The continued commitment to and assertion of the primacy of the sovereign state within international relations theory has resulted in a discourse which theorizes and examines only those issues and conflicts of international politics which can be made to fit neatly within the prism of the neorealist discourse. As such, there exists a void in the examination of such issues as the nature and possibilities of alternative forms of political community, or into the political and economic effects these alternative forms of political community (such as social, economic, religious and environmental) pose to the traditional state and the envisioning of a global society. The aim of this thesis is two-fold: first, to renew interest and inquiry into the discursive limitations of the neorealist discourse of difference and negation; and secondly, to call attention to how the practical and discursive constraints of the neorealist conception of the state as political community effects the ability of international relations theory to address current conflicts and issues on the international stage. The intent of this analysis is to spark a renewed interest in exploring not only the emergence of new forms of political community but the possibility of being able to speak about these new forms within a discourse of international relations. Only through a commitment to the critical examination of its discourse can international relations theory uncover new ways to re-envision such concepts as political community and international politics. / Master of Arts

À la suite de la structuration de la politique de l’État russe envers ses émigrés, ainsi que d’une vague de protestation en Russie à la fin de l’année 2011, a émergé une nouvelle communauté politique russe en France. Celle-ci s’est progressivement construite autour des discours et des activités politiques des migrants russes en direction de leur pays d'origine. Les motivations de ces migrants sont à rechercher dans leurs sentiments d’appartenance à la Russie. Deux figures idéal-typiques clés se sont révélées au cours de notre recherche : d'une part, le « compatriote », défini par les autorités russes qui prônent l'unité de leurs ressortissants disséminés à travers le monde et en appellent à dépasser les clivages du passé et, d'autre part, l’ « expatriote », qui refuse d'être représenté par l'État russe et rejette la définition « officielle » de ses sentiments d'appartenance ; d'un côté donc, le compatriote, retrouvant la fierté d'être et de se dire Russe ; de l'autre, l'expatriote, traversé par le sentiment d'être Russe malgré lui et de devoir assumer, en la transformant, cette condition. Bien qu'ayant des conceptions fort différentes, et souvent contradictoires, de ce que devrait être la Russie, le compatriote et l'expatriote ne peuvent être opposés de manière binaire dans la mesure où ils ne cessent d'interagir et échangent même parfois leurs positions respectives. Le lieu de ces interactions, c'est la communauté politique russe en tant qu'arène de discours et de pratiques politiques en recomposition permanente. / Following the structuring of the Russian State policy towards its emigrants and a wave of protest in Russia at the end of 2011, a Russian political community emerged in France. It was progressively constructed through discourses and political activities of Russian immigrants towards their country of origin. The motivations of these migrants are to be found in their sentiments of belonging to Russia. Two ideal-typical figures have been revealed throughout the research process: the “compatriot”, defined by the Russian authorities that preach for the unity of Russian people disseminated around the world and call them to go beyond the divisions of the past, and the “expatriot” who refuses to be represented by the Russian State and rejects the “official” definition of his sense of belonging; on the one hand, there is the compatriot who retrieves the pride to be and to call himself Russian; on the other hand, there is the expatriot who feels Russian despite himself and has to assume this condition while transforming it. Even if their conceptions of what Russia should be are really different and often contradictory, the compatriot and the expatriot could not be opposed in binary terms, as they do not stop interacting and sometimes even exchange their respective positions. The location of these interactions is the Russian political community qua an arena of discourses and political practices in permanent reconstruction.

none

This thesis aims at evaluating the impacts of European Union Citizenship on the development process of European political identity. With the introduction of European Union citizenship upon the ratification of the Treaty of Maastricht, a breath of fresh air has been brought to the ongoing debates and a new form of citizenship has taken its place in the literature. The &ldquo / workers&rsquo / right to free movement &rdquo / which was the core of the push for European citizenship, has played a pioneering role for the rights engendered thereunder. In due course, new rights have been entitled to the citizens and the scope of these rights has been broadened. From the 1950s to the present, EU citizenship has continued its evolution and, rather than being referred to as a common market citizenship, it became a highly political concept during this period. In the context of these developments, this thesis view the historical background and the legal framework of the concept and, in light of these insights, analyze the impacts of European Union citizenship upon the formation of European political identity. In this study, European citizenship has been defined as a form of political identity, whose emergence , in turn , was a consequence of citizens&rsquo / relationships with the political entity-European Union- . On account of the inadequacy of the elements that constitutes the identity under normal conditions , the existence of the political identity has been emphasized as a the key concept in order to attach the citizens to the political entity and the role of the citizenship has been stated as comprising a common basis within the EU in order to constitute a political identity.

No description available.

In their struggle for equality in Tamil Nadu, Dalits (ex-untouchables) often challenge prevailing caste norms by appropriating practices and conventions of locally dominant groups. This study examines how the Dalit Pallars of Tamil Nadu engage in various forms of socio-cultural and political assertions to challenge their marginality. It looks at the performative aspects of such struggles by focusing on Guru Pujas; public performances undertaken to pay homage to late social and political icons/leaders. As annual events these pujas have enabled Thevars, the local dominant caste, to showcase their community’s strength and power through the appropriation of public space. However, the same mode of public performance, which was integral to the public production and consolidation of the dominant caste as a political community, has been replicated by historically marginalised castes. This is reflected tangibly through visual aesthetics during commemorations. Following the Thevars and Nadars, a section of the Pallars are engaged in proclaiming the historical past by asserting that they too form the royal lineage and are competing with Thevar iconography to challenge the cultural dominance of Thevars. As quotidian forms of oppression and violence mark the spatial relationship between these castes, these performances provide a micro-lens to understand the dynamics of how local power is generated and made visible through a politics inscribed in space. Recent decades have witnessed increased competition over public symbols and the strategic location of caste-specific cultural signifiers – including competition over style and performance – and a heightened contest over the occupation of public space. Thus, the study maps the Pallar assertion and the challenges posed by Thevar retaliation.

[pt] As mudanças ocorridas na Rússia desde a eleição de Vladimir Putin são marcantes tanto nas esferas materiais como simbólicas. No plano sociológico é possível observar o aparecimento de uma masculinidade hegemônica e hipermasculina, que estabelece uma hierarquia e ordem na sociedade. Assim, é importante o questionamento sobre quais alicerces a política se sustenta e em que medida essas relações se articulam tendo em vista a criação de uma determinada ordem social produzida que marginaliza, exclui e hierarquiza. Desta maneira, o Estado como prática das relações de poder constrói dicotomias e espaços de autorização e exclusão que, em última instância são condições de possibilidade da agência política. Com as Revoluções Coloridas, a possibilidade de uma intervenção estrangeira por dentro do regime transformou-se numa paranoia constante. O ocidente, então aparece como um espaço moral de ameaças e perigos; mais que isso, aceitar e defender um estilo de vida ocidental torna-se um exemplo de anti-patriotismo e objeto da definição de limites tanto internos como externos. Nesse sentido, podemos estabelecer uma relação entre a formulação da Política Externa/política externa no estabelecimento de ameaças e perigos para uma determinada narrativa sobre a Rússia. Por isso, a matryoshka é uma figura excepcional: bonecas que definem as fronteiras uma das outras sucessivamente, mas que sempre guardam alguma coisa dentro de si. A ascensão de Vladimir Putin e as narrativas políticas que lhe são capilarizadas perpassam necessariamente questões sociais e políticas essenciais para as Relações Internacionais: segurança e perigo, interno e o externo, autoridade e exclusão. / [en] The changes in Russia since Vladimir Putin s election are striking both in material and symbolic spheres. In sociological level one can observe the emergence of a hegemonic masculinity and hypermasculine establishing a hierarchy and order in society. It is therefore important to question about how the political foundation is sustained and to what extent these relations are articulated to creating a certain social order that marginalizes, excludes and hierarchizes. In this way, the state as a practice of power relations and dichotomies produces spaces of exclusions that ultimately are conditions of possibility of political agency. With the Coloured Revolutions, the possibility of a foreign intervention inside Russia was transformed in a constant paranoia. The West, then appears as a moral space of threats and dangers; more than that, accept and defend a Western lifestyle becomes an example of anti-patriotism and object of the definition of both internal and external limits. In this sense, we can establish a relationship between the formulation of foreign / foreign policy in the establishment of threats and dangers for a particular narrative about Russia. Therefore, the matryoshka is an exceptional figure: dolls that define the boundaries of the other successively, but always keep something inside. The rise of Vladimir Putin and political narratives necessarily permeate social issues and key policies for International Relations: safety and danger, internal and external, authority and exclusion.

[pt] O presente trabalho analisa a participação de atores não- estatais nas negociações sobre acesso a recursos genéticos, conhecimentos tradicionais associados à biodiversidade e repartição de benefícios no âmbito da Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre Diversidade Biológica. A partir da teoria crítica do sistema internacional desenvolvida por Andrew Linklater, esta dissertação examina a participação dos atores não-estatais na emergência de um processo mais inclusivo e na contribuição normativa para a criação de novas formas de comunidade política para além das fronteiras nacionais. A investigação discute se o processo de negociação do Regime Internacional de Acesso e Repartição de Benefícios, no período de 2001 a 2006, garantiu que os principais atores envolvidos fossem incluídos em um diálogo entre diferentes, o que contribui para a transformação da comunidade política. A compreensão resultante é que a participação dos atores não-estatais no processo de negociação representa uma conquista significativa. Entretanto, as persistentes práticas de exclusão ainda prejudicam a construção de uma harmonização entre universalidade e diferença. / [en] This dissertation analyses the participation of non-state actors on the negotiations on access to genetic resources, traditional knowledge related to biodiversity and benefit-sharing on the scope of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Using as reference the critical international theory elaborated by Andrew Linklater, this work examines the participation of those non-state actors in the ascension of a more inclusive process and in the normative contribution to the creation of new sorts of political community beyond the national boundaries. The research analyses whether the process of negotiation of the International Regime on Access and Benefit-sharing, from 2001 to 2006, has assured that the relevant stakeholders were included in a dialogue between differents advancing, in this way, the transformation of international community. The main conclusion is that the participation of non-state actors represents a meaningful victory of the stakeholders. Nevertheless, the persistent practices of exclusion undermine the development of a harmonization between universality and difference.

[pt] Essa dissertação tem por tema mais amplo o processo de construção das organizações políticas chamadas de Estados. A problemática mais específica sobre a qual ele se debruça, por outro lado, é a da relação entre construção do Estado, comunidade política e segurança, tendo como estudo de caso o processo de construção do Estado uzbeque na Ásia Central pós- soviética. O argumento fundamental do trabalho é o de que cada vez que Estados empreendem atos de securitização - isto é, identificam ameaças existenciais e agem para combatê-las, sejam elas eminentemente internas ou externas - eles estão demarcando os contornos de sua comunidade política ao excluírem certos grupos do vínculo político com o Estado, do que decorre um processo de construção do Estado, ou seja, das instituições políticas estatais. No estudo de caso dos processos de securitização na República do Uzbequistão, exploramos a identificação discursiva e as ações para lidar com a ameaça do neoimperialismo russo, a qual engendrou certos padrões de alinhamentos internacionais e um certo repúdio da herança lingüística e cultural russa internamente, o que resultou na instalação de um processo, mesmo que ainda incipiente, de nacionalização étnica do Estado. Em fins da década de 90, contudo, a percepção dessa ameaça foi sendo suplantada pela identificação da politização do Islã (do Islã político) como a maior ameaça à existência do Estado uzbeque, a qual tem produzido severa repressão a qualquer manifestação religiosa - islâmica, em particular - no país e a oposição de grupos islâmicos radicalizados, em grande medida, por tal repressão. O efeito crucial desse processo foi a construção de um Estado laico, ou seja, de práticas e instituições que não permitem a participação de idéias e representantes religiosos na política. / [en] This thesis tackles the wider theme of the process of construction of those political organizations we call states. The more specific problematique into which it delves, on the other hand, is the relation between state-building, political community, and security, our case study being the state- building process of the Uzbekistani state in post-soviet Central Asia. The fundamental argument in our research is that every time states carry out acts of securitization - that is, identify existential threats and act to counter them, whether these threats be mainly internal or external - they are demarcating the boundaries of their political community by excluding certain groups from the political tie to the state, what brings about a process of state-building, that is, of the construction of state political institutions. In the case study of the processes of securitization in the Republic of Uzbekistan, we explore the identification and actions to counter the threat of Russian neoimperialism, which produced certain patterns of international alignments and a certain denial of the Russian linguistic and cultural heritage internally, which resulted in a process, incipient as it may be, of ethnic nationalization of the state. Toward the end of the 90´s, however, such perception of threat was gradually superseded by the identification of the politicization of Islam (of political Islam) as the greatest single threat to the existence of the Uzbekistani state, an identification which has produced severe repression of any religious manifestation - particularly Islamic - in the country and the opposition of groups that were largely radicalized by such repression. The fundamental result of this process was the construction of a lay state, that is, of practices and institutions which do not permit the participation of religious ideas and representatives in politics.

[pt] A Guerra da Bósnia (1992-1995) foi finalizada com os Acordos de Dayton, que garantiram 49 porcento dos territórios aos sérvio- bósnios e 51 porcento aos bósnios muçulmanos e croata-bósnios. O pacto previa a construção de um Estado multiétnico, que garantisse a convivência pacífica após a carnificina que marcou a beligerância entre os três grupos. Apesar de garantir o fim de um dos mais sangrentos conflitos europeus desde o fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial, o acordo de paz parece não ter solucionado de fato os problemas que levaram os três grupos étnicos a entrar em conflito durante o processo de desintegração da Iugoslávia. Ou seja, o tratado deu fim à guerra, mas manteve um estado latente de beligerância entre as partes. Dentro de uma perspectiva de modelos de resolução de conflitos que critica uma abordagem tradicional e utilitária dos acordos firmados em Dayton, este trabalho analisa os acertos e equívocos dos primeiros sete anos de implementação do plano de paz, questionando a transferência da guerra para a arena política e, principalmente, a necessidade de manutenção da intermediação internacional para a convivência pacífica entre as comunidades formadoras da Bósnia pós-guerra. Para o desenvolvimento do trabalho, são questionados os tradicionais modelos de resolução de conflitos assim como a rigidez da solução estatal, de modo a apresentar outras saídas para a aproximação das partes que guerrearam e a possibilidade de uma nova comunidade política. / [en] The war in Bosnia (1992-1995) was finished with the Dayton Agreements that gave 49 percent of the territories to the Bosnian Serbs and 51 percent to the Bosniacs and Croatian Serbs. The pact previewed the creation of a multi-ethnic State that assured a peaceful living after the bloodshed that marked the conflict among the three groups. Despite the accomplishment of ending one of the most bloody European conflicts since the end of the Second World War, the peace agreement seems not to have really solved the problems that made the three ethnic groups confront themselves during the Yugoslavian disintegration process. It means that the accord ended the war, but kept a latent warring atmosphere among the parties. In a perspective of conflict resolutions models that criticizes a traditional and utilitarian approach of the agreements signed at Dayton, this work analyzes the rights and wrongs of the first seven years of the implementation process, questioning the transference of the war to the political arena and, specially, the prolonged international interference to keep the peaceful ambiance among the communities that forms the post-war Bosnia. For the development of this work, the traditional models of conflict resolution as well as the rigid State response are questioned, with the aim to present other outcomes to put the warring parties together, with the possibility of a new political community.