Entre espace informé et espace géographiqueNous observons une grande diversité des champs d’application, statuts, fonctions, usages de la e-médiationterritoriale, selon les contextes socio-économiques, politiques, géographiques ou écologiques. Cette hétérogénéitérévèle l'existence d'un lien épistémologiquement fécond entre numérique, espace informé et espace géographique.Cette thèse circonscrit et approfondit ces dimensions complexes, articulées, parfois divergentes, mais qui sont desparamètres essentiels de l’action et du développement territorial. Face aux grands enjeux, socio-économiques,écologiques, sociétaux et multiculturels qui pèsent aujourd’hui plus ou moins uniformément sur le monde, cesdimensions sont essentielles à la construction de modèles de développement spécifiques dans lesquels le numériquetient une place décisive. Plus la e-médiation territoriale se subordonne à la logique fonctionnaliste du branchementdu global vers le local, plus elle favorise l’usage de données territoriales tracées, capturées et marchandisées. Cettestratégie internationale de définition, d’homogénéisation, d’analyse et de traitement massif (big data) des donnéesnumériques territoriales, produit un appauvrissement qualitatif de ces données, induit de nouvelles normativitéspolitiques, limite les recherches théorico-pratiques d’innovations sociales et d’usages, conduisant à unrefroidissement numérique des territoires. La notion centrale de e-médiation, « objet frontière » entre les disciplines,fonctionne dans cette thèse comme une matrice d’interprétation du territoire à partir de laquelle s’élabore un canevasthéorico-pratique. Cette thèse rassemble, analyse et référence des articles, documents, publications, travauxthéoriques, contributions professionnelles, politiques et pratiques, explore ce lien entre espaces informé,géographique et numérique, qui déplace le centre de gravité d’interprétation théorique des territoires, à la mesuredes mutations et des représentations auxquelles ils sont confrontés. Ce canevas, nous l’expérimentons avec leterritoire de la Seine-Saint-Denis sur la base d’un schéma d’intervention numérique qui combine acteurs et actions,innovation technologique et innovation sociale afin de donner du sens aux différentes modalités d’actions dans laperspective du développement durable et du bien commun. Des territoires très éloignés et de cultures différentespourraient, sous certaines conditions méthodologiques, utiliser un tel schéma d’intervention afin d’exprimer etexpérimenter des modèles de développement, et des e-médiations autoriseraient alors des comparaisons inter et intraterritoriales, des analyses fines des contextes historiques, géographiques et sociaux d’émergence, des observationsdétaillées de certains traits ou solutions locales comme globales. / Between informed space and geographical spaceWe observe a wide range of territorial e-mediation’s concrete fields, statutes, functions and uses, according to socioeconomics,political, geographical or ecological contexts. This diversity reveals an epistemologically productivelink between digital, geographical and informized spaces. This thesis aims to circumscribe and deepen thosearticulated, sometimes divergent, complex dimensions, keys parameters of action and territorial development.Indeed, in the face of the major issues, socio-economic, ecological, societal and multicultural that weigh more orless uniformly today on the world, these dimensions of digital territorial mediation, are essential and necessary tobuild specific development models in which digital is one of the most significant. Moreover the higher the territoriale-mediation obeys a logic of branching, from the global to the local, the more it favors the use of territorial data thatare easy to track, capture, analyze and merchandise by the Data-Broker. This relative homogenization and thisqualitative impoverishment of the numerical data available on the territories, can induce new political normativities,limit the theoretical-practical researches on the social and usages innovations and lead to a numerical cooling of theterritories. This central notion of territorial e-mediation, is a « Boundary Objects » operates in this thesis as a amatrix for interpreting territories from which a theoretical-practical frameworks is designed. This thesis collect,analyse, reference, documents, publications, theoretical works, professional contributions, policies and practices onthis link between digital, geographical and informized spaces that is shifting the centre of gravity of territoriestheorical interpretations, proportionate to mutations and représentations that are facing them. For a number of yearswe experiment this framework with the Seine-Saint-Denis (Paris) territory, based on an interventions outline whichcombines stakeholders and actions, technical an social innovations in order to give meaning to the various forms ofaction, in view of sustainable development and common good. Distant territories and from different cultures couldunder certain methodological conditions through e-mediations, use this kind of framework to experiment andexpress their developpment models, comparisons, detailed analysis, the context of emergence, detailed comments,« traits » or solutions.Those mediations would permit

The thesis explores the reasons why states cooperate rather than fight over transboundary water resources. Through a mixed-method research involving both quantitative and qualitative analytical tools, the research shows that states tend to cooperate with one another when (a multidimensional conceptualisation of) interstate power relations are more symmetric, amongst other power-asymmetry arguments. They also tend to cooperate more than others when there exist a high disparity in the level of development between riparian states, and when their relations are characterised by high levels of economic interdependence. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study examines the role of Ward Committees in facilitating “authentic” public participation, with particular reference to Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality. The key question of the study is whether Ward Committees serve as effective mechanisms to promote public participation in the local sphere of government in South Africa. To answer this question, this research project focuses on the composition, functioning and responsibilities of Ward Committees, and how these contribute to effective public participation. This is important because one of the mandates of local government in the post-apartheid era in South Africa is to promote local democracy through the participation of communities. The empirical findings of this research project reveal that Ward Committees are confronted with a multitude of challenges where their functioning tends to be compromised. This has led this research to recommend the improvement of capacity among Ward Committees as a way of enhancing public participation. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is one of the factors that can influence the growth and development of the economy of a country, but on the other hand, it could have a negative effect if not regulated properly by the host country. States must ensure that FDI is properly regulated in the best interests of the country and the foreign investor itself. South Africa has reviewed its foreign investment legal framework and during this process, it terminated most of its bilateral investment treaties that previously regulated foreign investment in the country. In turn, it introduced the Protection of Protection of Investment Act that regulates both domestic and foreign investment. This study analyses the way in which national and international investment law affect FDI inflow and the economy of South Africa. The study also deals with the determinants of foreign investment in the host country and the extent to which they have an influence on the inflow of FDI. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. M.

This study examines the role of Ward Committees in facilitating “authentic” public participation, with particular reference to Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality. The key question of the study is whether Ward Committees serve as effective mechanisms to promote public participation in the local sphere of government in South Africa. To answer this question, this research project focuses on the composition, functioning and responsibilities of Ward Committees, and how these contribute to effective public participation. This is important because one of the mandates of local government in the post-apartheid era in South Africa is to promote local democracy through the participation of communities. The empirical findings of this research project reveal that Ward Committees are confronted with a multitude of challenges where their functioning tends to be compromised. This has led this research to recommend the improvement of capacity among Ward Committees as a way of enhancing public participation. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)