In response to the fact that academic projects on lay participation in China written in English have been very scarce, and also the views of the three schools of Chinese scholars, this thesis will conduct a thorough review of lay participation in China. Chapter 1 of this thesis firstly outlines the worldwide situation regarding lay participation. Chapter 2 sets out the historical background to the growth of lay participation in China, by recounting the various forms of and experiments with lay participation during China’s history. Chapters 3 and 4 study the status quo of the sole form of lay participation in China today, that is, the mixed tribunal system. Chapter 5 looks into the contribution that lay participation could potentially make to Chinese society. Chapter 6 offers some proposals with regard to the prospective direction for developing lay participation in China, from a realistic perspective. The thesis finds that lay participation has been neither declining worldwide, nor has been absent during China’s history. It also finds that although the mixed tribunal system in China today faces an array of problems, lay participation may potentially contribute to Chinese society in terms of a better justice system and improved democracy. After clarifying the prospects for continuing lay participation in China and proposing possible reformative measures, my thesis concludes that the system, with careful reconstruction, deserves a position in China’s future legal system; and that the leftist proposal, to abolish lay participation in China, should be rejected.

What or who is the modern subject? Are people sovereign, filled with passion, creativity, freedom and autonomy; or are we slaves, robots and automatons forever tied to the chains of civilization? It is very common to critique modernity. From the Frankfurt school to Foucault, many seem to have focused primarily on its negative characteristics including the promotion of narcissism and its contribution to alienation and depression. However, this work arose from my general ambivalence toward how society, and ideology, impacts notions of the self or, more importantly, self-consciousness and autonomy. In this work I tried to offer a framework that not only challenges the tenets of a way of conceptualising the human subject by means of extreme objectivity, which is aligned with notions of cognitivism and stems, I argue, from the worldview of Protestantism, but also its antithesis, extreme subjectivity that manifests itself in intense hubris that can present a very real danger to the very foundations of civilization. Thus, the work takes aim at both the consequence of extreme objectivity i.e. nihilism, inherent within some of the tenets of contemporary capitalism, and extreme subjectivity i.e. relativism. This work provides a historical analysis starting with the Protestant Reformation and ending with Contemporary Capitalism. By doing so, I was able to emphasise a new conceptualisation of the master-slave dialectic into a hierarchal structure beginning with the Absolute Master and ending with the Quinary Master vis-à-vis death to work. What I demonstrated, and reinforced, is the notion that human consciousness is a highly complex hybrid of interacting master-slave dynamics that is fuelled by fantasy, structured by the law, is seized upon by the government and the marketplace and finally put to work. However, the essential core of the subject is a radical void that simply punches a hole through the processes of the unconscious, which is swallowed up by the desire of the other i.e. the desire of these given masters. Depression's genesis I view as the subject yielding too much to the desire of a specific type of societal structure. This reached its peak with the Puritans in England during the 16th and 17th century that aimed to purge any type of transcendent experience, which is characteristic of fantasy and led to widespread misery. On the other hand, the period of Romanticism led to a colossal eruption of the imagination that attempted to bypass established conventions and flooded the world with colour. However, this anarchistic worldview presented an extremely dangerous threat to the very foundation of society and thus had to be brought to heel by an evolved state structure. The overall structure of the work is based on a gradual unfolding of a hierarchical system starting with the very foundations of the subject, through the complexities of ideological influence and ending with the subject under contemporary capitalism. The final two chapters aimed to contemporise the critiques from Romanticism toward the Enlightenment by attacking the tenets of cognitivism as being indicative of a system put forward by thinkers prevalent in the 18th century that abstracted the human condition and tried to objectify the psyche. The scope of the work is large and diverse and hopes to contribute to psychoanalytical and philosophical literature by providing a hierarchical system of the master-slave dialectic in the development of self-consciousness. The work also provides a critique of ideology by highlighting how a certain structure of society can contribute to neurosis by either prohibiting or liberating fantasy. I do not endorse the cliché and wholly hostile view toward capitalism, but support the notion that one should remain ambivalent. That is to say that the work highlights that the free market is indeed innocent but only becomes problematic when it begins to work in collusion with a specific state system. In supporting the argument of Protestantism being closely tied to the development of capitalism, what should be viewed with great precaution is the very definition of what is deemed a beneficial characteristic. This meritocratic worldview is indeed essential to stave off overreach from politics, however, and as Rousseau addressed, the concept of meritocracy can promote a society of selfishness and pride as well as reinforce what I call the standard route via new forms of management, leading to a reduction of autonomy and enhancement of conformity. In attempting to generate this framework, I have utilised multiple philosophical paradigms including ancient Greek, Continental, Romantic, Idealist, Psychoanalysis and more to provide an eclectic approach to this inquiry. What the reader will take away from this project is a unique and new understanding of the individual, how the subject is impacted from engaging with different societal systems and a warning of what can happen if one submits too much to passion or reason.

This thesis identifies and explains a fundamental philosophical problem of self-implication in Marxian ideology criticism that has led to its misuse and rejection in social theory and political philosophy. I argue that Friedrich Nietzsche's development of genealogy as a method of social criticism complements ideology criticism in a way that overcomes this problem, by addressing it explicitly, rather than trying to avoid it. In making this argument, I hope to bridge a widely perceived gap between Nietzsche's and Michel Foucault's genealogical approaches to social criticism, on the one hand, and Marxian ideology criticism on the other. The conflict between these approaches has been exaggerated in contemporary academic literature, to the loss of invaluable contributions Nietzsche and Foucault make to the theory and practice of ideology criticism. I begin by defining ideology in way that, I demonstrate, takes into account the use of the notion by Karl Marx and the early Frankfurt School Critical Theorists, Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. I identify two central components of ideology, namely, an epistemic aspect, regarding illusion, and a functional aspect, which links ideology to its role in maintaining oppression. I also defend the notion of ideology against major objections to each of these aspects. In Chapter 4, I introduce the problem of self-implication that, I take it, poses the greatest challenge to the coherence of ideology criticism. The remainder of the thesis examines two alternative ways of dealing with this problem, namely immanent and transcendent criticism. I explain the weaknesses with each approach and, in doing so, show why Marx and Adorno each succumb to the problem of ideological self-implication. In the final chapter I argue that Nietzsche's method of genealogy is compatible with ideology criticism and can complement such criticism, to overcome the problems that have been examined.

The thesis is divided into ten chapters and 3 parts. Following an introductory chapter on the literature on the main issues of the period, Part I opens with a chapter on the social and economic transformation of the city of Moscow during war communism, and its second chapter analyses the role of the trade unions and the pattern of labour relations in this period. Part II is concerned with the internal transformation of the party and the development of its relationship with society; and discusses recruitment, organisation, the nature of militarisation during the civil war, the party's ideological work, and its relationship to mass bodies. It ends with a study of the Moscow soviet and the development of bureaucracy. In Part III the debates at the end of war communism are considered in the light of the foregoing economic and political developments. The conclusion assesses the nature of war communism in Moscow.

When analyzed within Marxist theory understandings, local governments can be considered as a body of administrative, political, social and economic relations which are defined in a certain spatial scale based on uneven development of capital accumulation. This definition removes the local governments from the context of a simple organizational-administrative problem and places them into a political context. Hence, as experience and strategies of socialist customs in our country is investigated regarding local governments, it can be observed that a serious experience is not present excepts certain limited examples. In this study, different from municipalism understanding constrained within today&rsquo / s neoliberal marketism and Islamist conservatism, possibilities of socialist municipalism will be discussed. In this context, &ldquo / socialist municipalism&rdquo / claim, which is trying to be actualized in Hozat Municipality, which is the study area of this thesis, will be analyzed depending on statement and application relation of the municipal administration, with observations made in the area and interviews.

Since 9/11, both in the Middle East and worldwide, the academic, political and religious focus on extreme radicalisation has intensified. The attacks carried out in Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by Al-Qaeda in 2003, motivated a succession of bombings within and outside of the Kingdom. These events have led to a plethora of general and specific studies to understand the phenomenon of extremism. This thesis investigates radicalisation in Saudi Arabia since 2001, focusing on the impact of Al-Qaeda and its impact on individuals and the state. It specifically focuses on the role of the Mohammed bin Naif Centre for Counselling, Rehabilitation and Care, in this context referred to as ‘the Centre’, analysing its function as a tool for the ‘soft power’ strategy that has been initiated by the Saudi Arabian Government, intended to de-radicalise individuals who are perceived by the state to have been misled. The study uses a detailed literature review to unpack the historical trends regarding the origins of Saudi Arabia, the political differences therein, as well as the different religious interpretations which are attributed as being a root cause of discontent which thereby leads to radicalisation and violent extremism in the region. In this thesis, I trace the various schools of thought regarding the treatment of religion and governance in relation to local and international politics, and how this impacts upon the radicalisation of individuals. A Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) approach is used to highlight the need to view studies on security from a reflexive perspective, both in the researcher and the researched subject matter, namely the terrorist organisations and the governments against which they are fighting. The concept of governance is analysed and how this either precipitates or prevents dissent that results in violence. In addition, the political and religious solutions to radicalisation are assessed, with a specific focus on the de-radicalisation process, as reflected through a qualitative research on the views and thinking of the practitioners working in the Centre. In this context, I investigate the motives, roles, responsibilities and strategies used in executing their roles, with the aim of seeking possible explanations for the causes of radicalisation and the challenges faced in de-radicalising individuals. Their views are used to form the main basis for the data for this research. This study should be of interest to politicians, security experts, academics, religious leaders, Islamic scholars and interested individuals. It will be a valuable contribution towards an understanding of the causes, consequences and possible solutions to addressing Islamic extremism and radicalisation.

Work and unemployment, care, and related social security policies have been flashpoints for gendered discourses and practices across many nation states. In the Czech Republic, this has been the case during Czechoslovak state socialism and in the emergence of market-based democracy since 1989. These systems have differently contested the figure of the working and caring woman, and the state’s role in providing support and resources to its citizens, but have both done so in gendered ‘productivist’ terms. The everyday experiences of those citizens living through these macro-level changes has not often featured in analyses of ‘transition’ and the (neoliberal) capitalism which has followed – their navigation of these gendered systems, and the ways in which this may be post-socialist, is further underexplored. Drawing on 22 interviews, alongside questionnaires and several months of observation with 10 previously unemployed single mothers participating in an NGO’s employability project, this thesis addresses this gap in the literature. Using a ‘needscapes’ analytical framework, I demonstrate that micro-level perspectives can usefully inform the design of policies and provision with which my participants were interacting. Many of my participants were experiencing financial, emotional and physical crises due to the Czech state’s disengagement with their needs, an inaccessible and low paying labour market which prioritised ‘independent’ male workers, and care services which excluded less well-resourced individuals. The group of single mothers and a small number of disabled people who numbered among my participants had particularly acute experiences of these issues. My participants’ experiences of labour market, social security and care provision issues associated with neoliberalism were often post-socialist. This included their navigation of a precarious and low paid labour market, which they critiqued using images of Communist scarcity, and in which discourses about the inappropriate figure of the Communist working woman contributed to disciplinary gender enactments and budget-saving policies which sought to channel mothers out of the labour market. My analysis suggests that (sometimes contradictory) neoliberal discourses and practices in the Czech Republic are complexly intertwined with and co-produced through post-socialism, and often function in tandem with neo-conservative discourses about gender. Many of my participants did not seek to live in the ways suggested by socially and politically prevalent discourses, that promote as the ideal citizen an (implicitly male) self-supporting, employed individual. My participants instead presented themselves as inter-subjectively connected to others, with their accounts of working, being unemployed, claiming social security, caring or receiving support experienced through their relationships with others and the needs of those around them. In their caring interactions, the value of dependent relationships and the involvement of both men and women in their caring kin networks highlight alternative gender enactments as characterising their navigations of post-socialist neoliberalism. Their perspectives dispute dominant political narratives about transition, which cast this as a process occurring at an individual – rather than collective – level, and resulting in a ‘self-supporting’ capitalist individual. Here, their experiences of ‘neoliberal’ change in the Czech Republic is complexly and inter-subjectively post-socialist, sometimes articulated through gendered enactments.

No description available.

Peasants, workers, worker-peasants, nomenklatura and the state in northern Poland’s ‘Recovered Territories’ have employed a strategy they call ‘kombinacja’ to survive economic transitions into and out of socialism from 1945 to the present. Kombinacja is the process of manipulating space and legal, political, or cultural rules in order to appropriate a resource—food, commodities, labour, information, power—and then combine them into an ersatz product to meet an economic, cultural, or political end. No person, class, institution, or economy ‘owns’ kombinacja. The ‘who’ and ‘what’ are relational. The ‘when’ and ‘where’ are contextual. Yet, it is not ubiquitous; every kombinacja is a form of speech that charts a terrain of economic and political trajectories intended to shift the balance of power at a given point in time. This multi-sited historical ethnography tracks how these ‘arts of combination’ have pirouetted across agrarian and industrial, formal and informal, socialist and capitalist boundaries in the agro-industrial commune of Dobra. The arts of combination were forged through the exploitation of workers in Poland’s industrialising cities during the 19th century, across its popularisation as a survival strategy during Nazi-occupation, and towards its reformulation into an economic stabiliser for both villagers and the state during the ‘socialist’ era from 1945 to 1989. Villagers used kombinacja to access or hide resources from the state in the midst of broken supply chains, bureaucratic gridlock, food shortages, and complex regulations. When commune officials turned a blind eye to kombinacja to stay in power, they too drew from the arts of combination to ‘fix’ formal state problems in the commune. Kombinacja was used to subvert and accommodate the state. Reworking the state through kombinacja to ensure that no one went hungry informalised the command economy and contributed to the incremental breakdown of the local state apparatus into a feudal-like order. I then turn to nomenklatura privatisation, potato pilfering, alcohol consumption, mushroom foraging, and other practices to trace how kombinacja is being reformulated (or not) to rework post-socialism. The arts of combination call attention to practices that cut across a series of binaries - capitalist/socialist, formal/informal, state/non-state - to show how those marginalised by power seek to control the conditions of their subjection and how those in position of power seek to control the conditions of others’ subjection. Building upon J.K. Gibson-Graham’s ‘diverse economies’, the case of kombinacja shows us that informality does not always create alternatives that subjugate hegemony; rather, they can alternatively be used to crystallise a hegemonic imaginary. I suggest a much broader understanding of how informality has been a site of ingenuity and nequality, innovation and suffering, across time and space.

In both Soviet and Western historiography, Russian populism (narodnichestvo) has been studied more or less in isolation from the broader socialist movement in Europe. The aim of this thesis is to show that although it undoubtedly possessed characteristics peculiar to Russia, the populist movement should be understood as part of the Europe-wide revolutionary movement. To accomplish this, the thesis is structured around chapters discussing individuals who were involved in both the Russian revolutionary movement and the European anarchist movement, with which populism shared many ideas, ideologies tactics and internal disputes. These individuals are Mikhail Bakunin, Zemfirii Ralli and Petr Kropotkin. Around these chapters are studies of groups or movements connected with those individuals in Russia or Europe. Central themes include consistency, or the social groups which the revolutionaries hoped to address; organisational forms adopted by anarchists and populists; tactics to be used to rouse their constituencies to action and to organise and achieve revolution; relations of the revolutionaries to the masses; the differing concepts of political and social/economic revolution; and the rise of terrorism in both movements.