La présente thèse analyse les solutions apportées par la Communauté internationale, certaines communautés régionales et certains États aux problèmes des minorités. Elle porte une attention plus particulière à celle qui vise à accorder aux minorités un "droit de participation" à la "vie de l'État", qu'elle soit culturelle, sociale, économique ou publique. Elle tente de démontrer que la reconnaissance et la mise en oeuvre de cette solution, par une organisation étatique et des mécanismes institutionnels adaptés aux différentes situations minoritaires, sont seules susceptibles d'assurer la survie des minorités, le maintien de la diversité culturelle et la justice au sein des États. La première partie dresse un portrait des différentes situations minoritaires possibles et relève leur grande complexité. Elle précise les deux droits parallèles qui ont été élaborés, au niveau international et régional, pour répondre aux problèmes découlant de ces situations, à savoir le "droit des minorités" et le "droit des peuples autochtones". Elle souligne que ceux-ci ont principalement mis l'accent sur la "protection" des groupes ou de leurs membres, mais que cette protection ne permet pas toujours d'assurer la survie des minorités ni de répondre à tous leurs besoins, notamment en ce qui concerne leur "participation". Elle tente toutefois de démontrer que le libelle de certains instruments internationaux confirme le désir grandissant de la Communauté internationale d'envisager l'évolution de l'actuel régime de "protection" des minorités vers la reconnaissance d'un véritable droit collectif de "participation". La deuxième partie analyse les réponses données par les États, dans leur ordre juridique interne, à la problématique des situations minoritaires existantes sur leur territoire. Elle constate que la majorité des États a choisi de mettre en place des politiques qui assurent la seule "protection" des minorités, mais qu'un nombre significatif d'États a accepté d'adopter des politiques supplémentaires visant à garantir aux minorités une certaine "participation" à la "vie de l'État". À l'aide d'exemples de mécanismes institutionnels, non exhaustifs mais significatifs, elle tente de démontrer l'existence d'une certaine pratique des États qui confirme l'émergence d'un "droit de participation" des minorités en droit international et qui atteste, du même coup, de la variété des solutions "intégratives" et "autonomistes" envisageables pour le mettre en oeuvre. Cette étude suggere, en définitive, une réflexion sur la nécéssité de revoir la conception traditionnelle de l'État et l'aménagement des pouvoirs.

The thesis addresses questions regarding the history of the gradual involvement of the representatives of the Holy See and the corresponding development of their legal status in the newly created international organization of the United Nations, the canonical determination of the office of papal legate to the UN in view of pertinent ecclesiastical legislation, the role and functions of papal representatives to the UN within the context of current world events, and the important contribution to the work of the United Nations in the service of humanity. The first chapter examines the international status of the Holy See during the 1870--1929 period; the development of pre-United Nations international structures from 1939--1945; the participation of the Holy See in the early stages of development of UN agencies and international bodies, i.e. FAO, WFP, IFAD, UNESCO. The second chapter examines the legal status of the Permanent Observer and the Mission of the Holy See at the United Nations in view of relevant special law; the development of CIC canons in the process of the revision of the Code of Canon Law and the reform of the Roman Curia; the important characteristics of the post of papal legate as ecclesiastical office; the presence of laity in the context of pontifical representation. The third chapter is a study of the range of involvement of the Holy See in the United Nations, its agencies and related bodies throughout the world, more specifically in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi and other UN centres. This chapter reviews the extensive work undertaken by these UN bodies and the specifics of the Holy See's involvement. The fourth chapter focuses on the work of the Permanent Observer of the Holy See in the context of the mission of the Church, as expressed in c. 747, §2; current diplomatic directions of the activity of Permanent Observers. Insights are presented into a possible expansion of the role and function of pontifical legates, especially in application of their leadership and mediation skills in light of the transformative and internal reform process underway at the United Nations and the world diplomatic community.

Within the current accepted paradigm of the international legal system, states are the only entities with the right to create international law. Recent experience however, shows that non-state entities, in particular non-governmental organizations, are increasingly becoming directly involved in the process of creating international law. This dissertation examines two cases -- the Ottawa Process to ban landmines, and the International Criminal Court negotiations -- to explore how NGOs contribute to international law creation, and whether they participate in the process of creating international law. In both cases NGOs engaged in a multitude of activities as they interacted with other entities involved in the negotiations. NGOs contributed to the process through: (a) agenda-setting; (b) creating conference agendas; (c) providing knowledge, expertise, and analysis; (d) negotiating with and between states; and (e) drafting instruments. In addition to these traditional activities, in these two cases NGOs also worked in coalition with each other, and with core-group and like-minded states to advance shared purposes. Multilateral negotiation theory and coalition dynamics offer a lens through which to understand how NGOs and states interacted with one-another in the process of creating international law. In working in alliances with similarly inclined states, NGOs contributed to three key aspects of coalition strength: (1) coalition size; (2) coalition diversity -- through naming and shaming, contributing different resources and bargaining skills, taking risks, and securing support from civil society to leverage governments; and (3) communication functions -- through intelligence networks, enrolment power, monitoring and analytical capacity, and institutionalized communications. NGOs worked alongside states, contributing to the effectiveness and strength of coalitions, and fulfilling the same roles as states, indeed, in some instances roles states could not fulfill on their own. By contributing to coalition strength and success, NGOs participated in the exercise of creating international law, even though they are not states. The result of this study is the recognition that two recent instances of international law creation fall outside the widely accepted understanding stating that only states create international law.

This dissertation studies technology spillovers between countries. The dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter is a theoretical model that studies the impact of tarifs in the presence of R&D spillovers. The second chapter is an empirical model on the impact of spillovers through trade on productivity. The third chapter is also an empirical model on the determinants of foreign patents in a country. In the first chapter, we study the impact of tarifs on R&D expenditures when there are R&D spillovers between firms. The firms are located in the home and foreign countries and compete in the home country's market. We consider a three-stage game, where the government determines the amount of the tariff in the first stage, firms choose their R&D expenditures in the second stage, and outputs are determined in the third stage based on Cournot competition. We show that if the foreign government gives an R&D subsidy to the foreign firm, foreign R&D will increase and the domestic firm's profit and domestic welfare will decrease. However, domestic consumer surplus will increase. The home country can recover this profit and welfare loss, partially or totally, if it uses two policy instruments simultaneously: a tariff and an R&D subsidy. The second chapter studies the impacts of domestic and international technology spillovers on the growth rate of Canadian manufacturing industries. In this chapter, we examine whether different types of industries have different technology spillover rates. To test these hypotheses, Canadian industries are categorized into three groups based on their characteristics as low-tech, medium-tech, and high-tech. According to the empirical results, only foreign R&D has a positive and significant impact on productivity. Domestic R&D is not significant under any of the specifications; however, it helps industries absorb foreign R&D. The third chapter estimates the diffusion rate of foreign technology into Canadian industries at the industry level by using patent data. The results of this chapter suggest that the patent activity of foreign countries is the most important factor for receiving foreign patents in Canada. Moreover, imports and foreign direct investments are important vehicles for technology transfer. The distance between countries has a negative impact on receiving foreign patents. The impacts of R&D intensity and human capital on receiving foreign patents are mixed and insignificant, but industries with a higher R&D intensity may be better recipients of foreign patents.

The thesis examines how the absence of insurance in the past led to some special maritime liability law principles such as 'general average' (i.e., losses or expenses shared by all the parties to a maritime adventure) and the limitation of shipowners' liability. In the absence of insurance, these principles served the function of insurance mostly for shipowners. As commercial marine insurance is now widely available, these principles have lost their justification and may in fact interfere with the most important goal of liability law i.e., deterrence from negligence. The thesis thus recommends their abolition. The thesis further argues that when insurance is easily available and affordable to the both parties to a liability claim, the main goal of liability law should be deterrence as opposed to compensation. This is exactly the case with the maritime cargo liability claims where both cargo owners and shipowners are invariably insured. As a result, the sole focus of cargo liability law should be and, to a great extent, is deterrence. On the other hand, in the vessel-source oil pollution liability setting, pollution victims are not usually insured. Therefore, oil pollution liability law has to cater both for compensation and deterrence, the two traditional goals of liability law. The final question the thesis addresses is whether the deterrent effect of liability law is affected by the availability of liability insurance. Contrary the popular belief the thesis attempts to prove that the presence of liability insurance is not necessarily a hindrance but can be a complementary force towards the realization of deterrent goal of liability law.

The impact of European integration and the emergence of a multi-level system of governance within the European Union have begun to challenge the pre-existing systems of governance in many European states. There has been a prevalent belief that the new modes of governance have been supplanting domestic political structures especially in the areas of political economy. Much literature argued that neo-corporatism was being subsumed by the enormity of the European Union and its new mechanisms of governance. However, this research illustrates that the results of the Europeanization of neo-corporatist social partnerships are far from uniform and monolithic. There exists a tremendous diversity and differentiation amongst the methods, results, and preferences of European integration allowing considerable necessity for specific cases studies in policy areas. Further, in using previously developed models of Europeanization it has been discovered that such models fail to accurately and fully explain the pattern of diversity and differentiation that exists in the Europeanization process. The cases of German and Austrian social partnership illustrate such differentiation and continuing challenges and are the focal points of this research.

The rapid loss of biological diversity is a major global environmental problem. This dissertation analyzes the conservation of crop genetic diversity, a particularly important component of global biodiversity, within a framework of multi-scale linkages. It examines the impact of international institutions and regimes on national and local-level practices, and the implications of local-level practices on higher levels of social organization. To illustrate these linkages, the dissertation examines the case Turkey, the historic center of origin and modern center of diversity of several key crops, including wheat and barley. The dissertation analyzes the interplay between two different international frameworks: the biodiversity institution/regime represented by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which Turkey is a party, and the neoliberal economic institution/regime promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, whose prescriptions shape national agricultural policies through stabilization and structural adjustment programmes. In line with the constructivist approach in international relations theory, the dissertation argues that the CBD has played a crucial role in providing the space and institutionalized channels for scientific input to be incorporated into the domestic policy-making process for the conservation of biological diversity. The diffusion of the policy innovations at the local level has been circumscribed significantly, however, by the agricultural priorities of the government which in turn were influenced strongly by the agricultural liberalization process directed by the IMF and assisted by the World Bank. Field research in two wheat-growing regions of Turkey reveals that the cultivation of modern and traditional varieties can co-exist, suggesting that there is no inherent contradiction between the conservation of crop genetic resources and the promotion of agricultural growth and productivity. This research also reveals the importance of social capital in the conservation of crop genetic diversity. The dissertation concludes that public agencies can play a critical role in the provision of mechanisms to ensure that conservation of crop genetic diversity will meet the needs of rural communities.

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