Nathaniel Hawthorne lived and wrote in an age of reform efforts, and the progressive movement with which he was most familiar was Transcendentalism. However, he was not sympathetic with Emerson's idealism, a sentiment which comes out in his fiction in way of critique. Throughout Hawthorne's work there is an emphasis on human limitation, in stark contrast to the optimism that characterized his time a "materialist" response to idealism (as defined by Emerson in "The Transcendentalist"). And one important vehicle of this critique of human possibility is his shrewd use of biblical motif particularly the tropes of Eden and the Promised Land, which were adopted by the Transcendentalists. Although these allusions can be traced through much of Hawthorne's work, they are especially apparent in two novels: The Blithedale Romance (1852) and The Scarlet Letter (1850). Hawthorne exposes the irony behind the use of these biblical motifs by the Blithedale community (in their effort to create a utopian society) and the Puritan community, which looked to its religious leaders as the embodiment of its ideals. / Graduation date: 1999

When individualism and liberalism rose from the western history, a new form of the conflict between individual and community had emerged. From this time, people start thinking that because we have the liberal right which belongs to every person, everyone can pursue his own self-fulfillment. However, when this kind of view becomes an ¡§atomistic individualism¡¨ conviction, it seriously threatens the peace and stability of our community. If the most important thing everyone cares about is his self-fulfillment, how can we reconcile the conflict between various values? How can we avoid the disruption of our community? The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the conflict between individual and community is inevitable, and if it is inevitable how we can find a way to face up to this distress by exploring R. G. Collingwood¡¦s political thought. For this purpose, in chapter one, I will more clearly expound my concern which will be explored in this thesis, and why we can answer the above two questions by exploring Collingwood¡¦s political thought. After this, I will start to explore Collingwood¡¦s view of the concept of freedom in chapter two, and we will find out that, for Collingwood, anyone¡¦s freedom can only be realized by interacting with others. Then I will further elaborate Collingwood¡¦s view about the relation of individual and community in chapter three. Following the proceeding two chapters, in chapter four, I will firstly point out that in Collingwood¡¦s view what is the meaning of freedom for us, and then show how he can provide us a way to face up the inevitable conflict between individual and community. Finally, I will conclude what Collingwood can inspire us who live in the twenty-first century today.

<p>People in refuge face states with a dilemma. This dilemma consists of a wish (or obligation) to help those who need a refuge, and at the same time consider domestic issues such as financial costs and security problems. Thus, there are two perspectives which are important to consider when refugee policies are made. The aim of this paper is to see which perspective the EU had when making their migration policies. The question asked is: which perspective is behind the making of European refugee policy?</p><p>The theories realism and idealism are used to describe the conflicts in the making of European refugee policies. The method used is called qualitative text analyses in which you take out the most relevant information in the different parts of a text.</p><p>The results showed that it has been difficult for the European states to agree on a common European migration law. The agreements that have been made have made it more difficult for refugees to enter the European Union, that is, a protective politics have been made. This leads to the conclusion that EU: s refugee policies at large have been formed from a realist perspective to protect the interests of the national states.</p><p>Key words: European refugee politics, realism and idealism, Geneva Convention.</p>

The present thesis is an attempt to study some of the social theories of Islam, not as logical ideas existing in a vacuum, but rather as idealogies which are in close interaction with the social conditions in the midst of which they arise. It should be remembered at this point that this thesis is not intended to be a comprehensive research into the entire field of the sociology of Islam. The job is too enormous to be undertaken by a single researcher. This work is restricted to the study of one aspect of it, that is: the dilemma of Islam, or in other words, the conflict between idealism and realism in the history of Islam. The conflict between idealism and realism exists, as we shall see later, in almost every phase of the human society, but it may not be an exaggeration to say that in the history of Islam it manifested itself in a very intensive form. In this thesis the attempt is made to discuss the reason for, and the development of, this peculiar aspect of Islam. / text

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This thesis accepts the premise that something is amiss in international political theory but, in contrast to numerous recent works, aims to provide more than a eulogy, lament, or nostalgic retrospective on the field. Instead, it seeks to get at the root cause of the problem. I argue that the perennial malaise of international theory is a problem of discipline, in both the ordinary and scientific sense. First, the field is in the grip of unprecedented theoretical tumult, its practitioners in danger of drifting out of familiar currents into a boundless sea of relativism. Second, the scientific status of the discourse remains an issue of concern to many scholars. But the first group of "theorists" promise us little more than diversity, while the second look for theoretical shelter in the false haven of empirical science. The crisis of international theory is thus inflamed by a misrepresented debate in which either too much emphasis is placed on consensus, or too great a virtue made of difference. Returning to the insights of E. H. Carr, I reconceptualize the problem of theoretical consensus in international relations as an issue that is inherently irresolvable and, at the same time, workable. The thesis argues against the view that international relations cannot achieve secure status as a discipline without attaining, or at least aspiring to construct, a global empirical theory. Following Carr, I argue that there are deep and enduring differences in international theory, differences that can always be counted on to undermine the "panacea of a global explanatory theory" (Hoffmann, 1960). These differences are traced, via Carr, to a basic antithesis deriving from the contrasting requirements and standards of normative and empirical theory. By the same token, however, I argue that differences that are irreconcilable on their own theoretical terms can be reconciled within the broader ambit of discipline, provided that the latter is understood as a community of scholars united by basic human interests — the avoidance of war for example — and not as a field of study amenable to the canons of science. To demonstrate the argument, I undertake a study of neoliberalism, focusing in particular on international regimes. I focus on neoliberalism because it is the heir apparent to realism, and on regime theorists because of their explicit attempt to reconcile idealist and realist perspectives. My critique of these approaches concentrates on their open agenda to synthesize realist and liberal international theory. I conclude that regime theory, as it is conceived by neoliberals, disguises, but ultimately founders, on the irreconcilable theoretical differences identified by Carr.

I den här statsvetenskapliga uppsatsen studeras Europeiska Unionens (EU), en organisation med både över- och mellanstatlighet, folkrättsliga hänsynstagande gällande erkännandefrågor om nybildade stater. Syftet är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning EU:s utrikespolitiska beslutsfattare visar folkrättsliga hänsyn i officiella uttalanden genom två förklaringsmodeller, realismen respektive idealismen. Syftet är även att pröva Ann-Marie Ekengrens analysschema, som är konstruerad att förklara staters agerande, på en hybrid organisation som EU. Materialet i studien baseras på primära källor, såsom EU:s officiella hemsida och sekundära källor, såsom nyhetsartiklar som analyserar händelseförloppet och motiven bakom dem. Detta har genomförts med hjälp av en argumentationsanalys och Ekengrens analysschema för att kunna kategorisera argumenten i ett realistiskt eller idealistiskt förklaringssätt. Utredningen påvisar realistiska och idealistiska särdrag i EU:s offentliga argumentation gällande Krims folkrättsliga och statsrättsliga kriterier. Med detta sagt var det ingen av teorierna som lyste starkare än den andre, vilket är ett unikt resultat. Utredningen visar även att teorierna kan förklara EU:s argument i erkännandeprocessen. I dessa argumentationer fanns både maktpolitiska och folkrättsliga hänsynstaganden att hämta. Ett av syftena var även att pröva Ekengrens analysschema som är uppbyggt i fyra delar där samtliga delar tillämpades i denna undersökning. Trots att modellen inte var avsedd för organisationer så blev alla frågor i analysschemat besvarade.

Univ., Diss.--Toronto.

Honors Project--Smith College, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-75).

Habilitationsschrift--Heidelberg.