<p>This thesis is an examination into the nature of sovereignty and humanitarian intervention since the end of the Cold War. This inquiry has tried to understand how the use of military force to secure safety zones, in order to safely deliver and distribute required humanitarian assistance, has effected commonly held beliefs about sovereign statehood. In particular, I have focussed on three questions: What does sovereignty mean to international relations in the 1990s, how has recent humanitarian intervention in Iraq and Somalia affected the sovereignty of the host state, and what lessons can be drawn from these recent cases in regards to both the future of humanitarian intervention and the future of sovereignty? In the end, I find that recent humanitarian intervention in Iraq and Somalia does not signal the end as sovereign statehood, but rather, demonstrates the central importance of sovereignty for international relations.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The image of the philosophic dog plays a major role in the Republic. The analogy is used to illuminate the phenomenon of viciousness, a mode of behaviour that is ultimately self-destructive. Viciousness, as such, is intimately connected to the problem of the self. The analogy, therefore, functions as a guide into those very problems which affect the conception of the self.</p> <p>When the image of the dog is invoked, the analogy alerts us to difficulties in the arguments of the dialogue. The analogy does not resolve these difficulties, since it only functions to give expression to them, but in so doing it plays a central role in providing a consistent thread which binds together the diverse issues that are brought up In the Republic.</p> <p>Initially, the image is used to elucidate characteristics of the auxiliaries, but the image is subsequently implicated in the description of the just man and the philosopher, as well as their respective antitheses. The image illuminates the nature (and problem) of the philosophical relationship between the just man and the philosopher, as well as the nature of the political relationship between these two and their opposites. The thesis, therefore, uses the image as a vehicle to address the broader concern of the relationship between philosophy and politics.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The purpose of this thesis is two fold. First of all it demonstrates clearly and precisely exactly what Jurgen Habermas understands by a legitimation crisis and secondly it demonstrates how fundamentally this conception rests upon background assumptions which are not always made explicit. To this end the thesis delves into Habermas' understanding of advanced capitalism, his understanding of the concept of rational-legal legitimacy and finally it shows how the conclusions he reaches are fundamentally based upon his reconstruction of historical materialism and the notion of a colonization of the life-world that he ultimately derives from this reconstruction. In the end it will be demonstrated that a thorough understanding of the concept of legitimation crisis cannot be achieved without reference to Habermas' reconstruction project and in this regard he remains firmly in the Marxist tradition.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis explores three theories of the state's role in shaping civil consciousness, as they are presented in the writings of G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, and V.I. Lenin. The immediate purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the essential features of these theories, and, in particular, to use this comparison as a means to better understanding the problematic relationship between Marx and Lenin.</p> <p>For Hegel, the state is not to be understood in the usual liberal fashion, simply as a coercive instrument, but, rather, as the objective standard of rationality in the world and the repository of what Hegel calls "ethical life". The state, as it is described in Hegel's <em>Philosophy of Right</em>, represents the abolition of the conflict between private life and the community which is typical of bourgeois society. This is accomplished, to Hegel's mind, by the intervention of the state's mediating structures.</p> <p>Against Hegel, Marx demonstrates in his "Critique of Hegel's Doctrine of the State" that it is not the ostensibly universal state which is the basis of civil society's rationality, but egoistic civil society which is the basis of the inherently irrational state. The purpose of the state, thought Marx, is not to engender universality in civil society but simply to represent the sectional interests of classes within civil society, and the interests of private property. For Marx, the reconciliation of the individual with the community occurs not under the tutelage of the state, but with the reabsorption of the state into civil society.</p> <p>Lenin's <em>State and Revolution</em> affirms Marx's belief in the contingency of the state upon class interests; however, its theory of socialist revolution also demonstrates Lenin's belief in the capacity of the state to alter civil consciousness. Thus, while being nominally Marxist, Lenin's theory of the revolutionary state contains elements more typical of Hegel. To the extent that Lenin's theory attributes capacities to the state which Marx rejected in his critique of Hegel, Marx's explicit critique of Hegel provides grounds for questioning Lenin's claim to the torch of Marxism.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis investigates the emerging political party system in Russia, from the beginnings of pluralism in 1986 through 1992. It does so in the context of the theoretical and methodological implications of the literature on transitions to democracy, and with reference to literature on political party systems. This thesis examines the beginnings of independent group activity, the groups' formation into movements and blocs and their participation in elections, and their evolution into proto-parties as the USSR collapsed and the Russian state gained independence and its own identity.</p> <p>The literature on transitions to democracy is agency-oriented, in that it places an emphasis on political parties in the transition process. While it is unclear at this point in time whether Russia is indeed undergoing a transition to democracy, proto-parties in Russia have played - and will continue to play - a key role in the transformation of Russia from Communism to post-Communism. The future shape and structure of the Russian multi-party system is, however, difficult to predict, because of the nascent and immature nature of the system in the time period this paper examines.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Political theorists have identified envy to be of political concern. While it is generally agreed that certain forms of envy are socially disruptive, there is relatively little agreement as to the nature of this threat, and how to address it. This difference seems to stem from different understandings of the nature of the emotion itself. This thesis examines the place of envy within the context of Aristotle's political philosophy. Aristotle, it is argued, has an accurate understanding of the nature of envy and he offers a political arrangement that seems to successfully undermine the most socially dangerous forms of envy, without compromising the potential for social progress. Aristotle recognizes that envy arises when one is insecure or anxious with respect to their own self-worth. He presents a political arrangement that is designed to engender a more secure basis for individual self-worth, which is also feasible among those who lack this security.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis represents an attempt at a philosophical inquiry into the nature of political action and its place in liberal theory.</p> <p>I begin by considering whether action must be explained teleologically and whether non-purposive accounts of behaviour can be generally adequate. In finding that purposive behaviour fundamentally characterizes action, I question the assumption in liberal political theory, beginning with Hobbes, that mechanistic laws of behaviour can provide man with a science of politics.</p> <p>Hobbes , represents for me, the first stage in the revolt against teleological politics. I consider the important contributions that Immanuel Kant and finally John Rawls make to the liberalism of anti-telelogical politics.</p> <p>I then consider the liberal critique of Hobbes' portrait of man. This is represented by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau's critique is undermined by his failure to reject market politics.</p> <p>Finally, I consider the market-model of society, which is seen to be the ultimate embodiment of mechanistic, anti-teleological politics.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Bernstein scholarship has not clearly identified the philosophical intentions of the "arch-Revisionist", but has confined itself to noting general characteristics of his mode of thought and possible influences upon it, as well as situating it vaguely or negatively in terms of contemporary "schools." Justification for not proceeding further with analysis has been sought in the circumstances that Bernstein was self-taught, that he had an enormous range of intellectual contacts, that the Marxism of the Second International was incoherent, and that Marxism is, itself, a protean doctrine.</p> <p>This thesis attempts to illuminate Bernstein's philosophical intentions by reviewing his development against a much broader intellectual background than has been customary. Following the methods of "comparative philosophy" of Henry Corbin, Hans Jonas, Eric Voegelin and Ernest Tuveson, it outlines several stages in the process of the gradual supplanting of Middle Platonism by the Hermetic gnosis in the modern period, and notes the distinctive attitudes to being characteristic of them. It examines the roots of the Hegelian dialectic, and those of its more philosophically conservative rival, German Romanticism, and points out the affinity of Bernstein's structure of consciousness with the latter movement.</p> <p>The philosophical content of Bernsteinian Revisionism is presented as the result of the outworking of an essentially Romantic cast of mind, accelerated by Bernstein's period of "socialist scholarship" and close association with Christian Socialists and unorthodox philosophical Naturalists during his years of exile in London.</p> <p>Bernstein1s "evolutionary socialism" is distinguished from the nationalist-socialism of the Blochian Revisionists, the panpsychic evolutionism popular with the German working-class, Anarchist thought, and monistic Naturalism generally. It is shown to be structurally analogous to the pluralistic notion of progress of the "common sense" component of German Romanticism (a residue of Middle Platonic noetic experience), derived from the Scottish Enlightenment.</p> <p>The call to go "back to Lange" thus appears to have been little more than a groping attempt, on Bernstein's part, to focus his return to what was, in effect, a Pragmatic version of the Aristotelian "natural law" world-view.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The laws of Ontario operate on the principle that individuals should govern their own conduct unless it affects others adversely. The laws are created to protect individuals and their property and to ensure that citizens respect the rights of others. However, laws are protected and entrenched which defy this principle by permitting and fostering intolerance.</p> <p>This thesis addresses the local option laws of Ontario's liquor legislation which protect and legitimize invasion of personal liberty. These laws permit municipalities to prohibit or restrict retail sale of liquor within their boundaries by vote or by council decision. Local option has persisted throughout Ontario's history and is unlikely to be abolished despite the growing acceptance of liquor in society.</p> <p>To explain the longevity of these law, J.R. Gusfield's approach to understanding moral crusades is used. Local option laws have become symbols of the status and influence of the sober, industrious middleclass of the 1800's who founded Ontario. The right to control drinking reassures people who adhere to the traditional values that their views are respected in society.</p> <p>John Stuart Mill's proposed guidelines for handling potentially harmful commodities, like liquor, are revealed as being consistent with the intention of Ontario's liquor laws but inadequate for symbolic issues. If tolerance of personal liberty is to be acheived, then the issues must be transformed from evocative ones into quiescent ones. The study of local option is used to assess how a symbolic issue can be recast to induce people to tolerate the self-regarding pursuits of others.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)