Recent historians who have written about the development of Methodist religious identity in Upper Canada have based their narratives primarily on readings of documents concerned with ecclesiastical polity and colonial politics. This study attempts to complicate these narratives by examining the way religious identity in the province was affected by the cultural production and distribution of books as denominational status objects in a wider North American market before the middle of the nineteenth century. The first chapter examines the rhetorical strategies the Methodist Book Concern developed to protect its domestic market in the United States from the products of competitors by equating patronage with denominational identity. The remaining chapters unfold the influence a protracted consumption of such cultural commodities had on the religious identity of Methodists living in Upper Canada. For more than a decade after the War of 1812, the Methodist Book Concern relied on a corps of Methodist preachers to distribute its commodities north of the border. This denominational infrastructure conferred the accidental but strategic advantage of concealing the extent of the Concern’s market and its rhetoric from the colony’s increasingly anti-American elite. The Concern’s access to its Upper Canadian market became compromised, however, when Egerton Ryerson initiated a debate over religious equality in the province’s emergent public sphere in the mid-1820s. This inadvertently drew attention to Methodist textual practices in the province that led to later efforts on the part of Upper Canadians to sever the Concern’s access to its market north of the border. When these attempts failed, Canadian Methodists found ways to decouple the material and cultural dimensions of the Concern’s products in order to continue patronizing the Concern without compromising recent gains achieved by strategically refashioning themselves as loyal Wesleyans within the colony’s conservative political environment. The result was the emergence of a stable and enduring transnational market for Methodist printed commodities that both blunted the cultural influence of British Wesleyans and prepared the ground for a later secularization of Methodist publishing into and beyond the middle decades of the nineteenth century.

Recent historians who have written about the development of Methodist religious identity in Upper Canada have based their narratives primarily on readings of documents concerned with ecclesiastical polity and colonial politics. This study attempts to complicate these narratives by examining the way religious identity in the province was affected by the cultural production and distribution of books as denominational status objects in a wider North American market before the middle of the nineteenth century. The first chapter examines the rhetorical strategies the Methodist Book Concern developed to protect its domestic market in the United States from the products of competitors by equating patronage with denominational identity. The remaining chapters unfold the influence a protracted consumption of such cultural commodities had on the religious identity of Methodists living in Upper Canada. For more than a decade after the War of 1812, the Methodist Book Concern relied on a corps of Methodist preachers to distribute its commodities north of the border. This denominational infrastructure conferred the accidental but strategic advantage of concealing the extent of the Concern’s market and its rhetoric from the colony’s increasingly anti-American elite. The Concern’s access to its Upper Canadian market became compromised, however, when Egerton Ryerson initiated a debate over religious equality in the province’s emergent public sphere in the mid-1820s. This inadvertently drew attention to Methodist textual practices in the province that led to later efforts on the part of Upper Canadians to sever the Concern’s access to its market north of the border. When these attempts failed, Canadian Methodists found ways to decouple the material and cultural dimensions of the Concern’s products in order to continue patronizing the Concern without compromising recent gains achieved by strategically refashioning themselves as loyal Wesleyans within the colony’s conservative political environment. The result was the emergence of a stable and enduring transnational market for Methodist printed commodities that both blunted the cultural influence of British Wesleyans and prepared the ground for a later secularization of Methodist publishing into and beyond the middle decades of the nineteenth century.

This study explores the Swedish portrayals of Russians as compared to Danes and Polesand how they changed over time during the Great Northern War and Russo-SwedishWar (1741–1743). Through the Swedish state-run Posttidningar, the information deliveredby the state indicates that the circumstances of war and the power of the enemy leaderswere more significant than specific attributes of the enemy other in forming collectiveSwedish identity. Creating these collective sentiments was an essential tool for the stateto affirm the cooperation of its population during times of war. The information aboutthe enemy affects the transformation of a semi-public sphere in Sweden by providing acommon knowledge base to discuss and understand a changing view of its place inEurope. By depicting the enemy in flexible terms, the Swedish state desires its populationto cooperate based on the threat of war, common knowledge, and Sweden’s place inEurope, rather than solidarity against a static religious or political other.

Le point de départ des travaux entrepris est la définition lefortienne de la démocratie par opposition au totalitarisme. Le totalitarisme est l'institution d'une société organique, une et homogène, dans laquelle aucune division sociale, aucun désaccord avec l'idéologie véhiculée par le parti ne sont possibles. La spécificité de la démocratie, a contrario, est de s'enrichir de la désintrication du pouvoir, du droit, et du savoir. Les citoyens, dotés de droits fondamentaux, sont juges de la légitimité du pouvoir établi. Leurs désaccords ainsi que l'antagonisme entre les classes sociales nourrissent l'exercice d'un commun litigieux. De là, une question fondamentale : une telle définition de la démocratie est-elle historiquement datée, ou continue-t-elle d'être pertinente aujourd'hui ? Doit-on encore concevoir la démocratie, pour la rendre authentique, par le conflit civil érigé en principe politique, ou faut-il l'envisager de manière consensualiste au lendemain de son opposition avec le totalitarisme ? Claude Lefort s'inspirait de Machiavel pour dépasser les limites du marxisme et repenser la démocratie par la valorisation du conflit civil, indissociable de la figure de l'imaginaire social. La thèse ici soutenue adopte différemment une perspective néo-machiavélienne. Elle revient à proposer un espace public dissensuel à partir du modèle machiavélien de l'entente dans le conflit, par confrontation avec l'espace public habermassien et d'autres conceptions du tort et du conflit dans les démocraties contemporaines. Comment concevoir aujourd'hui les figures du conflit civil et de l'imaginaire social, en s'inspirant paradoxalement de Machiavel pour interroger la démocratie ?

A prerequisite for a healthy, sustainable democracy is an informed citizenry that partakes in the democratic process. This line of thought can be drawn back to the work of Habermas (Habermas, 1989:49). Accordingly, such active engagement necessitates communication to transpire between a citizenry and its chosen representatives as to sustain the democratic process. This also suggests that citizens should be able to participate in the communication process. Consequently, in recent years much discourse on the media and democracy correlation has focused on the potential role that the internet could play in the furtherance of democratic values. Optimistically, a virtual political public forum in which matters of general political concern are discussed could enhance political participation and the consolidation of political rights. The Habermasian public-sphere model incorporates three key elements, which could be applied in this context persons should have universal access to the sphere, the freedom to express diverse opinions, the freedom to receive diverse opinions and information, in addition to the freedom of participating in the public sphere without interference from state or mercantile imperatives (cf.Habermas, 1989). A qualitative content analysis of the web site of Elections Canada showed that the supposedly non-operational public-sphere model could be recovered within a new media context such as the internet despite the fact that the inherent interactive nature of the internet was not fully exploited by Elections Canada. Against this background, the assumption was made that the public-sphere's concepts could also be applied in the context of a developing democracy and accordingly that the sustainability of the democratic system could be further consolidated. The Electoral Commission (IEC) was chosen as a case study, since it is constitutionally mandated to establish a democratic South African society. The creation of an internet public sphere could therefore be one of the ways in which the IEC could contribute to this consolidation process. Through extensive content analysis, it was established that the organisational web site of the IEC was mainly expended as an information dissemination and organisational image-profiling tool. As a result the web site was did not focus on participatory communication. Universal access to the web site was also rather restricted, resulting in limited web site participation to voters from specific socio-economic, cultural, and language backgrounds. It was discovered, nevertheless, that some of the contents available on the web site could at least facilitate 'offline" participatory democracy and public opinion formation. Therefore, although the web site did not implement all of the normative prescriptions of the public-sphere ideal, voters were able to retrieve valuable electoral information that would assist them in capably participating in electoral democracy. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Cette étude propose une lecture critique des courants doctrinaux et jurisprudentiels contemporains qui, notamment sous l'influence du système anglo-saxon, font reculer les conceptions fondamentales du droit d'auteur. Elle a pour objectif de démontrer que la propriété de l'auteur sur son oeuvre n'est pas un dogme juridique, mais un effet des principes généraux du droit civil français, voire du système juridique français tout entier. D'où l'idée que le droit moral, dans sa conception classique, trouve un fondement adéquat dans le Code civil français. Le débat actuel, qui oppose " romantiques " et pragmatiques, fournit donc le fil conducteur de l'élaboration d'une théorie générale du droit d'auteur.

A prerequisite for a healthy, sustainable democracy is an informed citizenry that partakes in the democratic process. This line of thought can be drawn back to the work of Habermas (Habermas, 1989:49). Accordingly, such active engagement necessitates communication to transpire between a citizenry and its chosen representatives as to sustain the democratic process. This also suggests that citizens should be able to participate in the communication process. Consequently, in recent years much discourse on the media and democracy correlation has focused on the potential role that the internet could play in the furtherance of democratic values. Optimistically, a virtual political public forum in which matters of general political concern are discussed could enhance political participation and the consolidation of political rights. The Habermasian public-sphere model incorporates three key elements, which could be applied in this context persons should have universal access to the sphere, the freedom to express diverse opinions, the freedom to receive diverse opinions and information, in addition to the freedom of participating in the public sphere without interference from state or mercantile imperatives (cf.Habermas, 1989). A qualitative content analysis of the web site of Elections Canada showed that the supposedly non-operational public-sphere model could be recovered within a new media context such as the internet despite the fact that the inherent interactive nature of the internet was not fully exploited by Elections Canada. Against this background, the assumption was made that the public-sphere's concepts could also be applied in the context of a developing democracy and accordingly that the sustainability of the democratic system could be further consolidated. The Electoral Commission (IEC) was chosen as a case study, since it is constitutionally mandated to establish a democratic South African society. The creation of an internet public sphere could therefore be one of the ways in which the IEC could contribute to this consolidation process. Through extensive content analysis, it was established that the organisational web site of the IEC was mainly expended as an information dissemination and organisational image-profiling tool. As a result the web site was did not focus on participatory communication. Universal access to the web site was also rather restricted, resulting in limited web site participation to voters from specific socio-economic, cultural, and language backgrounds. It was discovered, nevertheless, that some of the contents available on the web site could at least facilitate 'offline" participatory democracy and public opinion formation. Therefore, although the web site did not implement all of the normative prescriptions of the public-sphere ideal, voters were able to retrieve valuable electoral information that would assist them in capably participating in electoral democracy. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The professionalization of political parties has significantly altered the means by which parties interact with voters and supporters. The current study is an attempt to examine what these changes in political communication mean for the ability of parties to organize supporters and mobilize them both in a campaign setting and in the longer-term struggle. Habermasian and Gramscian perspectives on the relational aspects of political communication highlight the challenges presented by the growing unidirectionality of communication and the concomitant atrophying of intermediary institutions. Beyond this, the work of Bottici and McLuhan is used to expose the effects of the 'arational' aspects of these changes in both form and content. To test the plausibility of the theoretical insights obtained, the case of the New Democratic Party of Canada is considered. The study concludes by considering the potential of new technological developments for resolving or mitigating concerns identified throughout the thesis. / Graduate

本研究的目的在於探究鄉土教育中應具備的教育性思維，凸顯以學習者為主要關懷的教育精神所在。蓋民國七十六年解嚴之後，以重視台灣主體性為主要訴求的鄉土教育逐漸受到重視；甚至在民國八十年代形成討論的高峰，官方亦將「鄉土教學活動」與「認識台灣」正式納入國民教育課程中。然而，在政治意識型態的爭辯中，教育的焦點被模糊了；鄉土教育在政治角力中成為企圖主導學習者認同（identification）的手段。在此背景下，研究者源於對學習主體性的關心，首先探究台灣鄉土教育由被貶抑到普獲重視的過程中，前後影響自我認同（self-identity）的諸多背景因素（包括政治、經濟、教育、社會文化等）。並從相關教育思想（以自然主義、存在主義、批判教育學為主），深化正向「自我認同」在鄉土教育中的核心地位。進一步以米德（G. H. Mead）、哈伯瑪斯（J. Habermas）之社會學理論的探討，瞭解自我認同的基礎條件、歷程、危機、機制與影響，以建構對鄉土教育完整性的理解。希望在「過度政治化」與「忽視符號問題」的兩極論述外，補充兼具微觀基礎與鉅觀批判的、具理論完整性的論述。 本研究共分五章，第一章緒論外，第二章分析台灣鄉土教育的潮流。茲分四節，「大中國主義式教育的反動」不僅在內容上爭取台灣主體性的教育，更在制度上反對中央集權式的教育模式。「族群文化的追求」同樣以建立正面健康、具有尊嚴的的自我認同為目標。但除了政治、文化霸權的操控外，族群文化尚受到經濟結構轉變與流行文化的影響。「疏離生活世界的反省」指出了台灣人對於歷史意義斷裂、人際關係疏離與教育活動僵化的檢討；政、經批判之外，尤其展開功利主義的省思。欲重新在傳統精神中、人際互動裡及鄉野自然的懷抱下，拾回作為一個與鄉土緊密聯繫的、完整的「人」。「共同體的呼籲」則強調團結實踐、投入鄉土的重要，與多元鄉土間和平共處的理想。但在政治、經濟、社會等諸多問題牽扯的背後，四個面向應有其一致的教育關懷，即「自我認同」的議題。尤其在實際運作上，主體仍岌岌可危，顯見一般對鄉土教育真正的認識尚有不足。 第三章以「自然主義的關心」、「存在主義的關懷」與「批判教育學的關切」等教育哲學的角度，思考鄉土教育的有機性，使之更具意義與生產性。並以此基礎提出鄉土教育與自我認同的相關性，包括： 一、 危機中的主體 二、 鄉土教育應肯定每一個體 三、 鄉土教育是自我認同的基礎 四、 鄉土教育激發主體能動性 五、 鄉土教育強化自我與社會的聯繫 六、 鄉土教育培養個體對自我與鄉土的責任 七、 異質相處的共同體問題 本章並分析以米德與哈伯瑪斯學說做為自我認同理論探究的幾點後設認知。 第四章以米德的符號互動論為基礎，輔以哈伯瑪斯對於結構性問題的批判。第一節「自我的起源」：米德反對傳統的意識哲學，分析自我形成的社會性，其基礎在於人類可藉「姿勢互動」（gesture interaction）並「自我反省、參照」的能力，達成「主我」（I）與「客我」（Me）的對話。第二節「自我認同的發展」：米德以為自我認同的歷程在於「掌握更廣共同體的態度」。指出在互動經驗中，學習了「角色扮演」或「角色取替」（play a role or role-taking）的能力，並在遊戲的階段（game stage）掌握了「概化他人」（generalized others）的概念，因而瞭解自我在社會中的位置而完成了自我的觀念。米德認為自我認同是「主、客我統合」。哈伯瑪斯則強調自我的個別性，主張超越僵化「角色認同」（role identity）的「自我認同」（ego identity）。其實，米德的角色認同是活化而開放的概念，但其理論缺乏對結構性力量的批判，未分析「概化他人」中的宰制因素及其傷害自尊的深層意義。所以第三節「認同的危機與轉機」：先談米德對於「符號」此聯繫與創造媒介的主張。再以哈伯瑪斯對「生活世界的殖民化」分析，指出（一）自我認同相關趣向（interests）的萎縮，及（二）符號扭曲與無意義感等自我認同的危機。此危機與「合法化危機」（legitimation crisis）及「動機機制危機」（motivation crisis）息息相關。故要恢復健全而隨境互動的自我認同機制，除了個人層面的「自我反省」與實踐外，尚須在制度面上建立理想的溝通機制。第四節「溝通行動與共同體」：米德認為「理想的社會」有兩個條件，（一）是創造性個體的充分表達；（二）是被其他成員所理解。故米德認為溝通（communication）是人類的理想，能協助社會的進步與個人的成長。哈伯瑪斯的溝通行動理論不僅得力於米德對生活面的互動、活動的關注，更進一步以其「理想社會」的特徵，建構溝通行動與論辯的條件。其中，集體認同必須建立在「互為主體性」（intersubjectivity）的尊重，允許不同意見與立場在開放的溝通空間中彼此參與。米德認為，我們必須選擇讓人類「一體感」的凝聚力導向於「溝通互動」，而非內部團結卻對外暴力相向的非理性運作。至於溝通的結果與共識，米德反對教條式的宣稱，如同所言「We don’t know where we are going, but we know we are on the way.」 第五章「結論」，第一節以理論所得，從歷史的角度詮釋與反省台灣鄉土教育中自我認同議題。第二節則以理論的角度，試圖描繪鄉土教育中應有的思維與考量，使自我認同的教育更具周延性。研究結果如下： 一、 關於認同的基礎與界線：確切、獨特與無限的時空 二、 關於自我認同的機制：個別化「符號」與「互動」兼顧 三、 關於批判：兼及「系統」與「生活世界」的反省與重建 四、 關於他者與共同體：多元並存也力求溝通 五、 自我認同與鄉土認同的永恆辯證 六、 自我肯定、共創願景的鄉土教育 最後第三節以「歷史與理論的交會」，談鄉土教育問題和相關論述的發展脈絡，及與本研究的關係。並分析鄉土教育由熱烈討論到逐漸沈澱的過程。希望鄉土教育一詞的熱潮消退之後，教育對自我認同的基礎仍能持續關心與重視。讓鄉土教育最初的關懷：學習者主體性的追求，能夠落實。

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Socio-economic transformation has been a central point on the agenda of the South African government since 1994. The deeply embedded inequality that is portrayed by socio-economic statistics of the time, justifies this mandate. The Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) strategy is meant to play a key role as an integrated legislative approach towards transformation. However, BEE is an emotionally laden subject that, as a strategy for transformation, attracts criticism from many different sources. The complexities surrounding BEE warrant us to ask whether the current approach towards socio-economic transformation (through BEE) is a legitimate way to address the problems of inequality, unemployment and poverty that the country face. Jürgen Habermas’s theory of democratic law provides us with a theoretical framework that we can use to understand the dynamics of BEE as instrument for transformation. According to Habermas, law can work as a mechanism of social integration in a democratic country like South Africa. Habermas argues that social integration can only take place through law if it is factual and normative at the same time. This also applies to BEE as a law in South Africa. For a law to be accepted as normative, it needs to be seen as legitimate, thus morally and ethically acceptable. These are all prerequisites for the legislated BEE strategy in order to enable social integration. The linkage of Habermas’s theory of democratic law and the practical example of BEE legislation in South Africa, leads to a better understanding of the complexities that surrounds the issue of institutionalised and legislated socio-economic transformation. It does not necessarily provide infallible solutions, but important insight into the current problems. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sedert 1994 is sosio-ekonomiese transformasie ‘n sentrale punt op die agenda van die Suid-Afrikaanse regering. Hierdie mandaat word geregverdig deur die diepliggende ongelykheid wat sigbaar is in die ontwikkelingstatistiek van die tyd. Die Swart Ekonomiese Bemagtiging (SEB) –strategie is veronderstel om ‘n sleutelrol te speel as ‘n geïntegreerde wetlike benadering tot transformasie. SEB is egter ‘n emosioneel-belaaide onderwerp wat as strategie vir transformasie kritiek ontlok van baie verskillende oorde. Die kompleksiteite rondom SEB regverdig ons om te vra of die huidige benadering tot sosio-ekonomiese transformasie (deur SEB) die mees legitieme manier is om die probleme van ongelykheid, werkloosheid en armoede aan te spreek wat die land in die gesig staar. Jürgen Habermas se teorie vir demokratiese regspraak dien as ‘n teoretiese raamwerk wat ons kan inspan om die dinamika van SEB as instrument vir transformasie te verstaan. Na aanleiding van Habermas kan wet werk as ‘n meganisme vir sosiale integrasie in ‘n demokratiese land soos Suid-Afrika. Habermas verduidelik verder dat sosiale integrasie net kan plaasvind deur ‘n wet as die wet terselftertyd feitelik en normatief is. Dit is ook van toepassing op SEB, as ‘n wet in Suid-Afrika. Vir ‘n wet om normatief te wees, moet dit gesien word as legitiem, dus moreel en eties aanvaarbaar. Hierdie is alles voorvereistes waaraan die wetlike SEB strategie moet voldoen om sosiale integrasie te kan bewerkstellig. Die analogie tussen Habermas se teorie vir ‘n demokratiese regstelsel en die praktiese voorbeeld van SEB in Suid-Afrika, lei tot beter begrip vir die kompleksiteite rondom die kwessie van geïnstitusionaliseerde en wetlike sosio-ekonomiese transformasie. Onfeilbare oplossings word nie noodwendig verskaf nie, maar wel insig in die huidige probleme.