This dissertation examines 'sovereignty' as not only a theoretical abstraction of power relations within finite territories, but also as a very alive practice, a daily defense of inherent rights based on Indigenous philosophical notions of power and space. I examine the perspectives of Indigenous practitioners who either through their conversations and/or life ways cultivate an original conception of sovereignty, specifically the governance of the Gwich'in people, a nation of 15 villages in the Arctic Circle. As an Indigenous nation living within legal structures of a settler state, they offer an alternative understanding of collective political power, rooted outside the western European paradigm but simultaneously confronting those ambits. I argue that rather than an alternative narrative of resistance towards secession or segregation, the Gwich'in Nation provide a viable, pro-active and realized form of co-existent sovereignty. This sovereignty is a form of political collective identity and a relationship with the environment and non-human actors, as well as other governments, that is productive, creative and focused as much on future generations as drawing from tradition.

This master’s thesis is a result of research conducted during six weeks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the contribution of the Dayton peace agreement to process of nation building in Bosnia has become counter productive as it contains elements of both nation-state and state-nation foundation. The study strives to understand the question of identity and how people in Bosnia view themselves and Others, and how they view the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in combination with the Dayton peace agreement. Qualitative methods such as semi-structured and focused interviews as well as participatory and direct observations built the base for the data collection. The hermeneutic method is used as an approach to comprehend and to handle the findings. As my personal background contains pre-understandings of the chosen topic, I have chosen to use them throughout the research instead of ignoring them as the objective of this study is not to come to a final response of this topic, but instead to bring forward an alternative angle of the identified problem. The result of this study indicates that people in Bosnia and Herzegovina tend to identify in terms of ethno-national identity groups primarily where religion and territory have a decisive role in shaping identity, while a common Bosnian identity has fallen behind. It also reveals that the Dayton peace agreement damages the idea of a common Bosnian identity and questions the idea of Bosnia all together. This research suggests that a nation-state bottom-up process in Bosnia is little perceptible, due to the lack of a common Bosnian identity. The results from this study indicate that Bosnia does not fit the state-nation definition, nor the nation-state definition for several reasons while both state-nation and nation-state building are visible on regional levels. The Dayton peace agreement has initiated a very difficult political situation with extremely complex state structures and limited possibilities for change. The ethno-national division of three, and the constitutive tying of particular groups to specific territories, has hampered both the societal and political situation in Bosnia.

International relations are heralding a new era with the expectation of a new world order. However, the international community is facing a crisis of perception. They are trying to apply the concepts of outdated perspectives, such as realism, idealism, and Marxism, to an international political reality that can no longer be understood in terms of these concepts. The emergence of non-state nations, which are threatening the existence of the state system, are not integrated into the international system by the perspectives. The problem is "perspective effect" - one uses perspectives to perceive, understand, judge, and manipulate, the world order. Any international political issue that does not match conditional perception, is ignored and distorted. The result is "perspective paralysis" - the perspectives are unable to adjust to changed circumstances in the world order. "Perspective paralysis" can be overcome if there is a "perspective shift" - perspectives employ alternative criteria for evaluating world order. / World order / New world order / M.A (International Politics)

International relations are heralding a new era with the expectation of a new world order. However, the international community is facing a crisis of perception. They are trying to apply the concepts of outdated perspectives, such as realism, idealism, and Marxism, to an international political reality that can no longer be understood in terms of these concepts. The emergence of non-state nations, which are threatening the existence of the state system, are not integrated into the international system by the perspectives. The problem is "perspective effect" - one uses perspectives to perceive, understand, judge, and manipulate, the world order. Any international political issue that does not match conditional perception, is ignored and distorted. The result is "perspective paralysis" - the perspectives are unable to adjust to changed circumstances in the world order. "Perspective paralysis" can be overcome if there is a "perspective shift" - perspectives employ alternative criteria for evaluating world order. / World order / New world order / M.A (International Politics)

The thesis deals with the role of nation-state in globalization. In the beginning, the nation-state and state are defined. Afterwards, the interaction of the state with market and non-profit sector is analyzed. The third chapter talks about globalization, so that the gained knowledge can be used in the chapter four as the main characteristics of state are here analyzed with the emphasis on the economic aspects of globalization.

This dissertation considers the incommensurable interests of people, fossil capital, federal energy politics, and place in Northern Canada during the 1970s. By the late 1960s, the insatiable North American appetite for fossil fuels had turned its attention toward the Arctic region. After the discovery of rich deposits in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in 1968, largescale energy projects were proposed to access and exploit these Arctic natural resources. Canada participated in this northern oil rush; an exploration of oil and gas in the Arctic regions was accelerated in the early 1970s. The next challenge involved transporting the oil and gas to southern markets. In 1974, the Canadian federal government initiated the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry to investigate the social, environmental, and economic effects of the pipeline routes proposed by a consortium of American and Canadian oil companies through the Mackenzie River Valley in the Northwest Territories where it would connect with existing pipeline infrastructure in northern Alberta. The Inquiry’s report recommended against immediate construction, encouraging instead a ten-year moratorium. Inquiry commissioner Thomas Berger’s report rationalized the delay to make time for settling Indigenous land claims in the region and for taking conservation measures to protect some key areas in the Mackenzie River Valley. In this dissertation, I examine how the discussion around pipeline construction shaped the meaning of the North, self-determination, and cultural recognition. In this dissertation, I particularly focus on how Indigenous peoples asserted their claims by rejecting state-driven policies and the interests of fossil-fuel capitalism in the North. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Through the close reading of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry hearings, I examine how the discussion around energy development shaped the 1970s’ contentious Canadian politics of nation and North. Central to this debate, I focus on how Indigenous peoples asserted their land claims by challenging and refusing the settler state policies and the interests of fossil-fuel capitalism in the western Northwest Territories in the 1970s. By using the Inquiry process, northern Indigenous peoples challenged the idea that the state had a legitimate authority to decide and control the future or destiny of a territory or peoples in its defined borders.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:10:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lilian Carla Muneiro.pdf: 5873205 bytes, checksum: 2811fa47c141d3baf9dbb9381bcb9dac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Mass communication means produce a symbolic content, previously organized and diffused, intending to establish bounds with the public. This work researches political and cultural characteristics of the national hero and how the media interferes on them. It departs from the hypothesis that the media intervenes on nationalist interests, and exposes the official reasons of the project, producing translations and/or caricatures of the politically planned hero. The analysis of these translations allows the study of real or possible interventions of the mediations in the construction of the national imaginary. Thus, it intends to search the translation characteristics of the hero fomented by the State, which manifest in different communicative vehicles and go through ways that vary from nationalism to caricature. The description of the social, political and cultural context that exposed the emergency of the State is an indispensable step for the definition of the problem that will be investigated: the differences of the hero s process of mediatization that, generated in the State-Nation ambit, have been recovered in several process of mediation. Considering the comparative historic method, the corpus of this research contemplates characters originated by the newspaper (narrative), the literature, the cinema and the television. The theoretical background is supported by the concepts developed by Vladimir Propp (2002) and Mikhail Bakhtin (2002), through the dialog structure of the culture and the carnivalization; by the Greimasian Semiotics (the enunciator and the enunciatee with their specific enunciation strategies); by Ferrera (2008) through the spatial theory; by Baudrillard (1991), through the vision, simulation and simulacrum of the image; by Stuar Hall (2006) and Manuel Castells (2002), with the issues related to modern and post-modern identity; besides the readings of the national reality developed by Alfredo Bosi (2006), Sérgio Buarque de Holanda (2006), Gilberto Freire (2005), Antonio Candido (1974), Octávio Ianni (1994), José Murilo de Carvalho (1990), among others / Os meios de comunicação de massa produzem conteúdo simbólico, previamente organizado e veiculado, com intuito de estabelecer vínculo com o público. Essa pesquisa investigou as características políticas e culturais do herói nacional e o modo como os veículos de comunicação nelas interferem. Parte-se da hipótese de que os meios de comunicação de massa não só medeiam interesses nacionalistas, mas também desmascaram os motivos oficiais daquele projeto, produzindo traduções e/ou caricaturas do herói planejado politicamente. A análise dessas traduções possibilita estudar as reais ou possíveis intervenções das mediações na construção do imaginário nacional. Procurou-se assim, pesquisar as características das traduções da heroicidade fomentada pelo Estado, que se manifestam em diferentes veículos comunicativos e percorrem matrizes que vão do nacionalismo à caricatura. A descrição dos contextos político, social e cultural que suscitaram a emergência do Estado nacional constitui etapa indispensável para a definição do problema que será investigado: as diferenças do processo de mediatização do herói, que, geradas no âmbito do Estado-Nação, têm sido recuperadas em diversos processos de mediação. Considerando-se o método histórico comparativo, o corpus da pesquisa contemplou personagens originados pelo jornal (Crônica), pela literatura, pelo cinema e pela televisão. O referencial teórico está apoiado em conceitos desenvolvidos por Vladimir Propp (2002) e por Mikhail Bakhtin (2002), através da estrutura dialogante da cultura e da carnavalização; pela semiótica greimasiana (enunciador e enunciatário com suas específicas estratégias de enunciação); por Ferrara (2008), por meio da teoria da espacialidade; por Baudrillard (1991), através da visualidade, da simulação e do simulacro da imagem; por Stuar Hall (2006) e Manuel Castells (2002), com as questões relacionadas à identidade moderna e pós-moderna, além da leitura da realidade nacional, desenvolvida por Alfredo Bosi (2006), Sérgio Buarque de Holanda (2006), Gilberto Freire (2005), Antonio Candido (1974), Octávio Ianni (1994), José Murilo de Carvalho (1990), entre outros

Through explanatory analysis, this dissertation works the aspects referring to the autonomy of the State-Nations and the functions played by the social contemporary movements especially in Brazil and Argentina and where up to a certain point these are instruments capable to propitiate citizenship and a participant democracy in addition having the capacity to insert socially some segments that find difficulties to participate in the productive process. For this reason, it is necessary to define social movement as an instrument capable of considering the different individual expectations for an entire group of the population, taking in consideration the differences in gender, age, income, culture and the access if the basic rights, along with others. From the participation of individuals, the advances begin to constitute conquests and no more concessions of the of the power holders. From this point, the relevance of the new social actions as instruments of construction of a experienced citizenship, for being seeds of the conquest and for having as a purpose the capacity of creating social standards that do not exclude individuals but that promote and respect the diversities. Since the latest actions of the State-Nations are in the definition of domestic politics increasingly articulated in a level of regional blocks, local alternatives can represent the creation of new spaces of politics and democratic construction. This way, the civil society can generate through social movements areas of negotiation in which the decisions are formed in favor of the social welfare. That is, not only relegating to the States the monopoly of the decisions. / Através de análise exploratória, esta dissertação trabalha aspectos referentes à autonomia dos Estados-Nações e as funções desempenhadas pelos movimentos sociais contemporâneos, especialmente no Brasil e na Argentina, e em que medida estes são instrumentos capazes de propiciar cidadania e democracia participativa, além de ter a capacidade de inserir socialmente alguns segmentos que encontram dificuldades para participar do processo produtivo. Para isso, é preciso definir movimento social como um instrumento capaz de considerar as diferentes expectativas individuais para todo o conjunto da população, levando em conta as diferenças de gênero, idade, renda, cultura e de acesso aos direitos básicos, entre outros. A partir da atuação participativa dos indivíduos, os avanços passam a configurar conquistas e não mais concessões dos detentores do poder. Daí, a relevância das novas ações sociais como instrumentos de construção de uma cidadania qualificada, por serem frutos da conquista e terem como cerne a capacidade de criar padrões de convivência social não excludentes, mas que promovam e respeitem as diversidades. Como as novas ações dos Estados nacionais estão na definição de políticas domésticas crescentemente articuladas em nível de blocos regionais, alternativas locais podem representar a criação de novos espaços de politização e construção democrática, e a sociedade civil pode, através dos movimentos sociais, gerar arenas de negociação, nas quais as decisões sejam formadas em prol do bem-estar social, ou seja, não apenas relegando aos Estados o monopólio das decisões.

Avec la signature du Traité de Paris en 1951, l’unité européenne est passée du domaine des rêves à celui de la réalité. Des institutions communes ont été créées, ainsi qu’un droit communautaire qui a harmonisé les législations des États membres et une citoyenneté supranationale reconnue. Pourtant, pouvons-nous affirmer que la communauté européenne existe ? Celle-ci, n’exige-t-elle pas également l’existence d’une représentation commune qui rassemble des peuples qui ont parcouru leurs histoires au rythme des conflits ? Y a-t-il un sentiment de coappartenance en Europe ? Nous soutenons que l’objet politique non identifié qu’est l’Union Européenne ne peut faire l’objet d’une représentation que s’il n’assume son europeanité. En d’autres termes, l’existence d’une communauté politique européenne consolidée est ici conditionnée à la représentation de l’identité européenne, à l’existence d’un ensemble de références partagées et donc fédérateur des différences qui la constituent. Il s’agira de questionner, dans un premier moment, les relations entretenues par l’Europe avec le temps et l’espace. Ceux-ci permettront alors de dégager les traits caractéristiques de l’européanité à l’origine d’un style européen. Ce style européen sera ensuite associé à la construction politique, comme le contenu doit être associé à la forme. Ce sera alors le moment pour questionner les modèles politiques européens de façon à savoir enfin lequel parmi l’État-nation et l’Empire est le plus adéquat au style européen. / With the signature of the Treaty of Paris in 1951, european unity moved from the field of dreams to reality. Common institutions were created, as well as a community law that harmonised the laws of the member states and recognised supranational citizenship. However, can we say that the european community really exists? Doesn’t it also requires the existence of a common representation that brings together the people who have walked through their stories to the rhythm of conflicts? Is there a feeling of co-belonging in Europe? This thesis argues that the unidentified political object that is the European Union cannot be the object of representation if it does not assume its europeanity. In other words, the existence of a consolidated european political community is here conditional on the representation of european identity, that is, on the existence of a set of shared references that consequently unify the differences that make up the territory. Therefore, on a first approach, the relationships between Europe and the space-time dimensions are questioned. These will then allow us to bring out the characteristic features of europeanity that form an european style. This european style will then be associated with political construction, the same way that contents must be associated with form. This will then be the time to question the European political models so that we may know, between nation state or Empire, which is most appropriate to the european style.

La construction constitutionnelle du politique en cours en Afrique subsaharienne francophone est le résultat d’une volonté historique : la colonisation européenne. Après la décolonisation, l’injonction du discours de la mission civilisatrice est formellement suivie puisque les constitutions africaines francophones, qui imitent la constitution française, consacrent le modèle français de l’Etat-nation démocratique. Mais l’institutionnalisation de l’Etat-nation démocratique est globalement infructueuse. L’application du modèle unitaire de l’Etat-nation démocratique va généralement engendrer des conflits intercommunautaires, soit pour le contrôle du pouvoir au sein de l’Etat-nation (par la lutte armée ou par la loi de la majorité démocratique), soit pour se séparer de l’Etat-nation. Les amendements jusque-là apportés n’ont pas réussi à résorber la crise du politique parce qu’ils s’inscrivent toujours sous le paradigme constitutionnel du modèle unitaire de l’Etat-nation démocratique (nation monocommunautaire et Etat-unitaire), ignorant ainsi un élément déterminant du fait politique subsaharien à savoir l’identité collective précoloniale ou ethnique. Dès lors, comme cela s’est fait dans d’autres pays (Belgique, Canada, Espagne, Ethiopie, et.), la résolution de la crise du politique dans les pays subsahariens pourrait trouver une voie de résolution dans l’adoption d’un modèle constitutionnel pluralitaire, c’est-à-dire la reconnaissance de la pluralité communautaire constitutive de la nation (nation pluricommunautaire) à laquelle correspondrait une forme pluralitaire du pouvoir politique (Etat fédéral, Etat régional ou Fédération démocratique). / The constitutional’s construction of the current politics in francophone sub-Saharan Africa is the result of an historic will : the European colonization. After decolonization, the discourse of the civilizing mission is strictly followed because Francophone African constitutions, which follow the French’s Constitution dedicated the French model of the democratic nation-state. But the institutionalization of democratic nation-state is generally unsuccessful. The application of unitary democratic nation-state model will generally lead to inter-community conflicts, either for the control of power within the nation-state (through armed struggle or the law of the Democratic majority) or to separate from the nation state. The amendments so far made have failed to resolve the crisis of politics because they always fit under the constitutional paradigm of unitary model of the democratic nation-state (monocommunautaire nation and state unit), thus ignoring a key fact Saharan political namely pre-colonial or ethnic collective identity. Therefore, as was done in other countries (Belgium, Canada, Spain, Ethiopia …), the resolution of the political crisis in sub-Saharan countries could find a resolution in the adoption of pluralitaire a constitutional model , that is to say, the recognition of the constituent community diversity of the nation (multicommunity nation) to which correspond a pluralitaire form of political power (federal state, regional or state Democratic Federation).