided data on M4C's community organising projects in Southampton and Cardiff. Through the development of these cases the thesis considers the potential for creating a collaborative space beyond the institutional boundaries of the party in which actors from the party and civil society deliberate on issues of common concern, development campaign strategies together, and take action to affect change. The examination of this space allows this thesis to argue that the organisational capacity of a political party is enhanced when it forms strong links to civil society associations engaged in a tradition of place-based political organising, as well as offering a means by which political parties can evolve in response to external challenges they are likely to face in the future.

Beginning in the inter-war years and ending in the early 1970s, this thesis explains how and why the 'environment' came to play a significant role in mainstream British politics. During this period, a range of rural and urban problems became conceptualised as 'environmental', and governments came to understand their responsibilities not simply in terms of providing basic standards of public health, but also in terms of improving the broader 'quality of life' of all citizens. Chapter two explores rural preservation in the inter-war period, and the passage of town and country planning and National Parks legislation in the 1940s. Chapter three examines air pollution, focusing on the London smog of 1952 and the passage of the 1956 Clean Air Act. Chapter four explores Britain's early nuclear power programme, and shifting attitudes towards modernisation, risk and the countryside in the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter five examines the growth of political interest in 'environmental' problems during the 1960s, and the eventual formation of the Department of the Environment in 1970. Finally, chapter six focuses upon the challenge of traffic in towns, exploring proposals for the construction of a motorway network in London in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The thesis concludes that the 'environment' was established as a field of public policy by the early 1970s. Whereas many existing accounts have emphasised the importance of radical critiques of human interaction with the environment, it is the contention of this thesis that environmental politics in Britain developed in the political mainstream, taking shape amid efforts to address new challenges of governance. The rejection of modernity, in the form of industrialisation, urban life, consumer culture and economic growth, was never more than a minority position within British politics, and successful arguments for environmental protection had to be framed in line with dominant social and economic priorities.

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