The dominant construction of democracy on a global scale is in the liberal tradition. It is evident in the criteria which constitute democratic barometers in organisations like Freedom House, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. This study seeks to provide a third-order analysis of liberal democratic consolidation theory in order to highlight that its theoretical discourse and underlying structure is not necessarily compatible with the cultural values of the non-Western world using a critical discourse analysis. Democratic consolidation in the non-Western world may not necessarily mirror the theoretical model of liberal democratic consolidation. Given the hegemonic position of liberal democracy‘s criteria and its dominant discourse and role as a barometer of democracy, this study focuses on democratic consolidation in this tradition. It is primarily due to the perceived inability of non-Western states to consolidate their democracies in the liberal democratic tradition and by default, construct thriving liberal democracies. Present theories of liberal democratic consolidation theory deal with governmental, political organisational and societal aspects of liberal democracy. The level of change these theories propagate is all encompassing, and consequently one cannot merely study one aspect of liberal democratic consolidation theory, but needs to analyse the paradigm as a whole in order to explore its metatheoretical structure. It is in this light that the study conducts an appraisal of liberal democratic consolidation theory. The critique developed in this study is aimed at addressing a disparity that currently exists within contemporary consolidation of liberal democracy theory, namely a failure of producers of liberal democratic discourse to understand the philosophical and ideological undertone of liberal democratic consolidation‘s understructure. The study does not seek to conceptualise alternative criteria of democratic consolidation in the non-Western context, but focuses on liberal democratic consolidation theory, to demonstrate that its criteria is not necessarily an appropriate barometer to measure democracy in the non-Western world. / Political Sciences / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Politics)

En aquesta tesi es valora l'impacte social que comporta per a la ciutat de Vic el bastiment d'un nou sistema educatiu implantat per l'estat liberal en el transcurs del segle XIX. L'estudi s'estructura a partir de: l'anàlisi del discurs i de les accions de les elits locals; de les actituds de les famílies; del sorgiment i consolidació dels i les mestres; i de l'escola com a espai educatiu: Vic esdevé un cas molt particular perquè és capital de bisbat però no de província; perquè exerceix una notable influència sobre el territori i perquè és zona de frontera entre el liberalisme i el carlisme. La tesi valora fins a quin punt tots els agents implicats en la qüestió educativa s'interconecten i com des de l'àmbit local es viuen les transformacions del segle XIX. / The present thesis evaluates the social impact on the city of Vic caused by the implementation of a new education system introduced by the liberal state during the 19th century. The study is structured from: the analysis of the discourse and the actions by local elites; the attitudes of the families; the rise and consolidation of teachers; and the school as a space for education: Vic becomes a very particular case because it is the bishopric capital city but not the province capital; and because it has a notable influence on the territory and it is a border between liberalism and Carlism. The thesis assesses to what extent all agents implied in the education issue are interconnected and how the transformations of the 19th century are viewed from the local environment.

No description available.

No description available.

Every theory of liberal multiculturalism is premised on some account of the nature of culture, cultural difference and social reality, or what I call “the conditions of multiculturality”. In this dissertation, I offer a revised account of the conditions and challenge of multiculturality. Beginning with the widely accepted idea that individuals depend on both culture and community as social preconditions for choice, freedom and autonomy, and informing this idea with collectivist and individualist lessons from Tyler Burge’s famous externalist thought-experiment, my analysis shows that social contexts are multicultural when they are characterized by a plurality of social communities offering distinct sets of cultural norms, and individuals are multicultural to the extent that they are capable of using cultural norms from various social communities. The depth, pervasiveness, and complexity of multiculturality raises important normative questions about fair and just terms for protecting and promoting social communities under conditions of internal and external cultural contestation, and these questions are not only restricted to cases involving internal minorities. As a theory of cultural justice, liberal multiculturalism must respond to the challenge of multiculturality generated by cultural difference per se, but it cannot do so adequately in all cases armed with only the traditional tools of toleration, freedom of association and exit, fundamental rights and freedoms, and internal political autonomy. My analysis demonstrates that, upon the revised conception of multiculturality, liberal theories of tolerationism, egalitarianism and nationalism leave significant cultural remainders, or unaccounted for cultural interests. What is needed is a different liberal multiculturalism, which respects the individual’s fundamental rights and freedoms, is committed to the equal and just treatment of individuals, tolerates voluntary cultural groups and practices in the social sphere, recognizes an individual right to culture, and provides some measure of state assistance to individuals seeking to protect and promote their cultural communities in the private sphere. This is a recipe for liberal cultural justice, and for a defensible liberal multiculturalism without nationalism. / Thesis (Ph.D, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-14 19:00:46.433

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, with China's remarkable success in economic developments and greater openness to the outside world, two sharply opposing views of China have appeared in the Western perception of China - a rising superpower as well as a threat to the West, economically, militarily and environmentally. The West, particularly the US and Britain fears that China is likely to take advantage of its growing economic and geopolitical influence in order to change the world's power pattern. Within such a social context, this thesis sets out to explore if the old concepts of Orientalism on China has ever changed in modern times and how the modern images China and the Chinese are framed in the contemporary British news media. It is carried out through four cases – Chinese migration, Hong Kong handover (1997), Tibet issue and Sichuan Great Earthquake (2008). More specifically, the thesis examines: how the two dominating masterframes – ethno-nationalist and liberal individualist masterframes coexist or compete with each other in the reporting; and what the differences are between newspapers in terms of frame choice and the ratio of struggle between two frames. The study implies that the old Orientalist stereotypes, such as ‘Yellow Peril', which were used to describe China and the Chinese have not often appeared in the recent British news media representations in the selected four cases. Instead, the liberal individualist views have been widely and deeply embedded in the British news reporting, criticising China being essentially a Communist dictatorship as opposed to Western democracy. Additionally, the relations between two masterframes appear in three forms – coexistence or intertwining, supporting each other, and struggle.

Dignity is the concept most commonly associated with the biotechnological revolution, and almost always used by conservatives in ethics and politics to justify constraining research into novel biotechnologies like cloning, genetic enhancement and life extension. At the same time, dignity is often criticised as inadequate to play such a fundamental role in future-facing bioethics. This thesis is a work at the intersection of applied ethics and politics, and seeks to address two main questions: whether dignity is a useless, hopelessly vague concept, and whether dignity is an inherently political, specifically conservative concept. This problem will be addressed by analysing the concept of dignity as it is found in bioethics policy and in everyday life. Using this conceptual analysis, a structure will be identified that both liberal and conservatives have in common meaning that dignity is not hopelessly vague. Despite having analogous structures, the argument in this thesis shows that the liberal and conservative conceptions of dignity are intractable and both support different positions in many arguments. The implication of this is that dignity will not be useful in building a consensus around policies in future-facing bioethics.

Magíster en Estudios de Género y Cultura, mención en Ciencias Sociales / El feminismo liberal no tiene una definición única, ni siquiera una concepción unificada. Para algunas autoras, éste exige para las mujeres el derecho a la autodeterminación, igualdad de oportunidades, acceso a educación, etc., teniendo como finalidad la inclusión de las mujeres en el ámbito público, en el comercio, en las empresas, en el trabajo, en la educación, entre otros. Para llevar esto a cabo, es necesario que los hombres se incorporen a la esfera privada. La finalidad es la desaparición de las discriminaciones y la igualdad de oportunidades. El modelo implícito de Estado chileno es de corte liberal, lo que generaría mayor inequidad en términos de género, dado que el efecto de las desigualdades entre mujeres y hombres serían acumulativos en el transcurso vital de las personas. En este modelo, el trabajo se configura como eje central en la distribución social, siendo uno de los principales referentes identitarios. De esta forma, la presente tesis tiene como objetivo analizar los contrastes producidos entre el discurso del feminismo liberal y los discursos de mujeres de la Región Metropolitana, en relación a su cotidianeidad en el trabajo dentro del Estado liberal chileno. Para esto se realizaron 12 entrevistas a mujeres que estuvieran al inicio, en la media y retiradas de la carrera laboral en el sistema público. Posteriormente, se procedió a realizar un análisis de contenido, encontrándose cuatro categorías generales: 1. Figura de la trabajadora sufrida: desprotección e inestabilidad; 2. Ser trabajadora en Chile: maternidad, salud y vejez; 3. Jefaturas y conflictos laborales: masculinización de mujeres; 4. Mujeres y mandato social: luchas y tensiones. Se concluye que el liberalismo le coloca ciertas trampas al feminismo. A su vez, que el discurso del feminismo liberal entra en conflicto con los discursos de mujeres trabajadoras del Estado chileno, toda vez que las premisas del primero, no se cumplen en los segundos

Post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq started in 2003 following the military invasion by the Coalition of Willing forces. Since 2003, numerous actors have involved themselves in Iraq’s peacebuilding including governments, NGOs, the UN and the international financial institutions. Also, various activities and actions have been implemented in the humanitarian, political and economic domains. Today, all the indicators show that the country still faces the challenges of conflict, chaos as well as weak social and economic development. Many scholars attribute that to the deteriorating security conditions, which raises the questions of why does the country still face insecurity and why has peace not been consolidated? This research examines the impact of donors’ conditionality on post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq. As the liberal peace is the basis of contemporary practice of peacebuilding, this research draws on the liberal peace theory as a point of departure. The Liberal peace is used as theoretical lenses in order to understand donors’ strategies and arguments in the context of Iraq, according to two main themes, political and economic transition. Overall, this research finds that the donors’ policy packages focused on how to build liberal democratic and a free market state. Donors, primarily the US, aimed at enhancing their control over the political process and formed the political structures according to their interests foremost and not according to the public will. The local community has not been adequately engaged or consulted. Also, transforming Iraq into a free-market economy by relying on the private sector to stimulate economic growth and restricting the role of the state while the country faces security problems has led to weak outcomes in all social and economic sectors.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01