The expansion of international civil society: The case of Tunisia.

Colas Krauter, Alejandro (1999) The expansion of international civil society: The case of Tunisia. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

This thesis aims to examine the role of collective social and political agency in international relations through an elaboration of the category 'international civil society'. It does so by adopting a distinctly modem understanding of collective agency associated to the concept of civil society, then to argue that the social movements operating within this domain have displayed international characteristics from their inception. Specifically, the study considers the way in which modern social and political movements (trade unions, socialist and nationalist parties) emerged and developed in Tunisia from the turn of the century through to independence in 1956, as a result of this country's interaction with the international system. Hence, the thesis is primarily concerned with the mechanisms responsible for the extension of modes of social and political organisation across national, ethnic and religious boundaries. In doing so, however, it also seeks to uncover practices of transnational solidarity among social movements and to evaluate the relevance of such practices for our understanding of international society. In short, the central purpose of the thesis is to illustrate how the concept of 'international civil society' can serve on the one hand as an analytical tool for the study of international political agency and its impact upon international relations; and on the other hand, as a normatively charged category, capable of recovering the past history of internationalist political activity and illuminating its future potential.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Political Science, International Relations, North African Studies
Sets:	Collections > ProQuest Etheses Departments > International Relations
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2631

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