Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Great Council of Maine'

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1985.
MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH
Bibliography: leaves 70-74.
by Marlene L. Bryant.
M.C.P.

This dissertation attempts to determine what Britain expected from participation in the Supreme Economic Council (SEC) of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and to what extent its expectations were realized. An investigation of available sources reveals that access to European markets and raw materials and a balance of power to prevent French, German, or Russian hegemony in Europe were British foreign policy goals that SEC delegates sought to advance. Primary sources for this study include unpublished British Foreign Office and Cabinet records, published British, United States, and German government documents, unpublished personal papers of people directing SEC efforts, such as David Lloyd George, Austen Chamberlain, Cecil Harmsworth, Harry Osborne Mance, and John Maynard Keynes, and published memoirs and accounts of persons who were directly or indirectly involved with the SEC. Secondary accounts include biographies and histories or studies of the Peace Conference and of countries affected by its work. Primarily concerned with the first half of 1919, this dissertation focuses on British participation in Inter-allied war-time economic efforts, in post-war Rhineland control, in the creation of the SEC, and in the SEC endeavors of revictualling Germany, providing food and medical relief for eastern Europe, and reconstructing European communications. It concludes with Britain's role in the attempt to convert the SEC into an International Economic Council in the last half of 1919 and with the transfer of SEC duties to the Reparations Commission and to the League of Nations. Through participation in the SEC, Britain led in negotiating the Brussels Agreement and in establishing the Rhineland Commission and the German Economic Commission, reversing French attempts to control the Rhenish economy, preventing French hegemony in Europe, and gaining access to German markets for British goods. Although it failed to achieve its goals of strong eastern European states and access to markets and raw materials there, Britain led in restoration of communications and participated in the relief effort which saved the new states from anarchy in 1919.

This dissertation offers a study of everyday relations between residents and the state on a post-industrial council estate in England. Drawing upon historical and ethnographic data, it analyses how, often under conditions of sustained exclusion, residents rely upon the state in their daily struggles for security and survival. My central ethnographic finding is that residents personalise the state alongside informal networks of support and care into a local sociality of reciprocity. This finding can be broken into three interconnected points. First, I argue that the reciprocal contract between citizens and the state emerged in the post-war years when the residents on the newly built estates negotiated their dependence upon the state by integrating it into their on-going social relations. A climate of relative material affluence, selective housing policies, and a paternalistic regime of housing management all created conditions which were conducive for this temporary union between residents and the state. Second, however, I argue that with the decline of industry and shifts towards neoliberal policies, residents increasingly struggle to hold the state accountable to its reciprocal obligations towards local people. This becomes manifest today both in the material neglect of council estates as well as in state officials' reluctance to become implicated in social relations with and between residents. Third, I argue that this failure on the part of the state to attend to residents' demands often has onerous effects on people's lives. It not only exacerbates residents' exposure to insecurity and threat, but is also experienced as a moral affront which generates larger narratives of abandonment and betrayal. Theoretically, this dissertation critically discusses and challenges contrasting portrayals of the state, and of state-citizen relations, in two bodies of literature. On the one hand, in much of the sociological and anthropological literature on working class communities, authors have adopted a community-centred approach which has depicted working class communities as self-contained entities against which the state emerges as a distant or hostile entity. I argue that such a portrayal is premised upon a romanticised view of working class communities which neglects the intimate presence of the state in everyday life. On the other hand, the theoretical literature on the British state has adopted a state-centred perspective which has seen the state as a renewed source of order and authority in disintegrating communities today. My suggestion is that this portrayal rests upon a pathologising view of social decline which fails to account for the persistence of informal social relations and the challenges that these pose to the state's authority from below. Finally, moving beyond the community-centred and state-centred perspectives, I argue for the need to adopt a middle ground which combines an understanding of the nature and workings of informal relations with an acknowledgement of the ubiquity of the state. Such an approach allows us to recognise that, far from being a hostile entity or, alternatively, an uncontested source of order, the state occupies shifting positions within an overarching sociality of reciprocity and its associated demands for alliances and divisions. I refer to such an approach as the personalisation of the state.

The United Kingdom's postwar economic recovery and the usefulness of Marshall Plan aid depended heavily on a rapid increase in exports by the country's manufacturing industries. American aid administrators, however, shocked to discover the British industry's inability to respond to the country's urgent need, insisted on aggressive action to improve productivity. In partial response, a joint venture, called the Anglo-American Council on Productivity (AACP), arranged for sixty-six teams involving nearly one thousand people to visit U.S. factories and bring back productivity improvement ideas. Analyses of team recommendations, and a brief review of the country's industrial history, offer compelling insights into the problems of relative industrial decline. This dissertation attempts to assess the reasons for British industry's inability to respond to the country's economic emergency or to maintain its competitive position faced with the challenge of newer industrializing countries.

Scholars assert that the Cold War began at one of several different points. Material recently available at the National Archives yields a view different from those already presented. From these records, and material from the Foreign Relations Series, Parliamentary Debates, and United States Government documents, a new picture emerges. This study focuses on the British occupation of Germany and on the Council of Foreign Ministers' Moscow Conference of 1947. The failure of this conference preceded the adoption of the Marshall Plan and a stronger Western policy toward the Soviet Union. Thus, the Moscow Conference emphasized the disintegrating relations between East and West which resulted in the Cold War.

In 1990, the accounting profession and the British government worked together to establish a new regulatory framework for financial reporting in the United Kingdom (UK), the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and its two subsidiaries, the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) and the Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP). The FRRP enforces companies' compliance with the ASB's accounting standards and the accounting provisions of the UK Companies Act. Only one study, Brandt et al. (1997), has examined the activities and effectiveness of the FRRP. This dissertation attempts to extend Brandt et. al (1997) and add to understanding of the origins and regulatory actions of the FRRP.

In recent years, gull control has become closely tied to seabird restoration in the Gulf of Maine. Herring (Larus argentatus ) and Great Black-backed (L. marinus) gulls are the principal targets of control, yet anecdotal reports suggest that gull predation remains an important source of egg and chick mortality at many managed seabird colonies. The main objective of this study was to examine the impact of gull predation on the reproductive success of several waterbird species nesting at restoration sites in Maine. Particular emphasis was placed on understanding gull foraging behavior, identifying foraging constraints, and applying this knowledge to management of gulls and small seabirds.
Productivity of Common (Sterna hirundo), Arctic ( S. paradisaea), and Roseate (S. dougallii) terns was monitored and daily predation watches were conducted at Eastern Egg Rock, Maine from 2003-2005. In 2004 and 2005 only, attempts were made to shoot gulls preying on terns. Shooting failed to eliminate predation, and tern predation risk was influenced by nest location, but not year. Common and Arctic terns experienced heavy predation in all years, but Roseate Tern nests were seldom depredated, presumably because Roseates selected nest-sites with more cover. Great Black-backed Gull predation was influenced by visibility, tidal state, and year, while Herring Gull predation depended only on the stage of the tern breeding cycle. There was little evidence that gulls preyed selectively on unfit chicks. The limitations of shooting are discussed and non-lethal alternatives suggested.
Common Eider (Somateria mollissima dresseri) nest (hatching) success, habitat use, and duckling survival were studied at Stratton Island, Maine in 2004-2005. Eiders nested in a variety of habitats offering vegetative cover and enjoyed high nest success. Duckling survival was negligible however, because of opportunistic, group attacks by Great Black-backed Gulls. Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) also appeared to suffer heavy gull predation, with adults occasionally attacked in flight. In 2006, gull displacement walks, gull nest/egg destruction, and occasional shooting were used on a trial basis and may enhance future eider production.

This thesis examines three cases studies in Fremantle’s history that can be defined as times of crisis. These studies are; the visitations of the Bubonic Plague 1900 to 1904; the Great War 1914 to 1919 and the Depression Era 1929-1933. Each of the periods in this thesis examines the challenges faced by Fremantle’s council, as representative of Fremantle community. Fremantle’s council had an engaged sense of what was needed in each crisis and it determined its actions and policy to manage and resolve the challenges in each case. In essence, Fremantle’s leaders pursued policies of change, both locally and on a State-level, which would better the lives of its community, in response to three times of crisis.

This dissertation examines the intellectual and historical roots of the Anglo-American “Special Relationship,” most notably Anglo-Saxonism and social Darwinism, and their effect on the noted policy organs of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (or Chatham House) and the Council on Foreign Relations (or the Council). It first traces the origins of Anglo-Saxonism and considers its effect on important historical events such as the Spanish-American War and the Second Boer War. This thesis also presents a definition of Anglo-Saxonism which appreciates the complexity of the term and allows a better understanding of its effects. It then shows the memberships of both groups were strongly affected by these Victorian and Edwardian phenomena, a fact which augments our understanding of them. Furthermore, this relationship between Anglo-Saxonism and Chatham House and the Council is not fully appreciated by many modern academics. Ultimately, the language of Anglo-Saxonism developed during the Victorian and Edwardian eras became institutionalised during the formative years of these groups’ memberships, predisposing both to the importance of permanent Anglo-American cooperation.

This study examines the Allied notion of victory and how it was expressed in the depth of Allied strategic planning in 1918 for a campaign in 1919. Using the Supreme War Council (SWC) as a lens this study's arguments are threefold. The first is that, with the creation of the SWC, the Allies pursued a notion of victory that was focused on a decisive military defeat of the German army. Their timeline to victory over the enemy was affected by their perception of the enemy’s strength, their assessment of the difficulties inherent in overcoming the military advantage offered by the Central Powers' interior lines, their appraisal of the European members' morale to continue the war, and their ability to gather the necessary superiority in material and manpower resources. The second argument is that, through the SWC, the Allies were able to successfully coordinate strategy and resources. This study analyses the workings of the SWC as an international body and an early example of modern alliance warfare, comparing the perspectives of the British, French, American and Italian representatives in their willingness and unwillingness to coordinate national needs with alliance ones, arguing that the coalition did form a unified policy and strategy for the campaign in 1919. The abrupt ending of the war has obscured historians' understanding of coalition warfare in the First World War, as they have not sufficiently considered the serious planning that took place for 1919. Third, it argues that at the SWC level, the coalition members recognized the interdependent nature of the theatres, and thus the importance of all them for the conduct of the war.

The image of Marcel Duchamp as a brilliant but laconic dilettante has come to dominate the literature surrounding the artist’s life and work. His intellect and strategic brilliance were vaunted by his friends and contemporaries, and served as the basis of the mythology that has been coalescing around the artist and his work since before his death in 1968. Though few would challenge these attributions of intelligence, few have likewise considered the role that Duchamp’s prodigious mind played in bringing about the present state of his career. Many of the signal features of Duchamp’s artistic career: his avoidance of the commercial art market, his cultivation of patrons, his “retirement” from art and the secret creation and posthumous unveiling of his Étant Donnés: 1° la chute d’eau/2° le gaz d’éclairage, all played key roles in the development of the Duchampian mythos. Rather than treating Duchamp’s current art historical position as the fortuitous result of chance, this thesis attempts to examine the many and subtle ways in which Duchamp worked throughout his life to control how he and his work were and are perceived. Such an examination necessarily begins at the start of his relationship with the general and specialist media, through the auspices of his painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. This is followed by an examination of Duchamp’s decades-long relationship with the press through the interviews given during his life. Duchamp’s concern for his physical legacy is explored next, initially through his relationships with his two dominant patrons, Walter and Louise Arensberg and Katherine Dreier. Not only did he act as advisor and dealer in the development of both prestigious collections, Duchamp had the privileged position of participant in the negotiations surrounding the disposition of the collections he had helped to build. Duchamp’s concern for the preservation of his physical legacy continued after the installation of his own work within major American museums. Thus, next is considered the development and effects of the two large-scale retrospectives of Duchamp’s work held within his lifetime. Finally is considered the role of Duchamp’s posthumous work, the Étant Donnés. Through the combination of secrecy and strategically revealed hints, Duchamp ensured that his final work would engender discussion long after his death.

Suite à la reprise des hostilités consécutive à l’attentat contre l’avion du président Habyarimana, il y eut violation du cessez-le feu signé à Arusha le 04 aout 1993 entre le gouvernement rwandais et la rébellion du front patriotique rwandais, et une guerre civile éclata au Rwanda. Au cours de cette guerre civile, beaucoup de graves violations du droit international furent commises. Les différentes enquêtes des nations unies ayant constaté que ces violations pouvaient être qualifiées de génocide, crimes contre l’humanité et crimes de guerre, recommandèrent la création d’un tribunal pénal international pour en réprimer les auteurs. C’est ainsi que le conseil de sécurité des nations unies, ayant constaté que ces crimes ainsi que la crise humanitaire au Rwanda constituaient une menace à la paix, créa, lors de sa séance du 8 novembre 1994, le tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR). Il lui assigna la mission de réprimer toutes les personnes impliquées dans ces crimes au Rwanda et dans les pays voisins en 1994, en vue de contribuer au maintien de la paix dans la région des grands lacs africains ainsi qu’à la réconciliation nationale au Rwanda.La légalité, pour le conseil de sécurité, organe politique des nations unies, de créer une juridiction pénale dans le cadre du chapitre vii de la charte a été analysée. Quant à l’adéquation de cette mesure au contexte, la répression des auteurs des crimes devait contribuer au maintien de la paix et à la réconciliation nationale, par la dissuasion et l’aspect pédagogique des jugements.Cependant, à la clôture des travaux du TPIR en 2014, le bureau du procureur n’avait poursuivi aucun membre du FPR malgré les rapports bien documentés l’impliquant dans les crimes commis. Aussi, aucune enquête n’a été organisée pour élucider les circonstances de l’attentat contre l’avion du président rwandais, reconnu par l’ONU comme le facteur déclencheur du génocide.Les travaux du TPIR ont connu des limites d’ordre juridique, basées d’une part, sur les textes fondamentaux ainsi que la stratégie des poursuites inappropriée de la part du bureau du procureur, et que d’autre part, sur l’ingérence des facteurs politiques qui a limité l’action du bureau du procureur. Ces facteurs ont rendu l’action du TPIR critiquable et considérée par certains observateurs comme une justice du vainqueur.Suite à cette répression partielle et sélective, le TPIR n’a assuré aucune contribution au maintien de la paix dans la région des grands lacs. L’impunité accordée aux membres d’une partie au conflit rwandais a favorisé l’exportation de la violence armée en république démocratique du Congo, où les crimes graves ont été commis depuis 1996. Quant à la contribution à la réconciliation nationale, la répression partielle a plutôt servi à cristalliser les frustrations qui pourraient, à l’avenir, générer une autre crise politique plus importante que celle de 1994. En vue de réparer les erreurs du TPIR, il a été recommandé que la communauté internationale, à défaut d’étendre la compétence ratione temporis du TPIR, puisse créer un autre tribunal pénal international ad hoc pour réprimer les auteurs des crimes commis au Rwanda et au Congo, et dont l’impunité risque de pérenniser l’instabilité et la violence dans la région
Following the resumption of hostilities after the air Strike on President Habyarimana's plane, there was a violation of the ceasefire signed in Arusha (Tanzania) on 4 August 1993 between the Rwandan government and the rebellion of the Rwandan Patriotic Front , and a war Civil war broke out in Rwanda. During this civil war, many serious violations of international law were committed. As the various United Nations investigations found that these violations could be characterized as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, they recommended the establishment of an international criminal court to punish the perpetrators. Thus, the United Nations Security Council, having found that these crimes and the humanitarian crisis in Rwanda constituted a threat to the peace, created, at its meeting on 8 November 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He assigned him the task of prosecute all those involved in these crimes in Rwanda and in neighboring countries in 1994, with a view to contribute to the maintenance of peace in the African Great Lakes region and to national reconciliation in Rwanda.The legality of the creation of a criminal jurisdiction under Chapter VII of the Charter for the United Nations Security Council was analyzed. As to the adequacy of this measure to the context, the punishment of perpetrators should contribute to the maintenance of peace and national reconciliation through deterrence and the pedagogical aspect of judgments.However, at the close of the ICTR's work in 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor had not prosecuted any member of the RPF despite well-documented reports involving the crimes committed. Accordingly, no investigation has been carried out to elucidate the circumstances of the attack on the Rwandan president's plane, which the UN recognized as the trigger for the genocide.The ICTR's work has had legal limitations, based on both basic texts and the inappropriate prosecution strategy of the Office of the Prosecutor, and on the interference of Political factors that limited the work of the Office of the Prosecutor. These factors have made the action of the ICTR criticized and regarded by some observers as a justice of the victor.As a result of this partial and selective repression, the ICTR has not made any contribution to the maintenance of peace in the Great Lakes region. Impunity granted to members of a party to the Rwandan conflict has favored the export of armed violence to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where serious crimes have been committed since 1996. As for the contribution to national reconciliation, partial repression Has served rather to crystallize the frustrations that could, in the future, generate another political crisis more important than that of 1994.In order to remedy the errors of the ICTR, it was recommended that the international community, without extending the jurisdiction of the ICTR ratione temporis, could create another ad hoc international criminal tribunal to punish the perpetrators of crimes committed in Rwanda and Congo, and whose impunity risks perpetuating instability and violence in the region

This dissertation explores how colonial administrators on each side of the Atlantic used the British Survey of North America to serve their governments’ as well as their personal objectives. Specifically, it connects the execution and oversight of the General Survey in the northern and southern theatres, along with the intelligence it provided, with the actions of key decision-makers and influencers, including the Presidents of the Board of Trade (latterly, the Secretaries of the American Department) and key provincial governors. Having abandoned their posture of ‘Salutary Neglect’ towards colonial affairs in favour of one that proactively and more centrally sought ways to develop and exploit their North American assets following the Severn Years’ War, the British needed better geographic information to guide their decision making. Thus, the General Survey of British North America, under the umbrella of the Board of Trade, was conceived. Officially sponsored from 1764-1775, the programme aimed to survey and analyse the attributes and economic potential of Britain’s newly acquired regions in North America, leading to an accurate general map of their North American empire when joined to other regional mapping programmes. The onset of the American Revolution brought an inevitable end to the General Survey before a connected map could be completed. Under the excellent leadership of Samuel Holland, the surveyor general of the Northern District, however, the British administration received surveys and reports that were of great relevance to high-level administration. In the Southern District, Holland’s counterpart, the mercurial William Gerard De Brahm, while producing reports of high quality, was less able to juggle the often conflicting priorities of provincial and London-based stakeholders. Consequently, results were less successful. De Brahm was recalled in 1771, leaving others to complete the work.

Le concile de Constance est convoqué par le pape Jean XXIII en vue de mettre un terme au schisme qui déchire la chrétienté occidentale depuis 1378. Les Pères conciliaires sont également désireux de réformer l’Église et de mettre un terme aux abus qui y règnent. En tout état de cause, rien ne laisse supposer d’un premier abord que le concile de Constance soit l’occasion pour les Français qui s’y trouvent d’affirmer et de construire leur identité nationale. Pourtant, l’organisation du concile en nations favorise le regroupement des Français et rend nécessaire des prises de décisions communes. Entre 1415 et 1417, si les divergences existent entre les membres de cette nation composite, le sentiment national et la défense d’intérêts communs prennent une place croissante. Par ailleurs, la translation de la guerre de Cent Ans au concile rend les relations des nations anglaise et française de plus en plus conflictuelles. L’alliance du roi des Romains Sigismond avec Henri V isole les Français au concile. Face à toutes ces difficultés, la plus grande partie des membres de la nation française tend à s’unir et à faire corps autour de l’ambassade de Charles VI. Au nom de la loyauté envers la couronne, l’ambassade du roi de France cherche à prendre le contrôle de la nation française et à orienter ses décisions de façon à les rendre conformes aux intérêts du roi
Pope John XXIII convened the oecumenical council of Constance to end the schism splitting the western Christianity since 1378. The council Fathers were also eager to reform and rid the Church of the prevailing influence peddling. Anyhow, at first glance nothing suggested that the council of Constance would give the attending French party an opportunity to assert and build up their national identity.Still, the council’ organisation around nations prompted the French to pool together and called for common stances in decision-making. Between 1415 and 1417, while differences still existed amongst the members of this composite nation, a feeling of national loyalty and the fight for common interests became increasingly important.In addition, due to the emergence of the 100 years’ war in the midst of the council, the French-English relationships became ever more conflicting. The French were isolated in the council as a result of the Roman king Sigismond’ alliance with Henry V.As a result of these mishaps, most members of the French nations felt prompted to unite and stand solidly behind Charles VI’ ambassadors.In the name of their pledge of allegiance to the Crown, the French king’s embassy endeavoured to gain control of, and orientate the French nation’s decision in a sense favouring the king’s interest

Le concile de Constance est convoqué par le pape Jean XXIII en vue de mettre un terme au schisme qui déchire la chrétienté occidentale depuis 1378. Les Pères conciliaires sont également désireux de réformer l’Église et de mettre un terme aux abus qui y règnent. En tout état de cause, rien ne laisse supposer d’un premier abord que le concile de Constance soit l’occasion pour les Français qui s’y trouvent d’affirmer et de construire leur identité nationale. Pourtant, l’organisation du concile en nations favorise le regroupement des Français et rend nécessaire des prises de décisions communes. Entre 1415 et 1417, si les divergences existent entre les membres de cette nation composite, le sentiment national et la défense d’intérêts communs prennent une place croissante. Par ailleurs, la translation de la guerre de Cent Ans au concile rend les relations des nations anglaise et française de plus en plus conflictuelles. L’alliance du roi des Romains Sigismond avec Henri V isole les Français au concile. Face à toutes ces difficultés, la plus grande partie des membres de la nation française tend à s’unir et à faire corps autour de l’ambassade de Charles VI. Au nom de la loyauté envers la couronne, l’ambassade du roi de France cherche à prendre le contrôle de la nation française et à orienter ses décisions de façon à les rendre conformes aux intérêts du roi
Pope John XXIII convened the oecumenical council of Constance to end the schism splitting the western Christianity since 1378. The council Fathers were also eager to reform and rid the Church of the prevailing influence peddling. Anyhow, at first glance nothing suggested that the council of Constance would give the attending French party an opportunity to assert and build up their national identity.Still, the council’ organisation around nations prompted the French to pool together and called for common stances in decision-making. Between 1415 and 1417, while differences still existed amongst the members of this composite nation, a feeling of national loyalty and the fight for common interests became increasingly important.In addition, due to the emergence of the 100 years’ war in the midst of the council, the French-English relationships became ever more conflicting. The French were isolated in the council as a result of the Roman king Sigismond’ alliance with Henry V.As a result of these mishaps, most members of the French nations felt prompted to unite and stand solidly behind Charles VI’ ambassadors.In the name of their pledge of allegiance to the Crown, the French king’s embassy endeavoured to gain control of, and orientate the French nation’s decision in a sense favouring the king’s interest

The thesis deals with the comparison attitudes of two Eastern Christian traditions - Orthodox and Coptic to 4th ecumenical council, which held in 451 in Chalcedon. The Monophysite, or Non- Chalcedonian, Coptic Orthodox Church regards it as return to the heterodox teaching called Nestorianism whilst Eastern Orthodox Church this council considers in accordance with the Orthodox doctrine. For Orthodox Christians Chalcedon represents the breakthrough for a refinement of the Christology, concretely in the doctrine about two natures - divine and human - in single person of Christ which the Copts regard as return to Nestorian heresy which due to its dualism interfered the integrity of the person of Christ. The thesis puts forward the insight into the Council of Chalcedon from both perspectives objectively. The thesis is based on authors which represent Orthodox and Coptic traditions but also on these who researched this issue solely from a historical-theological point of view. I have noted reasons - theological and non-theological - why the Copts reject to accept conclusions of this ecumenical council to this day, among other things. I have tried to point out that Monophysitism, or Miaphysitism - whose way the Copts follow - is not only a heretical teaching from the Orthodox theological point of view but...

My thesis examines relations among practitioners of various religions, especially Christians and Jews, during the era when Jesus’ project went from being a Galilean sect, to a persecuted minority, to religio licita status, and eventually to imperial favor, all happening between the first century resurrection of Jesus and the fourth century rise of Constantine. There is an abiding image of the Church in wider public consciousness that it is unwittingly and in some cases antagonistically exclusionist. This is not a late-developing image. I trace it to the period that the church developed into a formal organization with the establishment of canons and creeds defined by Church councils. This notion is so pervasive that an historical retrospective of Christianity of any period, from the sect that became a movement, to the Reformation, to the present day’s multiple Christian iterations, is framed by the late Patristic era. The conflicts and solutions reached in that period provided enduring definition to the Church while silencing dissent. I refer here to such actions as the destruction of books and letters and the banishment of bishops. Before there emerged the urgent perceived need for doctrinal uniformity, the presence of Christianity provided a resilient non-militant opponent to and an increasing intellectual critique of all religious traditions, including that of the official gods that were seen to hold the empire together. When glaringly manifest cleavages in the empire persisted, the Emperor Constantine sought to use the church to help bring political unity. He called for church councils, starting with Nicaea in 325 CE that took no account for churches outside the Roman Empire, and many within, even though councils were called “Ecumenical.” The presumption that the church was fully representative without asking for permission from a broader field of constituents is just that: a presumption. This thesis studies the ancient world of Christianity’s growth to explore whether, in that age of new and untested toleration, there was a more advisable way of responding to the invitation to the political table. The answer to this can help us formulate, and perhaps revise, some of our conduct today, especially for Christians who obtain a voice in powerful places.
Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology
D. Th. (Church History)

This dissertation studies the intersection of knowledge, culture, and power in contested coastal and estuarine space in eighteenth-century northeastern North America. It examines the interdependence of vernacular pilot knowledge and directed hydrographic survey, their integration into practices of warfare and governance, and roles in assimilating American space to metropolitan scientific and aesthetic discourses. It argues that the embodied skill and local knowledge of colonial and Aboriginal peoples served vital and underappreciated roles in Great Britain’s extension of overseas activity and interest, of maritime empire. It examines the maritimicity of empire: empire as adaptation to marine environments through which it conducted political influence and commercial endeavour. The materiality of maritime empire—its reliance on patterns of wind and current, on climate and weather, on local relations of sea to land, on proximity of spaces and resources to oceanic circuits—framed and delimited transnational flows of commerce and state power. This was especially so in coastal and riverine littoral spaces of northeastern North America. In this local Atlantic, pilot knowledge—and its systematization in marine cartography through hydrographic survey—adapted processes of empire to the materiality of the maritime, and especially to the littoral, environment. Eighteenth-century British state agents acting in northeastern North America—in Mi’kmaqi/Acadia/Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and New England—developed new means of adapting this knowledge to the tasks of maritime empire, creating potent tools with which to extend Britain’s imperial power and influence amphibiously in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. If the open Atlantic became a maritime highway in this period, traversed with increasing frequency and ease, inshore waters remained dangerous bypaths, subject to geographical and meteorological hazards that checked overseas commercial exchange and the military and administrative processes that constituted maritime empire. While patterns of oceanic circulation permitted extension of these activities globally in the early modern period, the complex interrelation of marine and terrestrial geography and climate in coastal and estuarine waters long set limits on maritime imperial activity. This dissertation examines the nature of these limits, and the means that eighteenth-century British commercial and imperial actors developed to overcome them.