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L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier, sous un angle sociologique, la nouvelle pratique de mesure de la performance des entreprises en matière de développement durable. Cette pratique émergente constitue un espace social où s’articulent divers jeux de pouvoir, de confrontation et de résistance de nombre d’acteurs engagés dans le domaine du développement durable. Le premier article présume que l’analyse du discours, socialement construit et constitué, entourant les mesures produites et diffusées (souvent très médiatisées), joue un rôle fondamental dans la compréhension de ladite pratique. En particulier, le discours transmis par les organismes de mesure de la performance socio-environnementale des entreprises, aussi bien dans leurs sites web que dans leurs documents publics, se trouve à promouvoir une idéologie du chiffre qui sous-tend l’exercice d’un certain pouvoir de type disciplinaire sur les entreprises évaluées. En dépit de toutes les ambiguïtés et les incertitudes méthodologiques associées à la pratique de la mesure socio-environnementale, les organismes de mesure s’efforcent de développer et de transmettre un discours, relativement réducteur, pour légitimer leur revendication d’expertise en la matière. Le deuxième article de cette thèse fait état des stratégies de légitimation déployées par les organismes de mesure ainsi que leurs effets disciplinaires sur les entreprises évaluées et les parties prenantes. Il s’agit, dans les faits, du pouvoir disciplinaire et de normalisation de l’idéologie des chiffres qui peut induire certains effets d’autodiscipline dans le champ du développement durable en général. Une telle autodiscipline s’observe également dans le monde universitaire lorsque les gardes-frontières des organisations font pression sur les chercheurs à renoncer à la publication de leurs recherches. Prenant la forme d’une étude méthodologique, le troisième article de la thèse cherche à susciter une réflexion sur les entraves que peut poser le pouvoir des gardiens des organisations, notamment lorsque celui prend la forme de menaces de poursuites judiciaires, sur l’indépendance et la liberté des chercheurs et des universités auxquelles ils se rattachent. / The objective of this dissertation is to examine, under a sociological lens, the new practice of the corporate sustainability performance measurement. This emerging practice seems to be a social space where are structured various games of power, confrontation and resistance of many actors involved in the field of sustainable development. The first paper assumes that discourse analysis, socially constructed and constituted, surrounding measurements produced and disclosed (often highly popularized through the media), plays a fundamental role in the understanding of the practice of corporate sustainability performance measurement. In particular, the discourse transmitted by the sustainability ratings and rankings agencies (SRRA), both on their websites and in their public documents, tends to promote an ideology of numbers that exerts disciplinary power over companies appraised. Despite all the ambiguities and methodological uncertainties associated with the practice of socio-environmental performance measurement, SRRA strive to develop and transmit discourse, quite reductive, to legitimize their claim to expertise in the field. The second paper of this dissertation outlines the legitimation strategies deployed by SRRA and the disciplinary impacts of these strategies on companies scrutinized and stakeholders. Actually, it is the disciplinary power and the normalization power of the ideology of numbers which can induce some effects of self-discipline in the field of sustainable development in general. Such self-discipline is also observed in the academic world when corporate gate-keepers put pressure on researchers to abandon the publication of their research. As a methodological study, the third paper of the dissertation seeks to stimulate reflection on the impediments that the power of the corporate gate-keepers can pose on the independence and the freedom of the researchers and the universities to which they are attached, especially in the case of threats of lawsuits.

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The purpose of this study is to examine what democracy and academic freedom look like in Afghanistan today after the Taliban took power in the summer of 2021. The method section takes up, method and research design, validity, and reliability as well as material and source criticism, such as the importance of being source critical of the collection material as there are secondary sources. The choice of this method is to demonstrate that it is most suitable and relevant based on the purpose of the study and the time frame. The empirical review of the democratic institutions and academic freedom is linked to both Afghanistan and the theoretical part, in the fourth chapter to clearly show its relevance to the field of study. The conclusion that has been drawn is that democracy and academic freedom do not exist in Afghanistan today. This conclusion has been based and linked to the democratic institutions and rights that have been addressed in previous research and the theory part and further applied in Afghanistan on the results part. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur demokrati och akademisk frihet ser ut i Afghanistan idag efter att talibanerna tog över makten sommaren 2021. Metodavsnittet tar upp metod och forskningsdesign, validitet och reliabilitet samt material och källkritik, såsom vikten av att vara källkritisk mot insamlingsmaterialet då det förekommer sekundärkällor. Valet föll på kvalitativ metod med beskrivande fallstudie då den är mest lämplig och relevant utifrån studiens syfte och tidsram. Den empiriska genomgången av de demokratiska institutionerna och den akademiska friheten är kopplade till både Afghanistan och den teoretiska delen, i fjärde kapitlet för att tydligt visa dess relevans för studieområdet. Slutsatsen som har dragits är att demokrati och akademisk frihet inte existerar i Afghanistan idag. Denna slutsats har baserats och kopplats till de demokratiska institutioner och rättigheter som har tagits upp i tidigare forskning och teoridelen och tillämpats vidare i Afghanistan på resultatdelen.

Dans le cadre de ce mémoire de maîtrise, nous nous pencherons sur les positions et discours des associations étudiantes sur la liberté d’expression et académique au sein des universités québécoises. Pour ce faire, nous avons procédé à onze entretiens semi-dirigés avec un(e) représentant(e) de l’exécutif des associations. Cinq de ces associations étudiantes proviennent d’universités montréalaises et six évoluent à l’extérieur de la métropole. Pour analyser les discours et les positions des associations étudiantes, nous avons construit une grille d’analyse fondée à partir de deux visions opposées des libertés universitaires : le libéralisme (Stephen Hicks) et le postmodernisme (Stanley Fish). Nous concluons que les associations étudiantes qui viennent de l’extérieur de Montréal sont légèrement plus disposées à adopter des positions et des discours libéraux que les associations montréalaises lorsqu’il s’agit de permettre l’utilisation de mots chargés, de refuser d’annuler ou de perturber des conférences sur des sujets controversés ou encore de faire de l’université un « espace protégé ». Néanmoins, la tendance générale que nous observons est que les associations étudiantes québécoises embrassent plus significativement le postmodernisme de Stanley Fish. Cela se traduit notamment par un rapport revisité vis-à-vis la liberté d’expression alors qu’elles estiment qu’il faut revoir la manière dont les enseignant(e)s présentent leur matière, plus particulièrement lorsqu’il s’agit de sujets difficiles. / This master's thesis examines the positions and discourses of student union on free speech and academic freedom within Quebec universities. To do this, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a representative of the executive of eleven associations. Five of these student associations come from Montreal universities and six operate outside the city. To analyze the speeches and positions of student associations, we built an analysis grid based on two opposing visions of academic freedom: liberalism (Stephen Hicks) and postmodernism (Stanley Fish). We conclude that student union from outside Montreal are slightly more willing to adopt liberal positions and discourses than the association from Montreal when it comes to allowing the use of loaded words, refusing to cancel or to disrupt conferences on controversial subjects or to turn the university into a “protected space”. Nevertheless, the general trend we observe is that Quebec student associations are embracing Stanley Fish's postmodernism more significantly. This is expressed through a revisited relationship with freedom of expression, in particular in the context of expectations that professors revisit the way they present course content, more particularly when it comes to difficult topics

The aim of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was to represent the interests of all South African students nationally and internationally. The challenge then to the liberal NUSAS leadership was how to meet the demands of black students for a politically relevant policy while simultaneously retaining the loyalty of its white middle class and often conservative membership. In 1957, the black University College of Fort Hare returned to NUSAS to participate in the national union’s campaign against the imposition of apartheid on the universities. Consequently, NUSAS adopted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the foundation of its policy. Sharpeville and the increasing number of black students associated with NUSAS contributed to the further politicisation and leftward movement of the national union. The emergence of two new exclusively African student organisations together with the decision of a student seminar in Dar es Salaam that NUSAS be barred from all international student forums as its demographics precluded it from representing the aspirations of the black majority was the pretext for a far-reaching interrogation of NUSAS’s structure and functioning. Henceforward NUSAS would play a ‘radical role’ in society. This played into the hands of the government and its proxies, the new conservative students associations which sought to slice away NUSAS’s moderate to conservative white membership. The arrest of current and former NUSAS officers implicated in sabotage provided more grist to the right wing mill. In an attempt to manage this most serious crisis, as well as to continue functioning in the increasingly authoritarian and almost wholly segregated milieu of the mid-1960s, NUSAS abandoned its ‘radical role’ and increasingly focussed on university and educational matters. Nonetheless, the state intensified its campaign to weaken NUSAS. By means of legislation, the utilisation of conservative student structures and the intimidation of university authorities, the government attempted to ensure that segregation was applied at all NUSAS-affiliated universities. It was the application of segregation by cowed university authorities that precipitated the New Left-inspired student protests at NUSAS-affiliated campuses in the late 1960s as well as the establishment of the separate black South African Students Organisation, the latter leading to the exodus of all black students from NUSAS. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

When the national Democratic Party began to transform to progressive era politics because of the New Deal, conservative reactionaries turned against the social welfare programs and used red scare tactics to discredit liberal and progressive New Deal Democrat professors in higher education. This process continued during the Second World War, when the conservatives in Texas lumped fascism and communism in order to anchor support and fire and threaten professors and administrators for advocating or teaching “subversive doctrine.” In 1948 Texas joined other southern states and followed the Dixiecrat movement designed to return the Democratic Party to its original pro-business and segregationist philosophy. Conservatives who wanted to bolster their Cold Warrior status in Texas also played upon the fears of spreading communism during the Cold War, and passed several repressive laws intended to silence unruly students and entrap professors by claiming they advocated communist doctrine. The fight culminated during the Civil Rights movement, when conservatives in the state attributed subversive or communist behavior to civil rights organizations, and targeted higher education to protect segregated universities. In order to return the national Democratic Party to the pro-business, segregationist philosophy established at the early twentieth century, conservatives used redbaiting tactics to thwart the progressivism in the state’s higher education facilities.

La première partie de la thèse est consacrée à une comparaison synchronique portant sur l’histoireet les fondements du droit à l’éducation, ainsi que sur les composantes du droit à l’éducation (disponibilité,accès, permanence, acceptabilité, adaptabilité et qualité de celle-ci) et la manière dont ils ont été traduits dansla législation interne actuelle. Les catégories d’analyse alors retenues nous ont plus précisément permis deréaliser en la matière une micro-comparaison, c’est-à-dire une comparaison portant sur les acteurs du systèmescolaire, leurs fonctions, leurs compétences, leurs obligations et garanties.La deuxième partie de la thèse est consacrée à une analyse de la nature et de la portée du droit à l´éducationdans les deux pays, ainsi qu’à sa consécration par la voie constitutionnelle, légale, jurisprudentielle, et grâceaux normes supranationales.La troisième partie de la thèse est consacrée à une comparaison de la transformation, au regard des évolutionsqui se produisent sur la scène globale, des institutions et des politiques publiques relatives dans chaque pays àl’éducation. Ceci a permis de comprendre le rôle des organismes internationaux dans la création de nouveauxréférentiels universels, et la manière dont ces derniers ont été incorporés dans les législations internes. Endernier lieu, il a été procédé à une analyse de l’évaluation des systèmes scolaires faite à partir des indicateursnéolibéraux, qui a permis de comparer l’organisation et la gestion des systèmes scolaires des deux pays.Les conclusions résultant de l'observation des deux systèmes juridiques ont abouti à mettre en exergue lesprincipes et fondements communs qui existent dans le monde occidental et qui ont facilité l’harmonisationsouple du droit public international relatif à l’éducation. / The first part of this thesis is devoted to a synchronic comparison of the history and foundationsof the right to education, as well as the components of the right to education (availability, access, permanence,acceptability, adaptability and quality thereof) and how they have been translated into current nationallegislation. The categories of analysis used therefore have specifically made it possible to carry out a microcomparisonin this area, that is to say, a comparison of the stakeholders in the school system, their functions,powers, duties and guarantees.The second part of this thesis is devoted to an analysis of the nature and scope of the right to education in bothcountries, and how it has been enshrined by judicial, legal and constitutional means, and thanks tosupranational standards.The third part of this thesis is devoted to a comparison of the transformation, in the light of changes occurringin the global arena, of institutions and public policies in each country with respect to education. This hasmade it possible to understand the role of international organizations in creating new universal standards, andhow these standards have been incorporated into domestic legislation. Finally, an analysis of the evaluation ofschool systems based on neoliberal indicators has been undertaken, which has made it possible to compare theorganization and management of education systems of both countries.The findings resulting from the observation of both legal systems have led to highlight the common principlesand foundations that exist in the Western world and that have facilitated the flexible harmonization ofinternational public law on education.

This thesis examines the roles of the New Zealand university in a knowledge society. Gaps in the literature of the New Zealand university in a contemporary context mean that the enquiry is informed by European and North American discussions of the educational requirements of a knowledge society. As the notions of the knowledge society and a liberal university education are both problematic and central to this enquiry, they are interrogated, in the second chapter, in some depth. A second review examines the work, recommendations and subsequent legislative outcomes of the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission (TEAC) policy process of 1999 to 2003. The principles of critical theory and critical policy scholarship inform these interpretative textual analyses. The two review chapters, which follow the introductory chapter, comprise the first part of the thesis. A description of the methodological framework employed throughout the project and a report of the findings of a survey of stakeholders follow. The discussion chapter comprises the third and final part of the thesis. The thesis seeks to distinguish the notion of the knowledge society from that of the neo-liberal approach to social and economic management. I argue that the notion of the knowledge society is viable in a range of socio-economic conditions. I suggest that the educational requirements of a knowledge society are better addressed when the scope of a university education is framed by holistic individual, social, and economic determinants, rather than rigid ideological imperatives such as those characteristic of neo-liberalism. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies is employed. Primary data are gathered by way of a postal questionnaire. The perceptions of three cohorts of stakeholders of the New Zealand university are analysed using both statistical and interpretative tools. Data gathered through a review of the literature of the university in relation to the notion of the knowledge society in New Zealand, North America, and various European contexts are analysed using a combination of critical and interpretive approaches. The major finding to emerge from the enquiry is that stakeholders of the New Zealand university associate an effective university education with breadth of learning. The notion of a liberal university education, with its attendant beyond-vocation curriculum assumptions, is not considered anachronistic by the majority of stakeholders surveyed during this project. Public and private sector employers and university students strongly associate a liberal university education with effective preparation for participation in a knowledge-intensive environment. Year 13 secondary students are less certain. A secondary finding is that most stakeholders consider that the research activities of the university academic should continue to inform university teaching, but that the teaching role is of growing importance, and therefore worthy of greater emphasis, in the context of a knowledge society. The project is intended to provoke further discussion around the relationship between the New Zealand university and the knowledge society. To date there has been little academic consideration of this relationship. The contribution of this thesis, relative to this gap, is therefore significant.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.