Pendant ces dernières années il y a eu aussi beaucoup des recherches axées à analyser pourquoi souvent les élections ne respectent pas ces standards, quel est leur rôle dans les régimes hybrides et autocratiques, et il y a aussi des recherches qui enquêtent notamment les fraudes électorales. Cette thèse propose une contribution dans le débat et elle souligne que les études sur les fraudes électorales on souvent sous-traitées : les dimensions internationales. Ces dimensions sont conceptualisées dans deux façonnes. La première concerne la pression démocratisant occidentale et comment elle peut influencer le changement et/ou l’évolution des fraudes électorales. La deuxième, concerne les dynamiques des socialisations en terme d’échange d’informations parmi les régimes hybrides par rapport diffèrent modalités de fraudes électorales. Selon mes analyses dans les cas où il y a une pression démocratisant occidentale plus forte les autorités locales changent les méthodes des fraudes électorales. Ce changement ne doit pas être considéré forcement comme un amélioration de l’intégrité électoral tout court. Plutôt, avec l’amélioration des cadres légales de la gestion électorale, les autorités modifient les fraudes pour essayer d’éluder le criticisme occidental. En autre, pour bien modifier les méthodes des fraudes électorales les autorités d’un pays recourent à des pratiques d’apprentissage tout en regardant les expériences des autres pays. Ces arguments théoriques ont été vérifiés sur trois cas d’études, notamment Armenia, Azerbaïdjan et Géorgie. Ces pays ont des caractéristiques en commune, qui permettent des analyses diachroniques et synchroniques concernant les fraudes électorales à partir de leurs indépendances de l’Union Soviétique. / During the last years many research have been conducted to analyse why elections fail, what is their role in hybrid as well as authoritarian regimes, and there is a growing stream of literature that is investigating electoral frauds and electoral malpractices. This thesis provides a contribution in this debate by pointing to one of the less analysed factors in the study of electoral frauds and electoral malpractices, which is the international dimension. The latter is conceptualized in two ways: the first one relates to Western democratizing pressure and how it can affect the change or the evolution of electoral frauds and malpractices. The second one concerns socialization dynamics in terms of methods of frauds and malpractices among authorities in different countries. It is argued that where there is a stronger Western democratizing pressure authorities change the way they conduct elections, even if this change does not forcefully means democratization. Rather, along with formal improvements in elections management, authorities alter and modify methods of frauds and malpractices as a way to elude Western criticism. In order to properly modify electoral frauds and malpractices, authorities resort to learning practices by looking at other experiences. These theoretical arguments have been verified on three cases study, which are Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. These countries share some key characteristics, which allowed for cross-temporal and spatial analysis regarding electoral frauds and malpractices since their independence from the Soviet Union.

À partir de la fin du 7e millénaire, l’architecture connaît en Syro-Mésopotamie et dans le Caucase un essor considérable mais selon des rythmes différents. Ce développement différencié est probablement lié aux relations qu’ont entretenues les communautés de ces régions. La teneur de ces relations est probablement multiple. Les échanges techniques sont l’élément primordial pour l’architecture : ils permettent de déterminer si les communautés du Caucase se sont installées de manière autonome au début du 6e millénaire ou si elles ont profité de l’expérience technique de celles de Syro-Mésopotamie, de comprendre l’évolution de l’architecture « complexe » au Samarra et à l’Obeid dès la fin du 7e millénaire et de mesurer l’impact social de l’expansion obeidienne dès la seconde moitié du 6e millénaire. Après une présentation de la méthodologie, où nous définissons les termes employés et la méthode d’analyse, les données archéologiques sont présentées sous la forme synthétique d’une étude typologique selon trois axes : les matériaux de construction, les techniques de mise en œuvre et la morphologie architecturale. Enfin, une analyse croisée des données permet de considérer l’architecture dans une perspective culturelle, géographique et chronologique. Le milieu du 6e millénaire marque un tournant dans les échanges techniques et les relations culturelles entre ces deux régions : auparavant, ces échanges apparaissent diffus dans les régions situées au nord de la Mésopotamie centrale. Ensuite, l’expansion obeidienne entraîne une homogénéisation progressive des techniques dans l’ensemble du bassin syro-mésopotamien, à laquelle se sont greffés emprunts techniques et adaptations régionales. / From the end of the 7th millennium, architecture in Syro-Mesopotamia and Caucasus achieves a major rise but under different rhythms. The content of these relationships is with no doubt numerous. Technical exchanges are the fundamental element when it comes to study architecture: they can help us determine if Caucasus communities settled independently at the beginning of the 6th millennium or if they benefited from the technical experience of the Syro-Mesopomatian communities, understand complex architecture’s evolution during Samarran and Ubaid from the end of the 7th millennium and estimate the social impact of the spread of Ubaid from the second half of the 6th millenium. After a presentation of the methodology used, where we define the terms employed and the analysis method, archeological data are introduced under a typological study developed through three approaches : material, architectural techniques and morphology. Then, a cross analysis of the data can help up consider architecture in a cultural, geographic and chronological perspective. The middle of the 6th millennium represents a turning point into technical exchanges and cultural relationships between these two regions: before that, these exchanges come out as diffuse in the northern regions of the Central Mesopotamia. Then Ubaid expansion leads to a progressive technical homogenisation in all the Syro-Mesopotamian basin, in which borrowed technics and regional adaptations where added.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chechens fought against the Russians for independence. The focus in the literature available has been on the wars and the atrocities caused by the wars. The literature then hypothesizes that the insurgency of today is just a continuation of the past. They do not focus on a major event in Chechen history: the Soviet liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1944. It is this author’s assertion that the liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR forever changed the mindset of the people because it fractured a society that was once unified. This project will compare the Chechen insurgency from the beginnings until the deportation and after the deportation. This will allow me to show how the deportation changed the Chechen mindset and disprove the assertion that these two Chechen wars were just a continuation of the past.

Cette thèse étudie la syntaxe et la typologie des propositions relatives en arménien parlé. Elle propose une analyse syntaxique et une classification des stratégies de relativisation disponibles en arménien, dans le cadre des approches théoriques et typologiques existantes de la relativisation, ainsi qu’à identifier les facteurs décisifs pour le choix des différentes stratégies. Chaque stratégie ayant des équivalents dans d'autres langues de la région, le contact linguistique peut influencer leur choix. Il est également probable que le rôle de l'élément relativisé dans la proposition relative soit pertinent pour le choix de la stratégie. En particulier, les données présentées dans de précédentes études sur l'arménien suggèrent que la distribution des relatives participiales peut constituer une violation de la hiérarchie d'accessibilité de la relativisation si elle est envisagée comme opérant directement en termes de fonctions grammaticales syntaxiques. L’étude se concentre sur les parlers de diverses régions d’Arménie. Les propositions relatives ont été saisies dans une base de données d’environ 2000 exemples avec des filtres portant sur les paramètres pertinents.Les résultats montrent que l’accessibilité à la relativisation est déterminée par la saillance liée aux rôles sémantiques (affectivité) et pragmatiques (thematicité) et par de fréquents modèles d’association rôle-référence plutôt que directement par des fonctions grammaticales syntaxiques. Ceci fournit une explication cohérente des violations apparentes de la hiérarchie d'accessibilité trouvées en arménien, ainsi que d'autres phénomènes qui se sont révélés problématiques pour les interprétations de l'accessibilité à la relativisation basées directement sur la structure syntaxique. / This thesis presents a study of the syntax and typology of relative clauses in colloquial Armenian. It proposes a syntactic analysis and classification of the relativization strategies available in Armenian within the framework of existing syntactic theoretical and typological proposals concerning relative clauses, and to identify the decisive factors associated with the distribution of these different strategies. As each of the available strategies is paralleled in other languages of the area, it is possible that language contact will have an impact on the choice of strategy. There is also evidence that the role of the relativized element in the relative clause is relevant for the choice of strategy; in particular, evidence presented in previous studies of Armenian suggests that the distribution of participial RCs may violate the Relativization Accessibility Hierarchy if this is envisaged as operating directly in terms of syntactic grammatical relations.The study is mainly based on data from sound recordings of native speaker consultants from various areas of Armenia, both spontaneous speech and responses to stimuli designed to elicit relative clauses with particular properties that have been proposed to affect the choice of relativization strategy. The relative clauses are entered into a database with filters for relevant features, which contains approximately 2000 examples. The results show that accessibility to relativization is determined by semantic (affectedness) and pragmatic (topicality) role prominence, and by frequent role-reference association patterns, rather than directly by syntactic grammatical relations. This provides a coherent explanation of the apparent Accessibility Hierarchy violations found in Armenian, as well as other phenomena that have proved problematic for syntactic structure-based interpretations of accessibility to relativization.

Protected area site selection is generally carried out using biodiversity data as surrogates. However, reliable and complete biodiversity data is rarely available due to limited resources, time and equipment. Instead of drawing on inadequate biodiversity data, an alternative is to use environmental diversity (ED) as a surrogate in conservation planning. However, there are few studies that use environmental diversity for site selection or that evaluates its efficiency / unfortunately, no such example exists for Turkey, where biodiversity is high but our knowledge about it is unsatisfactory. Hence, this study was carried out to investigate the efficiency of environmental surrogates and the utility of different biological taxa in conservation planning. The objective was to find out the most efficient surrogates, either environmental or biological, for conservation planning, so that limited resources can be used more efficiently to establish an effective protected areas network. The study was carried out in northeastern Turkey, within the Lesser Caucasus ecoregion. The taxonomic groups considered include large mammals, breeding birds, globally threatened reptiles and amphibians, butterflies, highly threatened plants, and ecological communities. The distribution data was taken from a previous study, while climate and topographical data were obtained from various sources and produced through spatio-statistical techniques. Complementarity-based site selection was carried out with Marxan software, where the planning unit was the 100 sq.km. UTM grid square. Various statistical methods, including geographically weighted regression, principal components analysis, and p-median algorithm, were used to determine ED across the units. Performance of different approaches and different sets of surrogates were tested by comparing them to a random null model as well as representation success. Results indicate that endemic or non-endemic highly threatened plant species, butterfly species and ecological communities represent biodiversity better than other taxa in the study area. As such, they can be used on their own as efficient biodiversity surrogates in conservation area planning. Another finding is that highly threatened plant species are required to be used in the site selection process if they need to be represented well / in other words, they are their own surrogates. It was demonstrated that while ED alone can be used as a surrogate to represent biodiversity of an area, they are not as good as biodiversity surrogates themselves. It is also suggested that using species taxa with smaller distributional ranges or taxa that complement each other due to ecological differences as surrogates provide better results. On the other hand, ED might be a more suitable surrogate if resources are very limited or field work is impossible. In such cases, using ED in conjunction with one of the better biodiversity surrogates is probably the best solution.

In 2010 the EU initiated negotiations for new agreements forming the legal basis for relations between it and partner countries of the EaP, termed Association Agreements (AA). Negotiations were entered with all three countries in the South Caucasus as well as Ukraine and Moldova, and foresaw greater political association through extensive rule harmonisation. Yet, when negotiations came to an end at the Eastern Partnership summit in November 2013, Azerbaijan had dropped out, Ukraine made a last minute U-turn, and Armenia instead opted for Russian President Putin’s brand new Eurasian Customs Union (ECU). At the time, the change of events was to a large extent ascribed to Russian coercion. Based on empirical material from over 200 news articles, I perform a descriptive data analysis and process tracing, to elucidate what instruments were used and why. I argue that there is a strong relation between the prior relations of dependence between the target and Russia, lending coercive potential to varying degrees. The individual relations of dependence not only explain the choice of instrument but also its relative success.

Les restes humains et les pratiques funéraires allant du Néolithique à la fin de la culture Kura-Araxe (6ème au 3ème millénaire) n’avaient jusqu’à aujourd’hui fait l’objet d’études approfondies. Afin de contribuer à une meilleure connaissance des pratiques funéraires et des caractéristiques biologiques de ces populations il a été entrepris de réévaluer les données publiées, de réexaminer les restes humains issus de fouilles anciennes et de mettre à profit l’apport de données issues des fouilles récentes dans la région, cela au travers d’un nouveau regard, celui de l’archéothanatologie. L’analyse détaillée des gestes funéraires a été mise en relation avec une analyse du recrutement funéraire, mais également avec une analyse anthropologique incorporant divers paramétres (morphologie et morphométrie, variations anatomiques non métriques, indicateurs de stress et pathologies).Sur l’ensemble du Sud Caucase, 132 sites où la présence de sépultures est attestée : cinq pour le Néolithique, 21 pour le Chalcolithique et 111 pour la culture Kura-Araxe. La réévaluation des anciennes données a permis de répartir les sépultures en sept catégories: les tombes en fosses, les inhumations dans les contenants en céramique, les tombes construites de formes variables, les tombe en fer à cheval, les cistes, les kourganes et les tombes surmontées en surface d’un amas de pierres. Les tombes néolithiques sont rares : il s’agit de tombes en fosse associées à l’habitat, dans lesquelles les individus sont en position fléchie sur l’un des côtés. Les sépultures chalcolithiques sont un légèrement nombreuses qu’à la période précédente. Trois nouveaux types de tombes apparaissent : les inhumations dans un contenant en céramique, les kourganes et les tombes surmontées d’un amas de pierres. Les tombes en fosse demeurent les plus nombreuses, et toujours en lien avec l’habitat ; les défunts sont le plus souvent inhumés en position fléchie sur l’un des côtés. Par ailleurs, les inhumations dans un contenant en céramique semblent destinées à accueillir les très jeunes immatures. Le kourgane marque les débuts de la dissociation entre le lieu d’inhumation et le lieu d’habitat, qui débute à la fin du Chalcolithique, se poursuit dans la seconde moitié du 4ème millénaire et semble se généraliser à partir de la première moitié du 3ème millénaire. Le signalement des tombes en surface apparaît lui aussi au cours du Chalcolithique, traduisant un changement des mentalités. On assiste au cours de la culture Kura-Araxe à une augmentation frappante du nombre de sites où la présence de sépultures est attestée. Les types de tombe se diversifient : outre les tombes en fosses, les kourganes et les tombes surmontées en surface d’un amas de pierres, qui perdurent, trois autres types de tombe apparaissent : les tombes de formes variables, les cistes et les tombes en fer à cheval. Cette diversification illustre une multiplicité des pratiques. En revanche, la diversité observée au niveau des types de tombe s’oppose à une grande homogénéité dans le positionnement des individus : la position fléchie sur l’un des deux côtés domine clairement. Des cartes de répartition des sites ont été établies en fonction des différents types de tombes identifiés et des modes de dépôt des défunts. Enfin, les méthodes de l’archéothanatologie ont permis de mieux appréhender les modes de dépôts et de mettre en évidence des gestes insoupçonnés (position assise, lien de contention, contenant en matière périssable). Cette recherche offre la possibilité d’avoir un regard d’ensemble sur les populations vivant au cours de ces périodes dans le Sud Caucase. Des gestes et des pratiques funéraires jusque là insoupçonnés ont été mis en lumière grâce à l’emploi des méthodes de l’archéothanatologie. / Human remains and funerary practices of the Neolithic period to the end of the Kura-Araxe’s culture (6th to 3rd millennium) in the Southern Caucasus have not been thus far the subject of bio-anthropological studies. In order to contribute to a better understanding of funeral practices and the biological characteristics of southern Caucasus populations, a reassessment of published data related to human remains recorded from ancient excavations and new approaches of analyses, archaeothanatology, of new data from recent excavations in the region has been undertaken. A detailed study is conducted based on funeral gestures reconstruction, burial type’s analyses, and various anthropological aspects (morphology and Morphometry, non metric anatomic variations, stress indicators and pathology). 132 sites incorporating graves are attested in the Southern Caucasus: five Neolithic sites, 21 chalcolithic sites and 111 sites of Kura-Araxe’s culture. The review of the old data revealed seven categories of burials: pit grave, burial in ceramic container, Constructed tomb with various shapes, horseshoe grave, cist burial, kurgans and stones covered graves. The Neolithic tombs are rare. It comprises pit burials located within settlement area with inhumation of individuals in flexed position on one side. Chalcolithic graves are slightly more recurrent than earlier period. Three new types of tombs are used: burials in ceramic container, kurgans and stones covered tombs. Pit burials remained the most numerous, and regularly associated with settlement area. The deceased are usually buried in flexed position on one side. Furthermore, burials in ceramic container appeared to be designed especially for immature young deceased. At the end of Chalcolithic, Kurgan marked the beginnings of the partition between the burial area and the settlement area. The Kurgan practices continued in the second half of the 4th millennium and appear to be wide and commonly spread around the first half of the 3rd millennium. In addition, stone covered burials started to be used during the Chalcolithic period. This shift between underground burials and constructed marks to locate burials reflects a change of society’s mentalities. During the Kura-Araxes culture, a striking increase in the number of sites with burials is attested. Tomb types are diversified. In addition to pit burials, the Kurgans and stone covered burials continued to be practiced meanwhile, three other types of Tomb appeared: the Constructed tombs of various shapes, the cists burials and horseshoe graves. This diversification demonstrates a multiplicity of practices. On the other hand, the analyses of inhumation position revealed more regular customs: the flexed position on one side is clearly the most used. Distribution maps of burial sites are established on the basis of the variability of identified grave types and deceased position. Finally, the archaeothanatology methods allowed better understanding of deposits patterns and highlighted the practice of unexpected gestures (seating, use of tie, perishable container). This research offers the possibility to have an overall view of the Southern Caucasus living population between the 6th and the 3rd millennium BC. Some mortuary gestures and funerary practices until now unsuspected have been revealed once applying the archeothanatology methods

This dissertation explores the implications of borders and boundaries for how forcibly displaced young Georgians from Abkhazia understand issues of belonging and return. My theoretical framework draws from theories on home and belonging as well as theories on border and boundary making, and locates them in geographies of uncertainty – or riskscapes – areas characterized by conflict and/or inequality. Empirical data was collected through two sets of interviews in Zugdidi near the border to Abkhazia and a questionnaire survey in Zugdidi and the capital Tbilisi. These data have been analysed through both qualitative and quantitative methods.   The young respondents providing material for this research do not constitute a homogenous group. Some of the respondents have family still living in Abkhazia or even partly grew up in the area; others have never been there. The primary goal of the Georgian government has been that the displaced population should return to their homes, and the government’s efforts for local integration has long been insufficient. Since no peace accords have been signed, a lack of security prevents a large-scale return. Notwithstanding increased border controls that have made it difficult to visit former homes, some young people still cross the de facto border. By doing this they contest both the Abkhazian de facto authorities and the border as a symbol of separation and differentiation, while claiming a right to belong in Abkhazia. Property and social relations in Abkhazia contribute to stronger connections and an imperative to return. On the other hand, experience of hardship in contemporary Abkhazia has resulted in some young people not considering return as a viable option. Youth who never visited Abkhazia depend mainly on other peoples’ memories and political discourse to create emotional bonds to the area their parents fled and to form their ideas of return. Results from the quantitative survey indicate that youth living in Tbilisi, closer to the political centre, to a higher extent intend to return than their peers in Zugdidi. Meanwhile young people’s experiences of everyday life in current dwellings in relative stability create emotional bonds to their present place of living. These experiences challenge both collective processes and experiences from Abkhazia when it comes to maintaining the desire to return.   This research offers insights into the human consequences of war and conflict. More specifically, this dissertation sheds light on how young internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in a borderland (in both temporal and spatial terms) characterized by uncertainty-- between the past and the future as well as between Georgia and Abkhazia. Practices of exclusion and segregation are constitutive of the borders and boundaries that permeate life experiences of the forcibly displaced youth. Furthermore, these borders and boundaries are situated in riskscapes of disputed belongings, which makes this borderland more or less stable for different groups of IDPs. This dissertation contributes to an increased understanding of how political aspirations and personal desire to return preserves instability and uncertainty as long as return is not possible. / Denna avhandling undersöker konsekvenserna av gränser och gränsskapande för hur unga georgiska internflyktingar från Abkhazien förstår frågor om tillhörighet och återvändande. Jag utgår från teorier om hem och tillhörighet, liksom teorier om gränser och gränsskapande, och lokaliserar dem till geografier av osäkerhet – “riskscapes” – områden som karaktäriseras av konflikter och/eller ojämlikheter. Det datamaterial som ligger till grund för avhandlingen utgörs av två intervjustudier i Zugdidi nära gränsen till Abkhazien; och en enkätstudie som genomfördes i Zugdidi och i den georgiska huvudstaden Tbilisi. Materialet har analyserats genom användande av både kvalitativa och kvantitativa metoder.   Avhandlingens respondenter utgör inte en homogen grupp. Några respondenter har familj och släktingar som bor i Abkhazien eller har delvis växt upp i området, medan andra aldrig ens varit där. Det primära målet för den georgiska regeringen har varit att internflyktingarna ska återvända till sina hem, och regeringens ansträngningar för integration i lokalsamhället har länge varit otillräckliga. Det saknas fredsavtal och bristen på säkerhet förhindrar återvändande i stor skala. Trots de ökade gränskontroller som gjort det svårt att korsa de facto gränslinjen tar sig en del ungdomar ändå over gränsen. Genom att göra detta bestrider de både de abkhaziska de facto myndigheterna och gränsen som symbol för separation och åtskillnad, medan de hävdar sin rätt att känna tillhörighet till Abkhazien. Att ha ett hus och sociala relationer i Abkhazien bidrar till emotionella band och en starkare uppmaning till att återvända. Å andra sidan kan erfarenheterna av vardagens umbäranden inne i Abkhazien resultera i att unga människor inte ser återvändande som ett tänkbart alternativ. Ungdomar som aldrig varit i Abkhazien är beroende av andra människors minnen och politiska diskurser för att skapa känslomässiga band och tankar om återvändande till det område deras föräldrar har flytt från. Resultat från den kvantitativa undersökningen visar vidare att ungdomar som bor i Tbilisi, närmare Georgiens politiska centrum, i högre grad anger att de har för avsikt att återvända än deras jämnåriga i Tbilisi. Ungdomars erfarenheter av vardagslivet i sina nuvarande bostäder i relativ stabilitet bidrar emellertid till att skapa känslomässiga band till den aktuella bostadsorten. Dessa erfarenheter utmanar på så vis både de kollektiva processerna och erfarenheter från Abkhazien när det gäller att upprätthålla drömmen om återvändande.   Avhandlingen bidrar med insikter om konsekvenser av krig och konflikter för människors vardagsliv. Mer specifikt belyser jag hur avhandlingens unga respondenter lever i en sorts rumsligt och temporalt gränsland mellan det förflutna och framtiden och mellan Georgien och Abkhazien, och detta gränsland kännetecknas av osäkerhet. Praktiker av isärhållande och segregering är konstituerande för de gränser som genomsyrar internflyktingungdomarnas erfarenheter. Dessa gränser är dessutom situerade i ”riskscapes” av ifrågasatta tillhörigheter, som gör gränslandet mer eller mindre stabilt för olika grupper av internflyktingar. Avhandlingen bidrar med en ökad förståelse för hur politiska ambitioner och personliga drömmar om återvändande håller kvar människor i instabilitet och osäkerhet så länge återvändandet inte är möjligt. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 3 inskickat.</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 3 submitted.</p>

This master thesis deals with the mapping and analysis of Russian-Georgian relations in the period between 2004-2011. It focuses primarily on the development of relations after the onset of the new Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and after his transformation of Georgian Policy. The work is divided into chronological historical axis of events, from the history of Georgia and Georgian people, the author gets to the problems of August war in 2008. The main objective of this work is to find the causes of the war between Russia and Georgia, to map out its long-standing hostile relations and try to find its solutions. Starting point of this work is the assumption that Georgia and Russia have always been nations culturally very similar and therefore its friendly relations are essential for the regulation of conflicts on Georgia's borders. Russia as a powerful neighbor, has always had a superiority over Georgia. Therefore, in subsequent chapters is enhanced the need for intervention by international organizations such as NATO, OSCE, EU, etc. issues in Russian-Georgian conflict, in order to offset the forces of power on both sides. In the last chapters the thesis deals with the intervention of the international community, whether their pressure on Russia will be still intense and if in the future...

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