Le 25 juin 2014, Germain Katanga devenait la première personne définitivement condamnée par la Cour pénale internationale. Dans l'indifférence générale, ce congolais originaire d'un petit village de l'Ituri rentrait ainsi dans l'histoire d'un pouvoir naissant pour avoir fait transiter des armes ayant servi à une attaque contre des populations civiles. A travers une déconstruction étape par étage du cheminement qui a amené cet homme de la chasse aux Okapis à sa condamnation pour crimes de guerre et crimes contre l'humanité, nous avons cherché à comprendre comment une institution créée pour juger les plus grands criminels a pu croiser le chemin de celui qui n'avait auparavant jamais entendu parer de « La Haye ».Dénuée de contrôle social, incapable de jouer le rôle qui lui a été attribué la CPI s'est longtemps défaussée sur les États pour expliquer les échecs de sa première décennie d'exercice. La réalité est plus complexe, et laisse apparaître en creux une incapacité structurelle à agir contre les intérêts de l'ordre étatique et a fortiori des dominants de cet ordre étatique. Après avoir décrit l'institution de l'intérieur, en nous appuyant sur notre propre expérience à la CPI et au ministère des affaires étrangères français, nous avons donc tenté de comprendre de lire la Cour depuis la perceptive hobbesienne ; appuyé sur un travail sur les terrains d'enquête de la CPI en Afrique, plus de cent entretiens avec les principaux protagonistes de l'institution et de l'affaire Katanga, nous avons ainsi suivi le cheminement casuistique inversé, partant de la plus petite échelle de l'institution pour finir par en interroger le sens dans son ensemble. / June 25, 2014, Germain Katanga became the first person to be convicted and sentenced by the International Criminal Court. As his case continued to be cloaked in silence, this congolese villager from the remote province of Ituri became a figure in the early history of a rising institution. Through a deconstruction of each stage of the proceedings against Katanga for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the ICC, this work attempts to understand how an institution built to prosecute the masterminds and those most responsible for the gravest crimes and atrocities targeted a 24-year-old Okapi hunter who never before heard of “The Hague”.Lasking social control, unable to play the role for which it was designed more than ten years ago, the ICC has systematically blamed the States for its numerous failures. The reality is more complex, and this research reveals that the institution has a structural incapacity to act against the interests of the state order, and a fortiori against the dominants of the order, therefore rendering obsolete any of its cosmopolitan pretentions. Following from a description of the ICC “from the inside”, based on the author's experience at the office of the Prosecutor and at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this work assesses the Court through a Hobbesian lens. Relying on field work in Congo and the Central Africa Republic, more than a hundred interviews and a novel analysis of Hobbes Leviathan this work takes a bottom-up approach, starting from the smallest scale - from what was considered a minor case – and ultimately questioning the institution as a whole.

When the Soviet Union fell it marked the end of an era the ones totalitarian communist state collapsed and, in its place, a new state called Russa emerged with a new leader Boris Yeltsin as the great reformer who had a mission of making Russia a country similar to those int the west. This dream was not to last long soon after his arrival the economy crashed, inflation had skyrocketed, and crime and unemployment struck the country. Boris Yeltsin started privatizing vast numbers of previously state-owned industries which helped create a new elitist class in the oligarchs.    The purpose of this essay is to analyze the post-soviet state of Russia and its social and economic elements to determine when an oligarchic structure emerged and how this oligarchy was able to establish a social contract with the Russian people. This will be done with the help of the essays two theories surrounding elitism and conractualism.    The result this essay reached was that there are two significant decisions taken by the Yeltsin administration which led to the creation of an oligarchic state these are the two privatization waves. These privatizations made a few men very powerful and we can see the extent of their power and influence in the presidential election of 1997. Were they managed to get Yeltsin reelected even though his popularity was at its lowest by using their massive influence such as their media empire. When Putin got elected it represented a new era of Russian politics, he promised to end the chaos of the 1990s and reestablish security in Russia and put the oligarchs in line. He was able to do this much because of the rising oil prices and the use of Russian nationalism to his advantage. He was able to restore a social contract with the Russian people in turn for less freedom he would guarantee them security and stability

Le droit ne manque pas de principes et d’instruments pour régir les activités susceptibles d’avoir des incidences sur l’environnement. Pourtant, la migration du concept de nature ordinaire en droit n’est pas encore réalisée. L’intérêt pour les espèces communes et les espaces ne présentant pas de particularités scientifique, esthétique ou historique est surtout abordé par des disciplines voisines telles que la biologie de la conservation, la sociologie, la géographie ou bien encore la philosophie. En réaction à cette indifférence, la thèse propose d’éclairer l’appréhension juridique du concept de nature ordinaire, d’examiner les conditions de son institution et les processus qui en permettraient la consécration en tant que nouvel impératif de conservation. De cette manière, elle interroge profondément le degré de maturité du droit de l’environnement,l’appréhension juridique de la nature ordinaire mettant ce dernier à l’épreuve d’une structuration et d’une formulation plus écocentrées. La thèse aboutit à présenter des alternatives aux modalités profondément individualistes qui structurent l’architecture et le contenu de notre ordre juridique. À même de construire de nouvelles interdépendances socio-écosystémiques, l’appréhension juridique de la nature ordinaire réanime plus généralement des réflexions sur l’étude de l’organisation politique de l’État. L’enjeu de cette thèse est donc double. Elle vise à proposer des pistes de réforme du droit de l’environnement et elle ambitionne aussi d’établir durablement les impératifs environnementaux au cœur du contrat social. / The law in force does not lack principles and instruments to govern activities that may have an impact on the environment. However, the concept of ordinary nature has not been introduced yet. Interest in common species and areas’ without scientifical, aesthetical or historical features has been mainly addressed by neighbouring disciplines such as conservation biology, sociology, geography or even philosophy. In response to this indifference, the thesis proposes to shed light on the legal understanding of the concept of ordinary nature by looking at theconditions of its foundation and implementation that would allow it to be recognized as a new conservation imperative. By questioning environmental law’s fondements, the thesis submits a more ecocentric legal structuring. It presents alternatives to individualistic modalities that structure our legal order. By giving a hint at new socio-ecosystem interdependencies, the legal understanding of ordinary nature also triggers new ideas on the national political organization. Therefore, the issue is twofold. The thesis aims to improve avenues of reform aboutenvironmental law while also ambitioning to establish sustainable environmental requirements at the very heart of the social contract.

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This dissertation consists of three separate, but inter-related, studies overarching a common theme labeled "the role played by social and environmental accounting disclosures using different methodologies and framed within legitimacy theory." The first study investigates the use of different language techniques in social and environmental disclosures (SED) and tests whether the impression management hypothesis holds when disclosures are measured as such. The second study extends the "legitimacy on the Internet" arguments of Patten and Crampton (2004) by examining the content and presentation of corporate website environmental disclosure in relation to firm environmental performance of four size-matched sample groups constructed based on industry environmental sensitivity and America's Toxic 100 membership (the top 100 polluters in the US). The third study investigates whether and how Total, one of the world's largest integrated oil and gas companies headquartered in France, utilized legitimation strategies such as social and environmental disclosures, to respond to two significant environmental incidents. Taken together, these three studies build upon prior theoretical and empirical work to substantiate and advance social and environmental accounting research using various methodological lenses and perspectives.

<p dir="ltr">I investigate how we can make the content of international instruments on human rights, such as covenants and treaties, frequently applicable in all contexts. Further, I argue that the problem of widespread implementation of human rights norms is two-fold insofar as it concerns (i) recognition of their content, which is often difficult due to cultural or political disputes, and/or (ii) the enforcement of related policies through administrative institutions. After laying out the scope of the project, I propose to use the causal and explanatory properties of social contract theory to elaborate on the relationship between informal (cultural) and formal (legal) norms of human rights. Indeed, I maintain an interpretation of this theory that combines its justificatory powers, like traditional contractarians, and its explanatory role, like contemporary contractarians have done, and I suggest that there is a third, namely, the causal role. From that conceptual framework, I show a successful case of implementation of human rights norms in Colombia, which was one of the countries participants of the Latin American wave of constitutionalism in the 1980s and 1990s. This intense period of constitutional changes in the region allowed for an openness towards international human rights norms in dialogue with national experiences and customs. The relevance of this case study is that it will help me identify lessons and strategies potentially applicable on a global scale. Indeed, I show how a reconsideration of the national political pact contained in political constitutions may be a successful strategy to strengthen the incorporation of human rights norms into the legal domestic sphere. The last part of the dissertation project surveys one possible external solution for the problem of implementation: military humanitarian interventions. I conclude that military interventions do not fit within the model of social contract theory and the justification of its employment in difficult cases may proceed only with certain conditions extracted from the contract.</p>

Epistemic injustices are the distinctly epistemic harms and wrongs which undermine or depreciate our capacities knowers. This dissertation develops a theory of epistemic injustice and justice which accounts for excesses in epistemic goods as a source of epistemic injustice. This is a theory of epistemic overload as epistemic injustice. The dissertation can be divided into three parts: 1) motivational, 2) theoretical, 3) applications and implications. First, Chapters 1 and 2 motivate the study of epistemic injustice and epistemic overload. Chapter 1 identifies a gap in the literature on epistemic injustice concerning excesses in epistemic goods as sources of epistemic injustice while canvassing the major themes and debates of the field. Chapter 2 levels an objection to ‘proper’ epistemology, thereby providing an indirect defense of the study of epistemic injustice. Second, theoretical development occurs in are Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6. Chapter 3 initiates the argument for epistemic overload, while Chapter 4 extends the case for epistemic overload, identifying several epistemic injustices arising from excesses of understanding, credibility, and truth. Chapter 5 explains the oversights of prior theorists by developing a more descriptively adequate account of social epistemics that explains the many sites of epistemic injustice. Chapter 6 develops a two-stage contractualist theory of epistemic in/justice to explain the bad-making features of epistemic injustices and generates the duty of epistemic charity. The third part of the dissertation applies the findings of earlier chapters to contemporary practical and theoretical problems. Chapter 7 employs the contractualist reasoning of Chapter 6 to address and ameliorate problems from excesses in the uptake and circulation of hermeneutical resources and true-beliefs. Chapter 8 considers the mutual dependence relations between political phenomena and epistemic in/justice, showing that accounts of political justice depend upon or presuppose epistemic justice. Finally, Chapter 9 applies epistemic overload to the use of big data technologies in the context of predive policing algorithms. An abductive argument concludes that the introduction of the “Strategic Subjects List” as part of a Chicago policing initiative in 2013 introduced understandings which likely contributed to gun-violence in Chicago and which constitutes an epistemic overload. In sum, the dissertation shows the theoretical and practical significance of epistemic overload as epistemic injustice. / Ph. D. / Epistemic injustice refers to the ways in which people can be wronged in their capacities as knowers and thinkers. What we know and how we think are of central importance to our identity and well-being. Theories of epistemic injustice endeavor to explain the emergence, nature, and effects of these injustices, while developing accounts for promoting the intellectual agency of persons. Epistemic injustices are important to recognize for social justice when they systematically undermine marginalized people, rendering people unable to resist oppression as they become unintelligible, lose credibility, or are overwhelmed by epistemic excesses. The centrality of “Black Lives Matter,” “#MeToo,” and “FakeNews” to contemporary social movements demonstrates how the circulation of phrases accompanying understandings are crucial for effective public deliberation and political progress, particularly in diverse societies. Yet, subtleties of social epistemics often conceal epistemic injustices, as willful misinterpretations of “Black Lives Matter,” for example, are immeasurable and defy conventional distinctions between ethical and epistemic conduct. These considerations motivate studying epistemic injustice. The central thesis of this dissertation is that excesses in epistemic goods such as credibility, understanding, and true-beliefs can constitute epistemic injustices. Hence, epistemic overload as epistemic injustice. Theoretically, this dissertation extends the challenge to the univocal status of traditional epistemic goods. Recurrent and long-held views on the value of truth, credibility, and understanding are upended as I show that these goods can undermine epistemic agency itself. Practically, it shows how epistemic goods and resources can be harmful and counterproductive to persons as epistemic agents and for the achievement of social justice. These results are applied to the identity-types generated by predictive policing big-data algorithms.

This thesis aims at furthering our understanding of the constitutional structures and processes of sui generic associations such as the European Union. The thesis argues that the problematical constitutionalisation of the European Union has highlighted the limitations of the political thought that has served as the basis of political associationalism since the Treaty ofWestphalia (1648) and the publication of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan (1651). These limitations have resulted in the European Union being described, for want of a better expression, as sui generis. The thesis advances the argument that in order to be in a position to understand constitutional relations in a 'non-statal' setting, what is needed is an alternative variant of political thought that is not based in or dependent on the societas canon that originates with Hobbes. One source of such political thought can be located in the work of Johannes Althusius (1557-1638) who, writing in the city of Emden in the Holy Roman Empire in the early 17th Century, described a constitutional structure of a political association that differs in significant features to the centralised state theories of the societas canon. The thesis also argues that the traditional concepts of constitutionalism and political association applied to sui generic constitutionalism are hampered by the inherent weaknesses of modem political and legal vocabulary. Despite being used ad infinitum in the constitutional discussions on the European Union, there is not a precise definition of either the term 'constitution' or treaty' in political or legal theory. Althusius' work avoids this weakness, due to the fact that the centralised state does not enjoy the same position it does in the societas canon, and so the need to classify 'intra' or 'inter' state relationships does not exist to the same degree. While taking the European Union as a workable model of a sui generic association, this thesis does not aim at solving the European Union's constitutional problems or offering a more suitable term to describe its nature. Rather, based on an analysis of Althusius' work, the thesis aims to offer an alternative understanding of the problems that result from the constitutionalisation of sui generic associations.

Every society has jobs that need to be done in order to survive and to improve its members’ subjective well-being. Work is an important source of individuals’ subjective well-being. Employees within higher education institutions face a complex environment and play an important role in the reconstruction and development in South Africa. Employees are experiencing more challenges in the workplace than ever before. They spend more time at work and because they have less leisure time, they have fewer opportunities of seeking meaning in their lives. These factors have an impact on the well-being and happiness of employees in higher education institutions. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between employees’ work experience, type of contract and work outcomes of employees at a higher education institution. A cross-sectional survey design was used with 483 employees at a higher education institution and a response rate of 62% (N = 300) was obtained. The measuring instruments used in this study included the Psychological Contract Across Nations (PSYCONES), Employment Contract Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, Mental Health Continuum - Short Form and Intention to Quit Scale. Exploratory factor analyses and Cronbach alpha coefficients were computed to determine the construct validity and reliability of the measures. Pearson correlation coefficients, multivariate analysis of variance, one-way analysis of variance and hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between the constructs in this study. Bootstrap-estimated confidence intervals were used to assess the significance of indirect effects. The results of study 1 confirmed the validity and reliability of measures (except for the social contract). Age, tenure and gender had statistically significant effects on the fulfilment of one dimension of the psychological contract, namely work conditions. Younger people with less tenure experienced more fulfilment of the psychological contract (regarding work conditions). Tenure also impacted psychological contract violation. Type of contract (permanent versus temporary) impacted the fulfilment of the psychological contract (specifically work conditions). Males (compared to females) experienced more fulfilment of the psychological contract (regarding work conditions) and less violation of the psychological contract. Tenure and type of contract were also related to experiences of the employment contract. The results of study 2 showed that psychological contract violation, job dissatisfaction and lack of flourishing directly impacted turnover intention. Lack of psychological contract fulfilment indirectly impacted job dissatisfaction and languishing via psychological contract violation. The employment contract did not have a statistically significant effect on job satisfaction, flourishing and turnover intention of employees in a higher education institution. Psychological contract violation indirectly impacted turnover intention via job dissatisfaction and languishing of employees. The results of this study confirmed the important role of fulfilment of the psychological contract and non-violation of the psychological contract regarding job satisfaction, flourishing and retention of employees in a higher education institution. Recommendations were made for future research. / MCom, Labour Relations Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012