Liberalism is often criticized as too moralistic and removed from the realities of politics; and too complacently accepting of injustices. Such criticisms, familiar among contemporary political theorists, were expressed far more forcefully in the earlier twentieth century. Liberalism then came under attack from anti-liberals who wholly rejected the institutional and ethical limits on the political deployment of violence and fear insisted upon by liberals. Such anti-liberals advanced arguments for political ruthlessness on behalf of a truer morality - either the morality of pursuing morally imperative political goals; or the morality of "realistically" responding to threats to public order. Liberals found themselves faced with a dilemma: to adhere to their principles at the price of hampering their ability to combat both existing injustices, and the threat posed by ruthless anti-liberal movements; or to abandon their scruples in seeking to defend, or transform, liberal society. The criticisms and challenges confronting liberalism between the end of World War I, and the end of the Cold War, thus centered on opposing responses to problems of political ethics. They were also shaped by opposed ideals of political ethos - the "spirit", dispositions of character, sensibility and patterns of perception and response, which characterize the way in which actors pursue their values and goals in practice. In this dissertation I reconstruct these debates, and explicate the ethical claims and questions involved, presenting accounts of the opposed - yet often convergent - positions of moral purism, end-maximalism, and realism. I offer accounts of the ethical arguments and ethos of such anti-liberals as Lenin, Trotsky, and Lukacs; and explore the ambivalent commitments and ambiguous arguments of Max Weber, who influenced both critics and defenders of liberalism. Finally, and primarily, I reconstruct the ethical arguments and ethos of "tempered liberalism" - a strain of liberalism, represented by Reinhold Niebuhr, Isaiah Berlin, and Adam Michnik, which sought to re-imagine liberalism as an ethos which rejected both the innocence and complacency of some earlier liberalisms, and the ruthlessness of anti-liberalism, and steered a "moderate" ethical path between hard-headed, skeptical realism, and values of individual integrity and idealism. / Government

i Abstract Liberalism encompasses many disciplines. Individual freedom, free-market capitalism, republican form of government, and rule of law are considered to be among its main pillars. The Thesis illustrates an original analysis of three partial "liberal" theories of International Relations (IR) - referred to as "approaches" because of their interdisciplinarity - and their main scholars' considerations vis-à-vis important selected elements of global politics, with peace as the general background. The three analyzed approaches are Economic Liberalism, Democratic Peace Theory, and Democratic Realism. Keeping into account their differences, traditions, and purposes, the approaches are operationalized through five subchapters - institutions, free-market, international law, conflict intervention, and nationalism - to prove their compatibility, non-contradiction, and possible juxtaposition vis-à-vis these features. Despite some "empirical differences", while looking at the selected-IR issues, the approaches have "common threads", and this is visible when the three frameworks and their top-selected scholars are confronted with the elements. After a general introduction on liberalism, a definition of peace in IR, and a quick overview of Peace Studies, the three approaches are presented in their theoretical...

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The tradition of liberalism in South Africa has played a significant role in shaping the country's multi-party democracy. Yet, there are several gaps within the tradition of liberalism which can be associated with an aversion towards majority rule, equalising opportunities through affirmative action measures, and a focus on securing political rights as opposed to substantive rights for all citizens. It is my contention that weaknesses within the liberal tradition could be minimised if a more credible conception of liberalism is constructed within the parameters of a deliberative framework of democracy. In this dissertation I make an argument for a defensible form of liberalism which can be achieved through a rational, reflexive discourse-oriented procedure of deliberative democracy. Deliberative democracy in turn can engender a form of citizenship which recognises the need for citizens to care, reason and engage justly in political conversation with others. KEYWORDS: Liberalism, communitarianism, deliberative democracy and South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die tradisie van liberalisme in Suid-Afrika het 'n noemenswaardige bydrae gelewer tot die totstandkoming van die land se veelparty demokratiese bestel. Afgesien hiervan, verskyn daar vele gapings binne die liberale tradisie wat hoogstens vereenselwig kan word met 'n teenkanting teen meerderheidsregering, skepping van gelyke geleenthede deur regstellende aksies en 'n fokus eerder om politieke regte liewer as ook substantiewe regte vir alle burgers te bekom. Ek redeneer dat tekortkominge binne die liberale tradisie geminimaliseer kan word indien 'n meer vededigbare begrip van liberalisme gekonstrueer word binne die perke van 'n beredeneerde demokratiese raamwerk. Ek voer aan dat 'n verdedigbare vorm van liberalisme bewerkstellig kan word deur 'n rasionele, refleksiewe diskoersgeoriënteerde prosedure van beredeneerde demokrasie. Op die beurt kan beredeneerde demokrasie 'n vorm van burgerskap teweegbring wat die belangrikheid van omgee en redenering erken, en ook terselfdertyd burgers betrek op 'n geregverdige wyse in gesprekvoeing met ander persone. SLEUTELWOORDE: Liberalisme, gemeenskapsgerigte liberalisme, beredeneerde demokrasie en Suid-Afrika.

<p>Due to the attention of several escapes, rescue attempts and hostage situations from Swedish prisons during the year of 2004 a debate about correctional system and safety arose. It resulted in official reports and proposals to improve the safety of the institutions. The incidents of 2004 will most likely have an effect on the discourse of the correctional system. The purpose with this study is to analyse which discourses that today can be distinguished in the correctional system and thereby will be the foundation of the correctional systemof tomorrow. </p><p>The method used to answer the purpose of the study is a Foucauldian based discourse analysis. A perspective of socialconstructionism that leans upon the thought that it through language and text is possible to read processes of society and power. Power is a central idea in the study. By discerning the activated instruments of power in the Swedish correctional system it is possible to analyse the discourses made visible by these instruments of power. </p><p>Two different discourses may in the analysis be seen as the main influence in the work of correctional system. The liberalistic idea of empowerment is visible in the work against relapsing criminals, where focus is set on personal responsibility and the will of adjustment as a way of reentering society. New liberalistic ideas represent the second discourse where power works threw surveillance and control. In a risksociety we must protect ourselves from threats and dangers, which makes the prison a way of keeping the criminals distanced from society. </p><p>Classification is activated, to make the two discourses co-exist, as a way to create reliability around the work against relapsing criminals. By reproducing the norms and structure of our society we classify the level of digression and thereby punish as a way of handling it. To find a new way in to the debate about correctional system perhaps we need to ask ourselves: What function do we want the punishment to have?</p>

Due to the attention of several escapes, rescue attempts and hostage situations from Swedish prisons during the year of 2004 a debate about correctional system and safety arose. It resulted in official reports and proposals to improve the safety of the institutions. The incidents of 2004 will most likely have an effect on the discourse of the correctional system. The purpose with this study is to analyse which discourses that today can be distinguished in the correctional system and thereby will be the foundation of the correctional systemof tomorrow. The method used to answer the purpose of the study is a Foucauldian based discourse analysis. A perspective of socialconstructionism that leans upon the thought that it through language and text is possible to read processes of society and power. Power is a central idea in the study. By discerning the activated instruments of power in the Swedish correctional system it is possible to analyse the discourses made visible by these instruments of power. Two different discourses may in the analysis be seen as the main influence in the work of correctional system. The liberalistic idea of empowerment is visible in the work against relapsing criminals, where focus is set on personal responsibility and the will of adjustment as a way of reentering society. New liberalistic ideas represent the second discourse where power works threw surveillance and control. In a risksociety we must protect ourselves from threats and dangers, which makes the prison a way of keeping the criminals distanced from society. Classification is activated, to make the two discourses co-exist, as a way to create reliability around the work against relapsing criminals. By reproducing the norms and structure of our society we classify the level of digression and thereby punish as a way of handling it. To find a new way in to the debate about correctional system perhaps we need to ask ourselves: What function do we want the punishment to have?

This essay is about the change of the Swedish party Socialdemokraterna (S). It is a very current subject, since many political newspapers write about that the party moves into the political middle. Apparently the party is not what it used to be and that is what this essay will explore and analyze. My purpose is to explore what ideal type answers best to the Social democrats change. The chosen ideal types are neo-liberalism, reformist socialism and the third way. And the materials I use are political programs from 1990, 2001 and 2013. To achieve my purpose I’ve chosen two different methods: 1. Content analysis 2. Idea analysis. Each of them has been very useful and to combine them has proved efficient. The results of the content analysis show that the party in 2001 and 2013 is using a different vocabulary than in 1990. The results of the idea analysis are that the political program from 2013 show that some of the ideas are divergent. For example, a traditional social democratic value is that the working hours should be shorter. But in 2013, the party doesn’t suggest shorter working days and weeks.

The dissertation examines in detail the concept of neutrality in political theory literature and assesses the arguments of the defenders and critics of Turkey’s laicism in light of such an examination. After showing the weaknesses and problems in the arguments of various political actors in Turkey, the dissertation defends “modus vivendi liberalism” as a possible solution for the conflicts about Turkey’s laicism. In that regard, the dissertation argues that certain aspects of liberal political theory can be appropriated for Turkish politics for the sake of ensuring stability and peace even if there might be problems with the possibility and desirability of neutrality. The dissertation also discusses what can constitute Turkey’s modus vivendi and offer certain ideas about what may and may not ensure stability and peace in Turkey.

The thesis analyses the Finnish immigration apparatus through a Foucaultian governmentality framework and critiques the way immigration has been problematized. The immigration apparatus, ranging from discourses to various administrative regulations and their rationalities, is examined through the Finnish Aliens Act, Schengen visa regulations, and Finnish Immigration Services implementation documentation as well as through the related governmental bills and reports and parliamentary discussions and committee statements between 1999 and 2010. The thesis argues that the governmentality of immigration is a socio-evolutionary governmentality that relies on largely taken-for-granted conceptualisations of how society needs to be governed. The thesis shows that immigration control cannot be understood solely through the discourses of nationalism, liberalism and multiculturalism, but that these discourses themselves need to be understood in the light of a state racist socio-evolutionary constellation of power/knowledge at the heart of liberal governmentality and its naturalism. In the first instance, this claim is supported by a discourse theoretical analysis of the functioning of power/knowledge in immigration-related discourses. Additionally, the claim is supported by contrasting the analysis of discourses and rationalities of governing with an analysis of technologies of governing, i.e. rules and regulations of immigration control. The thesis then questions the governmentality of the immigration apparatus through various epistemological tools of decentring. These tools highlight how a commonsensical truth about immigration and its governing is produced through methods, such as utilising explanations relying on psychologism, historicism, naturalisation, market veridiction and universalism/particularism, which enable a silence and scarcity of meaning around the taken-for-granted modes of knowing immigration and its governing. Finally, this claim about state racist governmentality of immigration is evidenced by a comparison of the contemporary way of problematizing immigration with the way immigration was problematized by early American race hygienic immigration policies. This comparison insists that eugenics and social Darwinism should not be exceptionalised, but that their rationalities of governing should be evaluated in terms of the logic of making live and letting die that they propose. The thesis concludes that unacknowledged and taken-for-granted modes of knowing the world in socio-evolutionary terms and specifically in social Darwinist terms emphasizing social position as a measure of fitness and human worth and entailing an all-inclusive logic of racialisation have an impact on contemporary liberal ways of governing immigration both in general and in Finland in, at the point at which we think how immigration should be governed so that it promotes the health and wealth of the population and defends it from degeneration.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the ideological similarities and differences between the two Swedish conservative parties Sweden Democrats and the Moderate Party by study how the two parties basic ideological positions relate to liberal and traditional conservative values. The four dimensions view of human nature (pessimistic - optimistic), theory of society (collectivist - individualistic), view on moral values (collectivist - individualistic) and view on economic ideals (collectivist - individualistic) are used as the analytical instrument to study the two parties ideological positions on each dimension, where the pessimistic/collectivist positions represents traditional conservative values and the optimistic/individualistic positions represents liberal values. My result show that the Moderate Party express a predominantly optimistic view of human nature, a individualistic theory of society, a individualistic view on moral values and a individualistic basic position in their view on economic ideals. The Sweden Democrats express a pessimistic view of human nature, a collectivist theory of society, a collectivist view on moral vaues and a collectivist basic position in their view on economic ideals. My result thus shows that fundamental ideological differences can be discerned between the Sweden Democrats and the Moderate Party.

In this thesis I explore the possibility for a renewed communitarianism. Rather than present this as a rival to liberalism, however, I present it as a supplement. I start from the viewpoint that there are two basic facts with normative consequences the reconciliation of which is the central task of moral and political philosophy. One fact is the fact of individuality, which I believe produces a normative requirement that all and only obligations that respect a certain kind of individual autonomy are legitimate. This fact is well explained by liberalism, and so I am to that extent a liberal. Where I differ from contemporary liberalism, and where I think there is room for a renewed communitarianism, is in explaining the limits of autonomy. There are, I contend, a wide array of basic and legitimate obligations that cannot be adequately explained (i.e. the legitimacy of which cannot be explained) by autonomy alone. The role for communitarianism, then, is to explain the nature of a second legitimating principle and how these two principles – respect for autonomy and respect for (what I call) fraternity – can work together to explain when various maxims and policies are legitimate or illegitimate. In the first part I explain the importance of communitarianism. In the second, I try and determine the nature of the principle that should be seen as representing the normative requirements of the fact of sociality: the second inescapable fact of moral and political philosophy, that while we are individuals we are never alone. I will ultimately argue for a version of solidarity based on the role ethical obligations play in incorporating the interests of others in one‟s own set of interests. In the final part I explain how the ethical obligation at the heart of solidarity should work and then how to reconcile the normative requirements of the fact of sociality with autonomy.