This thesis scrutinises the emergence, expansion, operations and effects of community-driven development (CDD) programmes, referring to the most popular and ambitious form of local, participatory development promoted by the World Bank. On the one hand, this thesis draws on the writings of Antonio Gramsci to explore new ways of contextualising and understanding CDD programmes along the lines of hegemony and transformism, as promoting social stability and demobilising counter-hegemonic challenges under conditions of democratisation and decentralisation, in support of economic liberalisation. On the other hand, it scrutinises the performative operations of CDD discourse in producing, legitimising and reproducing interventions, along the lines of "anti-politics," inspired by the Foucauldian approaches of James Ferguson and Tania Li. It also examines the performances elicited by CDD discourse, which "hails" politicians as "progressive" leaders, and "interpellates" the population as an "empowered" and "civil" society. Focusing on "Kalahi," the "flagship" CDD programme of the World Bank in the Philippines, in the "showcase" Province of Bohol, this research also reveals that CDD interventions, ostensibly designed to promote popular participation in local governance, have in practice worked to shore up the position of entrenched local machine politicians, and to undermine local peasant and fishermen's organisations mobilised to demand implementation of agrarian reform and legislation restricting large-scale fishing. Kalahi, the thesis further shows, was from the outset also intertwined with the expansion of agro-business and tourism ventures in the province, and with counterinsurgency operations. In parallel, Kalahi discourse has promoted new discursive styles of leadership, which have enabled local politicians to enhance their political clout and to reinforce their popular support base, whilst practices and institutions have remained essentially unchanged. Overall, this thesis thus shows that CDD programmes have worked to shore up hegemony in rural localities throughout the Philippines, and elsewhere across the developing world.

Britain has a fragmented, overlapping and under-resourced system of business representation. Attempts at reform, however, have proved difficult and largely unsuccessful. The thesis investigates the reasons for this failure, with an emphasis throughout upon the rationalisation of association structures and the political and economic significance of reform. A coherent and logical system of business representation is relevant, both in terms of an effective dialogue between government and business, and the promotion of competitiveness and productivity. Dialogue will prove difficult whilst there is a confused system of associations. Evidence suggests, moreover, that better organised and resourced associations would assist the competitiveness of British industry. The main focus of the thesis is the Devlin Commission on Industrial and Commercial Representation. This was set up in January 1971 by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Association of British Chambers of Commerce (ABCC) and was an attempt to both modernise and rationalise Britain's system of business representation. It reported in November 1972 but its recommendations would prove controversial with business and no significant changes would result. Devlin, therefore, was both a disappointment and a lost opportunity. The thesis also looks at how the debate regarding effective business representation has continued from both a business and government perspective. The Heseltine initiatives of the 1990's would, for example, bring fresh impetus to the subject and produce, among other measures, a series of benchmarking exercises leading to the establishment of the Trade Association Forum (TAF). The twin challenges of globalisation and new technologies are providing a new stimulus to change, leading to the renewed prospect of progress towards a more effective system of business representation. It is, therefore, an appropriate time to review the efforts made thirty years ago, learn lessons from them, and link the earlier debate to more recent efforts to secure reform.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War there has been a new radicalism across the social sciences espousing the need for global democracy. Taking its inspiration from theorisations of late 20th and early 21st century globalisation, advocates of Global Democratic Theory (GOT) look to transcend the violence, inequality and suffering that have often accompanied modernity. GOT thus offers normative visions and practical steps towards securing global citizenship and democracy, which would secure economic and social justice for all citizens of the world. The thesis proposes that GOT, due to its pursuit of its normative agenda, actually tells us very little about the current state of global politics. In order to move beyond the limitations of GOT, the thesis provides both theoretical and empirical advances. On the theoretical side, the thesis outlines how John Dewey's work in The Public and its Problems (1927) sets out an evolutionary form of democracy in response to a rapidly globalising economy. This Deweyan approach to global democracy and the lessons it provides has not been fully appreciated by contemporary scholars of globalisation. On the empirical side, Deweyan insights are used to interpret and explain the politics of the 'Financial Crisis' of 2008 and subsequent 'The Great Recession' in order to provide a richer account of the current state of global politics and the possibility of global democracy. In all, the thesis demonstrates how Dewey's work serves not only as a timely rejoinder to the theories of GOT but also offers important insights into the politics of contemporary globalisation.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the idea of spontaneous order as it appears in the classical liberal tradition of political thought. It will be argued that spontaneous order thought represents a distinctive approach to social theory; and the aim of the study will be to identify its core principles and to develop a conceptual model of the approach based upon them. To this end the study will examine a series of thematically linked topics in the work of the two groups of major exponents of the approach: the Scottish Enlightenment and the Twentieth Century Classical Liberal Revival. The examination of these topics - science, morality, law and government, and the market - will enable us to identify the common elements that characterise a spontaneous order approach. It will be argued that the spontaneous order approach operates with a particular notion of human nature: that men are classificatory beings who seek order and stability of expectations, and yet who are capable of only limited knowledge of the complex world in which they exist. Habitual and non-deliberative behaviour play a central role in this model of human behaviour, as does the assertion that men are naturally sociable and socialised within traditions of behaviour. Such traditions of behaviour exemplify the non-deliberative imitation of conventionally generated practices: in this sense 'objective' social values are in reality inter-subjectively generated conventions. Such conventions are neither deliberately nor intentionally created, but rather arise as the unintended consequences of man's adaptation to his circumstances. This leads the exponents of spontaneous order to adopt conjectural history and functionalist analyses as a means of understanding the development of social conventions. The study will trace their conjectural histories of morality, language, law and government, demonstrating the application of spontaneous order as a neutral descriptive approach to the examination of social phenomena. Similarly the process of social change and development will be examined as an evolutionary process. The role of adaptive change will be discussed in the light of a notion of immanent criticism that is itself drawn from the conjectural history of the evolution of human knowledge. Throughout this analysis a particular stress will be laid on the significance of the distinctive view of epistemology that underlies the spontaneous order approach.

Although L.T. Hobhouse (1864-1929) has long been considered one of the leading political thinkers of the British new liberalism, the whole range of his thought has not been given as much attention as it deserves. Through a thorough analysis of Hobhouse’s academically written works, the thesis demonstrates that he made a considerable contribution to the political thought of the new liberalism through his clear and articulate vision of a liberal welfare society. This vision was built upon a strikingly consistent system of political, economic, sociological, and philosophical arguments. The thesis argues these claims from three perspectives. First, while sharing with other new liberals a focus on the cultivation of individual morality as the primary purpose of social reform, Hobhouse further associated the idea with a notably pluralist perspective, focusing on the activities of intermediate organizations as well as the state. Secondly, his ethics of harmony offered a distinctively new liberal criterion on the development of morality and wealth distribution, whilst showing a notable intellectual affinity with T.H. Green’s theory of rights. In fact, despite his incessant critique of philosophical idealism, Hobhouse’s views were what could properly be called those of an ‘idealist liberal’ in the realms of ethics and political philosophy. Finally, on the basis of the integration of his new liberal ethics, idealist-inclined realist metaphysics and neo-Spencerian evolutionary sociology, Hobhouse labelled the core principle of a liberal welfare society ‘citizenship’ in his sociology, identifying its partial realization in modern society. Welfare society was envisioned as a global community premised on the mutual recognition of moral rights and duties. This vision was later in part succeeded by T.H. Marshall’s sociological theory of citizenship, but its scope and philosophical depth was a specific product of Hobhouse’s systematic thought. In summary the thesis is an attempt to show the originality and comprehensiveness of Hobhouse's welfare thought and thus to restore his reputation as a serious thinker.

The aims of this study are to elucidate and present systematically the main themes of Paine's political and social thought by means of a comprehensive analysis of all his writings; to investigate the foundations of, developments in, and interconnections between these themes, and to point out their main limitations. These aims are explored after reviews of, (1) commonly held beliefs about Paine, which are shown to be based on superficial acquaintance with his writings, and (2) of specific studies of his thought the disagreements between which are shown to involve more than reflections of inconsistencies in Paine's own writings. Commencing with an account of Paine's favourable view of human nature and his idea of universal justice, the study presents as fundamental his religious thought - his belief in a benevolent God - in the context of a discussion of competing Quaker and Newtonian Deist interpretations neither of which is satisfactory. An examination of Paine's ideas of a fairly orderly state of nature, of equal natural rights, and of the origin of government in a social compact, helps us to understand his beliefs in the need for government, and about the purposes of government and its relationships to society; and we see that he did not view governments as responsible for all social evils. Paine's model of republican government is then considered and it is seen to involve more than just the absence of monarchy: it has both moral foundations and involves a view of an appropriate constitutional form. These and their significance for popular sovereignty and political participation are discussed in relation to the question why Paine did not see electoral despotism as a problem. Paine gave moral sanction to revolution when it was necessary for introducing republican government. It is next shown why, and to what extent, he failed to take actual circumstances adequately into account before welcoming political reform. The origins and development of Paine's social welfare proposals are next traced, and his idea of social justice in found to be not inconsistent with, but rather an extension of, his earlier moral and political beliefs, even though it involved him in advocating an increased scope for government. He is shown to have emphasised as important the roles of religion and education, and to have envisaged improvements in international relations through the operation of commerce and the establishment of republican governments and international institutions. It is also shown that, far from desiring a return to a simpler form of society, he supported progress, and that his idea of progress did not involve a belief in perfectibility, This study does not furnish a biography of Paine, investigate in detail the external influences upon his thought, or examine his historical importance and literary style. It does, however, point to comparisons and contrasts between Paine's ideas and the ideas of other thinkers of his time, and it includes a list, and summaries, of his main writings, along with a note on his reading which, with a date-chart of his life, suggests that he was more knowledgeable than has often been supposed. It is concluded that Paine, although not a great political or social thinker, nor an entirely consistent or complete thinker, presented a not wholly unoriginal system of ideas which, because not expressed in any one work, has not been fully recognised. By reference to this system of ideas, some discrepancies in previous accounts of his thought are clarified, and some neglected aspects of his thought elucidated.

Individual autonomy is crucial to both liberalism and feminism and, to some extent, for similar reasons: that is, the insistence on everyone being able to shape her own life and not just have it shaped for her. As it is currently understood, however, this ideal is a source of great dissatisfaction for feminists. For one, it is blind to the ‘problem of oppression’ –that is the way social factors, such as oppressive gender norms, can affect individuals’ capacity to lead a selfgoverned life. In addition, on the political level, autonomy is aligned with individualism, independence and rationality. This makes it an exclusionary ideal, which, under the cover of universalism, promotes a prejudiced and narrow vision of what agents and preferences should be seen as worthy of respect. I refer to this as the problem of exclusion. My thesis is an attempt to reframe our understanding of autonomy in order to answer these two problems. I argue that the relational accounts of autonomy feminists have articulated should be understood as motivated by the need to address these key concerns (Ch. 1). However, none of the relational accounts developed so far truly succeed in simultaneously addressing the problem of oppression and the problem of exclusion (Ch. 2). I suggest that this is because they are still too individualistic in their focus and remain fixed on the question of what individual agent and/or preference should be considered autonomous. In order to ensure we avoid the problem of exclusion, I propose we remain agnostic towards this question. This results in a systematic presumption of autonomy, which commits us to demonstrate respect to all agents (especially vulnerable ones), as well as to their declared preferences. Such a commitment, however, should not lead us to overlook the problem of oppression. In order to address this problem, I argue that we should devote our attention to the way the socio-relational context structures how agents can plausibly exercise their autonomy. In other words, in order to address the problem of oppression without reproducing the problem of exclusion, we need to stop focusing on the question of who should be considered autonomous and instead refocus on the question of what structural changes might promote the autonomy of all (Ch. 3). I call the resulting account an ‘agnostic and structural’ understanding of autonomy. I argue that such a conception of autonomy is promising as it offers an inclusive conception of self-government, which nonetheless gives us grounds to vindicate substantial emancipatory policies. I then present a set of case studies in order to show how such a conception of autonomy could help us deal with entrenched gender inequalities. Doing so enables me to illustrate the difference adopting an ‘agnostic and structural’ conception of autonomy could make in the areas of our legal system that are underpinned by an individualistic understanding of autonomy. Legal frameworks surrounding parental leave (Ch. 4), divorce and separation (Ch. 5), domestic violence (Ch. 6) and even our understanding of criminal responsibility (Ch. 7), I argue, could be effectively reframed using the kind of understanding of autonomy I propose.

This thesis aims to examine the question of dissent, in relation to the tenuous position offered to campaigners in modern British society. Using figures such as George Hegel, Max Weber, and Michel Foucault, the work builds on a number of ideas that have remained central to the theory of political organisation, to illustrate how the British state has historically sought to control protests and manipulate public opinion. Themes to be examined within the thesis will include the articulation of common and individual rights (as they set the context for political disputes, and are often used to deny campaigner's the opportunity to participate in the policymaking process); the bureaucratic regulation and surveillance of demonstrators (through which, unsolicited public actions are now considered illegal); and the situation of activists within governmental discourses on terrorism (in which protestors are depicted as posing a threat to National Security). The main hypothesis is that in the UK, dissent has become the focus for an increasing number of agencies and administrative practices, through which it is intended that public demonstrations will eventually be constrained to follow a legitimate, staged, and thus an entirely manageable course of actions. This thesis also serves to address a gap in the developing field of surveillance studies, in which a number of key authors have failed to engage with the critical role that surveillance now plays in the suppression of dissent- with a particular emphasis being placed on how numerous causes and campaign groups are now monitored by the state and by private sector interests alike. Undeniably, the field of authority exerted over campaigners today is vast, and the strict management of public order affairs imposed by the police, enables an abundance of disciplinary techniques to take place, both prior to and during all protest events. Indeed, according to Foucault's theories on power, governmentality, and biopolitics, these legitimising mechanisms and procedures of coercion include visible forms of surveillance (the presence of the authorities during demonstrations); the overt surveillance and covert infiltration of campaign groups by the state and from private industry; and bureaucratic forms of surveillance enacted through a requirement to submit evidence of Health and Safety compliance, and Public Liability Insurance. Original empirical evidence supporting this thesis includes; Acts of Parliament covering seven-hundred years of legislation; Freedom of Information requests from three large-scale environmental campaigns; public order and counter-terrorism initiatives issued by HM Government; tactical policing manifestos; public inquiries into the misuse of police powers; and the newfound discourses that have been disseminated into the public domain concerning extremism. Putting it simply, the modern campaigner's lot is an unhappy one, in which activists must navigate an unconscionable array of legislative acts and have become the continual focus for corporate and state surveillance. Seemingly then, today's model of dissent offers two explicit choices, either conform to a wholly sanitised and regulated course of actions, or suffer the consequences.

The inclusion of women in the public sphere delineates the last century from the previous ones. This thesis investigates three key aspects of the gender revolution. At the turn from the 18th to the 19th century, countries began to grant women equal voting rights to men. Equality in the act of voting, however, failed to ensue. To address this conundrum, the first essay argues that elites and organizations had greater incentives to mobilize women to vote under a proportional representation (pr) than a plurality electoral system. I test the argument empirically by studying a reform which required half of the about 600 Norwegian municipalities to replace plurality with pr before the 1919 election. The difference-in-difference design reveals the reform increased women’s share of the votes cast by about ten percentage points, thus notably reducing gender inequities in political participation. Women’s inclusion in voting did, however, not imply women’s inclusion in employment, education, and political offices. Indeed, after World War II, the social partners and political parties favored policies aimed at male-breadwinner families. The second essay studies the puzzle of why unions, employers, and parties nonetheless, from the 1970s and onwards, went from opposing to proposing work-family policy reforms, such as daycare services and paid parental leave. My argument is that, as women have become an increasingly important part of the membership base for unions and source of high-skilled labour for employers, the social partners have come to push for the expansion of work-family policies. Yet, centralised corporatist institutions, which give policy influence, are needed for unions and employers to succeed with their policy demands. Both a time-series crossnational quantitative analysis and an in-depth case study of Norway and shadow case studies of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Sweden support the argument. By the new millennium, women made up half of the labor force but only one-third of managers, indicating that significant gender inequities remain. The third essay therefore examines whether the introduction of full-time daycare services increase mothers’ possibility and willingness to invest a professional career. Empirically, the essay exploits a staggered, large-scale expansion of daycare centres across Norwegian municipalities in the 2000s. Analysing registry data on the whole Norwegian population, the instrumental variable estimates indicate that the availability of daycare services made women more likely to enter into occupations requiring longer hours and leadership positions. In sum, the thesis demonstrates that reforms of political and public policy institutions can impact both the pace and the direction of theongoing gender revolution.

The career background of politicians is an issue that could potentially have profound implications for the functioning of democracy, yet it has only received sporadic and lukewarm attention from political scientists. Based on the hypothesis that the experience and skills an MP acquires throughout his or her career is going to affect the MP’s performance in the future, this dissertation seeks to explore if the career background of MPs, both professional and political, influences their parliamentary career trajectory and behaviour when they enter parliament. By utilizing a new dataset compiled from the biographical information of all new MPs elected in the 2010 British general election, this dissertation shows that the amount and nature of MPs’ pre-parliamentary careers has a profound impact on the allocation of seats among MPs as applicants, their prospects of frontbench promotion, their voting behaviour, as well as their participation in parliamentary debates. These results show that the pre-parliamentary careers of MPs do affect the way they conduct their duties as representatives. These results also suggest that the background of MPs shapes the composition of parliament in terms of the occupation and political experience, which has an important influence on how representative democracy works.