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This thesis seeks to explore two fundamental theological questions: first, what does it mean for the Christian community to conceive of itself as a community defined by the covenant of grace; and second, what are the implications of this distinctiveness for its socio-political mission in an age of globalization. The project is interdisciplinary in its approach, and seeks to integrate biblical and theological inquiry together with the specific opportunities and challenges found in a globalized world. Our way of organizing this thesis is attuned to the demands of argument and method of research employed. Divided into three parts, the thesis derives from a critical examination of a theology of grace and its ramifications for the mission of the church in addressing contemporary issues. Part 1 commences by surveying broadly Reformational theological scholarship from the turn of the twentieth century, and explores how this thesis will make a distinctive contribution to scholarly discussion of the church's socio-political mission through focusing on the central doctrine of grace. Part 2 constitutes a comparative analysis of three leading contemporary theologians evaluating to what extent a theology of grace is evident in their theological political theories. Part 3 is where we seek to apply our theological investigation with the phenomenon of globalization, and engage with international political theory through concentrating on the concepts of power and justice in an interdependent world. The conclusion reached in this thesis is that the doctrine of grace, by virtue of its theocentric and trinitarian emphasis on revelation, reconciliation, election, and creation, directs the Christian community in an age of globalization to be an agent of God's justice in the socio-political arena through demonstrating servant-leadership to contribute in enabling the world's poorest and weakest citizens to share in the benefits brought by a globalized world.

Empowerment has emerged as a key focus of development policy and practices in the contemporary era, where simultaneously a need for 'development' is ascribed due to historically determined power relations imposed through discourse and intervention. This research enquires into the contradiction inherent in assuming an intemational agenda to empower those who are continually disempowered. Through analysis of a series of case studies of development projects in Zambia, this research argues that the potential of the empowerment agenda is inherently limited by the ongoing structural conditions of development. In the cases studied, community members successfiilly achieve a form of 'subjective empowerment' which enables them to assume a more powerful role within the boundaries of action determined by their possible frameworks of opportunity. But these forms of power do not hold the potential to create communities which are relatively more powerful on the global stage. Progression to a form of 'objective empowerment' is constrained by the boundaries to power which are imposed through historically set and continually recreated power relations within the global political economy.

Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) forms part of the United Nations approach to international peacebuilding. Whereas the resolution has been critiqued in terms of its implementation, there is a gap in the existing analysis concerning a deeper critical understanding of gender and the significant link between the constructions of gender and cultures of violence and peace. Grounded in a theoretical framework of a gendered analysis of peacebuilding theory, the empirical research combines policy analysis and qualitative interviews in order to examine how the concept of gender is understood within peacebuilding policy and how this impacts on implementation. Using the principle themes that emerge from SCR 1325 - gender mainstrearning, participation, and protection - this thesis presents an analysis of the different understandings of gender found in the policy making arena and locates these within perspectives for building more sustainable and positive peace. It is argued that, in order to overcome the inertia in implementing gender aware perspectives and policies in the security arena, the focus of analysis must be broadened from a focus on women to include the relational nature of constructions of gender. It is thus necessary to examine the related issues of power, and the roles of femininities and masculinities, patriarchy and militarization in the field of peacebuilding policy. This involves moving beyond the confines of the prevailing liberal peace thesis towards a more transformative approach to building sustainable peace.

The European Union-South Africa Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement (EU/SA TDCA), signed in October 1999, is viewed by some in South Africa as not only one of the most important trade and development agreements entered into by the 'new' South African goverrunent, but also a significant agreement for setting precedents for other bi-lateral trade and development pacts between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states. This thesis considers two major issues related to the EU/SA TDCA. First, it describes and evaluates the structures that supported the South African side of the TDCA decision-making process. Second, it discusses the potential economic impact of the agreement on South Africa and part of southern African. Prior to the election of the 'new' South African government in 1994, the majority of South Africa's population was excluded - both in terms of access to decision-making structures and from economic prosperity. By exploring the TDCA, the thesis provides a window through wl-dch to examine contemporary access to decision-making processes in South Africa and the likelihood of the TDCA promoting economic prosperity for sections of southern African society, particularly the 'traditionally excluded'. Interviews with key actors who helped formulate the TDCA provide information that enabled the evaluation of the TDCA decision-making process and highlighted potential economic 'winners' and 'losers'. Interviewing representatives of the South African wine and textile sectors provided an opportunity to examine in more detail the likely impact of the agreement and decision-making processes, associated to the TDCA, within South Africa. The results indicate that an overriding message of this thesis is one of complexity. The description of the structures that underpinned the EU/SA TDCA portrayed complex relationships between decision-making 'actors'. In evaluating the inclusivity of the policy formulation process, there was a lack of consensus over who had been included or excluded. Likewise, the identification of potential economic 'winners' and 'losers' proved to be somewhat problematic.

The privatisation of the British railway industry was announced in 1992, and a central plank of the government's strategy was to liberalise British Rail's (BR's) passenger market at the time of its divestiture. Competition was to be introduced both for the market, through franchising, and in the market, by freeing up access to the rail network. This thesis examines the policy adopted to promote competition in the British passenger railway industry. Its central aim is to assess the extent to which the promotion of competition between passenger train operators was an appropriate policy goal. In pursuit of this aim, the thesis critically evaluates the evolution, outcome and future prospects of rail liberalisation policy and closely examines the translation of neoliberalism - the theory of political economy upon which rail privatisation was based - into practical policy measures. A significant original investigation, drawing upon the experiences of key personnel involved in framing, executing and operating within the policy, augments secondary data to provide an in-depth level of analysis not currently available within the literature. The study employs predominantly inductive, qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, which together constitute a relatively novel investigative approach within transport geography. The empirical results are presented and discussed against the background of the other 'network' industry privatisations of the 1980s and early 1990s. The main findings are that, despite the sale of BR having been considered by the government for more than a decade, the privatisation and liberalisation strategy advanced by the 1992 White Paper, New Opportunities for the Railways, was not the result of a coherent policy analysis. The opportunities for, and even appropriateness of, a neoliberal agenda to promote competition between train operators were not sufficiently well understood by government when the proposals were adopted. Competition for the market, nevertheless, would appear to be a workable and 'successful' policy option, with the scope to offer long-term benefits to the rail industry should future governments choose to seek them. Competition in the market, on the other hand, is far less appropriate and continued emphasis on this aspect of rail policy could damage the industry's prospects in the coming years. Finally, the overall success of franchising seems to have occurred despite the muddled circumstances in which the Conservatives formulated rail privatisation policy, whereas the general failure of 'on-rail' competition seems to reflect them.