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This thesis revisits the relationship between ideology and foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly that between Arab nationalism and state regional policy in the Gulf. It seeks to answer the question: What explains a Gulf Arab state's policy toward regional alignment in the independence phase? In doing so, the thesis explores the specific case of Bahrain between 1971 and 1981, a period in which Bahrain attained its formal independence and then moved towards alignment in the form of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). To answer this question, the thesis advances existing explanations in the study of international relations in the Middle East (IRME), especially the constructivist approach to norms and identities in the relationship between Arab nationalism and foreign policy. Some constructivists claim that shifts in regional norms from 'Arabism' to sovereignty allow one to explain foreign policy in the Middle East after 1967. While such a claim is received uncritically by IRME, the regional policies of individual Gulf Arab states have mostly been examined in this vein and thereby assumed to share some commonalities driven by cultural, sectarian and institutional homogeneity among these states in the region. However, this thesis offers an alternative account of it. By integrating other histories of Arab nationalism with IRME and conceptualising nationalism as a modern ideology, this thesis argues that internal socio-political dynamics mediate the interplay of ideology and a state's regional policy. It further argues that the formation and evolution of Arab nationalism in international relations of the Gulf is best understood beyond norms and identities, and examined under a more historical and sociological scrutiny − taking both colonial history and the process of capitalist formation into consideration. This thesis draws on Antonio Gramsci's insights to build a theoretical framework for conducting a historical sociological investigation of the case of Bahrain. Through a reformulation of Gramsci in an alternative Gramscian approach to the Coxian one in the study of international relations (IR), this thesis reconstructs three interrelated concepts from Gramsci − development, ideology and struggle − to examine the social bases that conditioned the formation and evolution of Arab nationalism, and the political struggle that shaped a locus in which Arab nationalism influenced Bahrain's policy towards Gulf alignment in the 1970s. It argues that the political struggle included different, contradictory more often than not, social forces deriving from Bahraini late-coming capitalist formation under British colonialism. Then, the struggle continued to impact on the ideological development of Arab nationalism and its interplay with Bahrain's regional policy. The thesis further argues, in a Gramscian sense, that the struggle was a conflict between hegemonic and counter-hegemonic forces, which escalated along with the rise of the New Arab Left and the upheaval caused by Marxist-Leninist revolutions in Arabia from the late 1960s onwards. But, it was unresolved after an interrupted process of 'historical restoration' between 1971 and 1975. As a consequence, the Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain, as an incomplete hegemony, faced the dilemma of being open about its alignment with the US. Nonetheless, in the second half of the 1970s and the early 1980s, a series of extended regional issues arose, including the Arab cause, the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war in 1980. The ways in which Al Khalifa responded to these issues reflected the dynamic ideological ties between Arab nationalism and Bahrain's regional policy and paved the road to Bahrain's participation in the GCC in 1981. Through an integration of the Bahraini case and the reformulated Gramscian framework proposed in this thesis, the thesis offers a more complex account than the existing literature of international relations in the Gulf and contributes to the historical sociology of IRME in general.

This is a study of media production and coverage of Israeli-Palestinian relations. It investigates how media production and coverage have developed alongside developments on the ground, political necessities and shifting perceptions of peace in relation to this conflict since the beginning of the Oslo peace process in 1993. The study presents a comprehensive historical analysis of the negotiations that led to the Peace Accord between Israelis and Palestinians in 1993. It highlights the elements that made the Accord a diplomatic achievement but which reestablished the imbalance of power that had previously defined Israeli-Palestinian relations. It also presents the results of a content analysis of The New York Times’ representation of the first months of that process. It then discusses the perspectives of subjects who have been involved in activities promoting dialogue to challenge dominant explanations for this conflict since the early nineties, comparing these with the views of journalists who have covered this conflict and the peace process for different media. In describing the interplay between media and these other contexts, as well as the ways through which this has been linked to discursive explanations of peace and the return to visible conflict, this investigation reviews the factors that prevented the media from becoming agents of change.

In the discipline of International Relations, scholars have recently drawn attention to how political actors use narratives to claim legitimacy for themselves, their actions, and their use of force. Whilst such work provides welcome insights, there has been little attention given to how these narratives are often told through visual media on digital social media sites. In light of this, this thesis argues that visual media are central to how political actors claim legitimacy for the use of force in the digital age. Theoretically informed by work on aesthetics, narrative, and visual global politics, this thesis provides an analytical framework for studying the visual politics of legitimation. This is then explored through two case studies of the British Army and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces. In each case study I draw upon multiple methods to analyse the narrative and visual content of each actor’s official Facebook Page, as well as the contexts of media production and audience reception. This thesis contributes to studies of global politics by illustrating how each actor uses visual media to claim legitimacy for the use of force, and thereby provides the first empirical analysis of the visual politics of legitimation.

9/11 changed the face of maritime transport that is responsible for moving 80% of everything we consume. Ports are vital hubs in that maritime transport and any disruption there instantly affects global trade. To protect the global supply chain from crime and terrorism, both must be disrupted locally in the port by port police and security officers that are responsible for port security at operational level. Public and critical criminological attention to these key security actors, however, is virtually non-existent. This thesis therefore explores how their occupational realities and identities are (re)established in two major European ports, by providing an ethnographic account. To do so, the thesis builds on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in the ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg between 2011 and 2012, during which everyday policing and security work has been documented, followed by a thematic analysis. The key argument runs thus: the port is a local space for the global trade, which is underappreciated and underestimated by the public, and has its police and security professionals in place both aboard and on shore who protect and defend that vital trade site. The aggressive commercialist governmentality that goes on behind that vital global trade is unwillingly yielded to by these guardians but not without any bottom-up resistance. They condemn the volatile commercialist governmentality that is embodied in management, competitive and careerist colleagues and authoritarian multi-agency partners, as well as in port companies and shipping companies. The State and global market they protect, is simultaneously a threat to them. This contradiction influences their occupational identity, making it inherently conflicted and affecting their performance in the port securityscape to the extent it can create threatening situations that cause the very dangers they are supposed to prevent and eradicate.

A travers l’exemple des opérations de maintien de la paix (OMP) conjointes entre les Nations Unies et l’Union européenne au Tchad et en République centrafricaine (Eufor Tchad-RCA et Minurcat) entre 2008 et 2010, cette thèse questionne les mécanismes qui mènent au déclenchement d’une opération de sécurité collective dite de maintien de la paix ainsi que son déroulement. Alors que les analyses anglo-saxonnes du maintien de la paix dans le champ des Relations internationales questionnent peu le processus qui mène à leur déploiement, faisant de celui-ci une réponse quasi rationnelle à l’émergence ou la reprise d’une « crise », cette thèse analyse finement le processus non linéaire qui mène au déploiement des opérations Eufor Tchad-RCA et Minurcat. Cela permet d’interroger de manière originale les disfonctionnements du maintien de la paix en ne s’intéressant pas uniquement à l’appropriation locale d’une OMP comme dans la littérature sur la paix libérale mais en analysant les continuités entre les phases dites de décision et celles de mise en oeuvre. La thèse défendue ici est que le déclenchement d’une OMP se comprend comme le produit de l’activité sociale ayant lieu autour d’un enjeu sécuritaire qui mène à la structuration d’une zone d’action conjoncturelle dans le secteur de la sécurité collective. On parle de conjoncture de maintien de la paix. Le déroulement de l’OMP s’analyse alors comme la poursuite de l’activité au sein de cette zone d’action qui intègre de nouveaux acteurs durant la phase de conduite des opérations. La reconfiguration de la zone d’action peut mener à la poursuite de l’OMP ou à sa fin suivant la dynamique sociale qui se met en place. / Through the example of joint peackeeping operations (PKO) between the United Nations and the European union in Chad and Central african Republic (known by their French acronyms as Eufor Tchad-RCA and Minurcat) between 2008 and 2010, the purpose of this research is to question the social process that lead to the launching and the implementation of a collective security operation knwon as a peacekeeping operation.Though the Anglo-Saxon analyses of peacekeeping inspired by the International Relations theory not often question the decisionnal process, considering the deployment as a rational mean to treat a crisis, this thesis is an analysis of the non-linear social process that led to the deployment of Eufor Tchad-RCA and Minurcat. This analysis allows us to question in an orignal way the dysfunction of peacekeeping by shifting the focus from the local appropriation of the PKO as suggested by the Libera Peace approach to the continuity between decisionnal stages and implementation stages of the PKO. The thesis proposed here is that the launching of a PKO must be understood as the output of the social activity that takes place around a security issue that lead to the structuration of an area of action in the collective security sector. We named that periode a conjuncture of peacekeeping. The conduct of the operation is then analysed as the continuity of the activity in this area of action which includes new actors during its implementation stage. The re setup of the area of action can lead to the pursuit of the PKO or to its end, regarding the social dynamic that is set up.

Afin d’analyser la posture diplomatique actuelle de l’Inde sur la scène internationale, ce travail de recherche étudie les processus d’institutionnalisation et d’adaptation du ministère des Affaires étrangères indien de 1947 à 2015. Le dispositif théorique de cette thèse conjugue les recherches menées sur l’adaptation des ministères des Affaires étrangères comme acteurs centraux de la diplomatie et la sociologie politique des institutions. En effet, on ne peut comprendre l’évolution de la diplomatie indienne que si on l’analyse à partir d’une démarche micro sociologique, par l’étude de ses lieux de production. Ces lieux désignent dans un sens restreint l’organisation du ministère des Affaires étrangères et le rôle qui y est joué par les diplomates. Dans un sens plus large, ils renvoient à l’interaction de ce ministère avec l’environnement diplomatique national et international. Cette thèse vise à démontrer la façon dont la vulnérabilité du ministère des Affaires étrangères indien, déterminée par son sous-dimensionnement structurel et sa marginalisation croissante dans le processus de décision, conditionne son adaptation graduelle aux évolutions de la mondialisation. Cette adaptation se manifeste par la plus grande importance donnée aux pratiques de « low diplomacy » comme la diplomatie économique, publique et consulaire. Mais elle reste fortement limitée, ce qui explique la posture diplomatique prudente de l’Inde sur la scène internationale, contrainte par la priorité donnée au développement économique du pays. / In order to analyse the evolution of India’s diplomacy, this work studies the adaptation of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from 1947 to 2015, using a sociological approach to institutions. We argue that the evolution of Indian diplomacy can be better understood by studying its production at a micro level, which relates both to the organisation of the MEA and its interactions with other actors of Indian diplomacy. This work shows that the vulnerability of the Indian MEA is determined by its structural weaknesses and its growing marginalisation within the foreign policy decision making process. This vulnerability restrains the MEA’s adaptation to the evolutions of globalisation. The adaptation is gradual and is manifested by the growing importance given to the practice of low diplomacy (economic, public and consular diplomacy). Nevertheless, it remains greatly limited and constrained by domestic imperatives of economic development. That explains, to a large extent, many of India’s prudent diplomatic decisions.

Cette thèse propose une analyse socio-politique des relations internationales au sein d'une Organisation Mondiale, en partant du cas concret de l’UNESCO dans le cadre de l’établissement des listes du Patrimoine Mondial. L’analyse sociologique des interactions entre les acteurs intervenant dans le choix et la publication des listes du Patrimoine Mondial forme le socle sur lequel une théorisation des processus en jeu est déployée. Bien que l'UNESCO fournisse aux états des outils leur permettant d'atteindre leurs objectifs nationaux, l'UNESCO contribue également à l’établissement de valeurs universelles et d’identités cosmopolites. Les dynamiques d’établissement des listes et leur contenu apparaissent de plus en plus marqués par les démarches des acteurs (états et individus) qui y participent. Le rôle de l'UNESCO apparaît donc ambivalent, dans la mesure où elle est en partie garante des institutions et des valeurs fondamentales qui sous-tendent sa création, et où elle favorise les jeux d’influence, l’établissement de rapports de force et les conflits. Cette tension n’affecte pas pour autant la valeur perçue par de nombreux acteurs des listes produites, et elle n’entame que partiellement les représentations de la capacité de l’institution à promouvoir la paix et la compréhension entre les peuples. / This research project is a socio-political analysis of the International Relations within an International Organization, levering the practical case of UNESCO in the context of the establishing World Heritage Lists. It suggests a theorization of the underlying process, by which numerous actors take part in the selection and subsequent publication of World Heritage Lists. In addition to providing individual states with the tools to achieve their national objectives, UNESCO seem to contribute to the establishment of universal values and cosmopolitan identities. The establishment processes of these Lists and their content appear increasingly influenced by the behavior of their actors (i.e., states and individuals). In that context, the role of UNESCO seems ambivalent. It serves both as (a) guarantor for the underlying fundamental values of the institutions and as a place of (b) political economy, in which influences are exchanged between actors that can lead to power struggles and even conflicts. However, this tension doesn’t seem to impact the perceived value of the Lists by most actors and appears to only partially impact the perception of the Organization’s capacity to promote peace-building and closer relationships between peoples.

Le changement climatique est l’objet de multiples débats. Cette thèse s’intéresse à la construction du changement climatique en enjeu de sécurité dans les deux dernières décennies. Les gouvernements et les grandes instances internationales s’accordent pour considérer le changement climatique comme une menace à la sécurité et à la paix internationales. Cette recherche pose une question générale : comment cette vision sécuritaire a-t-elle été rendue possible ? Ce faisant, la thèse analyse la mise en récit de la « menace » environnementale en soulignant sa contingence bien plus que son évidence. En mettant l’accent sur le contexte de production des idées, leur circulation et le rôle des chercheurs - passeurs de sens -, nous apprenons que la « menace » environnementale émerge au carrefour des pratiques du champ scientifique, du champ politique et du champ des think tanks. L’ « enviro-sécurité », l’ensemble des idées relatives aux liens entre environnement et sécurité, est une conversation académico-politique articulée autour de luttes symboliques pour l’autorité, la légitimité et le pouvoir. C’est à travers la mobilisation des outils de la sociologie des connaissances et de la sociologie des RI, que nous faisons des intellectuels en pratique, de réels objets de connaissance. La recherche repose sur deux types de méthodes complémentaires, quantitatives (analyse bibliométrique) et qualitatives (entretiens semidirectifs). Néanmoins, les entretiens semi-directifs menés avec des chercheurs issus du milieu académique ou du monde des think tanks constituent le cœur original de cette recherche. L’étude qui suit contribue à la réflexion théorique sur l’interaction entre savoir et pouvoir, aux analyses constructivistes critiques sur la représentation des dangers, et plus largement, à la littérature francophone sur la sécurisation de l’environnement. / Climate change is the subject of much debate. This thesis focuses on the construction of climate change as a security issue during the past two decades. Governments and major international organizations state that climate change is a threat to international peace and security. This research raises a general question: how has this security vision been made possible? In doing so, the thesis analyzes the construction of the environmental « threat », highlighting its contingency. Focusing on the context of the production of ideas, their movement and the role of researchers, it is argued that the environmental « threat » emerges at a crossroad between scientific practices, political practices and the practices of think tanks. « Enviro-security », the set of ideas linking environment to security matters, is an academic-political conversation built around symbolic struggles for authority, legitimacy and power. Through the use of the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of IR, this research holds that intellectuals in practice are real objects of knowledge. Two complementary methods are used in order to trace the history of « enviro-security » : quantitative (bibliometric analysis) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews). However, the semi-structured interviews with researchers from the academic world or from the world of think tanks lie at the heart of this research. Thanks to a perspective centered on the producers of knowledge, this study contributes to theoretical thinking on the interaction between knowledge and power, to critical constructivism on the representation of dangers and, more broadly, to the French literature on the securitization of the environment.

Comment les organisations internationales produisent-elles leurs statistiques ? Cette thèse dévoile ces activités singulières à partir du cas de l’Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime (UNODC). La démonstration suit une double approche sociologique (des relations internationales et des quantifications) en s’appuyant sur des entretiens menés au siège (à Vienne, en Autriche), la littérature méthodologique (interne et publiée) et les documents onusiens (normatifs et analytiques). Quantifier à l’échelle internationale consiste en un processus complexe organisé en étapes successives : accord d’un mandat, définition d’une méthode, collecte puis traitement et validation des données et, enfin, publication d’un rapport mondial. L’entreprise s’avère collective, impliquant le secrétariat de l’UNODC, les États-membres et des experts. En revanche, la tâche est inégalement répartie, les fonctionnaires internationaux réalisent ou coordonnent l’essentiel ; tout comme les interactions entre les acteurs sont asymétriques, l’UNODC dépend de ses États-membres à plusieurs égards et sans véritable pouvoir de les contraindre. Enjeux bureaucratiques, politiques, financiers, voire autocensure affectent alors le travail statistique routinier. De plus, les sources nationales officielles mais administratives – aux biais pourtant documentés et délicats à surmonter – restent majoritairement utilisées car légitimes. Le recours aux images satellites et aux enquêtes sur le terrain fait figure d’exception. Élaborées dans de telles conditions, les statistiques onusiennes de la drogue et du crime fournissent davantage un inventaire international consensuel que le diagnostic mondial prétendu. / How do international organizations produce their statistics? This thesis unveils these singular activities from the case of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The demon-stration follows a double sociological approach (of international relations and of quantification) based on interviews conducted at headquarters (in Vienna, Austria), methodological literature (internal and published) and UN documents (normative and analytical). Quantifying internationally is a complex process organized in successive steps: agreeing a mandate, defining a method, collecting and then processing and validating the data, and finally publishing a world report. The enterprise is collective, involving the UNODC secretariat, member states and experts. However, the task is unequally distributed, the international civil servants realizes or coordinates a large part of the work; just as the interactions between actors are asymmetrical, UNODC depends on its member states in many respects and has no real power to constrain them. Bureaucratic, political, financial and even self-censorship issues affect routine statistical work. In addition, official but administrative national sources – with their documented and delicate biases to overcome – remain mostly used because of their legitimacy. The use of satellite imagery and field surveys is an exception. Developed under such conditions, UN drug and crime statistics provide a more consensual international inventory than the so-called global diagnosis.