This thesis presents a Strategic-Relational (SR) analysis of the processes ofchange and continuity in Mexican foreign policy during the Fox government. In2000, the election of President Fox determined the victory of a new party after71 years of Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) rule, producing thedemocratisation of the country. Domestic and international changes generatedby the end of the Cold War, and the presence of new actors in the Mexicanscenario created momentum for the country, helped also by the introduction ofa new foreign policy paradigm. Despite the significance of these elements, thestudy of their reciprocal influence in foreign policy has been neglected. Thesetransformations and the discrepancy between the discourse of change and itsimplementation are considered an ideal scenario for the study of continuity andchange in foreign policy-making. This research focuses on the application ofJessop and Hay’s Strategic-Relational Approach (SRA), considered able togenerate an understanding of this complex process of interaction. However,although the SRA theorises the impact of these interplays in policy-making,scarce consideration has been given to this approach in the study of foreignpolicy change. Therefore, the thesis aims to understand the dynamicsgrounding Fox’s foreign policy, employing the SRA to identify those conditionsnecessary for the implementation of change and appreciate how the interplayamong different elements was manifest. After explaining the SRA and its relevance to the study of change in foreignpolicy, the thesis provides a historical framework explaining Mexico’s evolutionin the years up to 2000. Building on these chapters, three empirical casestudies presenting different degrees of foreign policy change are then analysedthrough the SRA. They respectively consider Mexico’s approach topeacekeeping operations, its participation in the United Nations SecurityCouncil and its refusal to support the Iraq War, and Mexico’s internationalapproach to human rights. The thesis compares how, in the presence ofconsistent general conditions, the processes of change and continuity weredifferently implemented. The interplay established among the fundamental SRelements is interpreted as pivotal in every empirical chapter for its capacity toaccount for the complexity of the foreign policy process and the generation ofconcrete change in foreign policy.

Recent literature in various practical fields calls for a 'relational approach' to social justice, as a theoretical alternative that transcends limitations with liberal contractarianism to offer more penetrating analysis of social justice. I critically engage literature from radical intellectual-political traditions such as Marxism, feminism, and critical race theory to propose what can - and can't - form the basis of a cogent relational critique of liberalism and an alternative positive account. I hone this through dialogue with Rawlsian 'justice as fairness', as well as more recent developments such as relational egalitarianism. The most distinguishing feature of a relational approach is ontological: its social-theoretic account of injustice comprises supra-individual phenomena - relations, social groups, structure, historical causality - as opposed to individual locations hosting portions of a distribuend. Moreover, I define an intermediate position in the ideal vs non-ideal theory debate, arguing that a persuasive relational approach would 'start from injustice'; it would identify the primary desideratum incumbent on social justice theory as being that it enhances understanding of real injustice and thereby informs counteraction. One upshot is a closer relationship between political philosophy and social theory; in turn this reflects how a relational approach to social justice can enjoy symbiosis with the broader 'relational turn' in humanities and social sciences. The argument is furthered through exemplificatory reference to the empirical context of Brazil's post-redemocratisation experimentation with participatory democracy in the social assistance sector, as an aspect of the country's putative 'new social contract'.

In this thesis, the relation between the internationalization of capital and the national state in the context of globalization is put under critical scrutiny. Elucidation of the dynamics of the globalization process constitutes a crucial significance for the understanding of the contemporary transformations in the capital accumulation and the state. It is aimed to propose a conceptual framework to transcend the dualist comprehensions between the political and economic, capital and the state, and global and national that are widespread within the analyses of globalization. It is asserted that dualist conceptualizations obscure the elucidation of the underlying social relations that pave the way for the internationalization of capital. It is argued that a relational perspective, which emphasizes the social relational character of the state and capital, can explicate the contradictory unity of the political and economic by conceiving these phenomena as forms of presence of the capitalist relations of production. It is claimed that a relational perspective provides a fertile framework of analysis for the elucidation of the process of globalization by overcoming the juxtaposition of the global capital and the national states through the argument that they exist in and through their internal relations within the capitalist relations of production. It is proposed that, the internationalization of capital should not be conceived as a recent phenomenon, but as an incessant process reconstituted through different forms beginning from the historical constitution of the capitalist relations of production. Furthermore, a relational perspective, which conceives the international system of national states not as in opposition to the international capital accumulation but as an indispensible internal part of it, is proposed. In the thesis, neo-Gramscian analyses, the regulation school and the relational approaches are critically examined in terms of their conceptualizations of the relations between the political and economic, capital and the state, and global and national. It is intended to propose a conceptualization that enables the elaboration of the continuity and unity of the internationalization of the capitalist relations as well as their differentiation and uneven development.

La famiglia nell'attualità è attraversata da cambiamenti che stanno trasformando le fondamenta della identità personale, gli assiomi della vita quotidiana. Il caso della famiglia che ha attraversato una rottura ed è contrassegnata da separazione e divorzio, solleva un gran numero di questioni umane e sociali e origina diverse transizioni, che sono state al centro dell'approfondimento oggetto di questa tesi dottorale, condotto su un campione di giovani adulti italiani. Essa mostra, nella fattispecie attraverso le peculiari caratteristiche della ricerca qualitativa, i tratti salienti di specifici metodi visuali, denominati "Family map" e "Life line". Essi hanno contribuito a definire la struttura, il posizionamento relazionale dei membri della famiglia, le stesse relazioni tra essi, nonchè di concettualizzare chi "appartiene" a una famiglia che ha attraversato un cambiamento, una transizione, che porta dunque con sè un corredo di eventi correlati. L'intervistato ha partecipato di volta in volta secondo una modalità (inter)attiva e ha descritto graficamente all'interno delle quattro specifiche sezioni ed i cerchi concentrici della mappa e poi lungo la linea, quali relazioni e fatti sono più o meno importanti. L'intervistatore ha potuto rivolgere domande volte ad acquisire informazioni su alcuni processi di cambiamento e la prospettiva peculiare di tale cambiamento, così come percepita da ciascun attore, ad esempio in riferimento ad eventi passati o presenti. Attraverso lo specifico snodarsi grafico dei supporti - allo sesso tempo fornendo un inquadramento consistente di dati- questo lavoro ha gettato luce su cosa le relazioni familiari, gli eventi e le rappresentazioni configurano nella percezione della persona coinvolta. La scommessa posta attraverso l'uso di questi metodi visuali è quella di continuare a concepire gli individui in termini di approccio relazionale, attraverso l'interdipendenza con il sè, l'altro da sè e il mondo, lungo tutto il corso della propria esistenza. Un grande contributo di questo strumento sui generis è che ha aperto le porte a numerose altre domande che stimolano la ricerca di risposte e la stessa futura ricerca riguardante i figli di separati. / Many changes are affecting the family today, transforming the foundations of self-identity, which are the core models for everyday personal life. The situation of family disruption, such as separation and divorce, raises either a number of human and social issues, and transitions which deserved to be better understood in this PhD thesis, being carried out on a sample of young Italian adults. It shows in the form of qualitative research the main features of specific visual methods, the Family map and Life line. They contributed to define the structure, the positions of family members, the relationships between them and conceptualize who belongs to a family that has changed, with crucial events related. The interviewee has been actively identifying and describing graphically (within the four sections and the concentric circles of the map and along the line) which relations and facts are more or less relevant. The interviewer could ask questions in order to get some processes of change and the actors’ own perception of such change, e.g. with reference to current state or past events. Along a specific visual development of the graphs -while providing a helpful framework- this research throwed some light on what family relationships, events and representations are on the perception of the person involved. The challenge posed for this visual methods is to continue to conceive of individuals in terms of relational approach, through the interdependence with self, others, and the world during the course of life. A great contribution of this tool sui generis is that it opened the door to numerous additional questions concerning children of divorce, that need answers and further research.

The thesis looks into the under-researched phenomenon of ‘stasis’ that can be observed in many emerging tourist destinations in the world. Stasis—defined here as non-growth—has been essentially addressed in the tourism literature from the perspective of operational constraints. However, in this thesis it is argued that such an approach neglects to consider these constraints as outcomes of deeply sedimented and chronically reproduced structural properties. In other words, the study attempts to gain an understanding of why operational constraints fail to receive response in destinations experiencing stasis. With its focus on stasis rather than on change, the study adopts an innovative approach to tourism development, intending in this way to add to destination development theories.Accordingly, the examination of the research problem is integrated into the general reflection on the development of tourist areas, composing the theoretical background of the study. Moreover, two important methodological decisions are made with the aim to better grasp the dynamics of tourism development within stasis. A first decision is to dissociate the quantitative aspects of destination development from the qualitative ones, introducing two distinctive constructs named destination growth and destination shaping. A second decision is to address the research question from a strategic relational approach to structure and agency. The use of a structure-agency approach is decisive in appraising the extent to which structural constraints affect tourism stakeholders’ actions. The phenomenon is explored empirically from a critical theory perspective and a qualitative approach based on a single case study. The case under scrutiny is Gabon, a politically stable destination with acknowledged tourism assets and a tourism strategy adopted in the past decade. Gabon is examined essentially for its function as internal leisure travel destination. The analysis thus includes both domestic and international tourism, but limits itself to leisure travel. The study results indicate that, in the case of Gabon, structural properties and their rigidity explained a great deal of operational constraints and their continuity over time. However, and while structural properties adversely affect destination development, including growth, tourism initiatives are still able to emerge. These tourism initiatives are varied in that they are undertaken by different types of actors, they have different goals and take different forms. Yet, very few of these tourism stakeholders are in a position to modify the country’s structural properties due to a high centrality of social control. In such context, destination growth is primarily determined by the vested interest of a small circle of agents with social power. In conclusion, a country’s structural properties need to be regarded as spatialized and temporalized tendencies having a selective effect on actors but cannot fully explain action, hence destination development. In turn, action is intended—and strategic—but results do not necessarily match initial intentions. This implies that tourism development cannot be apprehended through the sole actions of tourism stakeholders, but need a combined analysis of the interrelationships between structure and agency. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In South Africa Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) have to contend with the typical adversarial relations with a host government. In addition, MNEs operate in an environment regulated by a government policy of Redress, aimed at changing the wealth profile of the country to reflect the ethnic demographics. Policies such as Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment, Affirmative Action and Preferential Procurement are interventionist and place additional burden on the MNEs. Implementations of these regulations are often the source of conflict between MNEs and the local government. Ethno-cultural distance aggravates the strained relations between the MNE and host government. The policy of Redress effectively legislates the incorporation of local third parties that are ethno-culturally related to government into the competitive strategies of MNEs. Joint ventures with locals are an acknowledged strategy to enter foreign markets, providing for legitimisation and access to networks. The choice in strategy when dealing with the home government of either a relational or transactional approach is transferable to the MNE host government environment. Political levels have proven to be inaccessible but successful business transactions with government are abundant. The transactional approach dominates as a result of the failure to establish any relations with the host government, negating the pursuit of the relational approach. Third parties play an enabling role in successful transactions, ranging from providing access to government employees up to securing the deal and transacting with the MNE at arms-length. The absence of any social capital in successful transactions requires re-evaluation of the role of social capital in bridging barriers in business relations. Possible explanations are in the linking that the social capital of the third party with the government and MNE employees respectively has, an extremely low threshold for social capital in successful transactions, the force exerted by the need for the products or services, or, most probable, the profit motive. The distance between the government and MNE is extreme as a result of the historical strife between the ethnic groups in the country and the policy of Redress. The connotation with the social environment deters the active pursuit of social capital to gain competitive advantage. / D.B.L.

Questo lavoro di ricerca si colloca nell’ambito della Social Work Education e indaga gli Stage sperimentali in Servizio sociale, una nuova forma di tirocinio proposta al terzo anno del corso di laurea in Scienze del Servizio Sociale dell’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano e Brescia. La tesi osserva l’evoluzione della professione di assistente sociale e della sua formazione, dedica attenzione alla Social Work Education di stampo relazionale ed in particolare a delle esperienze di campo innovative a livello internazionale. La parte empirica si concentra sugli Stage sperimentali: attraverso uno strumento originale sono stati raccolti 315 questionari on-line da laureati tra l’anno accademico 2008-2009 e 2014-2015 che hanno sostenuto questa attività. L’indagine ha osservato le caratteristiche fondamentali dei progetti realizzati sul campo e ha riscontrato continuità con il modello teorico degli Stage basato sull’approccio relazionale; si è infatti rilevata la presenza negli Stage sperimentali di: costruzione partecipata delle progettualità, ingaggio di collaboratori riflessivi non necessariamente professionali, innovazione relativa rispetto al contesto. Si è anche rilevato il proseguire di un numero rilevante progetti al termine degli Stage curricolari grazie al contributo dei partner coinvolti e lo scaturire dalle esperienze di Stage di nuove occasioni di lavoro per i neo assistenti sociali. / This study takes palce in the field of Social Work Education and investigates the Social Work Unconventional Placements, a new frame of placement proposed at the third year of Catholic University Social Work degree (Milan-Brescia). The thesis argues the evolution of Social Work profession and its education, giving attention to the Relational-way of Social Work Education and to international innovative practice learning experiences. The research project focused on Unconventional Placement inspired by Relational Social Work method. To collect data and opinions of UC Social Work bachelors an original survey was created. The on-line survey was administered to 315 former-social work students that practiced this activity in 2008-2015. The research explored the main characteristics of the Unconventional Placements realized by the students during their Social work education path. Findings from the study confirmed the presence of distinctive traits related to the theoretic model of Unconventional Placement developed in Relational SWE framework: participatory approach to projects, reflexive involvement of professional/non-professional partners, innovation in the specific context. The survey observes the carry on of a considerable number of projects after the end of curricular placements, through the community project partners activation; from Unconventional Placements emerge new job opportunities for new social workers involved.

La tesi analizza il modo in cui le organizzazioni scolastiche affrontano il disagio giovanile, verificando se e dove si riscontrino caratteri di relazionalità nella sua gestione e nell’orientamento organizzativo, secondo l’approccio relazionale al welfare. Si tratta di una ricerca qualitativa ed esplorativa, condotta nel sistema educativo della Provincia Autonoma di Trento, attraverso interviste semistrutturate a dirigenti, docenti, ma anche altri professionisti, studenti e famiglie. L’analisi, preceduta da un inquadramento teorico e delle indicazioni istituzionali, focalizza il processo di aiuto sul caso secondo l’ottica relazionale e poi si centra sul piano organizzativo, per osservare in tre elementi – finalità, persone e mezzi dell’organizzazione – come l’assunzione di una prospettiva relazionale possa attivare nella scuola pratiche di care in grado di migliorare il benessere degli studenti. L’analisi mostra che, soprattutto nella formazione professionale trentina, il presupposto della care appare abbastanza condiviso ma spesso non si traduce in veri e propri processi relazionali. Un punto critico riguarda l’attivazione di reti riflessive paritarie con le famiglie e gli studenti. Una potenzialità innovativa è invece espressa in alcuni istituti dove l’assetto organizzativo funziona almeno in parte secondo logiche relazionali: ciò sembra sostenere la funzione formativa della scuola, coinvolgendola in una dinamica societaria di care diffusa. / The thesis analyses the way in which school organizations tackle the problem of young people in trouble, verifying if and where relational elements can be found in organizational orientations, following the relational approach to welfare. It is a qualitative and exploring research, conducted within the Province of Trento's educational system, through semistructured interviews with school executives, teachers, other professionals, students and families as well. Beginning with the theoretical framework and the institutional indications, the analysis focuses on individual helping process from the relational perspective; then moving to the organizational level in order to observe in three elements - goals, people and means - how the utilization of a relational approach can activate, in the school, practices of "care" capable of improving students well being. The analysis shows that, mainly in occupational training, the idea of "care" seems to be quite shared but it does not translate into true relational processes. A critical point refers to the activation of reflective networks with families and students. A potential innovation is expressed in certain institutes where the organizational framework reflects, at least partially, the relational approach: it does seam to support the school educational role, involving the school itself in a widespread society of "care".

Chief Justice Lamer has stated that the doctrine of Aboriginal rights exists and is recognized by section 35(1) of the Canadian constitution because of the “one simple fact” that Aboriginal peoples were already here, living in what became Canada when Europeans arrived. As a result, the purpose of Aboriginal rights is to reconcile the pre-existence of Aboriginal peoples with the Crown. Yet both the conception of reconciliation and the test Lamer C.J. developed to fulfil the purpose underlying s. 35(1) are fraught with numerous problems and contradictions. This thesis adapts the relational approach in anthropology to create a trans-systemic legal framework for Aboriginal rights that allows a more equitable reconciliation than that advanced by Lamer C.J. and avoids the pitfalls of the courts’ current approach. I begin by exploring how the Court’s conceptions of society and culture, in particular, are the source of the problems in their approach to Aboriginal rights. Focusing in on the Court’s use of “culture,” I then discuss the intellectual foundations of the notion and go through the three phases of the test for Aboriginal rights showing how those foundations have influenced it and the dilemmas and barriers “culture” creates for both the courts and Aboriginal claimants. One of my major, continuing criticisms of the Court’s approach is that by focusing on culture, the lives and perspectives of Aboriginal claimants and their ancestors are marginalized, and so my proposed trans-systemic framework is based on “re-enlivening” Aboriginal rights. By focusing on life, rather than culture, I argue that this more ably meets the goals and purposes of s. 35(1). This refocusing also results in a different relationship between Aboriginal peoples, the Court and the Crown, and I conclude this thesis with a discussion of how the convergence of Aboriginal legal systems and the common law in Canada may occur.

Cette recherche s’intéresse à la construction des ressources énergétiques renouvelables et, chemin faisant, à celle de la soutenabilité de la transition énergétique dans la filiation des travaux de la nouvelle géographie des ressource (Bridge, Castree). La thèse défendue est que la ressource énergétique émerge d’un ensemble de relations construites entre une source d’énergie et une perspective de valeur qui lui est progressivement associée. Ainsi, les qualités de la ressource énergétique ne sont pas données par les caractéristiques physiques de la source d’énergie (e.g. le rayonnement solaire abondant et diffus) mais par les relations (matérielles, sociales et spatiales) qui se tissent autour de cette source pour l’associer à des matérialités (e.g. le réseau électrique, la toiture, le paysage) dans une perspective de valorisation. En cela, la soutenabilité des énergies renouvelables est présentée comme une qualité relationnelle qui émerge en même temps que se structure le « milieu associé » (Simondon) de projets photovoltaïques.La thèse s’organise autour d’une enquête sur l’émergence de projets photovoltaïques coopératifs (i.e. les centrales villageoises), en région Rhône Alpes, qui proposent de construire la ressource solaire de manière collective et multidimensionnelle (e.g. paysage, partage de valeur), dans le contexte du début des années 2010. L’enquête montre que ces projets se nourrissent des héritages (e.g. des réseaux d’acteurs, de compétences, de visions politiques) d’un ensemble de projets énergétiques pionniers développés en Rhône-Alpes des années 1970 aux années 1990, héritages grâce auxquels ces collectifs apprennent à composer avec une politique nationale du photovoltaïque qui leur est peu favorable. Leur contribution à la construction de ressources solaires soutenables repose sur la capacité de ces collectifs à constamment s’adapter pour dépasser les épreuves qu’ils rencontrent. / This research deals with the construction of renewable energy resources, and along the way, the construction of the energy transition sustainability in the wake of the new geography of resources (Bridge, Castree). It is argued that an energy resource emerges from a set of relations woven between an energy source and a value perspective progressively associated to it. Thus, resource qualities are not given by the physical characteristics of the energy source (e.g. the diffuse and abundant solar radiation) but by the relations (material, social, spatial) woven around this source to associate it to several materialities (e.g. the electric grid, the roofs, the landscape) in order to construct its value. Within this framework, the energy resources sustainability is presented as a relational quality that emerges while the “associated milieu” (Simondon) of photovoltaic projects is structured.The thesis is organized around an inquiry about the emergence within the Rhône-Alpes region of photovoltaic cooperative projects (i.e. the “centrales villageoises”) that try to construct the solar energy resource in a collective and multidimensional manner (e.g. landscape, value redistribution) in the context of the early 2010s. The inquiry underlines that these projects relies on heritages (e.g. networks of actors, skills and political visions) from a series of pioneering energy projects developed in Rhône-Alpes between the 1970s and the 1990s. Through these heritages, the collectives learn to deal with a national photovoltaic policy that does not seem favourable for them. Their contribution to the construction of sustainable energy resources rests on the ability of these collectives to constantly adapt themselves to overcome the many trials they face.