This thesis is a project of intellectual history which focuses on the development of notions of power and the nation-state in realist thought. The main aim of the thesis is to offer a comprehensive account of how different conceptions of power in the work of various realist thinkers influence their perceptions of the nation-state. Although both power and the state are considered as central to realism, their connection has not been adequately discussed and remains largely implicit. The thesis aims at illuminating such a connection. The authors under examination are both key realist thinkers and representative of the diversity of realist thought as well as of the development from classical to structural realism. As such, the thesis focuses on the works of E.H. Carr, H. Morgenthau (as classical realists), J. Herz (as a transitional figure) and J. Mearsheimer (as a structural realist). The thesis engages with each realist’s theory in a three-step process. First, it analyses their conceptualisation of power and the role it plays in their ontological and epistemological assumptions. Then, using that conceptualisation of power as a starting point, it discusses its impact on the way the realist under examination understood the nation-state. Finally, the way the aforementioned realists engaged with the foreign policies of given nation-states is employed as an illustration of their theoretical framework. The thesis identifies a close interplay between power and the nation-state in all realists examined. Power plays a central role in each realist’s ontology and as such influences profoundly the way they conceptualised the nation-state. The latter can thus be approached as a manifestation of power which is unfixed in time. The realists examined approach the state as a historically conditioned entity. As such, it is argued that it is power that constitutes the core analytical category of realism rather than the state whose very conception is dependent upon that of power. In terms of the development of realism, a process of gradual narrowing down of the concept of power from classical to structural approaches is observed. The multifaceted conception of power advanced by early realists is abandoned in favour of an approach which understands power as material capabilities. While this approach is compatible with a scientific vision of politics as manifested after the second debate it reduces significantly realism’s analytical purchase both in understanding power and the nation-state. This is evident in the precarious balance that neorealists have to attain when theorising nationalism, the ideological corollary of the nation-state, which can more fully be accounted for by classical realists. Finally, by removing power from the field of epistemology, structural variants of realism lack the reflexivity of earlier realists and as such find it difficult to engage in foreign policy debates without compromising the core assumptions of their theory. The thesis is structured as follows: In the introduction, the thesis is put in the context of existing literature on realism and the way questions of power and the nation-state have been addressed in the past. Questions of methodology and selection of authors are also addressed in the introduction. The following four chapters are dedicated to analysing the theories of the selected realists. The concluding section summarises the findings and main argument of the thesis.

Dans le cadre d’un travail pluridisciplinaire mis au service de la géographie, la présente thèse évoque différents aspects de la «politique arabe» de la Russie postsoviétique. Après une analyse de la place de la géopolitique dans l’univers intellectuel et politique russe, une étude de la politique étrangère russe actuelle, une réflexion sur la situation dans le monde arabe, le texte revient sur une politique russe appréhendée sous l’angle de l’opposition entre logiques territoriales et logiques réticulaires. L’économie, les médias, l’énergie, le droit, l’histoire et la littérature sont autant de disciplines et d’outils mis au service d’un travail qui demeure avant tout géographique. / In this multidisciplinary work, however mainly geographical, different dimensions of the current Russian policy towards the Arab world are introduced and analysed. After a focus on recent geopolitical debates in Russia, a study of Moscow’s foreign policy, an analysis of the political situation in the Arab world, this dissertation tackles on Russia’s policy through a particular paradigm: the opposition between reticular and territorial aims and practices. Though the study is mostly geographical, economics, media, energy politics, law, history and even literature are used to reach comprehensive results.

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This thesis provides the theoretical groundwork for a 'virtue ethical' account of international political conduct. The project begins by investigating the distinct patterns of normative theorising within international scholarship, noting not only that moral philosophical foundations are unpronounced and interchangeable, but that even in this diminished capacity the influence of virtue ethical thought is limited and fragmentary relative to its competitors. Redressing this underrepresentation is thus dually motivated: developing a fresh perspective on important global issues, whilst also subjecting the theory to an atypical angle of scrutiny. Adapting virtue ethics to the international realm requires, most essentially, that we settle the level at which its concepts should be applied. Can the theory’s central focus on character be reconciled with the collective nature of global political interaction? Can we accurately ascribe virtues and vices to governments and states? These questions of group agency form the heart of thesis investigation. Beginning from abstract foundations, the possible justification for such ascriptions is sought in competing theories of joint action and attitude. The 'individualist' accounts of Searle and Bratman are ultimately rejected in favour of Gilbert's non-reductive 'plural subject' theory, and - presenting group-level accounts of intention, motivation, practical wisdom, emotion and disposition around her concept of 'joint commitment' - a general model of collective character is constructed. Allied to additional requirements of moral responsibility, this framework is then used to assess the virtue-capability of actual political bodies, considering the decision-making hierarchy of the United Kingdom as a case study for the modern state. Tracing the route of policy authorisation across cabinet, government and parliament, a sophisticated yet ultimately impermanent picture of group-virtue-ethical agency is established, in tension with the notion of enduring state liability. By shifting focus to the national level, it is argued that this fluctuating footprint of agency can nevertheless be unified, modifying Gilbert’s notion of a 'population joint commitment' to tie institutional virtue and vice to a persisting state identity. This provides a template for international character evaluation.

Abstract in French and English / This dissertation deals with the globalization as a system with transnational vocation aiming at reducing more and more the distance between communities by means of the exchanges in diverse domains: economic, scientific, cultural, multilinguistic, etc. In other words, the deep intention of the upholders of the globalization is to promote the communication or the intersubjectivity between people in the world, and this especially from the viewpoint of the exchange of numerous products that human beings can have. What really makes problem and draws our attention on this topic is that the intrinsic quality of the exchange between peoples leads us to ask what could and should have been made, to ensure that globalization becomes an intersubjective world-wide management system with democratic and philanthropic basis. It is for this reason that we have to point out here the element “communication”, that is the intersubjectivity which should cement this kind of transnational sharing. To date, the intersubjectivity is almost nil from the point of view of the aforementioned kind of sharing. Globalization pays no attention vii to ardent problems which undermine and contradict the real intersubjectivity, such as poverty, terrorism, corruption, hunger, diseases, etc. This is one the reasons why we interpret this fact as being really unusual, because it does not suit to the ostentatious project of the internationalists. Actually, as colonization doesn‟t honestly come with only good intention, globalization by philanthropy is not possible as well as. That is the problem which should be solved. Accordingly,this study proposes possible key milestones that must serve reference tables with the aim of a democratic and philanthropic globalization based on the ethics of sharing worthy of the name. The analytical critique method will be here recoverable for that purpose. / Cette dissertation traite de la mondialisation comme un système à vocation transnationale ayant pour but de réduire de plus en plus la distance entre les communautés par le moyen des échanges dans divers domaines : économique, scientifique, culturelle, multilinguistique, etc. En d‟autres termes, l‟intention profonde des tenants de la mondialisation est de promouvoir la communication ou l‟intersubjectivité entre les peuples, et cela notamment du point de vue de l‟échange des produits divers que les êtres humains puissent avoir. Or ce qui fait vraiment problème et attire notre attention sur ce sujet, c‟est que la qualité intrinsèque dudit échange entre les peuples nous amène à nous interroger sur ce qui pourrait et devrait être fait de sorte que la mondialisation devienne un système de gestion intersubjective à base démocratique et philanthropique. Présentement les principes de mondialisation sont uniquement d‟obédience mercantile. C‟est la raison pour laquelle nous devons entre autres évoquer ici l‟élément communication, c‟est-à-dire l‟intersubjectivité qui devrait consolider ce genre de partage transnational. Jusqu‟à présent l‟intersubjectivité est presque nulle sur le plan dudit partage. La mondialisation n‟a cure des problèmes brûlants qui démentent la vraie intersubjectivité, tels que la pauvreté, le terrorisme, la corruption, la faim, les maladies, etc. C‟est la raison pour laquelle nous interprétons ce fait comme étant vraiment insolite, car il ne cadre pas avec le projet ostentatoire des mondialistes. En réalité, tout comme on ne colonise pas honnêtement, on ne mondialise pas non plus par philanthropie. Cela étant un problème qui mérite d‟être résolu, cette étude propose donc des jalons possibles devant servir des référentiels en vue d‟une mondialisation démocratique arc-boutée sur l‟éthique du partage bien comprise. La méthode analytico-critique sera ici recouvrable à cet effet. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.A. (Philosophy)