Fowle, Mark (2010) Practices of emancipation : an analysis of security, dialogue and change in post-war Vukovar. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The thesis analyses the Croatian city of Vukovar as a way of animating theoretical
debates about the relationship between security, emancipation and practice. It claims
that emancipation must be understood through experiences of security and insecurity
as they are lived.
Located in security studies, it begins with a critical reading of the Welsh School.
Ken Booth's original move to associate security with emancipation opened up new
possibilities for reimagining the field and for practicing security, but subsequent
developments orientated the security as emancipation move towards closure. A
genuinely open way of exploring this move is the context of Andrew Linklater's
adaptation of Habermasian discourse ethics. In this way an engagement between
Booth and Linklater is opened which runs throughout the thesis.
The second part introduces Vukovar. It details the violence of late-1991 seen in the
city, and outlines how the emergence of Croatian democracy represents a form of
settlement. Yet patterns of memorialisation and reconstruction in Vukovar entrench
a pro-Croat narrative of settlement at the expense of non-Croats who are unjustly
excluded. Furthermore, interviews with leaders of local civil society, religious and
political groups suggest that difference and contestation, rather than settlement,
characterise the post-war period in Vukovar.
The third part presents an analysis of the emancipatory practices which take place
within the local context of contestation. Interviews with NGOs in Vukovar support
Booth's emphasis on civil society groups as agents of emancipation. Subsequent
interviews challenge his view in important ways as the human limits of emancipatory
practices are revealed. However, even when such limitations are taken into account,
certain civil society practices show how Booth and Linklater's respective
understandings of emancipatory practice are played out in what are termed microdialogic
communities. These alternative dialogues open new spaces and allow
dominant understandings of the war to be challenged.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DR Balkan Peninsula
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Vukovar (Croatia) -- Politics and government -- 20th century, Liberty, Internal security -- Croatia -- Vukovar
Official Date:	October 2010
Dates:	Date Event October 2010 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Croft, Stuart ; Brassett, James ; McDonald, Matt
Sponsors:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
Extent:	x, 295 leaves : ill.
Language:	eng

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