Cette thèse se propose de retracer l’histoire de la Junta de Philippe II. Encore très méconnue des historiens, la Junta fut porteuse d’un renouveau de la façon de gouverner et d’appréhender le politique en Espagne à la charnière des XVIe et XVIIe siècles. En s’insérant entre les diverses étapes de la consultation et la décision royale, et en situant l’action de ses membres au cœur de la gestion quotidienne des affaires, son influence modifia en profondeur la façon dont la structure conciliaire traditionnelle tâchait de répondre au flux incertain du politique. La confrontation quotidienne des membres de la Junta aux affaires les plus variées offre également à l’historien une perspective d’ensemble sur le gouvernement de la Monarchie. Les multiples processus de négociation, la conduite de projets d’ampleur et les diverses réactions aux contingences révèlent une action politique davantage soumise aux tensions et aux rapports de force des acteurs qu’à la ferme volonté du monarque. La Junta constitue ainsi un observatoire privilégié de la construction du choix politique à la fin du règne de Philippe II. Cherchant à s’émanciper à la fois des études sur les institutions de gouvernement et de l’approche prosopographique, ce travail explore de nouvelles pistes d’interprétation centrées sur les pratiques de gouvernement. Production documentaire, organisation du travail de bureau, élaboration de nouveaux dispositifs de consultation, la Junta permet de mieux comprendre quels étaient les mécanismes de la polysynodie et comment ils évoluèrent à son contact. / This thesis intends to trace the history of the Junta of Philip II. Still little known by historians the Junta brought change into the way of governing and of understanding politics in Spain at the transition from the XVIth to the XVIIth century. Being inserted between the several stages of consultation and the royal decision, and by placing the action of its members at the heart of the daily management of cases, its influence deeply modified the way in which the traditional conciliar structure tried to respond to the uncertain stream of politics.The daily confrontation of the members of the Junta with the most diverse cases also gives the historian an overview of the government of the Monarchy. The multiple negotiation processes, the management of wide projects and the several reactions to contingencies reveal a political action more dependent on tensions and balances of power between the actors than on a firm will of the monarch. The Junta thus constitutes a valuable observatory of the construction of political choice at the end of the reign of Philip II. Aiming at emancipating itself from both the studies on governing institutions and the prosopographical approach, this work explores new paths of interpretation focused on the practices of government. Document production, office work organisation, creation of new tools of consultation: the Junta allows to understand better what the mechanisms of the polysynody were and how they evolved because of it.

This study addresses the concept of fair governance based on an empirical study with marginalized groups, primarily Muslims, and their interaction with government agencies as its salient locus of investigation. Employing the research method of in-depth interviewing, I present a qualitative analysis of 35 semi-structured interviews with Muslims and government administrators. The methodological framework based on which these interviews are interpreted is rooted in the tradition of social constructivism as manifested in the grounded theory perspective of Charmaz. My examination of the hitherto unspoken political visions of the study participants and their shared perspectives offers pragmatic solutions to create greater equity and fairer inclusion of the marginalized in civic and political dialogues and in the administrative practice of government. Remarkably, the cultural changes towards justice and inclusion in the Government of British Columbia manifest that fair government is committed to creating a fundamental transformation in favour of marginalized groups. I find the most promising approach for such transformation occurs where bottom up and dynamic approaches of civil society are aligned with top down approaches of government to justice. The findings suggest that fair governance enhances its functionality and capacity through reflecting universal universalism in its policies and practices, heartening public spirituality and moving towards a more humane modernity rather than the extant western model of modernity. Thus, fair governance calls for diversity in expression of religious identity and challenges the mistaken images of Muslim women. Subsequently, fair government welcomes female religious actors, who act upon religious values, to its administration and respects their choice of clothing encompassing the scarf. Fair government, at all levels, ameliorates the ethical standards of its employees and employs authentic leaders, who act in a virtuous manner, care about employees’ deeply held values, and implement direct communication with staff. Such government supports legislative and constitutional reforms to consider a different outlook of the marginalized on political and social concerns, respects religious practices, honours Muslims’ identity and interpretation of life, and supports individuals who aim to improve humanity in Canada and its occupational settings. Rethinking Islamophobia in the context of the distinct need of government administrators for the institutional education about Islam, as a key finding of the study, depicts the emergence of “Islamoexploria”, as a new expression, which I coin. In my study, there is ample evidence to suggest that a sample of government administrators in British Columbia is in the age of post Islamophobia since they, as pioneers, have passed the stage of Islamophobia and entered a new era of “Islamoexploria”. Thus, they have produced the profound socio-cultural changes towards understanding Islam by shifting from fear of, ostensibly, the unknown to knowledge about the unknown and to approaches that are more sympathetic to Muslims. This finding suggests that fair government facilitates the journey from western Islamophobia, a demonstration of old racism, to “Islamoexploria”, a contemporary thirst for knowledge about Islam. Concurrently, Muslims remain responsible to contribute to fairness at large by role modeling their religious values, which greatly promote justice, compassionate attitudes, and humanitarian actions. / Graduate / 2022-12-07