This thesis traces the development of diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico during the years 1861 to 1867. The dates selected encompass the years of the Civil War and the French intervention in Mexico.

Thesis (M.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2003. / Title from title screen (viewed Mar. 25, 2004). Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in paper format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Binghamton University, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-250).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 348-369).

The dissertation examines the relationship between democracy and nationalism from a normative standpoint. A point of departure is the assumption that any democracy requires a referent community, or demos. Nationalism has, in practice, frequently provided democracies with this sense of community during the last two centuries. The author argues, firstly, that this connection has led to an entanglement of the concepts of democracy and nationalism, so that democrats tend to rely, often unknowingly, on the thought structures of nationalism as they seek to make explicit the identity of their respective communities. The mechanism by which this connection is upheld is demonstrated through two contextualized studies of discourse on common society-wide identity in, respectively, the contemporary United States of America and the contemporary Federal Republic of Germany. Secondly, it is argued (also on the basis of these contextualized studies) that the nationalist features which tend to ‘leak’ into the overarching, society-wide identities that are constructed in these debates contain an inherently exclusionary potential; however, this leakage is often glossed over by superficial anti-nationalism and phrases such as ‘civic nationalism’, which is contrasted with ‘ethnic nationalism’. Rather than hidden behind such rhetoric, the author argues, the nationalist thought structures that democrats tend to rely on should be brought into the light of day, so that the potentially destructive features of nationalism can be handled in the best way possible. Thirdly, it is claimed that deliberative models (such as that of Jürgen Habermas) are better suited than liberal nationalist models (such as that of David Miller) for this task.

This study investigates the experience of British (English, Scottish and Welsh) emigrants to the United States in the 1860-1940 period. It is based on the analysis of two large corpora of oral histories, about 180 interviews in total, preserved in libraries as well as archives and libraries’ special collections and manuscript departments scattered throughout the United States. In particular, the thesis draws on the interviews conducted by the Ellis Island Oral History Project researchers since the 1970s and the “life histories” gathered by the Federal Writers’ Project fieldworkers during the New Deal era. The critical examination of these sources makes it possible to shed new light on an extended period of British emigration to the United States, including the decades following 1900, which have largely been neglected by scholars so far. In fact, the FWP life histories of British immigrants have never been tapped by scholars before, and the same is true as regards the Ellis Island accounts, with the exception of the interviews with Scottish immigrants. The Introduction to the thesis presents the subject, scope, structure and objectives of the work, also providing a brief overview of the historiography in the field; the first chapter discusses both the reliability of oral histories as historical sources and their peculiarities; the second chapter specifically deals with the Ellis Island and Federal Writers’ Project interviews, on the fieldworkers’ research strategy and the interview approach they adopted, providing an in-depth critical analysis of the strengths and limits of the documents on which the dissertation’s conclusions are based. The following chapters trace the experiences of men and women who left Great Britain for the U.S. by dwelling upon the pre-emigration, emigration proper and post-emigration phases, and identify common aspects in Britons’ migratory experience as well as differences due to their age, gender and nationality. The analysis of the post-emigration phase focuses on Britons’ economic conditions, work activity and social mobility in America, as well as on cultural and identity issues. In particular, the last two sections of the thesis put to the test the widespread notions of British immigrants’ economic success and of their cultural “invisibility” in America. In fact, the evidence offered by the Ellis Island and Federal Writers’ Project oral histories challenge the image of Britons as successful immigrants who blended into American society relatively quickly and easily.

Thesis advisor: William A. Gamson / Thesis advisor: Zine Magubane / Alongside a burgeoning popular fascination with Africa, new forms of US activism have emerged that seek to address social problems experienced in Africa. Uncritically performed, this activism can have consequential implications in Africa and in the US where young Americans' understanding of Africa, global social problems, and strategies for social change are being shaped. This dissertation illuminates such phenomena through problematizing the US efforts to address the war in northern Uganda and juxtaposing it with the struggles of indigenous activists based in northern Uganda. Focusing upon US activism for northern Uganda, and the group Invisible Children in particular, I raise critical questions about what social change efforts look like in both the US and northern Uganda and why they take the shapes they do. Building on a long-term relationship with northern Uganda and utilizing the methods of ethnography, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups, I expose both overlaps and mismatches in the two contexts, and most importantly, lay the groundwork for building a dialogic between insider and outsider efforts for social change in northern Uganda, with lessons for those interested in social change throughout Africa. Beyond creating useful academic knowledge, this participatory action research infused project seeks to contribute to consciousness-raising in the US and Uganda and, ultimately, to more synergistic and fruitful efforts for social change. Ultimately, I argue that while grounded in a strong foundation of benevolent intentions alongside savvy and sophisticated mobilization tactics, the American activists have an inflated sense of themselves and their roles in responding to and ending the war in northern Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)-affected areas. Among other concerns, this tone of self-absorption translates into a continuity of patronizing victimhood as well as a lack of consciousness of the existence of indigenous social change agents from the region. Ugandans, on the other hand, are not overly alarmed or concerned with this US activism carried out on their behalf because its impact has been largely peripheral to their lives. While many Ugandans articulate some critiques of the young American activists advocating on their behalf, a thunderous anti-imperialist narrative from Ugandans is unlikely primarily because the Americans' impact is marginal. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

This dissertation traces the development of Charles A. Beard’s social, political, legal and historical thought. It covers his early education in Indiana, his cosmopolitan postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, Cornell University and Columbia University, and professional work as political scientist and as expert on municipal government. By following thematically and chronologically the relationship between Beard’s historical writings and his early life as teacher of politics and government, this dissertation offers both a reinterpretation of the meaning of Beard’s interpretation of the origins of the U.S. Constitution and a glimpse of the shifting intellectual trends in political thinking that emerged during the Progressive era. Contrary to the idea that Beard was a moral absolutist interested in denouncing the interference of economic interests in government, this thesis argues that Beard developed a pluralistic, functionalistic, and anti-majoritarian conception of politics that was at odds with many Progressive thinkers. Most previous research on Beard has lacked archival research and has ignored Beard’s teachings on politics at Columbia University, thus projecting into Beard’s thought concepts and values he did not adopt. In this study Beard appears as an early advocate of a new pluralistic ethics and utilitarian morality that allowed him to picture the framers of the Constitution as modern pragmatic politicians interested in creating a strong government by the art of integrating the major economic interests of the society in the process of law-making. This dissertation also reveals a broader intellectual world informing Beard’s scholarly work and highlights his readings in modern sociology at DePauw and German sociological jurisprudence as two key factors in understanding Beard’s conception of law and politics. As such, it offers a much more complicated image of Beard’s thought and his intellectual world.

How has the Vietnam War affected America's response to international conflicts? Have American Presidents been less likely to sanction a US military response to international conflicts in the post-Vietnam era? Has their ability to deploy US forces been weakened in any way by the Vietnam experience? This study seeks answers to these questions by examining how American Presidents responded to some of the major international conflicts of the post-Vietnam era, between 1982 and 1995. It looks at how they sought to lead America's responses to these conflicts and how far they were able to enact, and publicly 'sell', their chosen deployment decisions in the face of opposition from within the American public-political arena, especially from Congress.

A la fin du 18ème siècle, les Etats-Unis inaugurent les révolutions fondatrices ou refondatrices, directement inspirée des Lumières et ayant dialoguées par-delà l’Atlantique. La période révolutionnaire a vue une élite politique nouvelle aux prises avec la nécessité de bâtir un «ordre nouveau», c'est-à-dire de créer un gouvernement et de définir le rapport au monde de ce nouvel Etat. Cette quête a amené les acteurs politiques de la révolution à chercher un modèle politique différent de celui, dominant, des monarchies absolues. L’idée de république s’impose dès la déclaration d’indépendance. En effet, les Lumières avaient redécouvert le républicanisme qui pouvait incarner l’espoir d’un ordre politique réformé. Cependant, les républiques classiques et les exemples contemporains confirment l’idée alors partagée par tous qu’une république ne peut être qu’une petite entité politique au sein de laquelle vit une population restreinte d’hommes libres et où les différences sociales sont relativement faibles. Non seulement cette petite taille des républiques était-elle un phénomène empirique mais elle semblait être une loi d’airain. Depuis la reformulation du dilemme républicain par Machiavel, l’idée qu’une république ne puisse pas être libre et étendue faisait consensus. Cette première république moderne, fille des Lumières pacifistes, a pourtant mené une expansion quasi-continentale. Comment cette petite république à la périphérie du monde pouvait-elle réconcilier sa volonté de rompre avec les tentations hégémoniques et son désir de puissance ? Comment pouvait-elle s’étendre tout en préservant sa liberté républicaine ? Nous avons formulé l’hypothèse que la réponse à ces questions se trouve dans une redéfinition des principes et des méthodes de leur politique étrangère. Afin de minimiser les risques de corruption de la république, les acteurs de la révolution ont cherché à mettre en place une politique étrangère républicaine fondée sur les idées des Lumières. Cette hypothèse nous a mené à articuler notre travail autour de trois axes de recherche : le premier portant sur la théorie politique internationale, le second sur le débat idéologique autour de la politique étrangère et le troisième sur les institutions de prise de décision et de mise en œuvre de cette politique étrangère. Ces trois axes sont reliés par les idées qui forment la structure intellectuelle des débats entre les acteurs ainsi que les déterminants de la création institutionnelle. C’est là le cœur de notre thèse. En faisant appel à la méthodologie originale développée par Pierre Rosanvallon, qu’il décrit comme une histoire conceptuelle du politique, nous avons tout d’abord procédé à une étude du cadre intellectuel de la révolution américaine en mettant en lumière les évolutions des concepts-clefs de la philosophie des relations internationales par une analyse de la contribution de Montesquieu à la théorie politique internationale. La thèse porte ensuite sur les débats révolutionnaires, la tension entre les idéologies des Lumières telles qu’illustrées par la pensée de Montesquieu et le désir d’expansion territoriale ou de grandeur des acteurs de la révolution. Nous avons choisi de consacrer notre étude aux élites, non pas que nous ne considérions pas l’histoire sociale digne d’intérêt mais nous avons postulé que dans cette phase de bouleversement politique, ce sont les élites politiques qui ont joué le rôle déterminant. Enfin, la troisième partie de la thèse consiste en une étude du cadre constitutionnel, législatif et institutionnel de la politique étrangère républicaine issue de l’interaction entre la structure intellectuelle des Lumières et son interprétation par les acteurs. Ainsi, notre analyse des idées, des acteurs et des institutions de la république américaine nous a permis de contribuer d’une part à la théorie des relations internationales en mettant en lumière les évolutions des concepts-clefs de la politique internationale au cours du 18ème siècle et d’autre part à l’histoire des idées politiques en étendant son champ aux questions internationales. Cela nous a permis également de mettre en lumière le lien étroit entre la structure idéelle, les intérêts et les stratégies des acteurs et la création des institutions politiques.