Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Music, June 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala universitet, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 349-358) and index.

978-954-28-0511-3. / In kyrill. Schr., bulg.

En même temps: Thèse sc. humaines Neuchâtel, 2007 (version remaniée). / Bibliogr. Index.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Universität, Bayreuth.

This thesis attempts to answer one basic question: what we can philosophically say to justify liberalism as a mode of political existence of society. It is divided into three parts. In the first one, I critically survey two popular answers to this question, employing the concepts of self- ownership and value pluralism respectively. I argue that both of them are inadequate and unsatisfactory, mostly because they operate with a conception of person that is too thin for the justificatory task. In the second part, I develop an interpretation of John Rawls and the conception of person he uses. I argue that this conception is crucial with regards to his answer to my question, yet that he provides only a limited and in the final analysis unpersuasive justification for it. The third part tries to remedy the deficiencies of Rawlsian liberalism by providing a better argumentative support for his conception of person and developing from it two arguments aiming to justify liberalism as a mode of political existence of society Key words Liberalism - John Rawls - Pluralism - Conception of person

The aim of the thesis is to examine the aspects and benefits of neutrality for both Sweden and the international community, to look for the causes of its current changing and problematic situation and to identify the opportunities it still offers. The text therefore answers these research questions: What was the contribution of neutrality to Sweden's security policy in the 20th century? What was the contribution of Swedish neutrality to the international community in the 20th century? What has changed and how that, since the end of the Cold War, Swedish neutrality has been transformed? What opportunities does Swedish security policy offer today? In accordance with the aims and questions, the topic is elaborated as an historical interpretive (and explanatory) and literature-assessing dissertation. Its first part (chapter 1) is a conceptual analysis and a state of the art review of the wider context of the topic. The second part (chapters 2 and 3) is a qualitative single case study. As to theory, the thesis draws from liberalism, constructivism and the Copenhagen School of Security Studies. The changes in (international) security and Swedish security policy and neutrality are interpreted in the context of globalisation processes. The text identifies two notions of security - military and open/liberal, which it links to two dimensions of political neutrality - realistic and idealistic and, by applying them, answers the questions asked. It concludes that the Swedish security policy or neutrality has been and is primarily about finding effective and legitimate alternatives and ways to implement them in a transforming, complex and uncertain world.

The aim of my paper is a critical examination of the thesis, held by Czech public professionals, that Karel Havlíček Borovský was the founder of Czech economic thinking. I begin with the premise that Havlíček was primarily an economic journalist with a basic knowledge of liberal thinking, which he wanted to interpret for the general Czech public in his articles, in order to familiarize the upcoming "Czech national movement" with the basics of economic theory. Based on the methodology of the History of Ideas, I want to show how liberalism looked in the Czech region of the 19th Century, to focus on the social stratification of Czech society and illustrate the difference between a scientist and journalist. In my work, I want to not only deal with That Havlíček wrote in his texts, but would also like to take into account an analysis of the interests of the "Czech national movement" in the 19th Century.

Im Fokus dieser Dissertation steht die sozial-liberale Partei D66 (Demokraten 66) und deren Säkularitätspolitik in den Niederlanden. Die Arbeit nimmt die Partei zum Ausgangspunkt, um politische Kämpfe um konkurrierende Säkularitätsmodelle zu untersuchen. Die Arbeit umfasst erstens eine historische Analyse des säkularitätsbezogenen Wandels in den Niederlanden und zweitens mehrere umfassende Fallstudien zu gegenwärtigen Auseinandersetzungen um Säkularität in unterschiedlichen Settings.:Table of Contents 2 List of Tables and Figures 6 List of Abbreviations 7 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction: Politics of Secularity 10 1 A Theoretical Approach on the Politics of Secularity 21 1.1 Contested Secularity 22 1.2 Multiple Secularities 26 1.3 The Diversity of Nonreligion 31 1.4 The Political Field as an Arena for Contested Secularities 36 1.5 The Rhetoric of Political Struggles 42 2 Data Collection and Interpretation 46 2.1 The Grounded Theory Approach in Very Brief 46 2.2 The Research Process 48 3 The Secularity of Politics 63 3.1 The Construction of a Pluralist Modernity since mid-19th Century 63 3.2 D66 and the Secularization of Dutch Politics 82 3.3 Summary and Discussion 98 4 Secularity for the Sake of Individual Equality and Liberty 104 4.1 Contested Individualism and Shifting Power Relations 105 4.2 The Opening of Civil Marriage 121 4.3 Self-Determination and Euthanasia 131 4.4 Blasphemy, Demonization, and Secular Politics 139 4.5 The Contested Purple Heritage 146 4.6 Summary and Discussion 150 5 Islam and the Renegotiation of Secularity 155 5.1 Shifting Integration Policies, Shifting Secularities 156 5.2 Searching for A Positioning in the Debate on Islam 188 5.3 Defending the Liberal Model 200 5.4 Summary and Discussion 214 6 A Party Working Group on Religion and Worldviews 218 7 The Political Integration of Muslims: A Case Study from a Secular City 230 7.1 Religion in a Secular City 235 7.2 A Liberal Campaign in a Secular City 238 7.3 A Campaign for Migrant Voters 244 7.4 Summary and Discussion 262 8 Politics of Secularity in the Bible Belt 266 8.1 A Small Town in the Bible Belt 267 8.2 Confessionalizing the Public 274 8.3 A Contested Public Order 292 8.4 Pluralist and Individualist Aspects of the Election Campaign 316 8.5 Summary 324 9 Overall Summary and Discussion 328 9.1 Summary 328 9.2 Discussion 351 References 365 Appendix 390

The aim of this thesis is to explain the dynamic of Taiwanese foreign policy in relation to the Peoples Republic of China since the late 1980s to the present by using three theoretical traditions of international relations. To that end, several hypotheses will be formulated after analysing these traditions (realist, liberal and constructivist) and then applied on the subject of this research. The dependent variable was identified as the conflictive attitude of Taiwanese foreign policy in a given time period. In terms of methodology this is a case study. This research is divided into four chapters the first of which analyses the above mentioned theoretical traditional. The second part briefly describes the historical context necessary to understand the problematic nature of Taiwanese national identity. The third chapter analyses Taiwanese foreign policy in relation to China during time periods representing the terms of office of three democratic presidents of Taiwan. The last fourth chapter is to the analysis of independent variables and the evaluation of hypotheses. This research showed that of the tested theories neither one is able to explain the development of Taiwanese foreign policy in the examined period. The analysis however suggested that there might be a correlation between the ideology...