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Synthesizing material derived from Norbert Elias, Pierre Bourdieu, Karl Polanyi, Max Weber, Benedict Anderson and Ernest Gellner, in Part I the concept of "national character" is delineated as a special case of "habitus" relating to the socio-spatial scale of the nation state. In relation to problems of state-formation, national character is shown to be a figurational and co-developmental function of the system of nation-states in which patterns of mutual identification and "imagined community" involve both the coercive codification and internalization of particular national narratives and origin myths which define "people like us" in terms of a symbolic family; and also, in relation to competing nation-states, the projection and internalization of national group charisma and shame. In Part II, these ideas are applied to the pattern of state formation in Ireland and the recent history of the reception, cultural accommodation, and treatment of asylum seekers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his theory of civilizing processes Elias drew attention, albeit obliquely, to the interweaving connections between ecological, biological, social and psychological processes operating at a variety of nested temporal scales. Elucidating a series of fundamental propositions, this paper is an attempt firstly to explicate the parameters of the general theory of humanity that is implicit in his concrete historical studies, and secondly to apply this theory to linked problems of global sustainability and cosmopolitan democracy. Building on Goudsblom's concept of the 'anthroposphere', I argue that long-term processes of social development have always been synonymous with a specific process of ecological transformation defined by 'trophic expansion'. This Eliasian approach to human ecology is then used to explore the global environmental ecological crisis through the lens of the longue durée. From this perspective, I question liberal assumptions about the natural affinity between democracy and ecological sustainability and, more specifically, the possibility of 'low energy cosmopolitanism'. Developing ideas hinted at by C. H. Waddington in the 1960s and more recently by James Lovelock, I argue that any long-term future for complex, cosmopolitan societies and a sustainable rapprochement between the biosphere and the anthroposphere, will depend on the emergence of technologies of 'trophic detachment'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his theory of civilizing processes Elias drew attention, albeit obliquely, to the interweaving connections between ecological, biological, social and psychological processes operating at a variety of nested temporal scales. Elucidating a series of fundamental propositions, this paper is an attempt firstly to explicate the parameters of the general theory of humanity that is implicit in his concrete historical studies, and secondly to apply this theory to linked problems of global sustainability and cosmopolitan democracy. Building on Goudsblom’s concept of the ‘anthroposphere’, I argue that long-term processes of social development have always been synonymous with a specific process of ecological transformation defined by ‘trophic expansion’. This Eliasian approach to human ecology is then used to explore the global environmental ecological crisis through the lens of the longue durée. From this perspective, I question liberal assumptions about the natural affinity between democracy and ecological sustainability and, more specifically, the possibility of ‘low energy cosmopolitanism’. Developing ideas hinted at by C. H. Waddington in the 1960s and more recently by James Lovelock, I argue that any long-term future for complex, cosmopolitan societies and a sustainable rapprochement between the biosphere and the anthroposphere, will depend on the emergence of technologies of ‘trophic detachment’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on a series of five ESRC-funded seminars held between 2006 and 2008 on 'Sustainability as competitive advantage in higher education in the UK'. We sketch the background to sustainability in HE, distinguishing between teaching about and for sustainability and arguing that the move to latter has prompted questions about the sustainability performance of universities themselves. We outline the rationale for the seminar series - an analysis of the degree to which the reluctance of senior managers to embrace sustainability can be overcome by the promise of competitive advantage - and then discuss the lessons we learned from the seminars regarding the successful implementation of sustainability strategies in HEIs. We then analyse what 'establishing competitive advantage' in the HE sector might entail, generically and offer some suggestions as to what a specific instantiation of this might look like, guided by the idea of creating 'sustainable communities'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]