Based on a re-articulated definition of ‘public’ and ‘private’, this thesis challenge the common understanding of the state as a principally ‘public’ provider of force. Taking both a theoretical and empirical approach, this thesis argues that there has been a continuing conflation of state and non-state providers of force, and that the latter can be just as legitimate. Three cases are here analysed: Executive Outcomes in Sierra Leone, The Royal African Company in Guinea and King Leopold II in The Congo Free State. Current events in Iraq and New Orleans will also be addressed. By analysing how force has been used for economic profit at the cost of the public, this thesis argues that the essential question is not who provides security, but for whom security is provided. It has thus taken a broader approach to the debate about the desirability and ramifications of the private military industry.

This essay looks at the Government of British Columbia’s ‘New Relationship’ with indigenous people and how British Columbia’s history can inform this public policy debate. Specifically, I draw on the approach used by historian Quentin Skinner to identify two distinct periods in British Columbia’s early history, the coastal fur trade and the colonial period, and to identify how the relationship between indigenous people and Europeans was fundamentally different during these periods. After identifying the key features that made these relationships different, I challenge policymakers to look beyond the colonial period and its effect on our intellectual heritage. Through looking back to the fur trade period, I argue that we can begin to meet the promise contained in the ‘New Relationship’ and its statement of vision.

In 2005, the European Union (EU) began accession negotiations with its most controversial candidate to date, Turkey. The process has been, from the outset, sui generis relative to previous and current accessions, and Turkey remains the first candidate without a fixed date for the conclusion of accession negotiations. This thesis explores the problematique of Turkey’s proposed accession, and attempts to understand why its accession has been and will remain controversial and undecided. Turkey’s proposed accession has been, for both opponents and proponents, understood in terms of Europeanness: either Turkey is not European and thus not eligible to join, or is a legitimate candidate due to its very Europeanness, or has the propensity to develop a European identity. This very question frames the very limits and possibility of these negotiations. To properly understand the complexities and implications of Turkey’s EU candidacy from the perspective of European culture and identity, this thesis adopts a post-structuralist theoretical perspective which enables an understanding of fluid and hybrid difference. Turkey’s EU candidacy demonstrates that identity is not only articulated through difference; Turkey occupies a more fluid and dynamic role in the construction of European identity and is variously inside and outside, European and non. Through an examination of Michel Foucault’s governmentality and Carl Schmitt and Georgio Agamben’s exploration of sovereignty and the state of exception, this thesis examines the nexus of exclusion and inclusion, and through an examination of a ‘politics of deferral’, I demonstrate how Turkey may meet all of the EU accession criteria, yet may be never invited to accede to the European Union.

This thesis examines conflict between Tsawwassen First Nation, the Host community and Delta Council representing the Settler community. The methodology is textual research and analysis of the historic and current relationship and the impact on the conflict of Delta filing a lawsuit to prevent the first Urban Treaty in British Columbia. It is a structural analysis of probable root causes of the conflict including political, economic and social linguistic barriers to understanding. The work begins with a political and policy analysis of First Nations challenges including the competing interests, fears and the public record of the Settler community. Differing worldviews, assumptions, language, core beliefs and values contribute to the walls which prevent Settlers from seeing the Host community clearly. Reconciliation or transformation of the relationship is the goal; achievable through recognizing and honouring difference. Cross Cultural Competence between the two communities is preferred to the limitations of Interest Based Negotiations.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the key explanatory factors that explain why some First Nations reach an agreement through the British Columbia Treaty Process, while others do not. To do this, analytical frameworks from Gabrielle Slowey and Christopher Alcantara are empirically applied to three First Nations who are (or were) negotiating agreements in the province. The findings conclude that negotiations in the Treaty Process produce different results for the same reasons that Alcantara and Slowey identify for Aboriginal groups throughout Canada. They depend on the particular circumstances of each First Nation within the current institutional structure. This structure defines the relationship between Aboriginal and state actors and provides a set of options from which the former may choose to navigate their futures. However, in addition to the determining factors that Alcantara and Slowey identify, this thesis finds that it is also imperative to take into account the desire of a First Nation to use the Treaty Process as a means to progress along its own path of self-determination.

L'analyse socio-historique de l'émergence du pouvoir politique au Liban, son essence même et son instrumentalisation conditionnent l'exercice de la régulation démocratique des conflits dans une société plurale dont le système politique repose sur un compromis historique, celui du Pacte de 1943. Ni Orient, ni Occident, ni vainqueur, ni vaincu. Les difficultés d'élaboration d'un projet consensuel et de mise en oeuvre d'une coalition gouvernementale, dans le modèle libanais de démocratie consociative ont favorisé la confrontation de la logique individuelle à la logique communautaire sans espace de subsidiarité. Cette thèse tend à démontrer que des Accords de Taëf jusqu'aux années post Doha, malgré la confirmation de l'autonomie segmentaire, le non dépassement des contradictions entre esprit de consensus et concentration du pouvoir sans réelle distribution de celui-ci a conduit à la définition d'un consensus minimal qui fragilise la stabilité du pays à travers des crises politiques successives. La démocratie consociative libanaise, forte de l'ouverture vers un espace public transcommunautaire, montrera-t-elle sa capacité à évoluer, en luttant contre le décalage existant entre les institutions du consensus représentées par ses élites politiques et la dynamique sociale ?

This thesis evaluates the art involved in the process of constructing borders. I review the governmental processes involved with Canadian border policies as they facilitate the welcomed and the rejected. I ask: how do citizenship and immigration policies operate to maintain and reproduce borders, separating Canadian citizens inside the state from ‘foreigners’ outside. This thesis considers borders not only as repressive instruments for exclusion but also in a productive sense as they create citizens, national identities and populations. The thesis focuses on one central assemblage of border technologies: immigrant medical examinations. By reviewing citizenship and immigration policies, laws and practices since confederation, as well as contemporary legislation, policies and interview data, this thesis argues that these examinations are founded on principles of exclusion. While current policy directions suggest using these medical examinations for inclusive practices, I argue that such inclusive practices still reify the exclusive expectations of the state for citizens to be healthy and productive in the present and in the future.

This thesis asks how the Mohajir Quami Mahaz (MQM), transformed itself from an ethnic to a catch-all party. Existing literature heavily emphasizes the MQM’s militancy, while this thesis explores the journey of the party, formed in 1984 to represent Urdu-speakers in Pakistan, through each phase of its development down to its transformation into the Muttahida Qaumi Mahaz (United National Movement) in 1997. The MQM’s process of transformation can be explained theoretically through Kirchheimer’s catch-all party theory. My findings note a shift from an ethno-militant agenda of Mohajir interests to one stressing the need for “national unity” and modernization. It is argued that the party shifted from making choices based on ideology to a strategy-based politics. The MQM, therefore, sought voters outside its traditional constituent base in an effort to gain national appeal. As an urban-based middle-class party, it provides an ideal example of how a party adopts to a changing social environment fractured by military administration, modernity, and political Islam. Therefore, this thesis is the story of the MQM’s journey from mohallah to mainstream.

Ce travail vise à définir les conditions d'un renouvellement de la portée théorique et empirique du concept d'espace public. À partir d'une lecture critique du livre fondateur de Jürgen Habermas et des principales contributions dans le champ des Sciences de l'information et de la communication, en m'inscrivant dans une démarche interdisciplinaire faisant appel à la philosophie, aux études littéraires et linguistiques, à la géographie, à la sociologie et à l'ethnologie, et en m'appuyant sur des entretiens avec des lecteurs de presse régionale, je propose d'opérer quatre renversements de perspective permettant de dépasser les limites de la conception habermassienne de l'espace public. Il s'agit tout d'abord de renoncer à toute idée d'un âge d'or pour considérer l'espace public comme un ensemble de processus dynamiques. La deuxième étape consiste à le concevoir comme le lieu symbolique de formation des opinions personnelles, et non, comme le fait Habermas, comme le creuset d'une opinion publique plus fantasmée que scientifiquement établie. La conception universelle, unique et médiatique de l'espace public habermassien constituant elle aussi une impasse, un troisième renversement conduit à envisager un espace public fragmenté, local et conversationnel. Ces trois premiers renversements de perspective sont rien moins que nécessaires pour pouvoir continuer à étudier l'espace public dans le monde contemporain. Ils permettent d'en faire un concept central dans l'étude de la circulation des idées et des nouvelles. Mais, comme le montrent les entretiens, ils trouvent aussi leurs limites en ce qu'ils n'autorisent qu'un abord superficiel de la question de la formation des opinions personnelles. Donner sa pleine mesure au potentiel heuristique de l'espace public passe donc par un quatrième renversement de perspective, qui consiste à faire sortir le concept de la théorie de l'agir communicationnel pour l'intégrer à une théorie de la société capable d'expliciter les rapports sociaux. Là où Habermas réifiait son concept en le soumettant à l'illusion d'une société guidée par la recherche de l'entente, une critique marxiste ouverte aux différentes recherches sur les processus de socialisation permet à l'espace public de prendre en compte les conditions objectives et les rapports de force dont est faite la société.

Au cours de cette étude, nous avons cherché à déterminer le niveau et les moyens de la puissance sud-coréenne. Nous nous sommes demandés si la Corée du Sud ne pourrait pas se présenter comme un État pivot capable de faire le lien entre des états ou des partenaires antagonistes, aussi bien en Asie du Nord-Est qu'en Asie du Sud-Est. Aussi après avoir examiné les moyens de la puissance sud-coréenne nous avons conclu que le pays était une puissance moyenne traditionnelle n'ayant pas encore acquis le statut de puissance régionale et qu'en ce sens elle constituait une puissance atypique. Confrontée aux trois grandes puissances que sont la Chine, les Etats-Unis et le Japon, la Corée du Sud ne dispose que d'une marge de manœuvre très étroite pour affirmer sa présence internationale. Le développement de sa présence en Asie du Sud-Est est donc devenu en l'espace de quelques années un impératif de sa politique étrangère du pays. A l'instar du Japon d'après-guerre, le Sud-Est asiatique constitue une aire d'apprentissage privilégiée pour la diplomatie sud-coréenne et pour son action extérieure.