As a practical moralist and political theorist concerned with reforming a factious and religious public, Hume recommends a particular outlook that is fit for civilized society. In this dissertation, I present Hume as a contributor to the post-scholastic contest of philosophical systems, as an innovative thinker who revised the modern Epicurean outlook of Hobbes and Mandeville and challenged both the austere Christian Stoicism of Francis Hutcheson and the Platonic rationalism of Samuel Clarke. I argue that the political mentality that Hume presented as suitable for sustaining the prevailing social order constitutes one more step in the development of the modern Epicurean mentality. This mentality, moreover, is not strictly political, but incorporates metaphysical, epistemological, and moral judgments that, in light of the contest of systems, are rightly regarded as a restatement of modern Epicurean positions. Hume, in accord with the principles of the new political science, sought to protect the gains of civilization from the vestiges of barbarism, which, for Hume, were manifested in the superstitious tribalism of religionists and political partisans. Hume replaces Christian, Whig, and Tory myths—i.e. grand narratives situating human beings as moral and political subjects—with the Epicurean myth of the progress of human society. The end of political society, from this perspective, is neither piety nor moral improvement, but prosperity, ease, and comfort, which, together, serve as the measure of progress and the reason for popular consent to the exercise of public political authority. This mentality, I argue, sheds light on the normative dimensions of Hume’s liberal political science.

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This thesis attacks the neglected and unresolved historiographical problem connecting Adam Ferguson’s work, in particular, his Essay on the History of Civil Society, to his early life experience. During the 1960s and 1970s, the issue of Ferguson’s Highland background first came to the fore. A knowledge of Gaelic marked Ferguson out from his colleagues, denoting his status as a Highlander. Michael Kugler’s 1994 study examined how Ferguson and his contemporaries constructed an idealised representation of Highland society. My investigation takes a novel approach by concentrating on matters relating to the concrete reality of the locale, language and vestigial shame-honour culture. These were imbibed by Ferguson during his childhood and early adult life. During these phases, Ferguson became conversant in the Gaelic language which acted as a conduit for the mores, history and legends of Highland communities. The elements of the shame-honour culture, the neural pathways generated by Gaelic, and Highland orality, all left their mark on him. Evidence of these component influences can be identified in his Essay, correspondence and other works. An analysis of Ferguson’s correspondence confirms his native-like control of the Gaelic sound system, indicating fluency from a young age. Ferguson experienced a traditional, communal way of life in transition. During his lifetime, there was an increasing drive to modernise the rural parts of Scotland. His insider-knowledge of two cultures, together with his familiarity of two naturally acquired grammatical systems, provided him with some unique intuitive perceptions. Ferguson’s works and his success as a university lecturer testify to his assimilation and integration into mainstream Scotto-British eighteenth-century intellectual culture. Nevertheless, his writing bears some hallmarks of alternating cultural loyalties and the occasional affirmation of his first culture. This thesis provides a new dimension to the understanding of Ferguson’s early enculturation, by inviting fresh explication of important passages of his writing. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examines the key question: can voluntary associations enhance democracy? It tests critical claims made by Habermas and others that voluntary associations have the potential to reinvigorate a public sphere in a state of atrophy. The thesis outlines the major theoretical arguments pertaining to these areas and then presents the results of empirical work within voluntary organisations. Specifically the thesis: Critically examines the concept of the public sphere, being a sphere between the state and civil society and investigates why theorists have advocated voluntary associations, claimed to be the core institutions of civil society, as sites where democratic ideals can be secured; Goes on to examine the concept of civil society and reviews the recent literature that has attempted to define and analyse the role of voluntary associations in contemporary society; Tests empirically the normative ideals that have been advocated on behalf of voluntary associations through the presentation of data obtained using qualitative methodology. The analysis of the data collected during interviews with key employees and members of six voluntary associations in Melbourne, Australia allows for a more informed knowledge regarding the key concepts and themes of the thesis. The thesis ends by directly addressing the following points: whether or not the public sphere is in a state of atrophy; the particular nature of voluntary associations contemporary engagement in the public sphere; and whether voluntary associations can indeed, be sites where democracy can be enhanced and democratic ideals be secured. It is concluded that voluntary associations operate within Habermasian public spheres, counterspheres, and postmodern public spheres and that unitary notions of the public sphere, such as those Habermas proposes, do not adequately explain voluntary associations engagement in the public sphere. Accordingly, it is concluded that voluntary associations have the potential to invigorate public spheres, though not in ways that many theorists writing on the subject suggest.

This thesis explores the roles and experiences of local East Timorese non-government organisations through the multiple transitions which accompanied East Timor's process of independence in the period 1999-2004. It explores how NGOs attempted to influence the changing environment in which they were operating, particularly in the development of the new nation. In doing so, it examines how the actual experience of these local NGOs relates to theories of civil society and NGOs in the various phases of transition to democracy, state and nation building and post-conflict peacebuilding. After reviewing literature relating to the role of civil society and NGOs in democratisation, development and peacebuilding, and identifying some key issues to explore, the study turns to the particular context of East Timor. It summarizes the colonial history, with a particular focus on governance, development and the emergence of civil society and NGOs in that territory, and the phases of the transition. It then focuses closely on six leading East Timorese NGOs, which between them reflect different organisational origins and sectoral interests and which were perceived to be playing significant roles within the NGO community. The case study chapters describe briefly the history of each NGO, then trace their stories over an approximately five year period. They explore how the visions, strategies, programs and organisational systems of these NGOs changed as the context changed. The case studies show how adaptive these NGOs were, how excluded some of them were by the huge influx of international players after the ballot, but how, in the absence of a legitimate government, they were included in various processes in a number of important ways during the UNTAET period. These studies also reveal some of the challenges the NGOs faced as the new government took over in May 2002. The study concludes by summarising the changing roles and capacities of the NGOs, highlighting the many roles which local NGOs played throughout the study period, and the way in which they met new demands placed upon them. It identifies capacities critical for these NGOs' survival and development, and identifies some strategies which the NGOs themselves identified as useful in helping them attain these. It also identifies some areas which they found challenging and where more capacity development may have been valuable. Finally the study reflects on the actual experiences of Timorese NGOs compared to theory and experiences elsewhere relating to democracy, development and peacebuilding. The findings, which emphasise the changing relationship of the new state to its citizens, suggest that the civil society and development practice, which has been strongly based on de Tocqueville's approach to civil society, is not particularly helpful in a post-conflict setting. Instead, an adapted Gramscian approach, viewing civil and political society as interrelated sites in which a struggle to embed non-violent means of apportioning power are being waged, could be of greater analytic and practical value.

<p>After 1989, along with the collapse of Soviet Union, Central and Eastern European countries the democracy became synonymous with ‘return to Europe’. The post-communist regime was a reaction against its predecessor and that reaction had produced a demand for democratization. Therefore, the process of democratization, which gained momentum at the end of eighties and, the beginning of the nineties, has become an important phenomenon. The most extreme case of transition, certainly, is former Yugoslavia. Due to the war and the collapse of the Federation into several successor states, the legitimacy and viability are still being questioned. The Balkan region, known as the ‘Powder Keg of Europe’ has been commonly considered to be representing a chronic political instability and a lack of socio-economic modernization as well as much poorer prospects for democratization and for acceptance into the European Union (EU) in comparison to the other countries of East and Central Europe.</p><p>Slovenia however may be seen as the exception that proved the Balkan rule. Besides, the successor states of Yugoslavia, Slovenia has recorded the smoothest, non-violent and the least problematic transition toward liberal democracy. Slovenia maintained the highest level of system stability in the powder keg of Europe. Slovenia is the only Yugoslav successor state, which has peacefully established a functioning democracy. It has established a stable democracy and moved easily to a market economy. It is also the only the EU member country from the former. More importantly, Slovenia has kept the highest level of system stability in Powder Keg of Europe’.</p><p>The main purpose of this thesis is to review and discuss the political democratization process in Slovenia. This study also reviews the reasons, which make the Slovenian transition to democracy special among the post-communist democracies. More specifically, this study particularly focuses on certain political aspects to discover its way of democratization. Slovenia, one of the most successful countries within Central and Eastern Europe is also the only component republic of ex-Yugoslavia not to confront continuing problems of ethnic challenge, deep political conflict and economic debility.</p><p>All theories attempt to impose order and find patterns in the messy and complex reality of human life. Therefore, the theories are useful in that they ask important questions about democratization in general and contribute to particular explanations. Concerning the democratization process in Slovenia, ‘Theories of Democratization’ is generally going to be reviewed. Democratization theories aim to explain how authoritarian regimes change into liberal democratic ones. More specifically, Transition Theories will be applied during the study. Transition studies have been chosen, because they offer a ‘political’ explanation of democratization and also differentiate democratic transition and democratic consolidation phases properly, and point out the necessary conditions for the success of each phase.</p>

<p>Global Civil Society is a spectrum of diverse social actors, which offers an alternative to the making of contemporary politics, and towards social change; it provides us with a new approach to change the existing global order through development rather than confrontation. For this reason, global civil society has recently attracted increased interest in the academic and political discourse and consequently has left the margins and is placed in the centre of contemporary International Relations and political theory.</p><p>Utilizing neo-Gramscian ideas this study examines global civil society’s concept and core features and focuses on its role as well as transformative possibilities as an agent in contemporary world politics. This thesis demonstrates through the findings of our</p><p>case study on "Civil Society Organisations" Response to the Fourth European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean Summit in Vienna 2006” the alternative approach in dealing with political issues and actively working towards those ends.</p><p>This research’s conclusions designate the great potentialities of civil society’s organizations, if carefully managed to transform the contemporary world; as well as the necessity of addressing global civil society in order to understand the role of the social realm in reducing the gap of legitimacy in the contemporary world order.</p>

<p>The subject for this paper is the Class Action against Skandia Association, a civil organization formed in 2003 with the aim of claiming compensation for some 1.2 million life insurance customers. The background to its formation was one of the largest financial scandals in Sweden in recent times, involving a number of questionable affairs within the insurance corporation Skandia and its subsidiaries, most notably the life insurance company Skandia Liv. The interests of both the stake- and stockholders of the company seem, in certain ways, to have been grossly misrepresented. The scandal, as well as the reaction it spawned, pose a number of questions. In this study, we focus on two: a possible, and in many ways apparent crisis in the representation of interests in Swedish society, and the role of civil society in upholding the balance between these interests.</p><p>We argue that what is often held to be the ”greed” or ”immorality” of individuals in scandals such as Skandia is, to a great extent, a mere reflection of the ”rational” underpinnings of modern-day capitalism.</p><p>We find that trust has been a key mechanism of control in the relationships between consumers and agents in pension and life insurance markets, and that ”the Swedish model” that distinguished post-WWII Swedish society was a model heavily based on trust towards existing models of bureaucratic governance. Furthermore, the increase in social and technical complexity of the systems and relationships necessary of our individual and collective welfare, as well as the growing anonymity of the people we depend on, seem to have resulted in a gap that cannot be bridged without resorting to trust.</p><p>We also find that elements of the Skandia scandal mirror a larger societal development in which the balance between interests has been disrupted, causing severe breaches of trust. Over time, and as a result of a largely global interplay between power and discourse, the Swedish model has undergone a considerable transition, gradually transforming elements of the underlying institutional foundations of both the market and the state.</p><p>Such transitions, and the herein observed inability of both market and state to cope with them while maintaining the balance between interests of society as a whole, make us believe that the importance of a vital civil society cannot be understated. The Class Action against Skandia Association is a testament to its potential.</p>

The constraints experienced by water utilities in developing countries, with regard to the universal provision of access to water and improved water services, have been defined by international policymakers as "a crisis of governance". This study departs from the theoretical perspectives on governance and aspires to accumulate knowledge and advance understanding on how the performance of water utilities can be enhanced. The thesis comprises five papers and the cover essay. Four of the papers address case studies and one is a theoretically based paper, while all five papers are supported by reviews from the literature relevant to the topic of each paper. The thesis uses insights from literature reviews mapping relevant scientific theories and concepts in the areas of mainly governance, deliberative policymaking and communicative planning, social capital, civil society and institutional theoretical perspectives. The study integrates different research methods and explores theoretical perspectives on governance to examine the governance aspects of water utilities in the transition phase from public to private management and operation. The study investigates whether the  governance structure that involves the private sector in the form of Public Private Partnership (PPP) of water utility has produced "good governance" and enhanced water governance in two cases, the Lema Water Company in Amman, Jordan and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in Accra, Ghana. The analysis highlights evidence of governance deficiency. Accordingly, the thesis argues against the policy design that assumes that simply transferring the management and operation of water utility to private operators would resolve the problems of water utilities and enhance water governance. The analyses and the conclusions reached in the papers, together with a review of the literature on New Institutional Economics theory that knits together all the theories that are utilised in the papers, offer insights in the understanding of aspects of water governance. The insights suggest that policymakers need to better understand how institutions at different levels impact the overall performance of a water utility. The performance of the water utility cannot be detached from the wider institutional setting or reduced to simply changing the operator.  What has been disregarded from the calculus of international policymakers, the thesis mainly argues, is the institutional perspective. The study concludes that actors’ performances are affected primarily by their institutional settings. The constraints of water utilities to provide a better performance and good governance processes reside in different kinds of institutional settings To address this, the thesis develops a generic institutional framework within which water governance aspects can be assessed at different institutional levels, from the higher level of politics to that of the individual level. According to this perspective, the study views governance process as "the interaction between actors from the spheres of a society within specific sets of formal and informal institutions in a social setting that produces certain political, economic and social outcomes".  It defines good governance as "the legitimacy given by the wider public to institutions in a social setting and the coherency of formal and informal institutions to produce socially effective outcomes for the collective public". The developed generic institutional framework is used to more thoroughly analyse the two cases integrated in the study. This approach to assessment of water governance provides an explanation for why the water utilities were not able to meet their performance goals and enriches our understanding of water governance processes. It also modestly maps the main problematic institutional areas that in each case constrained aspects of good water governance. In practical terms, this thesis emphasises that policymakers have to map and identify the institutional factors constraining the overall performance of a water utility, at all levels. The thesis also urges policymakers to be cautious regarding which formulated policies are seen as solutions. Policymakers should restrain themselves from experimenting with policy when they are not sure that certain outcomes are likely to be produced by adopting a particular policy. In the long run, inappropriate policies may negatively affect local institutional settings and are likely to undermine the capacity of local governance. / QC20100628

Since the mid-1990s the issue of corporate social responsibility has become an interest of various actors in the international system and an important item on the international agenda. In spite of the absence of a common definition, the concept generally involves claims on transnational corporations to take responsibility for the promotion and protection of human and labour rights in countries where they operate or otherwise conduct business. These claims have contributed to a change in the expectations on the behaviour of companies and result from the persistent advocacy of non-governmental organizations. This study traces the development of corporate social responsibility understood as a new international norm and part of a social construction project with a normative agenda. With a point of departure in the 1970s, different stages of the norm cycle of corporate social responsibility – norm emergence, “norm cascade” and norm internalization – are traced through five selected non-governmental organizations including the Clean Clothes Campaign, the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Global Exchange, the International Business Leaders Forum, and the International Labor Rights Fund. Although representing different categories of organizations, i.e. Activists, Business Initiatives and Multi-stakeholder Organizations, they are all seen as norm entrepreneurs involved in a process of international norm construction. The argument made is that these norm entrepreneurs through different perspectives in their ideational commitment and strategies of persuasion have been successful in making corporate social responsibility an international concern, which has led to a “cascading” of organizations and initiatives seen from the mid-1990s. At present we experience a clustering of actors around specific initiatives, a norm consolidation, which could be taken in support of a norm internalization of corporate social responsibility.