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Free from Any Other Meaning": Truth and Politics in the Rhetoric of Elizabeth I considers the relationship between rhetorical education and practice by examining the rhetoric of Queen Elizabeth I of England in light of dramatic shifts in rhetorical theory in Elizabethan England. This dissertation first examines rhetorical manuals of the sixteenth century, and discusses how a move from considering rhetoric as a complex relationship between knowledge, truth, and language to focusing almost exclusively on the use of figures of speech points to an anxiety over meaning and truth themselves. It then analyzes rhetorical performances of Elizabeth and her interlocutors in key debates during her reign, showing that Elizabeth drew on this anxiety about meaning and truth in order to overcome what was for her the most problematic "truth" of her reign--the doubtful authority of her status as a female prince. Tracing out two parallel narratives--the development of rhetorical theory and the development of Elizabeth's rhetorical strategy--I show finally that a series of dynamic shifts in rhetorical thought were not simply the result of pedagogical needs and intellectual currents, but responses to the problem of female rule. / English

The story of chemical warfare is that of a relationship between nature, the military, industry, and culture. By the turn of the twentieth century, German industry, especially its chemical companies, came to dominate Europe. Their success brought both considerable economic development and considerable environmental damage from chemical pollution, especially to rivers such as the Rhine and the Emscher. These economic changes made in exchange for landscape degradation conflicted with long-held cultural beliefs in Germany that promoted the beauty of nature and the importance of conserving its aesthetics. The First World War's effect of the environment, including the effects of chemical weaponry, highlighted this paradox on a nationwide scale. In an effort to win the Great War, German military leaders turned to their chemical industry for answers. Using the flat terrain of Western Europe, winds strong enough to push massive toxic clouds, and their extensive knowledge of chemistry, the Germans chose chemical warfare agents based on meteorological conditions and their ability to overcome the obstacles of trench warfare. Millions of acres were doused in chemical clouds and shells, killing every form of life at the front and all but permanently altering the landscape and soils. This created an atmosphere of total environmental war, where chemicals were intentionally used to contaminate land and kill all life for the sake of military gains. The home front also suffered, as in Germany where the levels of chemical contaminants in their rivers were directly linked to the course of the chemical war. Germans wrote numerous diaries, journals, and memoirs that documented the ecological damage caused by these poisonous agents. These visceral descriptions of gas warfare and chemical disasters relating to clean up operations helped to solidify a national picture of what the gas war experience was like, and how many Germans came to see warfare and humanity as a destroyer of nature. Simultaneously, Europeans faced the daunting task of cleaning and repairing their landscapes. Millions of acres of land were contaminated, and tons of chemical ordnance was to be disposed. Yet an antagonistic political climate, steep financial costs, and the German leadership's desire to continue chemical weapons research limited Europeans' ability to restore their land. Their actions resulted in horrific environmental and human consequences, including everything from the contamination of land with buried ordnance to the phosgene cloud catastrophe at Hamburg in 1928. Not only did the damage caused by chemical weaponry force German military officials to rethink military operations and tactics, chemical weapons also compelled the German people to solidify new cultural relationships between war and nature, specifically those which took environmental damage into account when thinking about the war experience. German artistic and written culture at that time reflected the environmental damage through pacifistic and anti-technological lenses, creating a framework where modern environmentalism could take shape. Ultimately, the use of chemical weapons for military gain shaped German cultural attitudes and changed European landscapes. It ushered in a new form of total war, and demonstrated how the environment directly influenced both the outcome of the chemical war in the field but also German cultural beliefs regarding the relationship between nature and warfare. / History

The focus of this paper is Anglo-American relations in Egypt during the early Cold War period. The goal is to show that relations between the Western allies were more contentious than the analysis previously offered by a number of leading scholars. This has been done by examining early Cold War Western strategy for the defense of the Middle East and Anglo-Egyptian negotiations related to the future of the large British military base in the Suez Canal region. What this paper reveals is that rather than working in concert, as others have argued, Great Britain and the United States during this period sparred over tactics and strategy. The major source of contention between the Western powers centered on Britain's irrational commitment to an antiquated foreign policy based on 19th century principles of imperial domination and exploitation. Whereas Britain wanted to combine Western strategy for the defense of the Middle East with its plan to reconstitute its Empire, the United States sought a new strategic outlook that more thoroughly incorporated the nationalist dreams and economic aspirations of the countries in the region. / History

Dès sa création en 1966, l’ERAP s’est fixé pour but d’accroître la production du pétrole « franc », en diversifiant ses sources d’approvisionnement. Un tel objectif prend une tournure cruciale dès lors que les rapports tendus entre le groupe français et les autorités algériennes semblent menacer ses acquis dans le Sahara. Toutefois, se tailler une place sur le marché mondial semble à cette époque une tâche ardue, voire improbable, puisque les espaces les plus pétrolifères sont déjà occupés par les grandes sociétés, dites Majors. Néanmoins, la société d’État française réussit à s’implanter dans plusieurs pays producteurs, dont l’Irak en 1968, jusqu’alors considéré comme la chasse gardée de la Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP). Aussi, l’expérience irakienne, suite à l’insuccès en Algérie, incite Elf ERAP à se concentrer dans les pays pétroliers de l’Afrique subsaharienne et en Mer du Nord. Le 3 février 1968, Elf ERAP signe un accord avec la compagnie d’État pétrolière, INOC, pour se charger de la prospection et de l’exploitation d’une partie du territoire confisqué par l’État irakien à la puissante Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). En contrepartie de ses apports financiers et techniques, Elf ERAP sera rémunérée par un approvisionnement garanti en pétrole irakien : il s’agit d’un nouveau genre de partenariat, dit « contrat d’agence ». Ce dernier succède au système classique des concessions et vaut à la société d’État un franc succès dans son projet de pénétration au Moyen Orient. Très vite, les prospections donnent lieu à la découverte de gisements. La production démarre en 1976 et s’élève à 5 millions de tonnes en 1977. Dès lors, Elf ERAP, devenue la SNEA, peut envisager avec optimisme son avenir énergétique, puisque sa sécurité d’approvisionnement est, en partie, assurée par le marché irakien. Mais, contre toute attente, le groupe d’État français se retire de l’affaire en mai 1977, laissant place à l’INOC, qui prend en charge le projet deux ans avant la date prévue par le contrat initial de 1968. Ce sujet de recherche consiste à éclaircir le rôle d’opérateur joué par l’ERAP en Irak, entre 1968 et 1977. Pour tenter d’expliquer le départ prématuré d’Elf Irak, il nous faut identifier les facteurs endogènes et exogènes qui ont pu motiver une telle décision. Autrement dit, la société d’État aurait-elle subi les revers de ses propres choix énergétiques ou un tel dénouement serait-il imputable à la politique pétrolière irakienne? Quelles sont les implications de la conjoncture pétrolière internationale dans le cas d’un tel retrait? Aidée des archives historiques d’Elf et de TOTAL, nous sommes arrivée à la conclusion que la compression du marché pétrolier, entre distributeurs et producteurs, au cours des années 1970, a considérablement nui à la rentabilité des contrats intermédiaires du type agence. / Ever since its creation in 1966, ERAP aimed to increase oil from the “franc” zone by diversifying its supply sources. Such an aim became all the more crucial as its acquisitions in the Sahara seemed threatened by tense relations between the French group and Algerian authorities. Still, to secure a share of the world market at that time seemed to a difficult if not an impossible task, the biggest oil-producing spaces having already been occupied by the big corporations called Majors. However, the French state company managed to settle in several oil-producing countries, including Iraq in 1968, until then viewed as a private hunting ground for the Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP). Also, following its failure in Algeria, the Iraq experiment prompted Elf ERAP to set its sights on oil-rich subsaharian African countries and the North Sea. On February 3rd 1968, Elf ERAP signed an agreement with the state oil company INOC to take charge of exploration and exploitation of a part of the territory that was confiscated by the Iraqi government from the powerful Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). In return for this financial and technical input/support, Elf ERAP would be rewarded with steady supply of Iraqi oil. It was a new kind of partnership termed « service contract ». The latter replaced the old system of concessions and helped the state company succeed in its attempt to penetrate the Middle East. Exploration quickly led to the discovery of oil fields. Production started in 1976 and reached 5 million tons in 1977.This allowed the Elf ERAP, renamed the SNEA, to look with optimism at its energy supply future, the latter being provided in considerable part by the Iraqi market. Surprisingly, however, the French state company backed away from the deal in May 1977, and was replaced by the INOC which took over the project two years before the date planned by the initial contract of 1968. This research project seeks to clarify the operator role played by ERAP in Iraq between 1968 and 1977. To explain the premature departure of Elf Iraq, one needs to determine both the endogenous and exogenous factors that might have motivated such a move. In other words, did the state company suffer the repercussions of its own energy choices, or was the Iraqi oil policy responsible for such an outcome? To what extent was the withdrawal attributable to the international oil situation? With the help of Elf and TOTAL archives, we have come to the conclusion that the compression of the oil market uniting distributors and producers greatly affected the profitability of intermediary contracts « service contracts».

Thesis advisor: Virginia Reinburg / Thesis advisor: Paul Spagnoli / This investigation examines the impact of language in France from 1600 to 1900, with a particular focus on the relationship between linguistic developments and political, cultural, and social history. It traces the evolution of France from a polyglot kingdom into a linguistically-unified nation. This evolution began with the codification of written language, championed by the authorities who founded the French Academy. Written French struggled, through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, against a vast array of patois, regional languages, and sociolects. These created both social and geographical divides. The French Revolution marked a major (but unsuccessful) government effort to impose a national language, establishing a strong link between concepts of language and identity. Political efforts of francisation defined the nineteenth century; more importantly, social interest and dependence upon a standard idiom increased drastically. The French people adopted the national language voluntarily, integrating it firmly into their sense of identity. Even in the linguistically-exceptional region of Alsace-Lorraine, where residents rejected both French and German, local language became integral to identity. Though authorities perfected language from above, the people accepted it from below, shaping French notions of identity and creating, in effect, modern France. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: Romance Languages and Literature. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: Roberta T. Manning / Although born in Prague under the Austro-Hungarian Empire and dying before Stalin took control of the USSR, Kafka clairvoyantly understood the full paradox of Soviet authoritarianism. His short parable “Before the Law” provides an interesting intellectual exercise for anyone wishing to study Soviet law, for in Russia it evokes tragic truth. The man who futilely attempted to reach the law is a metaphor for Russian masses seeking the same goal. Just as the doorkeeper with his air of conscious superiority and vacillating temperament mirrors the nature of Soviet rulers. The absurdity that underpins Kafka's work poignantly and painfully parallels the arbitrary ‘justice' of Stalin's rule. The man's futile search is symbolic of the many purge victims who, while wasting away in the gulags, clung to the slim hope of using legal means to exonerate themselves. Through an intellectual and visceral response, Kafka conveys the authoritarian split between the elite and the masses in Russia. No one knows how many countless Russian and Soviet citizens' lives were wasted in the same shadow of indifferent omnipotence. And we are forced to ask why the law was kept from them. And yet, what fueled the insatiable pursuit of the law in the face of certain futility? Even the Purges took place within a legal framework, as perverse as it may have been. But was Communist legality simply an oxymoron, or was there something more? / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2003. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

This dissertation seeks to demonstrate the process of foreign policy-making during the early years of the Cold War. It concentrates on the development of United States interest in the concept of a European Army as a means of establishing a stronger defense posture against world communism. This concept is shown to have been a response to the outbreak of the Korean War and the loss of the American monopoly on atomic weapons. The Truman administration's policy toward German rearmament is traced through the attempt to persuade Western Europe to form its own defense system with American support, both militarily and monetarily. To a great degree, this policy is viewed as shared by the Eisenhower administration. Both administrations are seen seeking to strengthen Western Europe through cooperative efforts beginning with the Marshall Plan and ending with West Germany's admission into NATO. For the United States, the policy most conducive to achieving its goals of a united and armed Western Europe is shown to be the development of the European Defense Community. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-09, Section: A, page: 3199. / Major Professor: Thomas M. Campbell. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Thesis advisor: Devin Pendas / Ernst Juenger lived through almost the entire 20th century. This longevity has placed him at the center of many of the most defining moments of modern German history. It is not, however, simply his longevity but his attitudes that have caused such a controversy to grow up around him. A staunch nationalist and one might venture to say, war-monger, during the First World War and a virulent enemy of the Weimar Republic, many historians have classified him as a Nazi author. This thesis explores the relationsihp of Ernst Juenger to the National Socialists in the context of his writing and political leanings between the First World War and the end of the Second. Without understanding the integral differences between his ideology and that of the NSDAP (namely their divergence on the issues of racial purity, parliamentarianism, communism, the use of power, and the position of art)one cannot appreciate his place in history and his perspective on Germany. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: David Northrup / Henry Beaufoy MP (1750-1795) was one of the primary founders and first secretary of the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa. The Association sponsored several expeditions to the Western Sudan and North Africa during the late 1780's and 1790's including the famous Mungo Park expedition of 1795-97. Beaufoy, as a Member of Parliament, was a key figure in the nonconformist movement as well as an ardent supporter of abolition. His work in recruiting and directing the Association's explorers helped set the stage for nineteenth century British involvement in Africa. The history of the Association's early expeditions and Beaufoy's mix of humanitarian and commercial motivations in founding the Association provide revealing witness to the nature of British interest in Africa at the end of the eighteenth century. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: College Honors Program.