The radical democratic conception of civil society strives for theoretically constructing and politically defending civil society as a social sphere autonomous from both the economy and state. As a position taken against Marxist and liberal theories, radical civil societarianism views the cultural and normative structures of modern societies as independent from and prior to systemically conceived economic and political relations. These structures is purported to give way to spontaneous social solidarity characterising civil society. With the mechanisms of domination and exploitation defined outside civil society, this approach ends up with excessive voluntarism characterising social relations thereof. Similarly, in the Turkish context, the dominant centre-periphery approach is predicated upon the external contradiction between the vertical state-society relations and horizontal relations between social actors. It is argued that the dominance of the former has caused the underdevelopment of civil society which is a particular expression of the latter. In any case, social conflicts are detached from structural political and economic mechanisms and conceived in voluntaristic terms. Consequently, the normative position radical civil societarianism takes vis-&agrave / -vis social movements fails to go beyond an imposition of the arbitrary notion of &ldquo / civility&rdquo / through the discourse of self-limitation.

Amid the transformation of operating environmental conditions and the changes in market, a business organization must think how to construct flexible manpower in order to respond to the changes in industries and markets. The traditional organization of hierarchy, which lacks flexibility, doesn¡¦t induce the flexible use of manpower and thus is ineffective in meeting the trends of industries and the market. Atkinson advocates demolishing the rigid system and, based on the characteristics of business production activities, dividing the organization into the core and periphery manpower so that the two sections can be complementary and each possible combination of manpower can be optimal. However, there exists the combination of three types of manpower in the shamrock organization mentioned by Handy, namely, professional core worker, temporary worker, and subcontract worker. The professional core worker can be compared to the core manpower mentioned by Atkinson, and the temporary and subcontract worker correspond to Atkinson¡¦s periphery manpower. The combination of these three types of manpower can be used to produce the foundation of the business¡¦ profitability. In addition, the current human resource arrangement should be adjusted in order to respond to the changes in the market in a timely manner. It is available to implement task flexibility, numerical flexibility, working-time flexibility, and wage flexibility to meet the practical work demands. This research based itself on the preceding concept, conducted interviews with China Steel Corporation and its subcontractors, and collected data through survey questionnaires administered to the subcontractors. The survey was conducted to understand how China Steel Corporation and its subcontractors divided their core and periphery manpower, how they constructed the shamrock organization, and how they used their manpower flexibility. The research also investigated whether there existed differences between China Steel Corporation and its subcontractors with regard to manpower flexibility. The analysis and synthesis of the data have led to the following findings: China Steel Corporation (CSC): 1.China Steel Corporation adopted for its main production line the shift system and mutual support of manpower to meet the requirements of the changing market and job demands, while the engineering and the equipment department adopted subcontracting to meet the change in the demand of manpower. 2.China Steel Corporation did not use temporary workers, but its subcontractors employed a large number of temporary and subcontract workers. As a result, the workers of China Steel Corporation and the temporary and subcontract workers of its subcontractors operate together at CSC, like the operation of a shamrock organization. 3.Without the worry of impeding quality, quantity, and safety, the job at the technical level was divided into core and non-core, with the core job emphasizing the creation of additional value. 4.The non-core job was carried out by the periphery workers, who consisted of the employees of subcontractors specialized in operation, construction and environmental protection and of other contractors. 5.China Steel Corporation enhanced the use of task flexibility through the use of task grouping, task changing, and job rotation, and expanded the scope of task flexibility through transferring and assigning personnel to auxiliary companies. At the same time, education and training were implemented to support the use of task flexibility. 6.With respect to the use of numerical flexibility, China Steel Corporation adopted subcontracting as the major measure of response. 7.With respect to the use of time flexibility, China Steel Corporation adopted such systems as flexible reporting and leaving time, shift, overtime, and optional leave instead of overtime pay. 8.As to the use of wage flexibility, China Steel Corporation raised the percentage of mobile wage, added wage flexibility, and used the bonus system to reflect the merits of the company and individual employees. Subcontractors: 1.Faced with the changes in the market and job requirements, they used temporary and subcontract workers as the major measure of response. Dependent on networks of interpersonal relationships, they hired temporary workers and provided support to subcontractors so that they tied closely into a shamrock organization. 2.About 30% of the CSC¡¦s subcontractors cultivated their employees to become their own subcontractors. The success of this plan depended on the limiting conditions for fund investment, the vitality of the industry, and the support made available by the CSC¡¦s subcontractors. 3.Monetary compensation was the major factor of retaining the core manpower, and the promotion system accounted for only 29.4% of manpower retention, which was related to the flat organizational structure. 4.More than half of the CSC¡¦s subcontractors assigned additional work, work requiring less training, and unimportant work to temporary workers. More then 60% of CSC¡¦s subcontractors would complete work requiring special skills or equipment through subcontracting. 5.With respect to the use of task flexibility, 70.2% of the CSC¡¦s subcontractors that implemented task flexibility experienced such a difficult situation in which a new hand was unable to handle his work. Only 32.7% of the subcontractors would give relevant training in advance, indicating that education and training did not support the use of task flexibility. 6.With respect to the use of numerical flexibility, 69% of the subcontractors hired temporary employees, and 62% of them used subcontracting. 7.With respect to the use of working-time flexibility, most CSC¡¦s subcontractors used overtime, shift, and varied time block as the major measure, for they had to coordinate operation with CSC and could not be independent in terms of working time. 8.With respect to the use of wage flexibility, the percentage of wage base linked to merit was low, and skills were more important than merit in deciding the wage of a temporary worker. 9.There existed no significant differences in wage and promotion between the core and periphery workers of the CSC¡¦s subcontractors. 10.There existed differences in benefits and training between the core and periphery workers of the CSC¡¦s subcontractors. Differences in the Use of Manpower Flexibility Between China Steel Corporation and Its Subcontractors: 1.China Steel Corporation had a high percentage (64%) of core workers and a relatively low percentage (36%) of periphery workers. In contrast, its subcontractors had a high percentage of periphery workers (including 34% subcontracting and 28% temporary workers, totaling 62%) and a low percentage (38%) of core workers. 2.As to the difference in task flexibility, China Steel Corporation had subsidiary companies and could expand the scope of task flexibility. In contrast, their subcontractors had no subsidiary companies and their task flexibility was restricted to the same enterprise. In comparison, China Steel Corporation invested more in education and training and was more competent in supporting task flexibility. 3.With respect to the difference in numerical flexibility, China Steel Corporation cared about the legality of using temporary workers while its subcontractors neglected this issue more or less and was less bound by labor unions with regard to using temporary workers or subcontracting. In practice, the CSC¡¦s subcontractors had more numerical flexibility than China Steel Corporation. 4.With respect to the difference in working-time flexibility, China Steel Corporation abided by the regulations regarding working overtime while its subcontractors did not pay attention to these restrictions. 5.With respect to the difference in wage flexibility, the wage structure at China Steel Corporation is institutionalized, about 30% belonged to mobile wage and was linked to the company¡¦s operation and individual employees¡¦ merit. On the contrary, the questionnaire survey collected from its subcontractors indicated that only a few of them assessed the wage base on merit.

Tatarstan’s degree of political, economic and cultural sovereignty within the Russian Federation is the result of Soviet era ethno-national politics. The re-adoption of the ethnic federal state model in 1992 by Russia allowed ethnic regions such as Tatarstan to challenge the federal authorities for con-federal relations within the Federation. The Tatar leadership has attempted to work within the institutional and legal framework of the Russian Federation in an attempt to codify their state sovereignty within the Russian Federation. The political and economic concessions gained through tedious negotiation with the center have provided the Republic with the means to build a culturally distinct and semi sovereign state in the heart of the Russian Federation. / text

This thesis considers the potential of the suburban periphery to become an ecologically, socially and culturally productive site which supports local and regional public programs. It explores ways of creating connectivity across the hard boundaries of a suburban development, an expressway and an agricultural area in order to stimulate biological and cultural diversity in this typically neglected, “leftover” environment. The site is the Ninth Line Corridor at the suburban edge of Mississauga, Ontario. The investigation of boundary occurs at the urban, building and experiential scales, and considers how the intersection of landscape, ecology, architecture and program can generate activities and events which foster engagement with the site and within a community.

Darbo tema „Šiaulių regiono gyvenviečių tinklas vėlyvajame geležies amžiuje“. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti intensyvaus naudojimo arealus Šiaulių apskrityje vėlyvajame geležies amžiuje ir hipotetiškai hierarchiškai juos sugrupuoti, t. y. pagal tam tikrus bruožus nustatyti, kurios regiono teritorijos tuo metu galėjo vadintis centrinėmis ekonominio ir karinio pajėgumo atžvilgiu, o kurios didesnės įtakos regionui neturėjo. Nors reikia pažymėti, kad regionas greičiausiai tuo metu dar nebuvo politiškai ir ekonomiškai organizuotas, tačiau centrinių teritorijų formavimosi procesas jau neabejotinai buvo vyko. Archaiškų bendruomenių gyvenviečių tinklui tirti visų pirma pasitelkiamas kartografinis tyrimo metodas, kuomet visi žinomi tyrinėjamo laikotarpio archeologiniai objektai, liudijantys gyvenvietės buvimą, yra sužymimi žemėlapyje, o vėliau išskiriamos jų sankaupos. Vėliau šių sankaupų sudedamos dalys nagrinėjamos pagal tam tikrus kriterijus (piliakalnių aukštis, kapų įkapių skaičius ir pan.), kurie atspindi ta vieta besinaudojusios bendruomenės pajėgumą. Tam visų pirma reikia sukurti šaltinių bazę ir ją susisteminti. / The topic is „The pattern of Šiauliai region settlements in Late Iron Age“. The aim is to exclude Šiauliai regions‘s habits of intensive use in Late Iron Age and hypothetically them hierarchically grouped. What means what according certain characteristics to determine which areas of the region at that time was called the central of economic and military strength and witch ones did not have significant impact on the region. Although should be noted that likely region of Šiauliai was not yet politically and economically orginized, but the process of central areas formation undoubtebly has been held. First of all, cartographic research method has been chosen for the investigation of the pattern of the settlements of archaic communities, when all known archeological objects of the period under investigation, demonstrating the presence of the settlement, are mapped on the map and later their accumulations are distinguished. Later the components of these accumulations are analysed according to certain criteria (height of the mounds, the number of cerements in graves and etc.), which reflect the capability of the community by which that place was used. But first of all it is necessary to develop the base of sources and to systematize it. In Lithuania this type of research has been introduced only recently thus their prospects are still large, as the base of sources is constantly being supplemented (new archeological objects are discovered and also previously found and known objects... [to full text]

From the exterior, the United States has extracted natural resources and transformed the social dynamics of those living on the periphery, contributing to the emigration from Mexico and immigration to the United States. This,in turn,creates the racialization of the Mexican immigrant, specifically the undocumented immigrant—the "illegal alien." I argue that this unilateral interaction operates with a racial formation of the Mexican immigrant created by elite white (non-Hispanic) males. The anti-Mexican immigrant subframe and "prowhite" subframe derive from the white racial frame,which racializes the undocumented immigrant in the United States. In addition, the subframes are evident in the three stages of migration. The three stages consist of threefold factors: First, the exploitation of Mexican resources (natural and human) and racialized immigration policies; second, the social networks and smugglers, called coyotes, who assist the undocumented immigrant to bypass barriers; and third, the discrimination undocumented immigrants encounter in the United States by other people of color. This dissertation relied on the migration experience of thirty Mexican male day-laborers,living in Texas, to examine the white racial framing of undocumented immigrants. The findings demonstrate how the U.S. immigration policies and members of the host society persistently exhibit the white racial frame and its subframes. This study is essential, because, aside from noting the issues of unauthorized migration, it demonstrates how elite white males shape the dialogue on the discourse and all that surrounds the migration process.

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This dissertation concerns everyday life and sustainability in sparsely populated parts of Northern Sweden. The aim is to study how sustainability is constructed, experienced, practised and perceived in a field of tension between local everyday life and political discourses. Apart from written material, the study is based on interviews and observations performed in the municipalities Strömsund and Örnsköldsvik. Empirical themes include everyday life movements and means of transport, work and spare time practices, and experiences of time. The central theoretical concepts used are everyday life, provinces of meanings, typifications, community, place and policy. These concepts shape the analysis of processes pertaining to space and movement, work and leisure, time and tempo. The study shows gaps between sustainability policies and local experiences of sustainability. In order to highlight complications like the ones between the center and the periphery, polices and lived experiences, I have stressed the importance of the social dimension of sustainability. It is nevertheless important to nuance the concept of social sustainability since it carries an ambiguity, for example in terms of collisions with other dimensions of sustainability. Socially good life styles have a tendency to collide with the ecological definitions of sustainability. The emphasis on the social dimensions has been done in order to draw attention to unfair effects from a time-space perspective, and to point at the problem with urban norms in policies on sustainability.

Cette recherche doctorale questionne le lien entre innovation et développement territorial, du point de vue de ses attributs, dans lecontexte de deux régions d’Europe qualifiées de périphériques et maritimes. Prenant appui sur une approche majoritairement qualitative, elle permet de placer les actions publiques du niveau régional au sein d’une prise en charge multi-niveaux de l’innovation. Elle étudie les relations de cet échelon avec les autres représentants de la triple hélice de l’innovation (secteur privé et de la recherche). Une nouvelle modélisation de leurs interactions est proposée. Pluridisciplinaire, appuyée sur un travail exhaustif de mise à plat de définitions, cette recherche s’inscrit dans l’approche en termes de milieu innovateur et mobilise, en outre, les cadres d’analyse de l’encastrement et du néo-institutionnalisme pour montrer l’importance du contexte en matière d’action publique liée aux activités innovantes. On préconise, entre autres, que la Région se positionne en milieu de terrain dans le jeu de l’innovation. Cela lui permet de transformer les contraintes liées à la périphéricité et à lamaritimité en atouts et ainsi de se faire pleinement reconnaître comme innovante. Sa vision large du jeu lui offre aussi l’opportunité de ne pas tomber dans le mainstream de l’action publique destinée au soutien des seuls acteurs innovants, pour mieux s’adresser à toutes les composantes de la société régionale. Elle est ainsi mieux à même de soutenir l’innovation, au bénéfice de son territoire / This doctoral study questions the link between innovation and territorialdevelopment, from its attributes’ point of view, in the context of two regions of Europe designated as peripheral and maritime. Based on a predominantly qualitative approach, it makes it possible to place the regional level public actions with in a multilevel innovation support. It studies this level’s relationships with the other representatives of the triple helix of innovation (private and research sectors). A new modeling of their interactions is proposed. Multidisciplinary, based on an exhaustive work on definitions, this study is part of the innovative milieus’ approach, and also mobilizes the analysis frameworks of embeddedness and neo-institutionalism to show the significance off the context regarding public action related to innovative activities. We advocate, among other recommendations, the Region to position itself as mid-field player in the game of innovation. This allows it to transform the constraints related to peripherality and maritimity into assets and thus to be recognized as fully innovative. Its broad vision off the game also offers the opportunity not to fail into the public action’s mainstream intended to support innovative players only, by better addressing all the components off the regional society. It is thus better able to support innovation, for its territory’s benefit

Cette thèse doctorale s’intéresse aux concepts de ‘centre’ et de ‘périphérie’ dans la littérature brésilienne contemporaine et sur le marché éditorial brésilien et international. Centrée sur l’œuvre de quatre auteurs brésiliens contemporains (Rodrigo Ciríaco, Marcelino Freire, Ana Paula Maia et Patrícia Melo), aux parcours personnels et artistiques variés, cette recherche montre que les auteurs en question peuvent être positionnés à des points différents dans un continuum entre le pôle ‘centre’ et le pôle ‘périphérie’. Ainsi, contre toute logique dichotomique, les différentes configurations identitaires de ces auteurs, qui se situent plus ou moins près du ‘centre’ ou de la ‘périphérie’, se construisent à travers leur relation avec chaque pôle. Ce travail de recherche commence par considérer la literatura periférica en tant que terminus a quo, et ce d’un point de vue qui ne se limite pas à une approche chronologique ou historico-culturelle : on étudie également la restructuration (ou déstructuration ?) progressive de la relation osmotique entre l’écriture et l’espace caractéristique de cette littérature. On note par exemple les œuvres d’une écrivaine comme Patrícia Melo, où la périphérie n’est qu’un simple scénario de fond. Enfin, cette thèse s’intéresse à l’influence d’auteurs brésiliens, en particulier les représentants de la literatura periférica, sur le marché éditorial international, sous l’angle de la traduction et de la participation à des événements culturels internationaux comme la Foire du Livre de Francfort et le Salon du Livre de Paris. / Starting from the concepts of the centre and the periphery, this thesis analyses their representation in Brazilian contemporary literature and their relationship in the Brazilian and international publishing market. Focusing on four Brazilian contemporary writers with different personal and creative paths – Rodrigo Ciríaco, Marcelino Freire, Ana Paula Maia e Patrícia Melo – this research aims to demonstrate that they can be placed on an imaginary line, which develops through multiple gradations. Therefore, this continuum is opposed to a binary opposition’s point of view. From this perspective, the emergence of a new literary movement from the suburbs of Brazilian big cities, the literatura periférica, is analyzed in order to try to understand how it is different, or not, from other literary discourses. Finally, the thesis observes the presence of Brazilian writers, especially exponents of literatura periférica, in the international publishing market, through their translation and participation in major international cultural events such as Frankfurt Book Fair and Paris Book Fair.