Situated on the north-eastern coast of Morocco, the Spanish enclave of Melilla is a paradigmatic case of an unusual yet increasingly common kind of community. These are small, rather isolated communities with no industry or natural resources of their own, which rely heavily on capital and labour drawn from outside. Together with Ceuta, Melilla is one of the two only land borders between Europe and Africa. The enclave’s economic and political set up reflects its geopolitical importance. Across the border from Melilla lies the Moroccan province of Nador, home to one of the largest communities of Moroccan emigrants in Europe and a steady source of unskilled labour on which the Spanish enclave relies. Connections across the border are strong, including kinship links, employment networks and a wide range of both legal and illegal commercial transactions. Based on twelve months of fieldwork conducted on both sides of the border, this thesis departs from prevailing images of the borderland as either an abstract space of ‘creolisation’ and ‘hybridity’ or a locus of resistance to state power, and suggests, instead, that we carefully consider the large-scale political and economic processes through which places like Melilla and Nador are produced, and analyse the ways in which such global structures shape local reality. A fundamental aim of the thesis, therefore, is to elucidate the nature of the relations between space, place and capital at the Spanish-Moroccan frontier, and understand how such relations affect the lives of those who inhabit the region. This involves thinking about the language of a ‘community’ and the discourses and practices of morality that sustain it; analysing discourses of ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ in contexts of institutionalised economic inequality; and understanding local conceptions of identity, morality and legitimacy, and how the three interact.

L’objectif de cette recherche est d’étudier la représentation des Balkans. Dans les années 1990 plusieurs stéréotypes négatifs autour de la région ont été réactivés à l’occasion des guerres en ancienne Yougoslavie. De nombreux chercheurs les ont critiqués sévèrement en défendant la possibilité d’étudier la région en termes objectifs et moins connotés. Une donnée pas souvent prise en compte par les chercheurs a été la corrélation excessive entre les Balkans et la Yougoslavie (le fonctionnement fréquent du premier terme en tant que synonyme du deuxième) à travers les discussions publiques de la région (ex. les médias). La thèse vise à vérifier l’hypothèse des mutations importantes concernant les manières de comprendre la région comme un ensemble au cours de l’après la guerre froide. D’une part, il s’agit de la difficulté des scientifiques de comprendre la région au-delà de l’ancienne Yougoslavie ou celle de définir son caractère particulier. D’autre part, il s’agit de l’apparition et la réémergence des termes tels Balkans occidentaux et Europe du sud-est, ce qui indique la probabilité de nouvelles catégorisations du savoir circulant autour de la région. Afin de vérifier cette hypothèse, une analyse des discours politiques et médiatiques est proposée à travers quatre quotidiens de référence (Le Monde, The Guardian, The New York Times et Eleutherotypia en Grèce) et une organisation internationale, le Pacte de Stabilité pour l’Europe du sud-est dans la période entre 1999 et 2008. Les données de cette analyse signalent une grande difficulté de traiter les réalités des pays de la région en commun ou indépendamment de l’expérience de l’ancienne Yougoslavie. D’autres recherches devront mesurer si le terme Balkans est progressivement destiné à la discussion de l’histoire troublée de la région et non pas de son actualité. / The main objective of this research is the study of the representation of the Balkans. During the 1990s many negative stereotypes regarding the region were reactivated in the light of the wars in former Yugoslavia. Numerous researchers criticized them harshly and defended the possibility to study the region in an objective as well as less connoted manner. An element frequently underestimated by the research has been the excessive correlation between the Balkans and Yugoslavia (the frequent use of the first term as a synonym for the latter) in public discussions of the region (for instance in the media). This thesis aims to verify the hypothesis of important mutations regarding the ways in which the region is understood as a whole in the course of the post cold war era. On the one hand, it deals with the difficulty of the researchers to understand the region regardless of former Yugoslavia and the difficulty to define its particular character. On the other hand, it deals with the reappearance of the terms Western Balkans and South-Eastern Europe, which indicates the probability of new categorizations of the knowledge pertaining to the region. The verification of this hypothesis is tested by means of a discourse analysis through four newspapers of reference (Le Monde, The Guardian, The New York Times and Eleytherotypia in Greece) and an international organization, The Stability Pact for South- Eastern Europe during the period between 1999 and 2008. The results of this analysis indicate the great difficulty in approaching the realities of the countries of the region collectively or independently from the experience of former Yugoslavia. Further research must measure whether the term Balkans is progressively destined for the discussion of the troubled past of the region and not its actuality.

Le Dodécanèse, cet ensemble d'îles dans le sud-est de la mer Égée, constitue un carrefour géopolitique et historique de très grand intérêt, qui se trouve à nouveau au milieu des enjeux géopolitiques, géostratégiques et géoéconomiques en raison des perspectives d'exploitation de champs gaziers en Méditerranée orientale et de la recomposition géopolitique de la région (crise syrienne, flux migratoires, rapprochement stratégique et économique entre Chypre et Israël etc.) De plus, la population de l'archipel préserve, beaucoup plus que le reste du territoire grec, le souvenir de la diversité culturelle ottomane, (habitants chrétiens orthodoxes, chrétiens catholiques, musulmans et juifs) et porte sur son paysage la marque de multiples présences (au XXème siècle : ottomane, italienne, britannique, grecque). Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le Dodécanèse a constitué une des principales bases d'opération de la marine italienne. L'articulation entre les permanences historiques de fonction de carrefour et les nouveaux enjeux d'une Méditerranée orientale en pleine recomposition constitue le défi intellectuel de cette thèse. Enfin, une attention particulière est donnée à l'étude du rapport entre construction identitaire et exposition sur la circulation, l'identité dodécanésienne étant un élément dynamique et important dans les nouveaux enjeux liés au processus de la mondialisation. / The Dodecanese, this archipelago in the south-eastern Aegean Sea, constitutes an important geopolitical and historical crossroads. Nowadays, it is once again, in the middle of serious geopolitical, geostrategic, and geo-economic tensions because of the gas field exploitation perspectives in the Eastern Mediterranean and the ongoing geopolitical decomposition of the region (Syria crisis, migration flows, strategic and economic rapprochement between Cyprus and Israel etc.). ln addition, the archipelago's population preserves -far more than the rest of the Greek territory- the memory of Ottoman cultural diversity (Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim and Jewish populations). Its landscape has also been shaped by the interaction between multiple foreign presences and influences (to limit ourselves to the 20th century: Ottoman, Italian, British, and Greek). It is worth reminding that during the Second World War, the Dodecanese was one of the main Italian Navy bases. The articulation between regional geo-historic orientations (crossroads situation) and the Eastern Mediterranean shifting framework constitutes the main intercultural challenge of this PhD thesis. Furthermore, this research is an opportunity to analyze the relationship between identity building and exposure to circulation processes, in order to assess the potentialities of Dodecanesian identity in the emergent multipolar context of Globalization.

This thesis starts from the premise that Geopolitics is performative, an iterative discourse “of visualising global space…reproduced in the governing principles of geographic thought and through the practices of statecraft” (Agnew 1998:11). During the last decade, two dominant discourses have shaped the contemporary geopolitical imagination – the ‘war on terror’ and ‘climate change’. These have steered conceptualisations of security and insecurity - performative iterations of who, where, and what poses a threat. The resulting geopolitical picture of the world has enabled the legitimisation of human and geographical domination – an acceptance of geographical norms that enable the continuation of uneven geographies. The research is concerned with the performative spaces of alternative geopolitics; spaces that emerge where nonviolent social movement activism and geopolitics intersect and the sites through which these are practiced and mediated. The motivations are twofold. The first is a desire to intervene in a critical geopolitical discourse that remains biased toward engagement with violent geographies. The second is to take seriously ‘geopolitics from below’, alternative geographical imaginations. I address the first of these through research that is concerned primarily with the spacing of nonviolence – the performed and performative spaces of nonviolent geographies shaped through a politics of the act. The second is approached through substantial empirical engagement with social movement activists and sites of contention and creation in opposition to dominant environmental geopolitics. ‘Militant’ ethnographic research took place over six months in 2009. It traced the journeys of two groups as they organised for, and took part in, large counter-summit mobilisations. The first was a UK based social movement, the Camp for Climate Action (UK). The second was an intercontinental caravan, the Trade to Climate Caravan. Both groups shared a common aim – to converge on the 16th of December in a mass demonstration of nonviolent confrontation; the ‘People’s Assembly’, to contest dominant discourses being performed inside the intergovernmental United Nations Conference of the Parties 15. Social movement groups from around the world would present alternative narratives of insecurity and offer ‘alternative solutions’ garnered through non-hierarchical forms of decision-making. The research followed the route each group took to the People’s Assembly and the articulations (narrative and practices) of nonviolent action.

Cette thèse consacrée aux études approfondies de la politique de l’Union européenne envers la République d’Azerbaïdjan (1991-2014). Son objectif est d’analyser l’évolution de la coopération entre l’UE et l’Azerbaïdjan, de mettre en évidence des facteurs internes ainsi qu’externes qui influencent la dynamique des relations bilatérales. Une attention particulière est accordée à l’étude des programmes de coopérations tels que la « Politique Européenne de Voisinage » et le « Partenariat Oriental », à la base des documents juridiques qui constituent la réglementation de leurs relations. / The PhD thesis considers the European Union’s policy towards the Republic of Azerbaijan (1991-2014). It studies the evolution of the EU - Azerbaijan relationship and the main factors that influence on its dynamics. Special attention is given to the main programs of the cooperation - the «European Neighborhood Policy» and the «Eastern Partnership». The main documents regulating the relations are reviewed.

La présente étude est consacrée à la politique étrangère de l'Azerbaïdjan entre grandes puissances et puissances régionales. Ce pays du Caucase du Sud accédant à l'indépendance en 1991 affirme sa singularité, entre confrontation et coopération avec ses voisins proches ou lointains. La question centrale est donc de savoir comment l'Azerbaïdjan peut justifier et éventuellement renforcer sa présence sur l'échiquier international alors qu'il se trouve au cœur des grands enjeux géopolitiques et économiques. Sa position le place au centre des rivalités entre des puissances telles que la Russie, l'Iran et la Turquie et, au-delà de son voisinage immédiat les États-Unis et l'Union européenne. Le pays est contraint à une politique étrangère équilibrée afin de ne pas s'aliéner les partenaires de l'ouest comme de l'est. Il tente également de tirer profit de l'exploitation des hydrocarbures de la Caspienne en vue de résoudre la question cruciale du conflit du Haut-Karabakh. / This thesis deals with the Azerbaijan policy between great powers and regional powers. Since its independence in 1991 the country of South Caucasus asserted its singularity. It sometimes confronts, sometimes cooperates with its neighbors. The key question is, therefore, how Azerbaijan can justify and possibly strengthen its presence on the international stage as it stands at the heart of great geopolitical and economic issues. Because of its location it is the center of rivalries between powers such as Russia, Iran and Turkey or the United States and the European Union. The country is compelled to a balanced foreign policy not to lose the support of either western or eastern partners. Baku also attempts to use the exploitation of Caspian oil in order resolve the crucial issue of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.