A study of Christian interpretations of liberalism is important for social theology for two reasons: first, liberalism is the dominant political ideology of modernity, and (especially in the form "liberal democracy") is the most prominent form of public self-definition in the West, its claims often being taken to be self-evidently true. Second, liberalism is historically indebted to Christianity, and the two are susceptible of mutual confusion. A critical theological analysis of liberalism is necessary to ensure the authentically Christian nature of contemporary political theology. This analysis is conducted principally through a discussion of the criticisms of liberalism made by three Christian thinkers of the twentieth century, the American Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), the French Jacques Maritain (1882-1973), and the Canadian George Grant (1918-1988). After an introductory chapter, chapter two presents an interpretation of liberalism, mapping the historical contours and varieties of liberalism from five liberal writers, and elaborating a loose framework of the conceptual structure of liberal thought. Chapter three examines Reinhold Niebuhr's criticisms of liberalism's alleged facile progressivism and optimistic conceptions of human nature and reason, and chapter four looks at George Grant's claim that John Rawls' liberal theory fails to provide the ontological affirmations necessary to defend human beings and liberal values against the dynamics of technology. Jacques Maritain's account of pluralism and the ideal of the secular state, and the contribution he can make to the current debate between liberals and communitarians, are the subjects of chapter five, while chapter six attempts to secure some theological purchase on the issues of Bills of Rights, judicial review, and the constitutional restraint of democratic majorities, with special reference to the British context. In the concluding chapter it is argued that the liberal account of justice is impossible to realize, and that central insights must be borrowed from the Augustinian tradition.

Thesis (Ph.D. )--University of Chicago, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-304). Also available on the Internet.

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This thesis studies the evolution of the war prerogative in England from 1600-2010. It traces the historical theory and practice of the war prerogative and proposes reform of the constitutional arrangements for its exercise. It addresses three key questions. First, what have writers on political and constitutional theory said about the constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative, and, in particular, what justifications have been advanced for those arrangements? Secondly, in practice, has the executive in fact possessed sole and exclusive powers over war and the deployment of force, or have Parliament and the courts had a role to play in their exercise and scrutiny? Thirdly, are there better ways to organise our constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative, to enable a more substantive role for Parliament (particularly the House of Commons) in its exercise and scrutiny? On the first question, I show that orthodox theoretical and political discourses have continuously asserted the executive’s exclusive power over war, but the justifications advanced for that arrangement have changed over time. Those changes reflect the varying influence of different political theories at different times. On the second question, I find that, contrary to orthodox theoretical and political discourses, Parliament has played an active and substantive role in the exercise and scrutiny of the war prerogative. The courts have refused to intervene in the exercise of the war prerogative, but have been more ready to intervene in cases involving the exercise of powers incidental to the war prerogative. On the third question, I argue that reform of the constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative is necessary and desirable. I recommend the use of ‘institutional mechanisms’, which are small-scale rules and institutional arrangements, within existing institutions, which aim to promote certain normative goals. In particular, I propose a statute which would impose conditions on the executive’s exercise of its war prerogative. I argue that these proposals show that, through careful institutional design, democratic values, national security and operational efficiency can each be reconciled and promoted.

Penal politics and imprisonment in the English-speaking west are often presented as having become increasingly harsh and exclusionary since about 1970. Yet, curiously little attention has been given to Ireland and Scotland, two nations considered as exceptions to these pervasive punitive trends, and this presents some considerable gaps in our understanding of penal politics in this era. This thesis uses sociological and historical research to provide an in-depth comparative analysis of political culture and imprisonment regimes in Ireland and Scotland from 1970 until the 1990s. In so doing, the thesis also explores issues central to the history of punishment and comparative penology, in particular the 'punitive turn' in the late twentieth century. Using oral history interviews, archival research and documentary analysis this thesis recovers the history of penal culture in these two jurisdictions and examines how that changed and evolved over the latter part of the twentieth century. It draws upon resources from cultural sociology, governmentality studies and the sociology of punishment to develop the necessary conceptual resources to illuminate and compare penal politics and the varied practices which constitute imprisonment. Imprisonment regimes here are studied as comprising kinds of places, sets of routines and practices. Political culture, meanwhile, is understood as the working cultural symbols, passions, logic of government, political categories, and perceived social origins of crime. While providing grounded and detailed historical accounts of Ireland and Scotland these cases show how generic and global concepts, such as managerialism, rehabilitation, zero tolerance and incarceration intersect with their local social conditions and political relations. This thesis demonstrates that the heterogeneity of imprisonment regimes is a reflection of their political and social context. Therefore, the differences we see in the uses of imprisonment cross-nationally will both reflect and reconstitute their contrasting political cultures.

This thesis explores the broad continuities in the strategies that individual leaders in Africa have employed to mobilise political support across different historical periods and party systems, from the late colonial to the post-colonial era, and from single-party to multiparty systems. It examines this question through a historical biography of Michael Sata, a political leader in Zambia whose life and career, like those of several other Zambian individual politicians, cut across the main divides in the country's political history: the late-colonial period (1953-1964), the one-party state (1973-1991) and the era of multiparty democracy (since 1991). Sata's experiences also span a number of political organisations such as the United National Independence Party (from the early 1960s to 1991), the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (1991-2001) and the Patriotic Front (2001-2011). I argue that Sata employed several political strategies such as populism, clientelism, ethnic appeals and coalition building to mobilise support across these historical epochs and party institutions. The existing literature on Zambian political change has largely focused on ethnicity, which has taken attention away from the fact that most ethnic politics has had, as this thesis demonstrates, a populist component. More broadly, what this study demonstrates is the utility of historical biography in understanding political change. Examining the life of an individual whose experiences cut across supposed turning points and disruptions, or the institutions that have come and gone with them, captures not only change but continuities too, which are generally missing in many accounts of political life in Africa, and consequently allows us to gain new and unique insights.

This thesis examines for the first time the impact of steel nationalisation during the 1945-1951 Labour Governments across five key fields of study: The Labour Party, the Conservative Party, the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC), the British Iron and Steel Federation (BISF), and disaffected ex-Labour MP Alfred Edwards. It assesses the trajectory of nationalisation in the Labour movement and the impact of the policy on divisions within the Labour Party both inside and outside of the Cabinet. The thesis also examines three previously unexplored opposition campaigns waged against steel nationalisation by the Conservatives, the BISF, and Alfred Edwards, who was expelled from the Labour Party for his resistance to the nationalisation of steel. Although there have been many works published on Attlee’s Labour Governments, only two have explicitly concentrated on steel nationalisation (Ross, 1965, McEachern, 1980). Moreover, these works fail to examine the impact of the policy upon the five case studies assessed in this work. The thesis complements the limited secondary literature with extensive archival research in each of the five areas examined. Through these investigations it is argued that steel nationalisation was the crucial ideological divide between the two major political parties in this period. Labour advocated the nationalisation of steel due to prior inefficiency and monopoly within the industry. Whereas, the Conservatives believed that the steel industry was neither a failing industry nor a public utility and that these factors presented a critical watershed between nationalisation for ideological purposes and, as had been argued in other industries, nationalisation out of economic necessity. Labour’s pursuit of steel nationalisation resulted in the largest anti-Government vote of Attlee’s 1945-1950 administration, led to heated debates within the Labour Party – highlighted by serious Cabinet disagreements over the policy, and 143 Labour MPs signing a petition demanding the immediate nationalisation of steel in 1947 - and caused major opposition groups to fight large scale anti-nationalisation campaigns against the Labour Government. The study of these Parliamentary and public debates surrounding the nationalisation of steel offers significant and original insights into the Labour Governments of 1945-1951.

This is a study of a German peasant pressure group of the 1920s. It is intended as a contribution to the debate about the role of the agrarian interest in the development of modern German politics. Its geographical scope is primarily the Bavarian Palatinate, but attention is also given to broader areas of the Rhineland and Bavaria. It is hoped too that light is cast upon issues common to large parts of Germany. The Free Peasantry (Freie Bauernschaft) developed a new concept of peasant trade unionism, which it hoped would assert peasant interests against those of industrial labour. Taking hold in small-farm areas of western and southern Germany, it lasted only from its foundation on the Lower Rhine in 1919 to its dissolution in the Saar territory in 1934, and for the even shorter period of 1920-29 in the Palatinate itself. In the Palatinate, however, it had a huge impact, launching agricultural delivery strikes against the postwar controlled economy and in 1923 providing the leader of most successful of the Rhenish separatist Putsche. The thesis places the Free Peasantry in the context of agrarian organisation and protest from the foundation of the Agrarian League (Bund der Landwirte) to the first year of National Socialist rule. These years saw the growth and then the disintegration of the freely organised peasant interest. Emphasis is placed on the agricultural economy, particularly during the inflation and the depression, and the central question posed is how the peasantry tried to find a satisfactory representation of its interests during these years of economic turmoil. The main sources were official papers in the Bavarian and Rhineland archives, the newspapers of the peasant associations, and the author's interview with the former chairman of the Free Peasantry.

Lam Yan-wing. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [101]-[106]). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract in English PP --- p.i-ii / Abstract in Chinese pp --- p.iv-v / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction pp --- p.1-10 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Early Life of Yanaihara Tadao and Influences on his Ideological Development pp --- p.11-26 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Ideas of Yanaihara Tadao in Prewar and Postwar Period pp --- p.27-77 / Chapter - --- Christianity and Socialist Ideas: Which was the Right Way to achieve the Utopian Society? / Chapter - --- "Colonial Policies, Racial Equality and Foreign Relations" / Chapter - --- War and Pacifism / Chapter - --- Christianity and Japanese Tradition / Chapter Chapter Four --- Yanaihara Tadao's Ideology and the Contemporary Situation pp --- p.78-94 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Conclusion pp --- p.95-100 / Bibliography

This work aims to demonstrate differences in national memory of Communism in the Czech Republic and Poland. It looks into the principles surrounding the practice of collective memory and then uses this to create a working methodology for the study of it in these two nations. In evaluating memory in these countries it relies upon the "Three Pillars" of past events, cultural output and popular opinion and stresses the interconnected nature of these academic areas. A further emphasis is placed upon the role of belief in shaping personal and group self-identity. The overall conclusions stress that both of the national memory of these countries has been shaped by their history, culture and popular opinion, and that this has created a divide between the Polish and Czech views of events during the Communist period. The divide is seen as characterised by particular "Czech" and "Polish" viewpoints which are the product of discourse on previous aspects of what it means to belong to these respective groups. National memory in essence builds upon itself, and will continue to do so. Future perceptions of what it means to be Czech or Polish will be shaped by this latest chapter in national memory.