Many convicted offenders around the world do not vote in elections because they have been disenfranchised, which is the legal deprivation of their voting rights as a consequence of their convictions. Addressing this practice from the perspective of legal and constitutional theory, this dissertation deals with the question of how modern democracies should understand the connection between the right to vote and the commission of a criminal offence. After careful analysis of issues related to the democratic importance of the right to vote, the civic virtue of offenders and the requirements of a democratic punishment, the dissertation argues that disenfranchisement is a practice that constitutes an unjustified exception to the general principle of universal suffrage. However, it may also critically express and shape some of our general ideas about democracy and citizenship. In particular, it is argued that the exclusionary and degrading aspects of disenfranchisement can illuminate inclusionary aspects associated to the right to vote. In making this argument, it is suggested that the right to vote not only works as a right of participation but also embodies a mechanism of democratic recognition. Addressing the current common law jurisprudential trends on disenfranchisement, it formulates a case for a strong judicial review of legislation in cases in which voting eligibility is at stake.

Multiculturalism has become a hot topic in political philosophy. This thesis investigates the philosophical foundations of multicultural theories through examining the key concepts commonly relied upon. A careful examination of each concept and the way in which they are interconnected, reveals an interesting strategy that the multiculturalist employs. It is my contention that the multiculturalist relies on a complex web of nebulous concepts which fools the reader into thinking that their theory rests on strong foundations. However, when we clear away the fog of confusion, we can see that the multiculturalist has presented us with an illusion, and none of the concepts remain strong enough to hold any of the normative weight they need them to. Multiculturalism relies on grandiloquent rhetoric and muddled thinking, and will ultimately fail to achieve the liberal goals it purports to.

This thesis contends that Oakeshott’s political philosophy contributes to constructivism in International Relations by identifying the moral foundations of international society and law. The epistemological basis of this contribution is a methodological holism that is defended through arguments developed within British Absolute idealism. The opposition between concrete and abstract concepts grounds a theory in which knowledge is conditional because it is constructed on certain assumptions or postulates. Philosophy identifies and interrogates the postulates, exposes their limited value and maintains the logical autonomy of the various forms of knowledge, from a universal point of view. The concepts of tradition and moral practice are central in Oakeshott’s political philosophy, and indicate a theory of normativity in which moral reasoning and political activity are a form of argumentative discourse constructed by starting from the assumptions shared within a certain community. In this light, Oakeshott is compared to the exponents of the English School and to constructivism because of his definition of an interpretative approach, in which world politics is a normative engagement and the role of theory is to consider its presuppositions as well as its universal meaning. Moreover, it is shown that he offers a comprehensive theory of the evolution of international society and of the role of war that is consistent with his broader political philosophy. The theory of ‘civil association’ is the ground for an understanding of international society as an association between states constituted by the recognition of moral constraints on the actions of states. These constraints are institutionalised in customary international law, which is understood as a moral practice. Therefore, international society is grounded on an evolving morality resulting from the historical conduct of states. As such, Oakeshott’s political philosophy provides an understanding of international relations that is distinct from both Realism and Universalism.

This thesis considers the ways in which advanced nationalist identity was communicated to the broader Irish populace in Dublin from 1890 to 1917. It contends that the performance and communication of advanced nationalist identity is best understood within the context of fin-de-siècle Dublin. During this period the streets formed spaces in which identities, both political and otherwise, were performed and through reciprocal spectatorship were also negotiated and mediated. The public funerals of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa in 1915 and Thomas Ashe in 1917 are the subject of close scrutiny. Through analysing the performance of these funerals, this thesis shows how the relationship between the physical space of the city and the body was integral to the performance of advanced nationalist identity. The Easter Rising is presented as a moment of rupture between these two funerals, during which the rebels failed to communicate effectively with their audience. This thesis further argues that in the immediate aftermath of the Rising, material culture in the form of relics and massLproduced ephemera played a vital role in shaping and communicating a narrative of the Rising to make it intelligible to the Irish populace. The successful construction of an interpretive framework meant that, by the time the rebels returned from their various places of internment, public understanding of and identification with both the Rising and advanced nationalist identity more broadly, had dramatically increased.

The concern of this research is the nature of the Hindu nationalist ideology in the western Indian state of Gujarat from 1880 to 1950 since this period is crucial in forging a relationship between Hindu and Muslim communities based on mutual suspicion. The attempt is to shed light on the way a fundamentalist ideology is configured in increasingly exclusivist terms whereby minorities in the subcontinent were gradually granted a marginal citizenship subordinated to a Hindu cultural mainstream. The deconstruction of the nationalistic discourses of some representative individual figures and groups -the Arya Samaj, the Hindu Mahasabha, K.M. Munshi and Vallabhbhai Patel- allowed unravelling a trajectory of this ideology identifying its major fluctuations. The focus on Gujarati nationalism of Hindu tradition as opposed to a rather exceptional Gandhian nationalism and its commitment to non-violence made possible to explain the current political culture in India nowadays that inherited the legacy of the agitational politics of those years. Along with the historiographical analysis of these discourses, the research explores the mobilizational strategies accompanying the ideological dimension. The political campaigns of these actors were fundamental in spreading a communal consciousness that enabled a history of perennial confrontation between Hindus and Muslims, an aspect whose origin can be traced in the colonial historiography on India. In this sense, the research aims not only at being a contribution to the academic debate on the formation of a national consciousness in Gujarat, but also attempts to elucidate the motivations behind communal violence grounded on the circulation of stereotypes and their exploitation. The study contributes to the understanding of contemporary violence as a result of a gradual communalization of politics and daily life that imbibes from the distortion of the historical paradigms that by the end of the nineteenth century still coped with multiculturalism.

Theorising about international relations has progressed in recent years, and dialogue between the concurrent disciplines of International Relations, political theory and international law has started to emerge. There is, however, work still to be done in fostering a genuine ‘International Theory’ containing the potential to truly transcend arbitrary disciplinary and methodological boundaries, particularly where the subject matter of the respective disciplines – namely, an inquiry into the means by which a true understanding of the nature and conditions of international relations may be realised – is trans-disciplinary in nature. My thesis seeks to reanalyse the poststructuralist critique of the discipline of International Relations from a contemporary perspective, made possible by the trans-disciplinary progress alluded to above. I choose poststructuralism as a means of considering the most radical attack on the foundations and methodological commitments of traditional IR as I believe the responses which originated from within the discipline – social constructivism in particular – did not go far enough in grounding a robust yet legitimate means by which to construct an understanding of international relations capable of transcending the challenge of poststructuralism. I consider such positions and the constitutive theory of Mervyn Frost in detail before examining the potential of a theoretical amalgamation of the philosophical constructivism of John Rawls with a holistic social constructivist conception of the nature of practical reasoning with norms, as expounded by Friedrich Kratochwil, to ground a ‘completed’ account of normative reasoning capable of overcoming the poststructuralist critique. Finally, I defend the Rawlsian conception of reasonableness (through an analysis of the interpretation afforded such by Peri Roberts) from the charge of overdemandingness levelled at it by Catriona McKinnon. I conclude by claiming that the Rawlsian ideas of reasonableness and public reason can, when combined with Kratochwil’s conception of practical reason, ground a valid response to the challenge of poststructuralism.

Neutralism - dissociation from the Cold War - can take many forms. As a doctrine it is to be found in its most comprehensive forms in Asia and Africa; and because its chief proponents are leaders of their countries, it is a profoundly pragmatic and eclectic doctrine. Yet it is deeply grounded in certain widespread hopes and fears, and is usually nourished by nationalism. Neutralist foreign policies are shaped by, and yet have come to shape, the style and scope of Cold War rivalries. Six forms of policy neutralism may be distinguished. These are: new state neutralism; pioneer neutralism; neutralization; buffer status; traditional neutrality; and erstwhile isolationism. Each of these types of policy represents different ways in which a state can become neutralist, and it is suggested how many- states fall into each of these classes. Nearly three quarters of the neutralist states in early 1961 are new states which have become independent since 1945* Many of them practise policies which are in some respects like those of three pioneer neutralists - India, Yugoslavia and Egypt. Since 1945 neutralism has been of growing significance internationally.

This thesis explores the possibilities for normative grounding of authority through a focus on the relationship between Habermas’s ‘critical theory’ and Gadamer’s ‘philosophical hermeneutics’, with particular reference to the bases of authority in East Asian culture. More specifically, it examines the role of reason and tradition in justifying political authority. Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics locates the conditions of authority in tradition, constituted in part by prejudice, while Habermas offers a theory of communicative action that transcends the limited horizons of tradition. The distinction between reason and tradition is applied in East Asian culture through an analysis of the practice of filial piety. The thesis endorses Habermas’s charge that Gadamer hypostatizes tradition. Habermas correctly identifies the political implication of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, namely, that it obscures power relations. It is argued that Habermas’s ‘communicative action theory’ and ‘discourse ethics’ are better able to do justice to the basis for the normative grounding of authority. The relevance of discourse ethics for the justification of political authority in East Asian culture is explored.

The thesis is a contribution to the understanding of the relationship of the dialectical thought and method of G. W. F. Hegel and K. Marx. The aim of the thesis is to ascertain what the relation and the difference between the contrary forms, of the idealist and the materialist dialectic, actually is. The thesis consequently attempts to make sense of Marx’s view that his application of the dialectical method was not only different from but also the “direct opposite” of his idealist predecessor. This theme, itself the source for the enigmatic nature of the inversion, is developed by ascertaining some of the core elements that lie behind and underpin Marx’s own comment; that the rational kernel of Hegel’s mystical form of dialectic could be discovered if it was “turned right side up again”. The thesis also explored the relationship between the early Marx’s critique of Hegel, contained in the 1844 Paris Manuscripts, with the later Marx’s comments on his view of the relation of his dialectic to Hegel’s. As such, the thesis argues that there is both a continuity and a development in Marx’s critical attitude to Hegel’s dialectical thought. The core elements of the rational kernel of Hegel’s dialectic for Marx lies, as the thesis will argue, in the Hegelian account of the general form of working of the dialectic, and in Hegel’s explication of the laws of dialectics. The thesis thus explore the intimate relation of these two interconnected themes from the point of view of Hegel’s systematic idealism, and in Marx’s materialist application of these rational elements to his critique of political economy. This involves endeavouring to elucidate, both the nature of a dialectical account of contradiction, and the related explanation of nomological activity or law from a dialectical perspective. The thesis also attempts to explore the fundamental contrast of the materialist from the idealist elucidation of these core elements.

This thesis wants to contribute to the understanding of the role of collective beliefs and incomplete information in the analysis of the dynamics of inequality, growth and redistributive politics. Extensive evidence shows that the difference in the political support for redistribution appears to reflect a difference in the social perceptions regarding the determinants of individual wealth and the underlying sources of income inequality. The thesis presents a theoretical framework of beliefs and redistribution which explains this evidence through multiple politico-economic equilibria. Differently from the recent literature which obtains multiple equilibria by modeling agents characterized by psychological biases, my framework is based on standard assumptions. Multiple equilibria originate from multiple welfare maximizing levels of information for the society. Multiplewelfare-maximizing levels of information exist because increasing the informativeness of an economy produces a trade-off between a decrease in adverse selection and an increase in moral hazard. The framework provides a new micro-foundation of incomplete information as an institutional feature and answers various macroeconomic policy questions with different models.