Ce mémoire étudie le phénomène de wedge politics sous un angle communicationnel, en proposant d’identifier et décrire les principales pratiques rhétoriques associées au déploiement d’une stratégie de wedge politics par les nombreux acteurs du débat public sur le projet de loi C-391, intitulé Loi modifiant le Code criminel et la Loi sur les armes à feu (abrogation du registre des armes d’épaule). La posture rhétorique que nous adoptons se traduit par une démarche méthodologique et des analyses imbriquées en quatre étapes: 1) l’élaboration d’une mise en perspective historique relativement élargie du débat public entourant le projet de loi C-391, 2) la recension des principaux acteurs et des discours qu’ils ont produits à un moment fort de ce débat, entre mai 2009 et mai 2011, 3) une première analyse et description générale de la dynamique rhétorique entre les acteurs du débat pendant cette période, et enfin, 4) une analyse systématique des discours échangés entre le 1er août 2010 et le 22 septembre 2010 nous permettant d’identifier et de décrire les principales pratiques rhétoriques employées par les acteurs. Les dix pratiques que nous avons relevées sont: l’appel à l’action, le scapegoating, le ciblage, la personnalisation du débat, le blâme, la dérision, l’attribution d’intentions malveillantes, la menace de représailles de la part des électeurs, l’exploitation des clivages et le contraste. En conclusion, nous discutons en quoi ces pratiques rhétoriques peuvent contribuer à l’atteinte des objectifs d’une stratégie de wedge politics. / This thesis examines the wedge politics phenomenon from a communicational standpoint by identifying and describing the main rhetorical practices associated with the deployment of a wedge politics strategy during the public debate surrounding Bill C-391, entitled An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act (repeal of long-gun registry). Our rhetorical approach entails a methodological framework and analyses deployed in four stages: 1) the establishment of a relatively wide ranging historical perspective on the public debate surrounding Bill C-391, 2) a survey of the main actors and the speeches they exchanged at a key moment of the debate, between May 2009 and May 2011, 3) a preliminary analysis and general description of the rhetorical dynamics among the actors during that time, and finally, 4) a systematic analysis of the exchanges that took place between August 1st 2010 and September 22nd 2010 in order to identify and describe the key rhetorical practices employed by the actors. The ten practices we have identified are: call to action, scapegoating, targeting, personalisation of the debate, blame, mockery, attribution of malicious intent, evoking the threat of retribution on the part of the electorate, exploiting cleavages and contrast. We conclude by discussing how these rhetorical practices contribute to the general objectives of a wedge politics strategy.

Ce mémoire étudie le phénomène de wedge politics sous un angle communicationnel, en proposant d’identifier et décrire les principales pratiques rhétoriques associées au déploiement d’une stratégie de wedge politics par les nombreux acteurs du débat public sur le projet de loi C-391, intitulé Loi modifiant le Code criminel et la Loi sur les armes à feu (abrogation du registre des armes d’épaule). La posture rhétorique que nous adoptons se traduit par une démarche méthodologique et des analyses imbriquées en quatre étapes: 1) l’élaboration d’une mise en perspective historique relativement élargie du débat public entourant le projet de loi C-391, 2) la recension des principaux acteurs et des discours qu’ils ont produits à un moment fort de ce débat, entre mai 2009 et mai 2011, 3) une première analyse et description générale de la dynamique rhétorique entre les acteurs du débat pendant cette période, et enfin, 4) une analyse systématique des discours échangés entre le 1er août 2010 et le 22 septembre 2010 nous permettant d’identifier et de décrire les principales pratiques rhétoriques employées par les acteurs. Les dix pratiques que nous avons relevées sont: l’appel à l’action, le scapegoating, le ciblage, la personnalisation du débat, le blâme, la dérision, l’attribution d’intentions malveillantes, la menace de représailles de la part des électeurs, l’exploitation des clivages et le contraste. En conclusion, nous discutons en quoi ces pratiques rhétoriques peuvent contribuer à l’atteinte des objectifs d’une stratégie de wedge politics. / This thesis examines the wedge politics phenomenon from a communicational standpoint by identifying and describing the main rhetorical practices associated with the deployment of a wedge politics strategy during the public debate surrounding Bill C-391, entitled An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act (repeal of long-gun registry). Our rhetorical approach entails a methodological framework and analyses deployed in four stages: 1) the establishment of a relatively wide ranging historical perspective on the public debate surrounding Bill C-391, 2) a survey of the main actors and the speeches they exchanged at a key moment of the debate, between May 2009 and May 2011, 3) a preliminary analysis and general description of the rhetorical dynamics among the actors during that time, and finally, 4) a systematic analysis of the exchanges that took place between August 1st 2010 and September 22nd 2010 in order to identify and describe the key rhetorical practices employed by the actors. The ten practices we have identified are: call to action, scapegoating, targeting, personalisation of the debate, blame, mockery, attribution of malicious intent, evoking the threat of retribution on the part of the electorate, exploiting cleavages and contrast. We conclude by discussing how these rhetorical practices contribute to the general objectives of a wedge politics strategy.

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Le conflit d'intérêts est un sujet passionnant notamment en raison de son omniprésence dans l'actualité. Approximative, l'expression empruntée au magma lexical des politiciens et juristes anglo-américains s'est récemment diffusée en France dans le monde des affaires et aussitôt reprise par le jargon médiatique pour désigner des éventuelles interférences de l'intérêt privé dans l'exercice de pouvoirs de nature privée ou publique. Il n'existe en l'état actuel du droit positif français aucune réglementation spécifique de ces « conflits d'intérêts », pas plus en droit privé qu'en droit public, alors même qu'on se préoccupe de leur prévention tandis que leur sanction relève de qualifications plus générales. Il convient donc de s'interroger sur la définition et la valeur opératoire de cette notion et le régime juridique qui pourrait lui être réservé, ce que l'on se propose d'entreprendre dans la sphère du droit privé et par préférence dans le champ de l'arbitrage commercial, particulièrement exposé aux appétits hégémoniques des droits anglo-américains. / Conflict of Interests is a fascinated subject due to its pervasiveness in the economic life. This approximated expression, borrowed from the politicians and Anglo-American lawyers' jargon, has recently spread into the French business world and was taken up by the media to designate the interferences of private interest in the exercise of powers of private or public nature. In the current state of French Law, there is no specific rule governing conflicts of interests, neither in Private Law, nor in Public Law. Indeed, politicians and scholars paradoxically only focus on their prevention, whereas their sanctions fall within the scope of broader notions. The aim of this research is to lay down the definition, the operative value and the regime of conflict of interests. The scope of this research shall be, within Private Law, Commercial Arbitration Law, which is particularly exposed to the hegemony of Anglo-American laws.

The extent and quality of freshwater systems is declining globally. Combined with past drainage, straightening and flow regulation, current systems are often functional but not pristine. Conservation, creation and restoration of freshwater systems is common but requires significant planning, resources and active monitoring and may only be a short-term solution to the long-term problem of destruction and loss of riparian zones. Beavers (Castor spp.) have the ability to create physical and biological habitat heterogeneity through the construction of woody debris dams, thereby restoring lost natural discontinuities in freshwater systems. Beavers may thus offer a natural, more passive solution to the need for wetland restoration or creation and the problem of homogenisation of watercourses. As such, numerous beaver reintroductions and introductions have been undertaken based in part on restoring this lost natural heritage. However, it is crucial to be able to predict the potential effects on existing biota of physical modifications by beavers to ecosystems, especially in the light of further population expansion, whilst also disentangling these effects from other influences, namely herbivory. The impact of beavers on aquatic systems was studied using a combination of field-based surveys and experiments, using aquatic plants and macro-invertebrates as indicators of hydromorphological changes and to quantify the effects of direct foraging. The research presented in this thesis demonstrates beaver adaptive foraging behaviours between terrestrial and aquatic habitats, whilst feeding highly selectively, optimally and opportunistically, using the white water lily (Nymphaea alba) as a model species. The effects of beaver foraging on the aquatic plant resource and diversity was low over short time spans (e.g. 1 year), but when selective foraging was assessed over greater time scales (e.g. 10 years) the effects of foraging were distinct. Significant changes in aquatic plant height, biomass, richness, diversity and composition were observed over this time period due to selective grazing on large rhizomatous species (e.g. Menyanthes trifoliata). These direct effects occurred even though changes in water levels, which are commonly believed to be the main driver of beaver influence on aquatic vegetation, were negligible. In a separate study in Sweden where beavers commonly constructed dams, with ponds then forming upstream, the aquatic plant and coleoptera species richness and composition differed in comparison to adjacent non-beaver created wetlands. Therefore, having a range of wetland types in the environment increases physical and biological heterogeneity creating unique niches that are exploited by disparate taxa. The construction of a series of dams within a single reach of stream flowing through a Scottish agricultural landscape also increased physical habitat diversity. Distinctive macroinvertebrate assemblages and modified functional diversity were associated with each dominant habitat type in the stream, resulting in increased landscape scale richness. The findings of this thesis confirm that beaver engineering and foraging has the potential to create unique and highly heterogeneous wetland and stream habitats within landscapes that enhances richness and diversity for multiple species groups. This thesis also supports part of the rationale for the trial reintroduction of beaver to Scotland that beavers can restore degraded habitats.

This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.     This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.     This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.     This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.     This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Management Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The theory proposed here is that the Supreme Court behaves in a strategic manner at the agenda-setting stage in order to vote sincerely on the merits. To test this, I measure the impact issue salience and ideological distance between Congress and the Supreme Court has on the agenda. The results indicate that whether the Supreme Court behaves either sincerely or strategically depends on the policy area. The strategic nature of the Supreme Court at the agenda-setting phase may be in large part why some research shows that the Court behaves sincerely when voting on the merits. By behaving strategically at the agenda-setting phase, the Court is free to vote sincerely in later parts of the judicial process.

This dissertation focuses on the 'theo-political' core of US Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism. The political militancy characterizing two Millenarian/Messianic movements such as Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism constitutes a still under-researched and under-theorized aspect that, at present, is paramount to address for its immediate and long terms implications in the highly sensitive and volatile Israeli-Palestinian issue, in the US and Israeli domestic domain, and in the wider international community. Although processes of the 'sacralisation of politics' and 'politicisation of religions' have already manifested themselves in countless forms over past centuries, Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism are unprecedented phenomena given their unique hybridized nature, political prominence and outreach, mobilizing appeal amongst believers, organizational-communicational skills and degree of institutionalization.