Be it the Algerian National Liberation Front, the African National Congress in South Africa or the continued struggle of the Palestinian people, the principle of self-determination is largely central to all projects of national liberation. This paper addresses what is arguably a deficient conception of self-determination by highlighting two factors that contributed to this deficiency. The first is the re-enforcement of dependency in self-determination projects by international institutions, primarily through the Mandate System. The second is a merit-based system of conditionality for the granting of independence, accompanied by a tendency to deformalize the law, relegating self-determination to an empty principle, the substance of which is decided by the negotiations’ context. The case of Palestine is used to demonstrate how those factors are adopted as central means in resolving the Palestinian self-determination problem, which in-turn leads to a deficient conception that does not account for the core content of the right.

Be it the Algerian National Liberation Front, the African National Congress in South Africa or the continued struggle of the Palestinian people, the principle of self-determination is largely central to all projects of national liberation. This paper addresses what is arguably a deficient conception of self-determination by highlighting two factors that contributed to this deficiency. The first is the re-enforcement of dependency in self-determination projects by international institutions, primarily through the Mandate System. The second is a merit-based system of conditionality for the granting of independence, accompanied by a tendency to deformalize the law, relegating self-determination to an empty principle, the substance of which is decided by the negotiations’ context. The case of Palestine is used to demonstrate how those factors are adopted as central means in resolving the Palestinian self-determination problem, which in-turn leads to a deficient conception that does not account for the core content of the right.

Given the contradictory reality of a well-developed human rights and humanitarian regime alongside extensive human rights abuses committed in the “Global War on Terror,” the dissertation asks how and why law has shaped contemporary security policy. Focusing on the American case over time, I examine this problem empirically by tracing the changing impact of both international and domestic legal and normative constraints on torture and interrogation, detention and trial, and surveillance practices, culminating in post-9/11 counterterrorism doctrine. I find that policy makers have increasingly violated rules with the adoption of controversial security and intelligence policies, but have simultaneously employed legalistic arguments to evade responsibility for human rights abuses. Using contrasting realist, decisionist, liberal, and constructivist accounts of the nature of state compliance with norms and law found in International Relations and legal scholarship, the dissertation theoretically explains this outcome and with it, law’s ability to moderate national security practice. In so doing, I propose an original reading of law as a permissive constraint, which challenges us to rethink paradigmatic assumptions in a way that accommodates both strategic and normative factors and recognizes the role of practice in giving content to rules.

Territorial disputes between Japan and South Korea (Dokdo/Takeshima) and Japan, Taiwan, and China (the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands) are characteristic of post-war East Asian diplomacy. This thesis explores these ongoing territorial disputes, problematizing Realist arguments by which these disputes are analyzed as matters of territorial or resource nationalism, or as the result of legal complications or security concerns. Instead, it is argued that we should look to ideologies of nationalism to understand seemingly extreme emotional reactions over these 'rocks' which threaten to destabilize Northeast Asia. These islands are treated as 'sublime' symbols of the nation and irredentist arguments which support the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese positions read history through a lens of essentialized notions of 'a people' or 'a nation', and in the process help define both.

Territorial disputes between Japan and South Korea (Dokdo/Takeshima) and Japan, Taiwan, and China (the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands) are characteristic of post-war East Asian diplomacy. This thesis explores these ongoing territorial disputes, problematizing Realist arguments by which these disputes are analyzed as matters of territorial or resource nationalism, or as the result of legal complications or security concerns. Instead, it is argued that we should look to ideologies of nationalism to understand seemingly extreme emotional reactions over these 'rocks' which threaten to destabilize Northeast Asia. These islands are treated as 'sublime' symbols of the nation and irredentist arguments which support the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese positions read history through a lens of essentialized notions of 'a people' or 'a nation', and in the process help define both.

La traite de personnes est un phénomène qui a suscité beaucoup d’attention au niveau international. L’analyse historique de l’encadrement juridique de ce crime révèle que différents stéréotypes ont contribué à sa construction. Plus particulièrement, l’élaboration des premiers traités visant à contrer la traite de personnes est le fruit des tractations du mouvement abolitionniste et « régulationiste » de la prostitution au début du 20e siècle qui impose une approche paternaliste et genrée. Les attentats du 11 septembre 2001, tout en renforçant cette vision, introduisent un élément supplémentaire dans la conceptualisation de la traite de personne : la sécurité nationale. Il en résulte que la traite de personnes est aujourd’hui considérée comme un crime nécessitant une répression agressive, une menace à la survie de l’État et comme un enjeu éminemment genré. Ces présupposés théoriques de la notion de traite de personnes méritent d’être analysés et revus pour comprendre comment ils affectent les victimes. Ce mémoire analyse leur rôle dans la construction des outils juridiques qui encadrent la traite de personnes en utilisant la notion de mythe, spécifiquement celui du « protecteur masculin ». Face aux conséquences négatives du mythe sur les victimes, la sécurité humaine apparaît comme un prisme d’analyse fécond pour s’assurer de positionner les victimes au centre des préoccupations de la communauté internationale. / Trafficking in persons has garnered a lot of attention on the international stage. Historical analysis of the anti-trafficking legal framework reveals that stereotypes contributed to its development. More specifically, the firsts treaties reveal that they are a product of prostitution’s abolitionist and regulationist movements that imposed a gendered and paternalistic approach on trafficking in persons in early 20th century. The September 11 attacks, while cementing that vision, introduced the notion of national security in the conceptualization of trafficking in persons. As a result, that phenomenon is considered today as crime in need of aggressive repression, as a threat to national security, and as an eminently gendered issue. These theoretical assumptions need to be analyzed and revised to understand their effects on victims. This thesis analyses their role in the elaboration of anti-trafficking legislation by using the concept of myth, more specifically the “male protector” myth. Considering the negative impact of that myth on victims, human security appears to be a useful tool to rethink the conceptual framework of trafficking in persons to make the victims the focus of the international community.

Cela fait plusieurs années que le conflit au Sri Lanka s’est officiellement terminé. Pendant près de 20 ans, l’armée et les Tigres de Libération de l’Îlam tamoul se sont affrontés. Durant les années de conflit, le gouvernement sri lankais a instruit plusieurs commissions d’enquête et de vérité afin de faire face aux abus et aux violations des droits humains. Celles-ci n’ont pas exaucé les promesses de vérité et justice dont elles étaient porteuses. Il en va de même pour les commissions étant apparu à la fin du conflit. Cette recherche a pour but l’analyse de la primauté du droit au Sri Lanka à l’issue des différents mécanismes se rapportant à la justice transitionnelle dans le pays. Plus précisément, nous procédons à un travail de définition de la primauté du droit qui s’attache aux échecs du gouvernement dans sa tentative de faire face à l’héritage du conflit. En conclusion, nous fournissons une définition de la primauté du droit capable de revaloriser la justice transitionnelle dans le pays, et dont les caractéristiques sont fondées sur une approche holistique du contexte. / It has been almost several years since the conflict in Sri Lanka officially ended. For nearly 20 years, the army, and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Îlam fought. During the years of conflict, the Sri Lankan government initiated several commissions of inquiry and truth commissions to address human rights abuses and violations. These commissions have not kept their promise of truth and justice. The same is true for the commissions that emerged at the end of the conflict. The purpose of this research is to analyze the rule of law in Sri Lanka through the various transitional justice mechanisms in the country. Specifically, we proceed to define the rule of law as it relates to the failures of the government to address the legacy of the conflict. In conclusion, we provide a definition of the rule of law capable of enhancing transitional justice in the country and whose characteristics are based on a holistic approach to context.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / As effects of social and environmental conflicts perpetuate globally, fewer nations in the world appear to be at settled peace. The on-set of natural disasters and socio-political conflicts continue to force the United States Government to be increasingly called upon to provide resources that secure unstable regions during times of conflict. One method the government uses to securing its international neighbors is through the deployment of US Army reconstruction teams. These teams assist in transforming a negatively impacted foreign nation into a peaceful and functioning sovereignty within itself and its region; however, in order to begin reconstruction and engage in long term stability for the best interest of the host-nation, the Army must scrutinize current decision-making techniques to assure that basic human rights are instilled and local inhabitants have a means to sustain those efforts. This research sets out to define a planning model which supplements Army doctrine concerning post-conflict reconstruction, mainly FM 3-07 Stability Operations. It looks to incorporate academia, professional experience, and government resources with indigenous leadership in order to define a process to reconstruct infrastructure for a foreign nation during a time of need. More importantly, it looks to enforce those measures which endorse the basic human rights of society to instill security in post-conflict regions.

Master of Arts / Department of History / David A. Graff / Michael Ramsay / In 1988, Irving Brown received the Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan for playing a crucial role in breaking the hold of international communism over postwar Western Europe. By doing so, he can truly be called one of the architects of Western democracy. Brown also made extraordinary efforts to fight international Communism in French North Africa during the 1950s. This paper seeks to answer the question of why these efforts in North Africa failed, and it will show the limits of American labor‘s international influence during the Cold War, in particular in French North Africa. Irving Brown successfully strengthened anti-Communist unions in Europe, and had the financial backing of the Truman Administration for those projects. However, Brown‘s efforts to build anti-Communist trade unions in Tunisia and Algeria did not have the backing of the U.S. government under the Eisenhower Administration. Instead, the AFL-CIO, with Brown as its representative, attempted to use the non-Communist International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to influence the nationalist movements of Tunisia and Algeria through their respective national unions, the Union générale tunisienne du travail (UGTT) and the Union générale des travailleurs algériens (UGTA). Disagreements within the ICFTU severely inhibited Brown‘s effectiveness and prevented him from fully realizing the AFL-CIO‘s policy goals in North Africa. Brown was overly dependent on Tunisia for his operations with the Algeria labor movement, and the ICFTU was incapable of providing adequate support to the Algerians to compete with its Communist rival, the World Federation of Trade Unions. To the extent that independent Tunisia was Western-oriented, Brown was successful in his efforts. However, in the long run, Brown failed as an architect of Western democracy, as Tunisia became a dictatorship with a socialist economy. In Algeria, the state of war forced the UGTA to turn to the Eastern bloc despite Brown‘s personal dedication to North African independence and development. Furthermore, in independence, Algeria‘s government embraced socialism and single party rule.

Depuis sa création, l`Union européenne continue d’être le laboratoire d’une construction économique, sociale, politique et scientifique fondée sur le principe de la libre circulation des personnes, des services et des biens. Comme nous le verrons, le principe de la libre circulation permet aux citoyens européens, à certains ressortissants de pays tiers ainsi qu’aux membres de leurs familles de circuler et de s’établir librement dans les États membres de l’Union européenne. Ce travail portera sur la politique européenne commune de l’immigration et de l’asile. Dans une première partie, nous étudierons les réalisations de la politique de l’immigration et de l’asile de l’Union européenne et les effets de la crise migratoire actuelle sur celle-ci. Dans une deuxième partie, nous aborderons le traitement réservé aux ressortissants de pays tiers au sein de l’Union européenne, tout cela à la lumière des traités européens, de la jurisprudence européenne ainsi que des directives et règlements européens portant sur la politique commune de l’immigration et de l’asile. Enfin, nous traiterons de quelques dispositifs européens visant les travailleurs étrangers et l’impact de la crise économique sur leur situation. Mots-clés : Politique d’immigration commune, crise migratoire, Union européenne, ressortissants de pays tiers, migrants, droit européen, travailleurs étrangers, résidents de longue durée, demandeur d’asile, citoyen européen. / Since its creation, the European Union continues to be the laboratory of an economic, social, political and scientific construction based on the principle of the free movement of persons, services and goods. As we shall see, the principle of freedom of movement enables European citizens, certain third country nationals as well as the members of their families to move and settle freely in the Member States of the European Union. This work will focus on the common European immigration and asylum policy. In the first part, we will examine the achievements of the policy of immigration and asylum of the European Union and the effects of the current migration crisis on it. In a second part, we will discuss the treatment accorded to nationals of third countries within the European Union, all this in the light of the European treaties, European directives and regulations. Finally, we will deal with some European features aimed at foreign workers and the impact of the economic crisis on their situation Keywords: Common immigration policy, migration crisis, European Union, nationals of third countries, migrant, European law, foreign workers, long-term residents, asylum seeker, European citizen.