For the past thirty years the Malaysian economy has been said to contribute well to the progress of the nations. However, the intensification of global economic activity and the extensive use of ICTs in recent years are challenging government's effort to further develop Malaysian society. The competition posed by the low wage economies such as China and Vietnam have made the government realise the importance of engaging in high-skill and high technology industries. It is hoped this will be the basis of attracting more FDI (foreign direct investment) in order to help the country to compete in a globalised world. Using Vision 2020 as its targeted vision, the government has decided to engage in the use of ICTs and introduce many policies pertaining to it. This thesis is mainly concerned with the study of ICT policy in Malaysia and its consequences for both the economy and society. The investigation focuses on the three dimensions: 'ICTs and economic growth', 'ICTs and inequality' and 'the element of neo-colonialism'. Two approaches are used to achieve the objectives of the study. They are secondary analysis and semi-structured interviews. This thesis is largely dependent on library research and secondary sources such as government official policies and data. Semi-structured interviews are used as a means to support or test some of the arguments and evidence collected throughout the analysis and discussion. For the interviews, three groups of people were identified: policy developers, implementers and evaluators. These people are those involved directly and indirectly with ICT policy establishment and implementation. The findings show that policy pertaining to ICTs in Malaysia contributes to economic growth, but the consequences of this have resulted in greater division within society. Although some of the divisions such as gender and ethnicity are narrowing down, the gap in important areas such as regions and class differences, is becoming wider. The widespread use of ICTs might contribute to the further establishment of democracy in Malaysia, but the increasing number of foreign entities such as FDI and foreign workers, cultural hybridisation and to some extent cultural doniination are contributing to neocolonialism in Malaysia. This has obvious consequences for the government's effort to create a Malaysian national identity. An important finding of this work is that there are contradictions within ICT policy between the effort to develop the economy and society.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Action, agency and protest were notions that seeped through the social and political terrain of 1960s Japan. Opposition to the Vietnam War, disputes in the universities, environmental concerns and anticipation of the US-Japan Security Treaty’s renewal set down for 1970, saw the entire decade engulfed in activism and protest. This thesis explores these sites of activism revealing the disparate character of protest in the 1960s – the often competing tactics and agendas that were manifested within the burgeoning and dynamic cultures of protest. The shifting definitions of protest and the competing ideals that emerged from its various sites of articulation are crucial to our understanding of postwar Japan. Excavating these sites – reading the character of protest and the ideals expressed – exposes the notions of autonomy and activism that underpinned conceptions of the postwar national identity. In the aftermath of the Pacific War intellectuals and activists looked for new forms of political expression, outside the auspices of the state, through which to enact the postwar nation. The identity of postwar Japan was constructed within the spheres of protest and resistance as anti-Vietnam War activists, Beheiren (Betonamu ni Heiwa o! Shimin Rengō), student groups such as Zenkyōtō, and local citizens’ movements negotiated the discursive space of ‘modern Japan.’ Examining the conceptions of political practice and identity that manifested themselves in the protest and resistance of the period, provides insights into the shifting terrain of national identity in the 1960s.

The Republic of China (ROC), also known as Taiwan, has been the haven of the Kuomintang (KMT) since its defeat at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949. Taiwan has long been the subject of control by foreign powers, which has created a unique history for the autonomous region. Historical circumstances have created a space for a distinct Taiwanese culture that has diverged from that of the mainland. This paper examines the role of this newfound culture on civic engagement, specifically regarding the sentiment for separatism or lessened ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). I examine the history of the island by first discussing the evolution of Taiwanese culture over the 20th and 21st centuries. I take a closer look following Taiwan’s democratization, which developed a deeper cultural cleavage that is politically salient. Cultural cleavages have only increased the nationalist sentiment of the Taiwanese people in pushing for greater separation – if not full-fledged independence – from the PRC. The results of my historical analysis argue the relevance of culture theory on the growing divide between Taiwan and China. In addition, this paper provides a perspective the effects of identity politics in Taiwan and its effect on cross-strait relations.

This thesis examines constructions of English Canadian national identity in school readers approved for use in Grades Four to Six in Ontario Public Schools from 1909 to 1970, schoolbooks used throughout English‐speaking Canada during the mid‐twentieth century. While the lavishly illustrated readers comprise collections of prose, poetry and exposition designed to improve reading comprehension, the accompanying Teachers’ Guides reveal the editors’ intentions to reinforce Canadian identity through the creation of a common cultural heritage and values based upon a British settler past. The emerging metanarratives of wilderness and multiculturalism mark the shift from a concertedly British colonial identity in the early twentieth century to a distinctly Canadian identity after World War II. Wilderness is constituted as the site for the construction of this uniquely Canadian identity, not only through brave pioneer ancestors creating homes but also as the location for contemporary adventures and encounters with Aboriginal Others. The readers were children’s first official introduction to Canada, effectively children’s handbooks for Canadian citizenship, modelling their duties and responsibilities as ‘young Canadians.’ Children imagined their nation, not only by taking part in the communal ritual of reading in the classroom but also through virtual tours of Canada, visiting other children ‘from sea to sea’. The thesis establishes school readers as a valuable but neglected resource in discussions of the development of Canadian national identity, revealing largely unresolved tensions between traditional antimodern values and occupations and the realities of twentieth‐century Canada urban industrial society.

The research reported in this thesis explores national identity construction by students in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). A lower secondary school (6-8 grades, 11-14 years) was the site where the research took place. The study was designed to examine the relationship between students’ construction of national identity and their educational experience. The aim was to reveal and examine the sense of national self this age-group of students in Northern Cyprus had, how through their education they were placed in the immediate community and the broader social and geo-political space, and what factors contributed to the process of the construction of their national identification. The study was undertaken using multimedia data collection methods, specifically (1) primary texts; (2) interviews with students, teachers, school managers, textbooks writers and officials from the Ministry of Education; and (3) on-site observation of the school at work and lessons. The analytic framing for enquiry was based on Foucault's programme of investigation of the constitution of the subject, which approached the process of national identity construction as an interplay of the structural environment of schooling and of individuals’ agency, revealed through a set of practices. The study findings indicated that the schooling experience played a distinct role in shaping national identities of students. The school was shown to actively promote the state, the TRNC, where the school was located. The state rituals and state ideology were reproduced through school practices, which modeled prescriptive patterns of state structures but were also seen as ‘school-specific’. Viewed as such, school practices, through which the students were positioned as belonging to their state, reproduced and sustained the social norms practiced in society. The patterns of students’ positioning as belonging to their state reflected conflicting conditions of the existence of the TRNC. Through their schooling experience, the students were positioned as belonging to the same national group. At the same time, the students were shown to be capable of strategizing in making their individual choices of self-positioning in relationship to the world of states and nations. Several interrelated factors contributing to the process of national identity construction were identified as education policies, schooling environment, teachers’ agency and students’ agency. Theorized through Foucault’s analytic concepts of technologies these factors were seen as parts of the same process and were clustered into a diagram mapping the technologies in relation to one another as four interrelated factors.

This thesis argues that the creation of the NHS inadvertently created an institution that is fundamental to current British national identity. The NHS exemplifies the core values of the UK, in a way that previous national institutions – the Church, the monarchy, and the Empire – could not due to the societal makeup of the country. The NHS was created for all citizens, regardless of class, and the democratic nature of the institution embodies the ideals at the heart of the nation. The institution pushed the UK to become faithful to its founding ideals of fraternity, community, democracy, and it allowed Britons to have another world-renowned institution. Furthermore, the NHS's creation coincided with one of the last great eras the UK clings to – World War II – therefore, the NHS continually pulls from that the achievements of that period and connects itself to the national pride after victory. / Master of Arts / This thesis argues that the creation of the NHS inadvertently created an institution that is fundamental to current British national identity. The NHS exemplifies the core values of the UK, in a way that previous national institutions – the Church, the monarchy, and the Empire – could not due to the societal makeup of the country. The NHS was created for all citizens, regardless of class, and the democratic nature of the institution embodies the ideals at the heart of the nation. The institution pushed the UK to become faithful to its founding ideals of fraternity, community, democracy, and it allowed Britons to have another world-renowned institution. Furthermore, the NHS's creation coincided with one of the last great eras the UK clings to – World War II – therefore, the NHS continually pulls from that the achievements of that period and connects itself to the national pride after victory.

This thesis uses Benedict Anderson's theoretical contributions on the topic of national identity and Michel Foucault's contributions toward discourse analysis to perform a discursive analysis of Donald Trump's campaign speeches in which he exploits pre-existing anti-immigration sentiments among certain voters to gain political power. The research question addressed herein is: How has Donald Trump invoked the issue of national security to single out groups of immigrants as threats to U.S. national security, and what conditions exists so that he is able to do so in a way that enlists the support of a sizeable portion of the American public? First, this thesis works to put into context what drove post-World War II immigration in the U.S. to provide insight into what conditions lead to certain groups being encouraged or discouraged from immigrating. Second, I contrast Anderson's concept of nationalism with that of Samuel Huntington, whose idea of nationalism more closely aligns with Trump's nativist sense of national identity. Third, having put the history of U.S. immigration and the concept of national identity into context, I perform a discursive analysis of three of Trump's campaign speeches and tweets that focus on immigration and make problematic his racist, far-right ideology and its purpose toward the de-politicization and de-historicization of immigration as a national security and economic issue. I conclude by reminding the reader that allowing anti-immigrant discourse to become normalized without the burden of proof can lead to curbed freedoms under an authoritarian regime, a direction toward which Trump appears ready and willing to lead the American electorate. / Master of Arts / This thesis poses the question: How has Donald Trump invoked the issue of national security to single out groups of immigrants as threats to U.S. national security, and what conditions exists so that he is able to do so in a way that enlists the support of a sizeable portion of the American public? This question is answered through a discursive analysis of Trump’s campaign speeches, a discussion of how national identity is derived, and a brief consideration of a few policies that have impacted immigration to the U.S. and its political landscape. Ultimately, this thesis identifies a discursive apparatus that has been leveraged by Donald Trump and his supporters in order to gain political favor. If left unchecked, this discourse could have a damaging effect on the U.S. and its citizens by making it acceptable to cast certain groups as un-American.

The Canadian government has long striven for an official national identity grounded in a cohesive sense of national unity, but this has been in contrast to the regional reality of the Canadian state. The postwar period reveals increased concern within Canada regarding its national identity, when the federal government was attempting to construct an intrinsic identity and trying to encode what it meant to be Canadian. When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, it became an additional element in this enduring struggle. After confederation, a cultural revival in the province further entrenched its distinct identity during the same period in which it was acclimatizing to a new Canadian reality. The main goals of this research are to comprehend how Newfoundland understood official Canadian identity in its post-confederation period and how the province pursued a distinct identity while becoming a part of Canada. This project examines how Newfoundland understood official constructions of Canadian identity during the post-1949 period to observe how Canada’s official national identity was understood outside of the dominant central-Canada perspective. This alternative regional perspective provides an understanding of how the realities of Canada’s regionalism play a role in why the official national identity was not as homogenous or uniting as the federal government had idealized. By addressing the national question of Canadian identity through a regional Newfoundland perspective, this project seeks to deepen and expand our knowledge and understanding of modern Canada and its continued regional realities.

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Nationalism and globalisation are two topics of great debate. In an increasingly connected world, these concepts are contrasted as opposites unable to coexist with a rise in one there must be a fall in the other. In this study, these concepts are explored alongside Olympism through the medium of the Olympic Games. Historically, the Olympics are structured around nations/nation-states, and national teams, while still attempting to promote universalism, internationalism, and the unity of humankind. This work aims to explore how and why nationalism, Olympism, and globalisation are expressed in the Olympic Movement through a case study of the London 2012 Olympic Games and what the outcomes of these actions are. Backed by an interpretivist paradigm, this study focused on selected events in the lead-up to the London Games, starting in the summer of 2011, and culminated with a prolonged period of observation at the London Games, both at Olympic venues and the live site at Hyde Park. Throughout the course of data collection there was a focus on not only the institutions staging the Games but also the spectators taking part in them.