Through a series of critical interventions in contemporary political thought, utilising the concept of liminality, this thesis points towards a Foucauldian ontology of the conditions necessary for social criticism. Beginning with a critical investigation of Foucault's archaeological and genealogical works (chapter one) the idea that Foucault's "analytic of the limit" provides sufficient grounding for a critical theory of society is challenged. While Foucault's approach contains many insights into the character of social relations it ultimately embodies a problematic transcendental conception of the present. It is argued that Foucault's early works require an "analytic of liminality" if this problem is to be avoided. Chapters two, three and four serve the following functions: firstly, they explore the concept of liminality as a feature of (respectively) the present, the self and everyday speech acts; secondly, they are critical interrogations of non-Foucauldian accounts of social criticism - from neo-Marxism and postmodernism, through communitarianism to critical theory; thirdly, they introduce a series of concepts that are sensitive to the "paradoxical" condition of liminality thereby suggesting the themes that a Foucauldian ontology of social criticism must endeavour to incorporate. In chapter five it is argued that Foucault's later works implicitly contain an analytic of liminality that entails a non-transcendental account of the present. Integrating the later work into his earlier work, therefore, provides a greater theoretical understanding of Foucault's ontology of social criticism. It is concluded that Foucault (and poststructuralism in general) represents a distinctive and convincing voice in the debates concerning the character of social criticism.

This thesis is basically in line with a common standpoint according to which Adam Smith's methodology deserves to be given the main priority in order to understand best his system of moral philosophy or `social science' in a modern sense. In this connection Smith's `metaphysics' is treated as an extremely important element to which our attention has to be drawn when we are concerned with his system of social science. This point of view differs primarily from an interpretative framework which seems to be still influential; a perspective from which a linkage between metaphysics and science is ignored. Instead, this work is based on the argument that metaphysics which may be defined as confirmable yet irrefutable (thus extra-scientific) doctrines is at work in the background of scientific activities in such as way that the former proposes an outline of scientific research in terms of providing a general outlook whereby a coherent type of data may be sorted out, arranged and organized. The `predominant' aim of this work on the basis of the view just mentioned is to seek a linkage between Smith's study of natural theology, which is responsible for providing an influential metaphysical doctrine, and other disciplines such as ethics and economics in his scheme of moral philosophy. I begin by identifying Smith's three metaphysical doctrines, the doctrine of mechanistic determinism, organismic philosophy, and the belief in a benevolent God (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 is designed to identify Smith's metatheoretical principles which, in conjunction with his metaphysics which is rooted in his theological outlook, serve to regulate or shape his `theoretical' analysis of man and society.

This research emphasizes the active influence of a firm on network outcomes through its networking behaviour: the antecedent efforts undertaken by the firm to develop, manage, and leverage its networks for actual value creation in enabling/driving internationalization. Networking behaviour at the level of the firm is investigated as a core explanatory factor in the internationalization of SMEs in this study. The influence of the key decision-maker on the networking behaviour of SMEs is also examined. Eight qualitative case studies and a quantitative survey were conducted respectively in two stages to draw empirical evidence from the Chinese context. The in-depth case studies provide rich information about the latent factors (variables) of the constructs of the study and their associations, from which hypotheses for quantitative research are formulated. Case findings also support more comprehensive interpretation of the quantitative results. Quantitative analysis of survey data allows statistical validation and generalization of the findings. Findings of key behavioural aspects of networking concerning the likelihood of SMEs achieving (rapid) internationalization are derived. Network resources are identified to have possibly negative in addition to positive influences on internationalization. The findings highlight the significance of deliberate networking behaviour undertaken by a firm in pursuit of rapid internationalization. The research conceptualizes a precise causal model capturing the networking behaviour of the firm as antecedent to explaining and predicting network outcomes in the specific context of internationalization. The research advances an integrative perspective – with theoretical underpinnings from the network perspective, the internationalization model and the resource-based view – to provide more comprehensive understanding pertaining to networks and the internationalization of SMEs.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, neo-liberal models of governance have become dominant, and have increasingly been justified through the employment of human rights discourses. However, the increased use of human rights discourses has not resulted in the increased realisation of human rights, and feminists have highlighted how the gendered nature of transitions to democracy and the market have, in fact, limited women's access to rights. The profoundly negative impacts of marketisation, particularly for women, have been starkly illustrated in the social and economic transformations taking place in contemporary Russia. While the lack of realisation of human rights in Russia has been well-documented, much of this research has focused on macro-level analyses of Russia's consolidation of pre-defined human rights norms, or in highlighting examples of particular human rights violations. While the recognition and critique of human rights violations is an extremely important area of research, concentrating on pre-defined norms often fails to show the complexity of understandings and uses of human rights discourses in everyday life. Moreover, there is a lack of research that explores women's perceptions of human rights and rights based approaches, which is surprising given the international promotion of rights-based approaches as a means of women's empowerment. This thesis addresses this gap by critically evaluating the empowerment potential of human rights and rights-based approaches for women in the unique transitional context of post-Soviet Russia. The thesis draws on analysis of Russian press discourses and readers' letters to advice pages, and also from data generated in open-ended questionnaires, ethnographic in-depth interviews and interviews with local community and political elites in the provincial Russian city of Ul'ianovsk. The thesis shows the ways in which, both cultural norms and practical constraints impact on the perceived legitimacy of certain categories of rights, which in turn determine which issues are viewed as legitimate rights claims for women. Analysis of respondents' perceptions of rights indicate that, despite clearly identifiable examples of rights violations against women, the backlash to Soviet enforced equality has delegitimised claims for 'women's rights' protection. Moreover, respondents' also disassociate their claims from human rights, which are perceived to relate to specific examples of violations perpetrated by the state that predominantly affect men. Thus, women's rights claims have been re-privatised and re-conceptualised as personal problems to be resolved by women individually. While respondents did not perceive their everyday problems to be women's rights or human rights claims, respondents did talk about 'rights' and were attempting to access and claim rights. The thesis shows how the continued legitimacy of Soviet social and economic rights led respondents to employ rights discourses to express a sense of loss of previously held rights, and also to articulate their confusion and frustration over the shifting legitimacy of rights that has resulted in the need to 'claim' what was previously guaranteed. However, respondents' were attempting to negotiate these shifts in legitimacy and attempt to claim rights, but identified several practical constraints that make this a difficult process. I show that while respondents' are attempting to use rights-based approaches, this has not resulted in women's empowerment. Analysis of respondents' experiences of making a legal claim shows the profoundly negative and disempowering effects that legalistic approaches to claiming rights can have for women in transitional contexts. While the thesis highlights women's experience in transitional contexts, these findings can be used to reassess claims about the empowerment potential of human rights and rights based approaches for women globally. The thesis concludes by arguing that Russian women's lack of rights protection is not a result of women's lack of awareness of, or unwillingness to use rights-based approaches, but a result of their inability to access rights in a neo-liberal cultural and economic climate, which can be applied to the experiences of women globally.

This thesis examines whether the introduction of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the establishment of Strategic Coordinating Groups (SCGs) within an integrated emergency management framework provides Scotland with an effective crisis response structure and resilience. A key aspect of resilience is the ability of the SCGs to learn from previous experiences. This research will consider the organisational learning of the SCGs to determine whether it is as effective as it could be. It first focuses on the organisational structure of the SCG and analyses it in terms of network management to determine its crisis management effectiveness. It then considers whether the SCGs are suitably adaptive to crises and learn from the experience of managing them and thereby enhance their preventative capability, as envisaged by the resilience policy. The principal argument is that the current structure does not ensure effective organisational learning and therefore Scotland’s resilience is diminished. Design/Methodology/Approach A qualitative approach is used. Data is gathered through interviews and non-participant observations, and interpreted by a combination of inductive and deductive approaches. The use of triangulation of data enhances its validity. Systems theory provides analytical frameworks to examine the SCG structure and processes, and to determine whether SCGs successfully achieve the desired outcome of resilience and effective crisis management. Findings/Practical Implications Using the systems approach identifies that real world SCGs have a number of variances from the ideal state. The current SCG structure is complex which makes communication and coordination challenging, which undermines the SCG crisis response. The absence of a dynamic monitoring mechanism within the SCG makes it difficult to learn lessons from previous crises and adapt to environmental changes. The thesis concludes by making a number of recommendations for improving SCG crisis management effectiveness and resilience.

Authentication mechanisms provide the cornerstone for security for many distributed systems, especially for increasingly popular online applications. For decades, widely used, traditional authentication methods included passwords and PINs that are now inadequate to protect online users and organizations from ever more sophisticated attacks. This study proposes an improvement to traditional authentication mechanisms. The solution introduced here includes a one-time-password (OTP) and incorporates the concept of multiple levels and multiple channels – features that are much more successful than traditional authentication mechanisms in protecting users' online accounts from being compromised. This research study reviews and evaluates current authentication classes and mechanisms and proposes an authentication mechanism that uses a variety of techniques, including multiple channels, to resist attacks more effectively than most commonly used mechanisms. Three aspects of the mechanism were evaluated: 1. The security of multi-channel authentication (MCA) was evaluated in theoretical terms, using a widely accepted methodology. 2. The usability was evaluated by carrying out a user study. 3. Finally, the acceptability thereof was evaluated by asking the participants in study (2) specific questions which aligned with the technology acceptance model (TAM). The study’s analysis of the data, gathered from online questionnaires and application log tables, showed that most participants found the MCA mechanism superior to other available authentication mechanisms and clearly supported the proposed MCA mechanism and the benefits that it provides. The research presents guidelines on how to implement the proposed mechanism, provides a detailed analysis of its effectiveness in protecting users' online accounts against specific, commonly deployed attacks, and reports on its usability and acceptability. It represents a significant step forward in the evolution of authentication mechanisms meeting the security needs of online users while maintaining usability.

This thesis is concerned with approaches to policymaking analysis. It argues that dominant neo-pluralist theories of policymaking have limited explanatory force. This arises from the method of inquiry, which necessarily limits the scope of analysis. The emphasis on inductive methods, coupled with a narrow focus on nonformalised sub-state networks, produces a model which is a useful way of identifying non-state policy actors, but which has no explanatory capacity outside such networks. In particular two weaknesses in network analysis are highlighted as significant. The first is that neo-pluralism does not account for the possible constraint on meso-level activity by the state. The state's ability to constrain individual agency may arise either from its position as a distinct social actor, or from it being an aspect of structural constraint. As this latter point implies, the second key weakness with neo-pluralist network analysis is owing to its structural indeterminism. The thesis argues that an adequate account of the policymaking process must recognise the possibility of limits to actor autonomy which arise from individual interaction with structure. Although the argument is made for a structural dimension to policymaking analysis, it concedes the dangers of functionalism and determinism which can arise from the application of structural frameworks. Consequently, the thesis argues for a duality of structure and agency as the core of political analysis. This argument is made on theoretical grounds, and via discussion of an empirical case study of the EU Task Force Environment: Water. The argument then is for a dual approach to policymaking which utilises both inductive and deductive methods. It is argued (a) that a Marxist analysis of the state and the structural constraints of capitalism can be combined (although not integrated) with networks analysis in a dual approach, and (b) that this combination provides the best model of policymaking.

Interlinking vital aspects of the legal, economic, political and social competencies of its participating member states the European Union as it is presently constituted represents a unique experiment in the development of a new type of supranational political system. Driven by the accelerating processes of globalisation and actioned through a variety of formal and informal mechanisms European integration is slowly shifting the centre of political authority to a new supranational European level. The challenge for the European Union is to reconcile these developments and create an institutional framework that provides democratic legitimacy promotes equality, social inclusion and social justice and creates a political system that can recognise and accommodate the differences inherent in an increasingly multi-cultural society. Recognising the close inter-relationship between the effects of integration and the exercise of meaningful political participation, the European Commission has explicitly identified European citizenship as the mechanism to legitimise continued integration. The purpose of this research is to analyse the implications of this decision and to explore whether over time European citizenship has the potential to create and foster a distinct European identity which can promote a genuine and meaningful form of participatory post-national citizenship based outside the nation state. Drawing together both integration and citizenship theory into a new synthesis, the research is seeking to develop a new syncretic model of integration that can satisfactorily explain both the complexity and sophistication of the European Union and explain the forces which are currently driving forward the momentum of integration towards an "ever closer" political Union.

This study added to the limited research on positive aspects of the human condition. It highlighted the perspective that women in western society recognise that there are wider health benefits to be taken from exercise than science suggests. Whilst this study acknowledged the customary fragmentary view, it took a holistic approach to exploring the nature and meaning of regular participation in exercise from the perspective of 41 women aged 30 to 50 years. This qualitative study included the views of regular participants in facility based and non-facility based exercise, along with the views of exercise instructors and the researcher. The study was contextualised within the traditional theories of related disciplines, namely health, women's studies, and exercise science. Also it was founded on the fitness industry's perspective on its service provision and its instructor training. Theory was compared with the experiences of a sector of the female population who, despite all the accepted calls on their time and energy, consistently maintained regular involvement in exercise. The study provided a holistic perspective on the nature, meaning and benefits of regular participation in exercise. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were utilised in the data gathering process. In each case, the process consisted of a series of questions designed to explore a subjective perception of experience in accordance with the Neuro-Logical Levels process, a model from within the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (Dilts, 1990; Dilts, Hallbom and Smith, 1990; O'Connor and Seymour, 1995). This model acknowledges that behaviours and actions, witnessed on a surface level, are driven by internal systems, including personal beliefs and identity structures. It was utilised as an exploratory technique to identify unconscious triggers for behaviour. The use of this process in the interviews facilitated individual exploration of the research topic at increasingly deep levels of awareness. Focus groups demonstrated a consensus on, as well as further individual differences in, the beliefs, attitudes, experiences and feelings of the participants as they arose from the interactive context. The heuristic methodology utilised in the analysis and presentation of the data offered a holistic, person-centred and reflective perspective on the nature, meaning and benefits of exercise (Moustakas, 1990). Individual and exemplary portraits depicted the experience and personal meaning of exercise as it emerged from the data. Composite depictions conveyed the nature of exercise participation from the perspectives of participants and instructors. The researcher's involvement in the complete study facilitated the emergence of a creative synthesis of the essence of exercise. Exercise provided emotional and spiritual gains that extended beyond the traditional lifestyle benefits. Individuals indicated a range of 'special' qualities in exercise, along with benefits to the mind. They noted unique personal benefits and enhanced interpersonal relationships in all spheres of life. Regular participation in exercise greatly enhanced the lives of those involved and contributed to an individual and collective evolutionary process. Effective exercise delivery consisted of interactional and motivational elements beyond the scientific and mechanistic topics traditionally recognised in instructor training programmes and was founded on empathy, facilitation, passion, love and positive energy.

Jack the Ripper has been described as the 'archetypal rapist' (Frayling 1986), a killer who committed what seemed like 'the ultimate rape' (Marriner 1992), yet he raped no-one. The mutilation and disembowelment of his victims is analogised as rape. This violence was murder, not any legally defined form of sexual assault. This is an aspect to these crimes that is given little, if any attention. Rape is a real social problem and the high attrition rate this offence attracts is the subject of much concern and research interest. A key problem highlighted in previous research has been the skewed public and criminal justice perception of what constitutes a 'real rape' (Kelly et al. 2005). To analogise disembowelment as rape creates or indicates a very skewed perception of the offence. This research proposes that the offences of rape and murder, when they are committed against women by men, have in some contexts become culturally conflated. The key aims are to examine to what extent the discourse of sexual murder produces a conflation, whether the meaning made of the violence in the discourse is used to rationalise other forms of violence against women by men and what the effect of a conflation could be for women and for the criminal justice system. Multiple methods were used, to extract data across three key institutional sites, under three headings - cultural representation, news reporting and police operational practice and include data obtained from examination of news reports of the rape and/or murder of women, Jack the Ripper film/TV and interviews with police from a serious crime team. All data was analysed using the unifying theoretical framework of Foucauldian discourse analysis. It was found that in some contexts the conflation exists and has real effect. There are five key findings: firstly that perceptions of what constitutes a 'real rape' are more closely aligned to a potential sexual murder than a legally defined or aggravated rape; secondly it was found that murders of women are routinely gendered and sexualised by both the media and the police which powerfully links fatal or potentially fatal violence with sexual assault and vice versa; thirdly it was found that because of the symbolic value of rape, murders of women can be and are considered, in some circumstances to be 'virtual rapes', which links closely to the fourth observation that indicates that instead of understanding rape as a form of violence, we can understand violence against women as a form of rape; finally, it was found that fear of rape could realistically be associated with fear of death because of the meaning made of rape in sexual murder discourse and this could have significant repercussions for those women experiencing a rape assault, those women who fear rape assaults, those who deal with victims of rape and the prosecution of rape and murder in the criminal justice system.