<p>This dissertation offers a comprehensive model of contemporary nation-state sovereignty. To do so, it examines the mutually constitutive relationship between sovereignty and present-day globalization as well as the role of law and capital in creating, maintaining, and driving that relationship.</p><p>The scholarly treatment of nation-state sovereignty has been inadequate for several reasons. Older theories of sovereignty could not have foreseen the unprecedented technological advances that underlie our current system and therefore do not sufficiently explain it. More recent theories of sovereignty, in turn, tend to be too narrowly focused, such that a given model of sovereignty often only applies to that particular condition. Furthermore, the academic literatures on sovereignty and nationalism, while occasionally referencing each other, have failed to recognize that the two phenomena are parts of the same whole and therefore must be more fully integrated. </p><p>This dissertation argues that a comprehensive model of contemporary nation-state sovereignty must include two symbiotic elements. The first, referred to here as <italic>emotional sovereignty</italic>, involves subjective relationships with the state. As such, the substance of this element is unique for each group. The second element is a <italic>functional/instrumental</italic> element. It addresses ways that the sovereignty serves as an interface-mechanism with other sovereignties, like compatible nozzles attaching and linking variously-sized hoses. It likewise explains how sovereignty functions as a value-maximization mechanism. In short, a sovereignty must control its relationships with others in order to accumulate as much capital as possible in order to protect and perpetuate aspects of the domestic culture that are deemed most valuable. This <italic>functional/instrumental</italic> element, while used in distinct ways by different groups, is largely identical in form among all states.</p><p>From these multiple angles it becomes evident that nation-state sovereignty is not one single power but instead a set of powers, such that each power entails a strategic option that can be negotiated, delegated, mortgaged or surrendered. Nation-state sovereignty is therefore rendered meaningful only in connection with other nation-state sovereignties; in the contemporary situation, this means globalization. Sovereignty is, after all, an <italic>ad hoc</italic> solution to a particular set of historically and contextually emerging dilemmas; as the dilemmas have continued to change, so have the solutions. And so although people, goods, and ideas have always flowed across borders, whether geographic or cultural, the speed, nature, and extent of all such movement in the contemporary age is unprecedented. Today, all sovereignties - across the globe - are connected in diverse and manifold ways. This dissertation therefore provides a model of globalization that goes beyond the simple movement of people, goods, capital, and ideas to explain the conceptual transformations that have made today's globalization possible; the processes that drive it; and the role of the nation-state, and in particular nation-state sovereignty, as a necessary component of globalization itself. </p><p>The dissertation integrates these theories of sovereignty and globalization to show how the connections created by systems of nation-state law serve as the framework for many of the core processes of globalization, while flows of capital within and enabled by that framework fuel those processes. It shows that there are at least three important aspects of this relationship between sovereignty, globalization, law and capital: First, because of the connections of law, capital, and labor, <underline>every</underline> state is implicated in the production of <underline>every good</underline>, a phenomenon here referred to as <italic>co-production</italic>. Together with the <italic>co-consumption</italic> of those goods, <italic>co-production</italic> is the driving force behind globalization; as such, one can likewise say that nation-states <italic>co-produce</italic> globalization itself through the legal regulation of the movement of capital and individuals. Second, nation-states remain the central structural machinery of globalization. Third, globalization is not uniform. To be sure, the effects of globalization have transformed every culture on the planet and capitalism has been the vehicle for doing so. But just as not all cultures are the same, all capitalisms are not the same either. No model of sovereignty and globalization is therefore complete without a mechanism for accounting for differences in culture and capitalism.</p><p>The research that is the foundation for this dissertation was undertaken primarily in the South Pacific region, focusing on Cook Islanders in the Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Australia. Methods included participant observation, legal and documentary research, as well as informal and semi-structured interviews.</p> / Dissertation

<p>This dissertation examines Haiti's crucial role in the re-making of the Atlantic World in the early 19th century. The point of departure for this work is Haiti's Declaration of Independence in 1804 and my research explores how events in Haiti raised profound questions about revolutionary legitimacy and national sovereignty. The emergence of Haiti as an independent nation fueled unprecedented international debates about racial hierarchy, the connections between freedom and sovereignty, and the intertwining of ideological and political relationships among nations and empires. While these debates came to be resolved in part during the next two centuries, they remain alive today both for specific nations and for the international community.</p> / Dissertation

Abstract South China Sea depute is a complex issue in the world, because it involves the island's sovereignty, rich nature resources and strategic advantage in this area. The states which involve in South China Sea dispute are Taiwan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei as well as the United States and Japan. Why South China Sea depute is so complex? in addition to the strategic location, it¡¦s also the major shipping channel in the world. But the key reason is the potential wealth of oil and gas just be discovered, the neighbor countries started to covet the nature resource, and lead to competition for the sovereignty of South China Sea. Furthermore, 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, also produced another trend of maritime delimitation in this area. China believes that the sovereignty of the South China Sea belongs to it, based on historical or legal status. China shows its ambition and intention toward claiming sovereignty in the South China Sea because of its strategic needs, demands for resources needed for economic growth and development, that¡¦s why China is so persistence in reinforcing its sovereignty. China¡¦s current national consensus on the South China Sea is "shelving the disputes and seeking for common development". Sovereignty over the South China Sea is to shelve the case, in order to develop peaceful negotiations. But in the process of negotiation, some countries demonstrate the attitude of willingness to negotiate; and others are continuing to build military facilities in the South China Sea islands. This study is mainly focus on policy research for the South China Sea, and expects for experts and author himself giving us the following answers: First, we have to notice the Chinese sea interests, and observe how China deals with the South China Sea policy. Second, what are the views of the U.S. and Japan on the disputes. Third, this study will suggest How Taiwan can use China¡¦s strategy on South China sea to gain its national interest. Key words¡G South China Sea, Sovereignty dispute, National interests, Joint development

The article is to emphasize the importance of the fundamental values in the constitution through the case study of the constitutional interpretation No.499 of Grand Justices, Judicial Yuan, which mirrors confrontation and collaboration between the popular sovereignty and the constitutional revision boundary. The paper suggests that the constitutional revision boundary is essential in preserving the democratic constitutional order. Whereas the popular sovereignty is the ultimate and the highest power in the constitutional system, it should nevertheless follow the rule of the fundamental values in the constitution. In turn, the value of the popular sovereignty is to be fulfilled. The article then will demonstrate the power of check and balance implied in the J.Y. Interpretation No.499, in order to establish referendum mechanism of the constitutional revision. While transforming from transitory democracy to democratic consolidation status, Taiwan constantly faces the rising demand for a reform leading toward direct democracy. Under such setting, this paper recommends the system shall adjust the constitutional structure accordingly. However, the constitutional impact raised by the referendum shall also be mitigated by the balancing mechanism of the constitution. Therefore this paper first of all advocates that the petitioners' power of making constitutional revision of the Legislative Yuan should be checked in advance by the judicial review. Upon the completion of the judicial review process, the referendum can then be turned to the hands of citizens. The alleged goal is to avoid the intervention of political manipulation on popular will and to underline the constitutional significance of the popular sovereignty.

Since the declaration of Taiwan Local Self-Government Guidelines, the era of local self-government has launched. Due to the various level of dependence on development among counties and cities in the past, the differences among regions deepened. Besides, under the influences of the political centralization, the urbanization caused by economic development, and the preference on directly governed city region in the term of financial distribution, the distinctive features of the local government have not been fully dominated. Therefore, though the system of local self-government has been implemented for 50 years, the result turns out insignificant under the limitations of laws. In addition, since the Local Government Act was promulgated in 1999, it is considered the important fundamental guideline to fulfill the conclusions of National Development Conference. With the implementation of Local Government Act the county and municipal governments are supposed to be equipped with self-governance laws in the operations of the divisions of personnel, financial affairs, and organizational management, so that they will have abundant resources to exert their functions as self-governments. But six years has passed by since the implementation of Local Government Act, how much does the blueprint of cross-century organization modification law exert its functions ? And what assistance is offered to contribute to the whole development of counties and cities? The answer lies in the voice of self-governments of counties and cities. Based on the above-mentioned grounds, this study has been conducted. This study aims in the discussion of the authorization changes brought by the implementation of Local Government Act. This study plans to set up the implementation as the experimental group, while the situation prior to the implementation as the comparative group. Through the study, it is to be seen whether the implementation of Local Government Act meets the original goal. Tainan City is taken for the example in this case study. Literature review has been conducted in the analysis of the four vital indicators, including the divisions of personnel, organization, financial affairs, and legislature. The impact made on these four divisions are to be discussed. Besides, detailed interview is also the research method. That is, seven municipal councilors and four first-class supervisors are interviewed. Their responses are adopted and analyzed to realize their attitudes toward the reform. How do they feel about the reform? Are there any defects within the reform? Through the experimental survey, the correctness of the above literature review can be examined, and modest modification or reform can be presented properly. On the basis of literature review and the results of conducted interviews, whether the original goals are fulfilled can be proved. Before the implementation of Local Government Act, self-governments have no rights over the matters of personnel, organization, finance and legislature. After the implementation, self-governments turn to have more rights over the matters of personnel, organization, and legislature except over the matters of finance. In conclusion, to enhance self-governance law, fully authorization over financial matters should be offered so that the prosperous future is expected and we will build a better and more vigorous government.

In regard to ¡§The disputes of the South China Sea¡¨, Taiwan and China hold similar positions and advocacies. The complicity of the South China Sea sovereignty was mainly caused by the geopolitics of the East Asia region and the potential economic resources in the area. After the Cold War, the changing status of affairs in the Southeast Asia region and the arrangement of power from neighboring nations have made the dispute over the South China Sea a critical conflicting regional hot spot. America, China, Japan and other great powers have been very concerned about the conflicts of the region due to the potential vast amount of sea mineral resources and freedom of navigation of the international waters. At present, the common consensus of the claiming nations over the South China Sea dispute is to leave aside the dispute of sovereignty and jointly develop this region. However, under the so-called ¡§Peaceful¡¨ dialogue, most claming countries were building military facilities behind each other¡¦s back. Basically, the idea of ¡§Joint Development¡¨ was an excuse for the balance of power. The expectation of this thesis is to find the answers of the following functions. First, the status quo of the South China Sea and the sovereignty asserts from the claiming states, and the use of the resources and interests of the claiming states will be analyzed. Second, the true intention and reason of ASEAN helping the claiming states to solve the South China Sea dispute will be examined. Third, the evaluation of China¡¦s interests over South China Sea should be explored. Fourth, what are the views from the U.S. and Japan on the disputes. Finally, what strategy that Taiwan should adopt in order to depend the national interests.

Since the Chinese Communist Party established a government in 1949, this country has operated the control of the society, nearly via penetrating to the society interior basic-level organization. After the political reform of social structure and economic basis, the Communist China has determined her pattern of penetration, mobilization and control in the society. As domination of the media has been one of the pivotal means in society control, the Communist China official can decide which information people may receive through the strict news scrutiny, and takes advantage of this method to instill people the official ideology as well. News involves the social turmoil, affects the populace confidence to the government or implies the peaceful evolution, is forbidden to disseminate on the mainland media. However, the Internet¡¦s unbounded penetration turns out to be a big challenge to impose such a strict scrutiny, challenging the Communist China to carry on the traditional way of controlling the society by maneuvering the media. To the Chinese government which has not been used to considering the populace opinion, what more and more disadvantageous is that the Internet has started to become a newborn power to be able to affect the Chinese politics and the policy decision, even although policy makers would not defer to the public opinion in doing the decision-making, they would not be able to shun it entirely. This article is to research and discuss, mainly from the aspects of social consciousness, nation and society relations, national sovereignty and so on, the Internet development in mainland and the control by the Communist China. Simultaneously, from the dissemination function and the characteristic of the Internet, it is to inspect its influence to the country and the society nowadays, furthermore, to extrapolate the possibility of network democracy. Given the fact that Internet may bring the consequences of loosing the control on country and society, the Communist China has established the comprehensive control measure, preventing by all means the so-called harmful information to circulate, achieving also the effect of threat and restriction while she is developing with all her strength. The challenge to the authority renews as the code-breaking technology renews with each passing day, also. Therefore we may extrapolate accordingly that the Internet development has caused the Communist China¡¦s authority to decline day after day. And the society may obtain the relative development of independency and diversity. Presently in China, the population ever accesses the internet already exceeds one hundred million. Although it is less than 8% of the total population and still a long way to go to accomplish overall popularized, the new community group and network consciousness already take the berth of the traditional dissemination media. Along with the rising of the young, non-ideological and malleable network new generation, it inevitably will accelerate the deepening of affecting the society. Therefore, this topic also will be worth continuing to observe and research.

This dissertation concerns the disabled veterans of the Turkish army who fought against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerillas as conscripted soldiers. While being valorized as sacrificial heroes, “ghazis,” in the realm of nationalist politics, these disabled veterans also face socio-economic marginalization and demasculinization anxieties in Turkey, where discrimination against the disabled is rampant. In such a context, disabled veterans emerged as important ultranationalist actors in the 2000s, championing a conservative agenda around the issues of state sovereignty, democratization, and Turkey’s pending European Union (EU) membership. In this dissertation, I locate the disabled veteran body at the intersection of medical and welfare institutions, nationalist discourses, and cultural formations of gendered normativity to trace the embodied socio-cultural and political processes that constitute disabled veterans as ultranationalist political subjects. I approach the politicization of disabled veterans through the analytical lens of the body in order to understand how veterans’ gendered and classed experiences of warfare, injury, and disability are hardened into an ultranationalist political identity. Exploring the tensions between the nationalist construction of the disabled veteran body and veterans’ embodied experiences as lower-class disabled men, I show how the dialectic between political rites of consecration and everyday rites of desecration translates disability into a political force. By unraveling the ways in which disability caused by violence generates new forms of masculinity, embodiment, and political identity, I illustrate how the disabled veterans’ suffering is brokered into militarization and ultranationalist protest in contemporary Turkey. / text

This dissertation starts from the proposition that globalization is a process of integration aided and abetted over centuries by technologies (e.g. transportation and today’s electronic communications) that have collapsed time and space among individuals and enabled the projection of power. This dissertation excavates and analyzes what are termed discourses of globalism, the rhetorical construction of a social order that transcends the nation-state. The primary form of globalism at this juncture is neoliberal globalism, an elite discourse that is hostile to the nation-state and promotes a world that organizes individuals into global markets as producers and consumers. One of the defining tenets of neoliberal globalism is the assertion that “there is no alternative” to organizing society, a phrase made (in)famous by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s. The project is framed as a search for the emerging rhetorical strategies that might reconstruct agency (the capacity for individuals to affect the world) at a grassroots level under that umbrella of neoliberal globalism and at least contemplate an alternative organization of a more integrated global society. Methodologically, the dissertation employs Kenneth Burke’s (1937) theory of discursive history as an interplay of acceptance and rejection frames over time. Using food talk, primarily Internet content concerning food and agriculture, as a corpus of texts the dissertation charts neoliberal globalism as an acceptance frame and its impact on agency and equipment for living, the embedded social rules and roles for living in a social order. Using the concept of the rejection frame, the dissertation then argues that a grassroots globalism is nascent as seen in food talk and is attempting to counter neoliberal globalism through constructing a theory of rights that transcends the nation-state and provides a new form of equipment for living in a globally organized world. The dissertation concludes by theorizing this emerging rhetoric of rights as a step toward a rhetoric of global personal sovereignty that might unite people in all locales in a balancing of neoliberal globalism. / text

With the arrival of the Europeans, the dressed body became a discursive forum upon which to negotiate the possession of land and the legitimate right to govern in Latin America. In conquest chronicles, the Aristotelian notion that mother nature marked the bodies of those she destined for slavedom came to be applied as a primary discursive tool to justify Spain’s claim to sovereignty. Amerindian forms of dress (or lack thereof) served as visual markers of mental and moral inferiority, lack of civic principles, and an inability of indigenous peoples to self-govern. This study examines the persistence of these impressions of inferiority in modern day body politics. It also questions the applicability of concepts imported from Europe that are involved in the configuration of sovereignty as its formulation changed from something imposed by the conquest to a political principle upon which Latin America’s political communities defined themselves. I analyze the representation of politically charged bodies in four 20th century narratives that dialogue with three crucial moments in the evolution of sovereignty in Latin America (the conquest, the independence movements, and modern-day popular revolutions). Drawing from recent political theory, which views sovereignty as a continually evolving multifaceted social practice involving a wide variety of cultural and legal practices, this dissertation examines the complex processes by which bodies, both physical and symbolic, become vested with political significance. In response to Moira Gatens’s work, which argues that just as theory has abandoned neutral and abstract conceptualizations of material bodies, bodies politic should similarly be examined as historically situated practices determined by specific power relations (gender, class, race, etc.); I propose that we, scholars of Latin American Studies, must find the equivalent of what Luce Irigaray, referring to women’s bodies, calls ‘our body’s language.’ This dissertation observes that the link between sovereignty and the dressed body in Latin America begs further examination, and that we must develop a set of terms and concepts that capture the specific cultural, political and ideological circumstances behind how the body performs at a material and symbolic level in Latin America’s quest toward sovereignty. / Romance Languages and Literatures