The thesis studies the development of the ASEAN Charter with the aim to understand its origins, the needs to codify implicit principles to explicit norms, and norm contestation in the process of drafting the Charter with special reference to Chapter VIII Dispute Settlement Mechanism and Article 14 Human Rights Body. Chapter VIII bestows ASEAN officials such as the Secretary-General with increased authority in mediation while Article 14 prescribes the establishment of concrete and binding regional human rights mechanism. Both constitute unprecedented practices since non-involvement of ASEAN in Members’ unresolved disputes and minimal institutionalism used to be adhered to strictly. The thesis explains why some norms are codified and strengthened while some are weakened in the context of ASEAN’s lifeworld, a shared understanding and common cultural background. Moreover, the concept of artificial lifeworld created by non-state actors when the existing lifeworld lacks normative space for newer norm is also explored. ASEAN is treated as a social context where negotiation takes place and the condition inducing to the use of arguments is analyzed. Having access to Records of the HLTF Meetings, the thesis sheds light on the drafting process which used to remain behind the closed door.

This research investigates the role of sociocultural dimensions in increasing national innovative capacity. While literature focuses on other determinants of innovation output, such as the stock of knowledge and resources dedicated to R&D, dimensions of a cultural nature have yet to be adequately addressed. The investigation examines sociocultural factors in natural resource-rich countries where the urgency to survive is not the primary driver in achieving economic growth. Oil-rich GCC countries, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have made significant investment in education and information and communications technology to develop their economies. The primary focus in developing the economies has shifted to increasing innovative capacity. This study attempts to determine other factors that need to be in place to achieve increased innovative capacity as measured by new-to-the world knowledge and innovation. Endogenous growth theory and national innovation systems provide the theoretical base for the investigation. A deductive approach will be used to produce hypotheses that will be tested quantitatively, using existing indicators for sociocultural dimensions. Five sociocultural dimensions were found to be significant in innovative capacity when tested in leading innovator countries (Germany, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, United States), emerging innovator countries (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Korea), and GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) as a whole. However, three of the dimensions, Openness to Outside Influences, and Adaptability were unexpectedly inversely proportional to innovative capacity. More precise measurements and further research are required.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is an international organisation established in 1981 between six Gulf countries, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). According to the GCC Supreme Council, it was established to foster and manage cooperation between these countries and to serve their common interests. This thesis explores another factor, that it was established in response to specific security concerns in the context of the energy crisis that arose after the 1970‟s war between Egypt and Israel, the Soviet attack on Afghanistan and the Iranian revolution which was followed by the Iran-Iraq war. It is a doctrinal study that aims to determine where the GCC fits as an international institution within the framework of international law and international institutions particularly. Accordingly, the aim of this thesis is to analyse critically what the GCC is and does exactly. More specifically, it examines the type of organisation the GCC is, its relationship with member states and other international organisations and considers its future role as a key regional organisation. This thesis analyses the reason for its establishment, leaders‟ opinions about its nature, the GCC's methods for producing collective political attitudes and economic cooperation. It also assesses the kinds of laws the GCC produces, their status, whether hard and soft law, as well as their enforcement. This analysis is conducted from a combined legal positivist and international relations framework. From Nasserism to the Arab Spring, the GCC has withstood the waves of political movements in the Middle East. This thesis provide a critical analysis of the GCC‟s overall achievements and aims, with a particular focus on its response to key political developments such as these. This thesis argues that GCC members have been using the GCC as means to achieve their own ends. Due to the nature of their governing systems – absolute monarchy – they are using the GCC to maintain the security and stability of their own ruling systems. However, while the GCC has always focused on security and economic cooperation, its achievements are stronger in the latter because security is linked to external factors.

This study presents a detailed examination of the Arab League's history, development, structure and roles in an effort to understand the cause of its failure as a regional security organisation. The research's point of departure is a questioning of the nature and scope of this failure in terms of the interplay between the conditions under which it was formed and the many actors and dynamics that had a long term-impact on the prospects for the League. To this end, the study looks at the League's conditions of emergence and Arab-Arab relations with the focus on Arab national security as the main concept determining its security role. The research synthesises methods of analysis from the existing literature and schools of thought so as to identify where and why failure and success occurred in relation to international relations theories, the security and international organisations literature, and comparable international models. The development and conditions affecting the League as discussed in the research demonstrate that none of the existing broad theories or approaches can fully explain the League's failure; however, the constructivist approach, although never before applied in this context, is shown to offer the most relevant approach for explaining this organisation and its unique parameters. The research also examines the role played by the Arab League in regional peacekeeping and conflict prevention in the context of Arab national security, with Palestine as a case study.

L'expertise internationale joue un rôle important dans la mise à l’agenda d’enjeux environnementaux globaux. Ces évaluations sont souvent contestées, en particulier là où les faits et les valeurs sont fortement imbriqués. Cette thèse examine le cas du Groupe d'experts intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du climat (GIEC), une des organisations d’experts les plus contestées. Elle s'intéresse plus généralement à comment ces organisations maintiennent leur autorité, en croisant les apports théoriques des études des sciences et des techniques et de la sociologie des organisations internationales. Un argument central est que le GIEC, en partie à cause de l'univers controversé dans lequel il évolue, est devenu une bureaucratie internationale. La thèse identifie quatre arrangements institutionnels sur lesquels l'organisation s'est appuyée pour maintenir son autorité. Premièrement, elle s'est efforcée de maintenir une représentation équilibrée des États, principalement entre pays développés et pays en développement. Deuxièmement, il a mis en place des mécanismes de gouvernance qui permettent aux gouvernements de jouer un rôle dans le processus d'évaluation, encourageant la “reappropriation” de ses conclusions. Troisièmement, il a procéduralisé le processus d'évaluation pour formaliser le rôle de ses différentes parties et protéger l'organisation contre les critiques. Quatrièmement, il est plus attentif à la gestion de la communication. Ces arrangements sont régulièrement renégociés dans le contexte de nouveaux défis et controverses. Au-delà du GIEC, ils offrent de nouvelles perspectives pour observer l'imbrication de l'autorité politique et épistémique. / In the last decades, international expertise has been essential to put global environmental problems on the international agenda. These assessments are often contested, especially on issues where facts and values are profoundly entangled. This thesis investigates the case of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), one of the most authoritative, albeit contested expert organisation. It is more generally interested in how these organisations construct and maintain their authority, drawing on insights from Science and Technology Studies and sociological approaches to international organisations. A central argument is that, partly as a result of the controversial universe in which it has evolved, the IPCC has grown into an international bureaucracy. The thesis identifies four institutional arrangements on which the organisation has relied to maintain its authority. First, it has strived for a balanced representation of all nations, and in particular between developed and developing countries. Second, it has put in place governing mechanisms that allow governments to play a central role in the assessment process, encouraging the ‘ownership’ of its conclusions. Third, it has increasingly proceduralised the assessment, to formalise the role of its different parts and protect the organisation against criticism. Four, it has been more attentive to the management of the information displayed about its work. These arrangements are regularly renegotiated in the context of new challenges and controversies. Beyond the IPCC, they provide relevant lenses to observe the intertwining of political and epistemic authority at the international level.

La création d’une juridiction spécialisée du contentieux de la fonction publique, le Tribunal de la fonction publique, devait permettre de rationaliser le traitement du contentieux qui avait le plus encombré le prétoire du juge en raison du grand nombre de recours introduits. Une nouvelle architecture juridictionnelle de la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne, composée de trois degrés de juridiction, devait résulter du Traité de Nice qui, en 2000, prévit la possibilité des créer des chambres spécialisées (plus tard appelés tribunaux spécialisés par le Traité de Lisbonne) dans certains types de contentieux. Douze ans plus tard, la Cour de justice connait un véritable bouleversement dont la réforme du Tribunal de l’Union et la disparition de la juridiction spécialisée sont les éléments les plus emblématiques. De même, le prétoire du juge de l’Union n’a jamais été autant sollicité, si bien que la juridiction de l’Union doit innover en adaptant son organisation interne ainsi que ses méthodes de travail. A travers l’expérience de la spécialisation juridictionnelle, une nouvelle organisation juridictionnelle, de nouvelles règles procédurales adaptées au traitement de ce contentieux ainsi que des méthodes de travail ont été « testées » et ont donné des résultats concluants. De plus, le juge spécialisé a œuvré à une meilleure protection des droits des fonctionnaires et agents de l’Union. Cet « héritage » devrait servir de socle de réflexion à l’heure d’envisager une forme de spécialisation de la juridiction généraliste de l’Union vers laquelle elle devrait s’orienter. La présente thèse a pour but de contribuer au débat relatif à la spécialisation du système juridictionnel de l’Union européenne. / The creation of a specialised court dedicated to EU staff cases, the Civil Service Tribunal (CST), was intended to tackle the large increase in caseload at the same time as bringing specific judicial expertise to bear on this field. Twelve years later, the EU Court system is undergoing a veritable structural upheaval of which the reform of the General Court and the abolition of the CST are the most emblematic elements. The three-level system of judicial control advocated by the Treaty of Nice, which foresaw the establishment of specialised chambers (later called secialised tribunals by the Treaty of Lisbon) and provided a legal basis for the establishment, in 2005, of the CST was effectively set aside by this process of reform. However, the General Court, in its new guise, now itself faces a substantial challenge of specialisation in its own right. In meeting that challenge, it will inevitably draw on the experience of the only specialised tribunal yet to have been established at EU level. The CST’s separate procedural framework, its structure, composition and functioning will once again come under the microscope as thought is given as to the lessons to be drawn from the decade of experience of this court and its handling of civil service litigation. This thesis seeks to contribute to the continuing debate about specialised courts or specialisation in general in the EU Court system.