Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:39:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6428.pdf: 1495508 bytes, checksum: 5ddb5cfe04cbd62f3519beac35fb1467 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-09 / The indigenous issue presented in the school context on the view of European blueprints may generate numerous misconceptions, reflecting attitudes of prejudice, rejection, discrimination and segregation. Although they represent a group of ethnic-cultural formation of Brazil, their history remains overlooked, covered in the school context as mere individuals from the time of contact with the Europeans, leaving a deep gap regarding the participation of those groups throughout the history of Brazil. Thus, a perspective that is intended to be multicultural and interactive should bring the debate to the classroom on diversity and difference as being dynamic, fluid, and ever-changing processes. Issues that pervade historic school discourses and similar ones, influence the construction process of individual and collective identification of the student. In this research, we aim to draw considerations on school discourses related to indigenous people, and on how the student builds his identification toward those groups, from the discourses that are recognized, accepted, and instituted in the matrix of the Common Basic Curriculum of Minas Gerais, in the subject of history. These perceptions point to an approach based on speeches that gained tradition throughout the history of Brazil, having the European discourse as its core. / A temática indígena apresentada no contexto escolar sobre o prisma da ótica europeia, pode gerar inúmeros equívocos, refletindo posturas de preconceito, rejeição, discriminação e segregação. Mesmo sendo representados como um dos grupos da formação étnico cultural do Brasil, sua história continua relegada a uma abordagem escolar que os remetem a segundo plano, como meros contingentes humanos da época do contato com os europeus, deixando um profundo lapso ao que se refere à participação destes grupos ao longo da História do Brasil. Desta forma, uma perspectiva que se pretenda multicultural e interativa deve trazer para a sala de aula o debate sobre a diversidade e a diferença enquanto processos dinâmicos, fluidos e em constante transformação. Questões que perpassam os discursos históricos escolares e, como estes, influenciam o processo de construção da identificação individual e coletiva do estudante. Nesta pesquisa temos por objetivo trazer algumas reflexões sobre os discursos escolares referentes aos povos indígenas e como o estudante constrói a sua identificação em relação a estes grupos, a partir dos discursos que estão reconhecidos, aceitos e instituídos na matriz do Currículo Básico Comum do Estado de Minas Gerais ofertado na disciplina de História. Percepções estas que apontam para uma abordagem que se realiza a partir de discursos que ganharam tradição ao longo da História do Brasil, tendo por cerne o discurso europeu.

Submitted by tatiane pereira silva (tatipdsmg@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-11-03T00:17:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tatiane Pereira da Silva.pdf: 1721276 bytes, checksum: eaf29e4e5b99298bd4c54d27c4507199 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Felipe Augusto Arakaki (arakaki@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-11-10T12:37:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_tp_me_fran.pdf: 1721276 bytes, checksum: eaf29e4e5b99298bd4c54d27c4507199 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-10T12:37:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_tp_me_fran.pdf: 1721276 bytes, checksum: eaf29e4e5b99298bd4c54d27c4507199 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-19 / Com a crise ecológica contemporânea, a sociedade mundial se deparou com o maior desafio no que tange à necessidade de mudar as suas ações frente a esta questão. Diante de tal crise, a qual consideramos socioambiental, o Serviço Social, enquanto profissão que se inscreve no tecido das relações sociais, não deve ficar insciente a esta temática. Com isso, o objetivo da nossa pesquisa foi estudar os fundamentos da questão socioambiental e conhecer a atuação do(a) assistente social mediante esta questão. Assim, buscamos na trajetória desta pesquisa aprofundar a problematização das manifestações da questão socioambiental numa perspectiva sócio-histórica, para refletirmos sobre as possíveis contribuições interventivas do(a) assistente social neste universo, e, ademais, apreender através do relato da experiência do exercício profissional de assistente social na Secretaria do Verde e do Meio Ambiente (SVMA) do município São Paulo/SP, os traços e as reflexões do trabalho desenvolvido, e com isso confirmando as suas inter-relações com o Serviço Social. Para isto, utilizamos no percurso da pesquisa o método dialético, a partir da pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo. Com base no aporte teórico sobre esse tema, pudemos desvelar e analisar a questão socioambiental, na qual foi desmistificado o binômio: paradigma moderno da relação homem-natureza e o processo estrutural hegemônico – modo de produção capitalista – como sendo os principais fatores para os desdobramentos da degradação social e ambiental. Destarte, contextualizamos sobre a ética, a legislação e a educação ambiental como instrumentos para a construção de um novo paradigma, o ecológico. Ainda nessa análise, compreendemos que a questão socioambiental perpassa como uma das expressões da questão social, objeto de trabalho do(a) assistente social, o que lhe atribui o dever da intervenção também neste âmbito. Finalizamos com a pesquisa de campo, onde retratamos considerações de cunho qualitativo sobre a experiência do exercício profissional das assistentes sociais da SVMA, em que os dados coletados na entrevista possibilitaram uma análise de conteúdo. Em linhas gerais, a pesquisa enseja subsídios para conhecer a prática profissional do(a) assistente social frente às problemáticas ambientais em torno da institucionalização desse trabalho, e, por fim, depreendermos sobre as possibilidades de atuação e os desafios para o Serviço Social. / With the contemporary ecological crisis, global society faced the greatest challenge regarding the need to change their actions going forward on this issue. Faced with this crisis, which we consider as being environmental, social work as a profession, which falls into the fabric of social relations, should not be unaware of this subject. Thus, the objective of our research was to study the fundamentals of environmental issue and know the work of social workers in that issue. Thus, we sought during this research further questioning of the manifestations of socio-environmental issue in a socio-historical perspective, to reflect on the possible interventional contributions of social workers in this universe, and, besides, learn through the account of the experience of professional practice social workers at the Registry of Green and Environment (SVMA) in the city São Paulo/SP, the traits and the reflections of the work, and thus confirming their interrelations with the Social Work. For this, we use as a search route the dialectical method, from the literature and field research. Based on the theoretical framework on this issue, we unveil and analyze the environmental issue, where the binomial: modern paradigm of man-nature relationship and structural hegemonic process - capitalist mode of production - as the main factors for the developments social and environmental degradation was demystified. Thus, we contextualize on ethics, legislation and environmental education as instruments for the construction of a new, ecological paradigm. Still, in this analysis, we understand that social and environmental issues permeate as one of the expressions of social issues, being the work object of social workers, which assigns the duty of intervention also in this area. We end with field research, where we portray considerations of a qualitative nature about the experience of the professional practice of the social workers at SVMA, where the data collected in the interview allowed for a content analysis. In general, the research entails subsidies to know the professional practice of the social worker facing environmental problems around the institutionalization of this work, and, finally, consider the possibilities of performance and challenges for Social Work.

Este estudo objetiva apresentar contribuições para o aprofundamento do debate acerca da relação entre questão social e mídia no Brasil, articulando esta temática à discussão sobre as particularidades da formação social brasileira, com destaque para o conceito de revolução passiva no pensamento de Antonio Gramsci. A aproximação a este complexo campo de reflexão se dará, em seus aspectos gerais, pela articulação entre três grandes debates teóricos: a) o concernente à questão social, sobretudo a discussão realizada no interior do Serviço Social, pelo estudo de suas expressões e determinações fundantes, seu desenvolvimento histórico, as particularidades que assume na formação social brasileira e em tempos de hegemonia neoliberal; b) o denso debate sobre as particularidades do desenvolvimento histórico da formação social brasileira, tendo como fio condutor a noção de revolução burguesa, tal como desenvolvida por Florestan Fernandes. O diálogo com autores que trataram das especificidades do desenvolvimento capitalista e da instauração da ordem burguesa no Brasil, aporta não apenas elementos para se pensar na questão social no País, mas também, compreender a conexão entre a trajetória histórica da sociedade brasileira que, a nosso ver, é marcada por momentos de transição pelo alto (o que Gramsci chamou de revolução passiva) e a relevância e influência que a chamada grande mídia tem na sociedade brasileira atual; c) o debate teórico entorno do conceito de hegemonia no pensamento de Gramsci, no sentido de compreender a função e o lugar da grande mídia na luta de classes, articulando o conceito de hegemonia compreendido como a capacidade de uma classe formar e conservar seu poder através da direção intelectual e moral às noções de sociedade civil, senso comum, aparelhos privados de hegemonia, cultura, entre outros. Trata-se de uma análise de caráter fundamentalmente teórico-interpretativo, que não pode prescindir, assim sendo, de uma análise que, partindo do presente, se aproxime de processos históricos elementares para pensar o contexto atual, sobre o qual incide nossa proposta de estudo. Na condição de aparelho privado de hegemonia, a mídia burguesa cumpre a função de fabricar e difundir consensos que formam o senso comum e contribuem para a reprodução da passivização das classes subalternas. No Brasil, essa questão assume dimensão diferenciada, em virtude das recorrentes soluções pelo alto, típicas de uma revolução burguesa experimentada como revolução sem revolução, que marcaram a trajetória histórica do país. Nesse processo, o Estado assume protagonismo para preservar a hegemonia das classes dominantes, excluindo a massa do povo de exercer influência na direção da vida política e social através da repressão direta e da coerção e através da construção de estratégias destinadas à obtenção do consenso das classes subalternas. Com a hegemonia neoliberal, efetiva-se um aprofundamento da subordinação e passivização destas classes, por um novo processo de fragilização de seus aparelhos de disputa por hegemonia, ao mesmo tempo que grandes conglomerados midiáticos se formam e se fortalecem, interferindo em todas as esferas da vida social e participando na construção de uma direção hegemônica da sociedade que seja favorável à preservação da ordem. / This study aims to provide input to deepen the debate about the relationship between "social issue" and media in Brazil, linking this issue to the discussion of the peculiarities of Brazilian society, especially for the concept of "passive revolution" in the thinking of Antonio Gramsci. The approach to this complex field of reflection will occur in its general aspects, by the articulation among three major theoretical debates: a) concerning the "social issue", particularly the discussion held within the Social Service, by the study of its expressions and founding determinations, its historical developing, the particularities that it assumes in the Brazilian social composition and the aspects that are part of its present; b) the dense debate about the particularities of the historical development of the Brazilian social formation, having as a guideline the notion of "bourgeois revolution", as developed by Florestan Fernandes. The conversation with authors that addressed the specificities of the capitalist development and the establishment of the bourgeois order in Brazil, brings not only elements to be considered in the "social issue" in the country, but also, understand the connection between the historical trajectory of Brazilian society - that, to our understanding, is marked by moments of passive transition (what Gamsci called "passive revolution") - and the relevance and influence that the so called big media has in the contemporary Brazilian society; c) the theoretical debate around the concept of hegemony in the thought of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, in a sense to understand the funtion and place of the big media in the struggle of classes, articulating the concept of hegemony - understood as the ability of a class to build and retain their power through the "intellectual and moral direction" - to the notions of civil society, common sense, "private" hegemony apparatuses, culture apparatuses, among others. This is an analysis of fundamentally theoretical and interpretive character, which can't do without, thus, of an analysis that, starting from the present, approaches elementary historical processes to think about the current context, over the one that our study proposal focuses. In the condition of "private" hegemony apparatus, the bourgeois media fulfills a function to fabricate and disseminate consensus that mold the common sense and contribute to the reproduction of the passivization of the subaltern classes. In Brazil, that issue assumes distinguished dimension, in virtue of the "solutions from above", typical of a bourgeois revolution experienced as "revolution without revolution", that marked the historical trajectory of the country. In that process, the State assumes leadership to preserve the hegemony of the ruling classes, excluding the mass of people to influence the direction of social and political life through direct repression and coercion and by building strategic elements aimed at achieving consensus of the subaltern classes. With the neoliberal hegemony, a deepening of subordination and passivization of these classes takes place, by a new process of weakening of its apparatuses of dispute for hegemony, at the same time as big media conglomerates are formed and strengthened, interfering in all social life spheres and imprint a hegemonic direction to society, favorable to the preservation of order.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T13:24:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1121537 bytes, checksum: 3aa6e360e377b93f99f863224c19bea0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research aims at analyzing the conditions of life and work of cane cutters in the city of Mamanguape - Paraíba. Given the understanding of reality, research has prioritized the knowledge of the method in Marx (1983), and the study of Marxist economic categories essential to the apprehension of the social question in its various expressions, which in the case of sugarcane cutting reveals on the devices used by capital to obfuscate the abuse that thousands of workers are subjected. Based on this understanding, we analyze the relations of production of agribusiness cane sugar, with the privileged object the cane cutter. In the case of this worker, capital is used strategically salary for production, forcing him to step up his activity and generating, in turn, the most perverse forms of exploitation. Given the rationale of Social Service, this research aims to know this particular form of exploitation, seeking closer ties with one of the expressions of social issues. It is noticed that the social question, the result of capital-labor contradiction is at the same time, the object of intervention and knowledge of Social Work. Based on this understanding, this research acquires significance insofar as it lies in agribusiness cane sugar, which summarizes economic segment wealth and poverty, expressing thus the mode of being of capitalist development. / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo a análise das condições de vida e trabalho dos cortadores de cana no município de Mamanguape - Paraíba. Tendo em vista a compreensão da realidade, a pesquisa priorizou o método em Marx (1982), e portanto, o estudo de categorias econômicas marxistas, imprescindível à apreensão da questão social em suas mais variadas expressões, que no caso do corte da cana revela-se nos artifícios utilizados pelo capital para ofuscar a exploração abusiva a que milhares de trabalhadores são submetidos. A partir desse entendimento, analisamos as relações de produção da agroindústria da cana-de-açúcar, tendo como objeto privilegiado o cortador de cana. No caso desse trabalhador, o capital utiliza-se, estrategicamente, do salário por produção, forçando-o a intensificar sua atividade e gerando, por sua vez, as mais perversas formas de exploração. Tendo em vista a razão de ser do Serviço Social, esta pesquisa objetiva conhecer essa forma particular de exploração, visando uma maior aproximação com uma das expressões da questão social. Percebe-se que a questão social, fruto da contradição capital-trabalho é, ao mesmo tempo, objeto de intervenção e de conhecimento do Serviço Social. A partir desse entendimento, esta pesquisa adquire significado, na medida em que se situa na agroindústria da cana-de-açúcar, segmento econômico que sintetiza riqueza e miséria, expressando, portanto, o modo de ser do desenvolvimento capitalista.

This dissertation presents results of a study whose main objective was to identify and understand the social actions taken by the bishop Don José Vicente Silveira Távora in Sergipe (1958-1970). Such actions were here related to the senses and provisions established in the Brazilian Catholic field since 1930 to 1970 and to the discussion about the social issue that drove the Social Doctrine of the Church in Brazil. We also seek to highlight the following aspects: emergence, strategies, practices, discourses and symbolic goods offered by this bishop. Thus, the analysis of social actions of Dom Távora in Sergipe requires, above all, understanding the senses of that religious field, as well as the positions of the agent within this social sphere in the 1950s and 1960s, a period under the sign of the genesis of the catholic left and of its transformative ambitions. It s supposed that the social actions implemented by Dom Távora in Sergipe are directly associated with the defense of a Church model, which is manifested by the reform faction of the Brazilian clergy to which he was linked. Moreover, it s noted that the pictures attributed to him were the result of a construction career in defense of a direct action of the Church regarding the social issue, as well as its proximity to the intellectual and political field in Brazil. / Esta dissertação apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa cujo objetivo principal foi identificar e compreender as ações de cunho social empreendidas pelo prelado Dom José Vicente Silveira Távora em Sergipe (1958-1970). Tais ações foram, aqui, relacionadas aos sentidos e disposições instituídas no campo católico brasileiro no intervalo de 1930 a 1970 e ao debate acerca da questão social que impulsionou a Doutrina Social da Igreja no Brasil. Busca-se também, evidenciar os seguintes aspectos: emergência, estratégias, práticas, discursos e bens simbólicos oferecidos por este prelado. Assim, a análise das ações sociais de Dom Távora em Sergipe pressupõe, antes de tudo, a compreensão dos sentidos do referido campo religioso, bem como, da posição deste agente no interior desta esfera social nas décadas de 1950 e 1960, período sob o signo da gênese da esquerda católica e suas ambições transformadoras. Pressupõe-se que as ações sociais implantadas por Dom Távora em Sergipe estão diretamente associadas à defesa de um modelo de Igreja manifestado pela facção reformista do clero brasileiro ao qual ele estava vinculado. Ademais, é percebido que as imagens a ele atribuídas foram fruto de uma construção de carreira em defesa de uma ação direta da Igreja com relação à questão social, bem como de sua aproximação com o campo intelectual e político no Brasil.

Esse trabalho é uma análise do Relatório Final da Comissão da Verdade e Reconciliação do Peru (CVR) e problematiza o tratamento dado pela Comissão na avaliação dos impactos da luta armada do Partido Comunista do Peru - Sendero Luminoso (PCP-SL) e da resposta do Estado peruano a ela. A referência territorial do nosso trabalho é a serra sul central andina, particularmente o departamento de Ayacucho. Essa é uma das regiões de maior população quéchua-falante do país, é o local onde o PCP-SL surgiu e concentrou suas ações, sobretudo nos primeiros seis anos da década de 1980, e onde o conflito deixou mais vítimas e teve uma dinâmica mais acentuada de violência. Por este motivo, o foco deste trabalho é a questão indígena a partir da pergunta: de que modo ela é apresentada no Relatório Final da CVR? Para interpretar o Relatório, realizamos uma análise do discurso a partir de uma contextualização histórica e comparada do documento, e pela seleção de uma série de categorias-chave relacionadas ao horizonte étnico-racial colonial da sociedade peruana: índio, indígena, camponês(a), mestiço(a), misti e cholo(a). Como estratégias complementares para levantar e sintetizar outro tipo de dados e informações foram feitas duas viagens de campo ao Peru. A criação e o trabalho da Comissão têm uma importância histórica evidente no contexto latino-americano. Seu Relatório deve ser apreciado como ponto de partida importante para novas hipóteses, trabalhos de campo e na construção coletiva e popular de projetos de país que sejam plurais e democráticos. Quanto à questão indígena, o Relatório Final é produto de décadas de disputa de posições políticas e intelectuais, e como tal apresenta avanços, potencialidades, contradições e limites. A invisibilização dos povos indígenas andinos e o obscurecimento da questão remetem mais, portanto, a problemas próprios desses debates que antecedem à Comissão. A CVR localiza-se em um contexto de esgotamento dos discursos de mestiçagem como aposta das elites políticas e intelectuais para resolver a questão nacional pendente, mas situa-se em um momento que a valorização e o reconhecimento das diferenças como potencialidade na construção de um Estado popular e democrático é limitada / This work aims to analyze the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru (CVR in Portuguese), and discusses the Commission\'s treatment of the impacts of the armed struggle of the Communist Party of Peru - Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, PCP-SL) and the response of the Peruvian state for it. The territorial reference of our report is the southern Andean mountain range, particularly the department of Ayacucho. This region has one of the largest Quechua-speaking population in the country, it is where PCP-SL emerged and concentrated its actions, overall in the first six years of the 1980s, when the conflict left more victims and was more violent. For this reason, the focus of this work is the indigenous issue based on the question: howis it presented in the CVR Final Report? In order to interpret the Report, a discourse analysis was conducted on a historical and comparative contextualization of the document, and the selection of categories related to the ethnic-racial colonial horizon of Peruvian society: Indian, indigenous, peasant, mestizo, misti and cholo. Two field trips to Peru were made in order to complement strategies to collect and synthesize other data and information. The creation and work of the Commission have historic importance in the Latin American context. Its Report should be appreciated as an important starting point for new hypotheses, fieldwork and the collective and popular construction of plural and democratic country projects. As for the indigenous issue, the Final Report is the product of decades of dispute over political and intellectual positions, and as such, it presents advances, potentialities, contradictions and limits. The invisibility of the Andean indigenous people and the obscuring of the issue are, therefore, more akin to the problems inherent in these debates which preceded the Commission. The CVR is in a context of the depletion of mestizaje discourses as a bet by the political and intellectual elites to solve the pending national question, but it is at a time when the valorization and recognition of differences as potentialities in the construction of a Popular and democratic state is limited

Management thinking has changed focus from bringing in new customers to under- standing the significance of maintaining existing customers and the need to attain loyalty with these customers. This has increased the importance of keeping good customer relationships. One important element to attain good customer relations is through a solid customer support. In this thesis a customer support approach for a software consultancy company has been implemented. The goal was to create a SharePoint Online application that would work as a single point of contact for the customers to improve the issue resolution process. Requirements elicitation was done through five customer interviews to obtain opinions and needs. Moreover, based on the customer requirements a workshop were held with developers from the consultancy firm to design a workflow proto- type. The final result is a customer-centered process that takes reported issues and manages the tickets through the issue life cycle until the issue is resolved. The approaches relies heavily on light-weight feedback in terms of mail notifications, reminders, and automatic assignment of tasks. The new process was developed in SharePoint Online and implemented using SharePoint Designer.

China's smog air pollution has become an increasingly urgent environmental crisis in China. Using framing as theoretical framework, this research examined how much media attention is focused on smog air pollution and how print media frame smog air pollution. An empirical content analysis of 339 articles in the People’s Daily newspaper was conducted from 2000 to 2016, and the results showed that “non-voluntary solutions” and “problem” frames were the two frames that had been most utilized to construct stories about air pollution. Smog air pollution crisis also discussed in terms of Downs issue-attention cycle, a five-stage model explaining the rise and down of social attention to a social issue. The smog air pollution crisis in China been found that exhibiting three cycles that relate to media attention. Also, the research found that the prominence of the frames varied at different cycles. It is worth noting that the prominence of the frames moved away from the “problem “and “effects on social economic” frames to the “government responsibility,” “individual responsibility,” and the “voluntary” frames. The finding suggests that media attention and media concerns and journalists’ narrative considerations change across the different phases of development, that natural instincts, political influence, and media norms can all affect it.

Dans cette recherche, on analyse la question à savoir « comment les trois principaux types de groupes kurdes -nationale, religieuse et économique- coopèrent pour établir un consensus sur un objectif commun : une région politique kurde en Turquie ». En suivant la théorie du constructivisme, le modèle des Trois I, la sociologie de l'organisation et de la sociologie de l'action collective sont articulé pour examiner l'action collective kurde, qui est constamment reconstruite dans un contexte historiquement construit, qui est aussi constamment reconstruit par les dynamiques aux niveaux nationaux, transnationaux (géopolitiques), européens et mondiaux. Quant à la tâche empirique, on examine les conflits, les négociations, la coopération et le consensus de ces trois groupes kurdes sur la question kurde et l'influence des cinq dynamiques structurants mentionnés ci-dessus. La principale méthode utilisée dans ma recherche est l'analyse qualitative des entretiens en profondeur. Au niveau conclusion théorique, la recherche fait remarquable contribution aux théories et approches concernant les identités collectives et les groupes (étant groupe) collectives, l'État, le modèle des « Trois I », la dépendance au sentier, la géopolitique de la question kurde et l'européanisation. Au niveau empirique, la principale conclusion de l'étude est le fait que les groupes kurdes n’ont pas atteint de construire une organisation commune et des règles collectivement acceptées jusqu'ici. Les idées, les intérêts et les institutions des groupes ne sont pas équivalents ; et les intérêts particuliers des groupes ont pesé sur l'action collective dans la région kurde. / In this research, I analyzed the question of “the three main types of Kurdish groups -national, religious and economic- cooperate to establish a consensus on a common purpose: a Kurdish political region in Turkey.” Following the theory of constructivism, the Three I model, the sociology of organization and the sociology of collective action are articulated to examine the Kurdish collective action, which the is constantly re-constructed in historically constructed context, which is also constantly re-constructed by dynamics at national, trans-national (geopolitical), European and global levels. As to the empirical task, I examined the conflicts, negotiations, cooperation and consensus of these three Kurdish groups regarding the Kurdish issue(s) and the influence of the above-mentioned five structuring dynamics. The principal method used in my research is the qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews. At the level of theoretical conclusion, the research makes remarkable contribution to the theories and approaches concerning the collective identities and groups(ness), the state, the “Three I” model, path dependency, the geopolitics of the Kurdish issue, and Europeanization. At the empirical level, the main conclusion of the research is the fact that the Kurdish groups have not achieved to build a common organization and accepted rules so far. The groups’ ideas, interests and institutions are not equivalent and the groups’ distinctive interests have weighed on the collective action in the Kurdish region.

This thesis adopts a Wendtian constructivist perspective in order to explore how Iran defined its interests in the context of the nuclear issue during the Ahmadinejad presidency. Against realist-type approaches which often attributed a nuclear weapons rationale to Iran and framed its programme as a threat to international security, it argues that Iran’s nuclear policy must be interpreted within the context of its identity and the latter’s causal and constitutive effects on its interests and behaviours. The Wendtian perspective, together with a mixed methods approach combining document analysis and interviews, sheds light on how Iran understood its interests and why the regime perceived opportunities/threats and permissible/unacceptable options in the way it did. This thesis demonstrates that Iran’s nuclear programme was interpreted within a structure of meaning that emphasised its legality and legitimacy. Additionally, it shows that the Ahmadinejad administration’s resistance strategies cannot be understood outside the context of the perceived humiliating failure of the Khatami administration’s confidence-building approach. Not only had Iran’s reputation and independence been jeopardised, but its failure to secure recognition of its nuclear rights also confirmed that the issue was a Western-led manufactured crisis that aimed to undermine the IRI, prevent the development of the Iranian nation and transform the IAEA’s mandate. Iran thus engaged in strategies of self-assertion to challenge the perceived illegal and illegitimate policies of its negotiation partners, the UNSC and the IAEA. Furthermore, this thesis contends that the Ahmadinejad administration sought to transform the diplomatic focus on its nuclear programme into multifaceted geopolitical opportunities. On the one hand, Iran attempted to situate the issue within the wider context of global debates around access to peaceful nuclear energy and the sustainability of the non-proliferation regime. Its denunciations of the Western NWSs’ discriminatory practices echoed with other states’ concerns. On the other hand, Iran’s proposals to the EU-3/P5+1 included repeated offers of cooperation on a range of dilemmas of common interests and aversion. As such, Iran pursued dual-track strategies towards its main nuclear opponents, combining enforcement costs with inducements. Finally, the belief that the US lay at the core of the nuclear issue prompted important debates and developments within Iran about the question of their bilateral relations. While these challenged conventional wisdoms about the principlists’ preferences, Iran’s discursive and ever-increasing strategic dependence on the US continued to explain its Janus-faced strategies towards the superpower.