A critical evaluation of theories of nationalism

This thesis considers the main theoretical positions within the contemporary sociology of nationalism. These can be grouped into two basic types, primordialist theories which assert that nationalism is an inevitable aspect of all human societies, and modernist theories which assert that nationalism and the nation-state first developed within western Europe in recent centuries. With respect to primordialist approaches to nationalism, it is argued that the main common explanation offered is human biological propensity. Consideration is concentrated on the most recent and plausible of such theories, sociobiology. Sociobiological accounts root nationalism and racism in genetic programming which favours close kin, or rather to the redirection of this programming in complex societies, where the social group is not a kin group. It is argued that the stated assumptions of the sociobiologists do not entail the conclusions they draw as to the roots of nationalism, and that in order to arrive at such conclusions further and implausible assumptions have to be made. With respect to modernists, the first group of writers who are considered are those, represented by Carlton Hayes, Hans Kohn and Elie Kedourie, whose main thesis is that the nation-state and nationalism are recent phenomena. Next, the two major attempts to relate nationalism and the nation-state to imperatives specific either to capitalist societies (in the `orthodox' marxist theory elaborated about the turn of the twentieth century) or to the processes of modernisation and industrialisation (the `Weberian' account of Ernest Gellner) are discussed. It is argued that modernist accounts can only be sustained by starting from a definition of nationalism and the nation-state which conflates such phenomena with others which are specific to the modern world. The marxist and Gellner accounts form the necessary starting point for any explanation as to why the nation-state is apparently the sole viable form of polity in the modern world, but their assumption that no pre-modern society was national leaves them without an adequate account of the earliest origins of the nation-state and of nationalism. Finally, a case study from the history of England argues both the achievement of a national state form and the elucidation of crucial components of a nationalist ideology were attained at a period not consistent with any of the versions of the modernist thesis.

Spatially extensive summation of contrast-energy is revealed by contrast detection of micro-pattern textures

Vision must analyze the retinal image over both small and large areas to represent fine-scale spatial details and extensive textures. The long-range neuronal convergence that this implies might lead us to expect that contrast sensitivity should improve markedly with the contrast area of the image. But this is at odds with the orthodox view that contrast sensitivity is determined merely by probability summation over local independent detectors. To address this puzzle, I aimed to assess the summation of luminance contrast without the confounding influence of area-dependent internal noise. I measured contrast detection thresholds for novel Battenberg stimuli that had identical overall dimensions (to clamp the aggregation of noise) but were constructed from either dense or sparse arrays of micro-patterns. The results unveiled a three-stage visual hierarchy of contrast summation involving (i) spatial filtering, (ii) long-range summation of coherent textures, and (iii) pooling across orthogonal textures. Linear summation over local energy detectors was spatially extensive (as much as 16 cycles) at Stage 2, but the resulting model is also consistent with earlier classical results of contrast summation (J. G. Robson & N. Graham, 1981), where co-aggregation of internal noise has obscured these long-range interactions.

The concept of symphonia in contemporary European Orthodoxy

The relationship between the religious and political fields in the Orthodox Church is defined by the concept of symphonia which dates back to the Byzantine Empire. The concept suggests that the religious and political authorities should work together in a symphonic agreement towards achieving the material and spiritual welfare of the faithful. This article argues that an investigation of the theory of sign and symbol offers a better understanding of symphonia and, in particular, of its relationship with the nation-building process. From this perspective, by corroborating the data provided by the European Values Survey from 1990 to 2000 with this theory, this article demonstrates that the enlargement of the European Union represents the most significant challenge to symphonia, shifting its national focus to a supranational level. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

How weak categorizers based upon different principles strengthen performance

Combining the results of classifiers has shown much promise in machine learning generally. However, published work on combining text categorizers suggests that, for this particular application, improvements in performance are hard to attain. Explorative research using a simple voting system is presented and discussed in the light of a probabilistic model that was originally developed for safety critical software. It was found that typical categorization approaches produce predictions which are too similar for combining them to be effective since they tend to fail on the same records. Further experiments using two less orthodox categorizers are also presented which suggest that combining text categorizers can be successful, provided the essential element of ‘difference’ is considered.

Trademarks with a reputation:bridging the 'logical lapse'

The article focuses on the Trade Marks Regulations 2004, which came into force on May 5, 2004. Regulation 7 repeals s 5(3)(b) and amends s 10(3) of the Trade Marks Act 1994, implementing the decision of the European Court of Justice in Davidoff & Cie SA and Zino Davidoff SA v Gofkid Ltd., which was then confirmed in Adidas-Salomon AG and Adidas Benelux BV v Fitnessworld Trading Ltd. The orthodox definition of the primary and proper function of a trademark is that it is to identify the origin or ownership of the goods to which the mark is affixed. As society has changed so too have the functions of the trademark. Due to increased affluence and the growth of the consumer society, some trademarks may now have achieved the status of being a symbol of desire in their own right.

Eastern Christianity and politics in the Twenty-First Century

This book provides an up-to-date, comprehensive overview of Eastern Christian churches in Europe, the Middle East, America, Africa, Asia and Australia. Written by leading international scholars in the field, it examines both Orthodox and Oriental churches from the end of the Cold War up to the present day. The book offers a unique insight into the myriad church-state relations in Eastern Christianity and tackles contemporary concerns, opportunities and challenges, such as religious revival after the fall of communism; churches and democracy; relations between Orthodox, Catholic and Greek Catholic churches; religious education and monastic life; the size and structure of congregations; and the impact of migration, secularisation and globalisation on Eastern Christianity in the twenty-first century.

Understanding the labour–environmental relationship in Britain, 1967–2011:a new narrative using political opportunity structure and coalition theory

Orthodox depictions of a fraught labour–environmental relationship privileging class, ideological and programmatic differences are problematised by newly quantified evidence of British unions' pro-environmental policy-making since 1967. The following narrative blends widely accepted accounts of the fortunes of both movements with an evaluation of Britain's shifting political opportunity structure and coalition theory to identify an alternative range of constraints and opportunities influencing the propensity and capacity of both movements to interact effectively, culminating recently in unions' emergence as environmental actors in their own right.

Unity in Christ or Pan-Europeanism?:Nathan Söderblom and the ecumenical peace movement in the interwar period

In the summer of 2014 the Swedish Church is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the appointment of Nathan Söderblom as archbishop of Uppsala, and thus head of the Swedish church organisation. As a Lutheran with an enormously broad-minded and broad-reaching approach to ecumenical understanding and community-building, Söderblom shot to prominence in the interwar period not only because of his ecumenical engagement, calling for an evangelical catholicity so stand side by side with the Roman catholic and Orthodox catholic traditions, but also because of his comprehensive secular engagement for peace and understanding between peoples. In the latter context he also acquired a solid reputation as a perhaps less prominent but still noteworthy figure in the history of European integration. This article investigates how, why and to what extent Söderblom’s ecumenical and secular engagements were intertwined. The first part discusses how his biographical and academic background led to such staunch ecumenical positions, while the second part focuses on the secular engagement, which was perceived by Söderblom as necessary to make progress on the ecumenical front in the practical political realities of the 1920s. The final part, comparing and contrasting Söderblom’s views with those of Count Richard von Coudenhove-Calergi and the Pan-European Union, demonstrates why Söderblom’s engagement for Europe had to be limited: unity in Christ is by definition global in nature and therefore cannot be continent-specific.