This thesis examined the political history of Black Nationalism in America in order to determine those internal organizational factors that have prevented Black Nationalists, specifically of the Black Power Era (1 966-1 975), from achieving selfdetermination, with the highest expression being the founding of an independent Black nation-state. The study was based on the premise that the goal of Black Nationalism was the founding of a Black nation-state for African-Americans. A historical comparative analysis was used to determine what internal factors prevented Black Nationalists from successfully founding a Black nation-state. The researcher found several internal factors that interfered with the founding of a Black nation-state. Factors which contributed to the unsuccessful movement were the immaturity of Black Nationalist leadership, the abandonment of political programs, shifts 1 in program strategies, and the antagonism and neglect of the Black Church as an ally in the movement. The conclusion drawn from the findings suggest that there are other internal factors which need further exploration.

This thesis presents a history of the concept of the state as a political community. Beginning with the early-nineteenth century and using debates about state formation and state recognition as its source material, it uses the language of English-speaking policy makers and political commentators to explore understandings of statehood across different time periods. The thesis argues that the meaning and connotations of the state have changed significantly in the past two hundred years, as it has become more salient in images of world politics. In particular, the state has evolved to incorporate the idea of the 'nation,' such that when governments act they are perceived to have their populations 'in tow.' These conceptual changes are surprisingly recent, solidified particularly since the Second World War. Four broad themes structure the argument in each chapter. First, the historical 'nation' has become an increasingly dominant way of conceptualising the populations of states. Second, the state has come to be construed as the inevitable unit of world politics, corroborated by the assumption that each one arises out of a pre-existing 'nation.' Third, the state has increasingly been perceived as a unitary actor with its own consciousness, separate from 'government.' Finally, the state with its nationalist implications, has come to define the dynamics of international politics, a means of simplifying an ever more complex world. The thesis roots contemporary (English language) understandings of the state in a particular historical and political context, defined by the contestation between 'American' and 'British' worldviews, the triumph of liberal internationalism and the multiple interests at stake in the image of the state as a nation. The thesis thus exposes the intensely political nature of language and the complacency of International Relations with regard to its own use of words and conventional narratives.

This paper examines a series of emerging utopian discourses that call for the creation of autonomous libertarian enclaves on land ceded by or claimed against existing states. These discourses have emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and can be seen as a response to the crisis on the part of freemarket advocates who critique previous waves of neoliberal reform for failing to radically transform the existing structures of the state. Enclave libertarianism seeks to overcome neoliberal capitalism's contradictory relationship to the liberal democratic state by rethinking the state as a "private government service provider" and rethinking citizens as mobile consumers of government services. Citizens are thus called to "vote with their feet" by opting-in to the jurisdiction that best fits their needs and beliefs. The paper argues that these utopian imaginaries are key to understanding specific new manifestations of post-crisis neoliberalism, and calls for more research into the diversity of discourses and imaginaries that circulate through networks of neoliberal actors beyond specific policy initiatives.

There are seventeen million people in the world who are stateless, not considered as citizens by any state. They suffer due to the current function of citizenship in the nation-state system, occupying a legal space outside of the system, yet, their lives are very much blighted by the system itself. This research examines the possibility that global citizenship could be a means to address statelessness. Global citizenship, unlike (national) citizenship, is, in theory, inclusive, and membership is based on our shared humanity. However, when approaching the global citizenship literature, two concerns became apparent. First, there is a significant lack of theorisation on the stateless in the discourse, and second, some scholars make the assumption that a global citizen has citizenship of a state – which the stateless do not. To begin to overcome these concerns, this research develops and implements a stateless centric perspective on global citizenship, using it to analyse the situation of the stateless in the case of Lebanon. The stateless centric approach developed here, views global citizenship through the actions and perspectives of those addressing statelessness. With four large and protracted stateless populations, Lebanon provides an empirically rich context, within which to undertake this research. The findings of the stateless centric perspective problematise the received wisdom of citizenship, the nation-state and allows for the exploration of the expressions and tensions in the practices of global citizenship. Drawing on a contextualised understanding of these practices, a ‘patchwork’ approach to global citizenship is proposed. This sees the creation of a public political space as an act of global citizenship, when it draws on universal principles. These universal principles are used to justify this space, taking on an instrumental role. It is a patchwork as these spaces can be seen in the wider global context, as either directly or indirectly connected, through their shared use of universal principles. By centralising the stateless in our conceptualisations of the nation-state, citizenship and global citizenship, the value of taking a stateless centric perspective, and its ability to draw out further nuances in the debate, is shown.

No description available.

This thesis employs an approach of discourse analysis on male homosexuality in postwar Japan from the viewpoint of the tense relations between Japanese cultural nationalism and the globalisation/Westernisation, along with the shifts of discourses of sexuality in the United States and the UK. Through analysing the discourses of sexuality in post-war Japan, I will theoretically indicate the historical and political relationship between problems of gender and sexuality, and national problems such as national identity between Japanese and Western cultures, ideal image of the nation, and its modern development. Firstly, I argue the works of Mishima Yukio (1925-1970), who is one of the representative writers in post-war Japan, especially famous for his gaythemed works and far-right political activism including his attempt of coup d'état. Then, I explore the political dynamics of gay shame in Japan, focusing on Togo Ken (1932-2012), a pioneer of Japanese gay activism who had challenged national elections since 1971 as an openly homosexual candidate. Next, I discuss how the AIDS crisis has changed the discourses of sexuality and the sense of national and cultural borders in Japan. I then discuss the Japanese homonormativity in the 2000s, analogous to Lisa Duggan's new homonormativity in the US context. Finally, I analyse Japanese ‘LGBT' political phenomena under the transnational influence of the Obama administration's LGBT-friendly policy in the contemporary Japan, and point out problems under the influences of ‘global' LGBT activism in contemporary Japanese society.

This thesis traces the emergence of the Zionist political movement from the mid nineteenth century until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The thesis explores the impetus behind the mainstream political movement which led to the establishment of the State, throwing light on the kaleidoscope of spiritual and political Zionisms. However, the ultimate focus is on the statist form of Zionist ideology which marginalised other forms of Zionism rendering them historical curiosities devoid of meaningful political impact. I analyse the texts of some prominent Zionist ideologues through the theoretical framework of nationalist, colonial and post-colonial theories forging the concept of colonial nationalism to interpret and analyse Zionism. I limit my work to Zionist political texts and their anchor in the surrounding milieu of European nationalism and colonialism in the 19th century. The chapters deal with different trends within the then emergent movement from spiritual Zionism and the religious justification of political Zionism through liberal and bi-national Zionisms. Each chapter engages with Zionist political thought offering textual analysis and historical contextualisation of the major forms of the movement. I argue that at its inception, Zionism was anchored in European ethno-nationalism and colonialism and a modern and highly contingent interpretation of the Hebrew biblical traditions. As such it is rendered a reactionary and regressive form of ethno-nationalist colonialism that, as an ideology in the contemporary world, it can only survive when it is premised on ideas of cultural supremacy. Thus post-Zionism with its espousal of a multiplicity of narratives and valorisation of minority rights is, rather than forging a new de-territorialized identity, a return to a model of diasporic Jewish identity where a common cultural heritage is disparate from citizenship and nationality.

This thesis uses the example of Yugoslavia-the land of the South Slavs (also known as the Balkans) - to study how the twists and turns of historical evolution have been reflected in communal understanding of that history.

This thesis uses the example of Yugoslavia-the land of the South Slavs (also known as the Balkans) - to study how the twists and turns of historical evolution have been reflected in communal understanding of that history.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2009. / Thesis directed by Michael P. Zuckert for the Department of Political Science. "December 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 418-423).