CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2011
| Author | Segal-Williams, Sara Judith |
|---|---|
| Title | The Ontological Security of Empire: Honor and Hierarchy in French Colonialism |
| Summary | This thesis will address the question of how collective identities seek ontological security despite the puzzling question of how to seek a stable identity that is defined by conflicting narratives, and why one would find security in doing so. The case study of French colonialism serves to fill some of the unexplained gaps in the theory of ontological security. Why was France able to contain and seek to maintain the conflicting narratives of including its colonies into its self-definition while simultaneously enforcing a hierarchical separation between the citizens of the metropole and the subjects of the colonies? I will argue that it sought to do so in order to preserve its sense of identity through its definition of itself as it imagined being positioned honorably within its construction of international order. The presented case study demonstrates how preexisting ontological security theories can be combined and developed to conclude that collectivities find security by seeing themselves as inhabiting honorable and superior hierarchical positions within the international order. |
| Supervisor | Roe, Paul |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2011/segal-williams_sara.pdf |
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