Since its inception, international aid has been premised on the existence of stable and sovereign recipient states. Official aid relies upon such states for its legitimacy and implementation, and aims to consolidate statehood. In the 1990s, this organising pillar of the international aid system was shaken. The ability of governments to fulfil the basic functions of a sovereign power is now widely questioned. The principle of sovereignty is no longer absolute; rather, it is increasingly contingent upon states' adherence to international, largely Western-defined, norms of behaviour. Where these norms are violated systematically, as in conflict-affected countries, sanctions including trade, political and military measures are deployed. In these 'quasi-states', where sovereignty is contested or weak empirically and juridically, development aid relations are usually suspended and relief the only form of aid available. However, the ability of relief aid to respond to these chronic political emergencies is increasingly questioned. There are increasing demands to make relief more developmental, and for aid to be used to address the cause of crisis - conflict. This thesis examines how aid has worked in a particular type of 'quasi-state': situations of 'post'-conflict transition, and asks whether the new demands on aid in these environments can be met. Examining the cases of rehabilitation assistance to the health sector in Cambodia, Ethiopia and Uganda, it draws three primary conclusions. First, the political meaning, objectives and instruments of relief and development aid are categorically distinct; linking them is ethically and technically problematic. Ethically it implies compromising principles of impartiality and neutrality. Technically, political conditions prevent the transition to more developmental aid instruments. Second, the empirical weakness and juridical ambiguity of statehood in these environments mean that there is no clearly accepted and competent authority to make public policy - no one and everyone owns it. This leads to highly fragmented aid investments that do not provide a basis for the development of public health systems. Third, the absolute scarcity of public resources means that the developmental goal of sustainability is not compatible with that of maximising coverage of health services, level of coverage summary, it suggests that conceptually and operationally the international aid system remains fundamentally ill-equipped to respond to the challenges of chronic political emergencies and their aftermath. 4

Using discourse analysis, this study will apply a critical theoretical framework and discuss how perceptions of the Tanzanian national borders compares to problematized understandings of the socially constructed concepts of borders, sovereignty, and power. For example, the Tanzanian borders will be reassessed into something creating a safe ‘inside’ opposing an unsafe ‘outside, and into something dividing territories, thus, giving birth to the identities of ‘nationality’. Furthermore, the presence of biopolitical interventions will be discussed in order to see how biopower can help increase security in Tanzania. More substantially, the phenomena of roadblocks will be analysed as something potentially functioning as ‘extended arms’ of the national border. The analysis showed how the so called ‘geopolitical imaginary’, where borders are defined as the outer reaches of a sovereign state, is a well-established idea in Tanzania; the national borders were perceived as important and worthy of protection. However, they can also be seen as something ultimately creating non-coherent ‘insides’ and an ‘outsides’, where outside ‘threats’, often perceived as illegal immigrants, are dependent on the existence of territories. The analysis further showed that biopower in Tanzania is something which can create ‘social’ borders wherever there is authority. This form of exercised power does although suffer severely from corruption, and this leads to a conclusion that Tanzanian ‘security’, to a great extent, is being evaluated in terms of money.

Building on the work of Giorgio Agamben and Michel Foucault, this dissertation addresses how the sovereign's command over life intersects with contemporary global governmentality. Particular attention is given to the geographically sedimented normative dimensions entailed in this intersection. Two broad questions emerge from this focus: 1) How are the perceived and actual boundaries of U.S. responsibility for distant (non-national) life formed; and 2) How do emotional sentiments of care and concern within the U.S. populace for distant life impact the sovereign's geopolitical calculations.The case of Sudan, especially Darfur, is utilized to help illuminate these questions. With regard to sovereign power, I analyze the Darfur related discourse being produced by the U.S. executive. I argue that this discourse is part of a bio-normative geopolitics aimed at maintaining the U.S. claim on the valuation of global life, while at the same time challenging the privileged status of the concept of genocide within our contemporary global governmentality. With regard to the societal constitution of global governmentality, I investigate two partially overlapping cases, one on the globally focused Christian Right and the other on the faith based movement to "save Darfur".In the former case, I consider how norms, values, and feelings of care contribute to the facilitation and construction of geographical knowledge, which, in turn, helps to inform particular engagements with the space of Sudan. In the latter case, the question of caring for distant others is taken up from the perspective of the recent work of Giorgio Agamben, who ultimately posits the inherent need to circumvent sovereign power within any form of normative activism. Addressing this problem, I suggest the possibility of establishing alternative communities of care, which are not only grounded on a recognition of our global intersubjectivity, but also on our common predicament in the face of a universally prevalent sovereign power.

United Nations peacekeeping has been distinguished as a bringer of peace and stability to countries plagued by war and insecurity. However, reports since the 1990s of sexual exploitations by peacekeeping personnel have tainted these accomplishments. At the same time as these reports started to surface there was an internal development within the UN where the security discourse went from being state focused to being focused on securing the population’s security and health. This new trend was established in the United Nations Development Programme in 1994 as Human Security and laid the ground for the structure of the peacekeeping operations. This study asks the question how these exploits can occur in a discursive context where the population’s welfare and health is the reference of intervention. By examining the following representative cases: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR), it can be seen how human security expresses a discursive reproduction of two different kinds of power: biopower and sovereign power. Through an analysis of the discourse in documents relating to the interventions it can be seen how these expressions of power creates a contextual environment where the sexual exploitations can take place.

A multidisciplinary approach is needed to critique the frequently invoked but seldom questioned notion of "human dignity," a discursive tool that is subtly serving abusive power structures while seemingly promoting human rights. The discourse of human dignity misrepresents the meaning of empowerment for modern citizens, making them interested more in political gestures and less in profit, comfort and protection from abuse. Dignity‘s epistemes—self-assertion, recognition, political action, public-spiritedness, responsibility, resistance, the denial of animal instinct, sacrifice—should not be human ideals, for they are exactly the opposite of the sovereign‘s characteristics and because they are responsible for recursive violence that preserves the status quo. They should be replaced with ethics based on sensuous interest, instinct, and natural-spiritedness (a sense of mystical oneness with other living beings). This dissertation answers Foucault‘s question about how the modern state endows citizens with a political subjectivity while simultaneously subjecting them to a totalized system, exposing human dignity as just the link between individuation and totalization. It questions Agamben‘s notion of the indistinction between political life and natural life, arguing that sovereign power, using the discourse of human dignity, creates a clear distinction. The human dignity discourse keeps the human within political life, representing such life as the middle point between the instinctive life of the animal and the mechanical life of the laborer. In reality, the dissertation shows, these two demonized modes of life are the same mode, which should be championed as a valuable and empowered state of being. In the literary field, a close examination reveals that J. M. Coetzee‘s fiction subverts the human dignity discourse while Kazuo Ishiguro‘s work is enmeshed in it. Coetzee generates sympathy for humans who lack the sense of human dignity and act on mere instinct. He offers ―disgrace‖ as a spiritual-ethical state of sensuality, acceptance and humility and promotes an agenda of desire-based rights in lieu of dignity-based ones. His writings also eschew authorial dignity as they discount the values of newness and originality in favor of expression attuned to desire, even when such moves appear selfish and politically irresponsible.

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The present essay has the goal to investigate the right to punish and the punishment on the political thought of Thomas Hobbes, with the purpose to verify which is the essence of the right to punish, its legitimacy and its limits, as well as inquiring which function the punishment exerts in the State, if juridical, political, or both. For this reason, the first chapter begins with the investigation of the constituting elements of the thought of Hobbes, analyzing how the rationalism, the materialism, the nominalism, the mechanicism and the Hobbesianian naturalism influence the definition of the referring concepts to the State and in the structure of its political theory. Based on these concepts, it is verified how the disruption of Hobbesianian thought happens with the philosophical and the scholastic tradition, mainly with the Aristotelian vision of human nature. After that, the factors that lead the institution of the Civil State, especially, the state of nature and the social pact are analyzed and its characteristic elements are distinguished. The second chapter has as a target to clarify the concepts of the rights of nature, law of nature and civil law, verifying in which way these elements relate to the State and the sovereign power, as well as its importance. Therefore, it is verified the concept of Jusnaturalism and the legal positivism in Hobbes and how laws of nature consist on the rational basis for the institution of the Civil State. On the third chapter, the right to punish is examined in the Civil State, its origin, limits, purpose and if this element is part of the sovereignty. Moreover, it is examined the connection between law, crime and sin in Hobbes and which is the influence of these concepts on the political obedience and the freedom of the subjects. Finally, it is verified how the punishment will consist in a political controlling instrument on the sovereign power. / A presente dissertação tem por objetivo investigar o direito de punir e a punição no pensamento político de Thomas Hobbes, com a finalidade de verificar qual a essência do direito de punir, sua legitimidade e limites, bem como averiguar qual a função que a punição exerce no Estado, se jurídica, política, ou ambas. Para tanto, o primeiro capítulo inicia-se com a investigação dos elementos constituintes do pensamento de Hobbes, analisando como o racionalismo, o materialismo, o nominalismo, o mecanicismo e o naturalismo hobbesiano influenciam na definição dos conceitos referentes ao Estado e na estruturação de sua teoria política. Partindo desses conceitos, verifica-se como se dá o rompimento do pensamento hobbesiano com a tradição filosófica e a escolástica, principalmente com a visão aristotélica de natureza humana. Em seguida, os fatores que conduzem a instituição do Estado Civil, especialmente o estado de natureza e o pacto social, são analisados e distinguidos seus elementos característicos. No segundo capítulo, busca-se esclarecer os conceitos de direito de natureza, de lei de natureza e de lei civil, verificando como esses elementos relacionam-se com o Estado e o poder soberano, bem como sua importância. Outrossim, verifica-se em que consiste o jusnaturalismo e o positivismo jurídico em Hobbes e como as leis de natureza constituem-se na base racional para a instituição do Estado Civil. No terceiro capítulo, examina-se o direito de punir no Estado Civil, sua origem, limites, finalidade e se este é elemento integrante da soberania. Além disso, examina-se a conexão entre lei, crime e pecado em Hobbes e qual a influência desses conceitos na obediência política e na liberdade dos súditos. Por fim, verifica-se como a punição se constituirá em instrumento de controle político pelo poder soberano.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O objetivo deste trabalho à discutir a concepÃÃo de homem em Thomas Hobbes nos trÃs pilares que compÃe sua teoria: o estado natural, o contrato e o Estado. Em primeiro lugar, se analisa a igualdade entre os homens, as trÃs causas da guerra de todos contra todos, e como compreender a relaÃÃo entre a teoria do autor e o momento histÃrico em que ele viveu. Em segundo lugar, mostra-se a concepÃÃo de contrato como produto da capacidade humana de transformaÃÃo da realidade e, ainda, a relaÃÃo entre a mecÃnica e a moral, e a uniÃo de razÃo e paixÃes em sua antropologia. Por fim, destaca-se o Estado como detentor de uma autoridade divina e, em virtude disto, a possibilidade do descumprimento, por parte do poder soberano, com a razÃo de ser do pacto entre os indivÃduos, a preservaÃÃo da vida. Pretende-se demonstrar que o pensador seiscentista concebe a condiÃÃo humana como uma trajetÃria agÃnica, na qual atà mesmo a maior garantia de paz, o Estado, apresenta a possibilidade de sÃrios inconvenientes. / The aim of this work is to discuss the concept of man on Thomas Hobbes in the three pillars that make up your theory: the state of nature, the contract and the State. First, it discusses the equality of men, the three causes of war of all against all, and how to understand the relationship between your theory and the historical moment in which he lived. Secondly, it is shown the concept of contract as a product of human capacity to transform the reality, and also the relationship between the mechanical and the moral, and the union of reason and passion in your anthropology. Finally, it analyzes the divine authority of the state and, because of this, the possibility of failure on the part of sovereign power with the rationale of the pact between individuals, which is the preservation of life. It intend to demonstrate that the seventeenth-century thinker sees the human condition as an agonizing journey, in which even the best guarantee of peace, the State, presents the possibility of serious drawbacks.

Derived from a marxist/liberal humanist view of power, conventional critiques and historical accounts of the socio-medical sciences in South Africa see only their power to repress and negate the true bodily attributes and authentic person of the African. In so doing, they ignore the productive capacity of these knowledges and practices as a manifestation of what Michel Foucault termed "disciplinary" power, by which the human body is manufactured and made manageable as an object of medical knowledge and industrial utilisation. Accordingly, this thesis offers just such a Foucaultian reading of western socio-medical knowledge in South Africa to demonstrate how it has operated to fabricate the bodies of Africans as visible objects possessed of distinct attributes that have provoked particular strategies for their surveillance, management, and government in health and disease. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

The purpose of the study is to analyse and to compare the reign of two rulers of Francia Orientalis - Henry II and Henry III. The reason for the author's research is that the conception of the legitimization of kingship is nowadays a highly discussed issue and it is one of the most significant tasks the medieval research is facing. Methods used in this study are analysis and comparison. The study is composed of six chapters, each of them dealing with different aspect of the legitimization of kingship. Chapter One is introductory and defines basic terminology used in the study. Chapter Two examines relevant specialized discursus. Chapter Three deals with the sources of medieval thinking and consists of three parts. Part One explains the terms of sacrality and legitimacy. Part Two focuses on the roots of sacral kingship. Part Three investigates the history of legitimization of kingship in the Frankish Empire. Chapter Four is subdivided into four parts and it mainly provides an outline of Henry's II reign and examines relevant historical sources. Part One discusses the policy of Henry's predecessor Otto III. Part Two is an analysis of relevant historical sources. Part Three examines Henry's policy. Intermediate conclusions are drawn in Part Four. Chapter Five endeavours to explain and analyse the...