Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northwestern University, 2000. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 61-11, Section: A, page: 4499. Adviser: Rosemary Radford Ruether.

This research aims to understand how black descriptive representation comes about and why black descriptive representation matters, at the state level. What distinguishes this research from previous works is its simultaneous analysis of different forms of descriptive representation at the subnational level, rather than in Congress or at the local level. This research argues black descriptive representation can take four different forms: dyadic, collective, parity and caucus. An important and understudied mechanism for black descriptive representation is the formation of state legislative black caucuses and their potential to influence policy and behavior. Subnational descriptive representation need not have negative tradeoffs for black substantive policy representation, as has been found with minority representation in Congress (Lublin 1997). Black representation is akin to a diamond, and looking at it from only one perspective is similar to judging a diamond only by its color, instead of also judging it by its hardness and fluorescence, as well as its clarity, shape, and size. In short, this work recognizes the multifaceted nature of black representation in the states. This research defines a theory of black descriptive representation as taking four different forms: dyadic, collective, parity, and caucus. Dyadic descriptive representation is the one-to-one relationship between a legislator and a voter, and heretofore it has received the most scholarly attention. This one-to-one relationship may occur between a minority citizen and their elected representation in Congress, in the state legislature, or in local government (Bobo and Gilliam 1990; Barreto, Segura, and Woods 2004), but this work focuses on dyadic descriptive representation in Congress. Although some argue that dyadic descriptive representation leads to better policy outcomes for blacks (Whitby 1997; Hutchings, McClerking, and Charles 2004), and encourages blacks to engage in politics (Gay 2001; Gay 2002; Tate 2003; Banducci, Donovan, and Karp 2004; Griffin and Keane 2006), others argue that dyadic descriptive representation is not only unnecessary to implement policies beneficial to blacks (Swain 1993), but also that it may actually lead to poorer policy outcomes for the group (Lublin 1997). That is, there is a tradeoff between increasing the number of black representatives (descriptive representation) and passing policies beneficial to the group (substantive representation). Collective descriptive representation is the relationship that an individual has with elected officials with whom they share a group identity. For blacks, collective descriptive representation may include the percentage of black lawmakers in the state legislature or Congress. An argument developed in this research is that collective descriptive representation in the state legislature, a topic rarely studied by scholars of race and ethnicity, may maximize both descriptive and substantive representation, and as a result, it may encourage black political behavior and lead to better policy outcomes for the group. Both parity and caucus descriptive representation are extensions of collective descriptive representation in the state legislature. Parity descriptive representation examines the extent to which the percentage of blacks in the state legislature is equal to a state's black population and is a measure of racial equity in electoral representation. Caucus descriptive representation is the formal organization of black lawmakers within a state legislature. Almost no published research has empirically studied legislative black caucuses in the states (for an exception see King-Meadows and Schaller 2006). Since the four forms of descriptive representation are distinct, the expectation is that they be caused by different factors. Moreover, this research builds on previous work by measuring and defining collective descriptive representation in all fifty states and is the first research to argue that state legislative black caucuses shape political behavior.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 17, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Thesis advisor: Dr. Catherine Rymph. Includes bibliographical references.

O termo bancada da bala descreve as bancadas suprapartidárias do Legislativo compostas majoritariamente por egressos das forças de segurança, cuja agenda se organiza em torno de temas da segurança pública. Seus membros são associados a uma visão autoritária e repressiva de controle social, aos interesses da indústria armamentista e a uma tensão constante com a política de Direitos Humanos. O sucesso e a articulação política de candidatos com esse perfil são retratados midiaticamente como expressão de uma onda conservadora no cenário político e social brasileiro. No entanto, a estruturação desses grupos não é um fenômeno recente, principalmente para o legislativo paulista que, desde 1987, apresenta grupos de deputados-policiais favoráveis a políticas de mano dura. Buscou-se compreender a estruturação desses grupos, com base em autores da Sociologia da Punição que identificam reconfigurações semelhantes no campo de controle do crime na maioria das democracias contemporâneas (como políticas de contenção contraditórias e ambivalentes, transformações nos discursos oficiais em relação ao crime no sentido de um populismo penal, crescimento dos sentimentos de insegurança e sua instrumentalização pela esfera política e eleitoreira). Investigou-se como essas questões se organizam nos discursos de deputadospoliciais da 18ª legislatura da Assembleia Legislativa de São Paulo, comparando-os aos discursos da chamada bancada da segurança, eleita pela primeira vez na 11ª legislatura. Realizou-se a pesquisa documental sobre as proposições legislativas, sessões e frentes parlamentares mediante a análise do discurso com base no instrumental analítico foucaultiano. Observou-se uma trajetória de continuidade entre os grupos em que a matriz da guerra estende-se para além dos objetos clássicos do penal e do trabalho policial, tornando-se um organizador de mundo pelo qual se definem as fronteiras entre o bem, a legitimidade, a ordem e suas respectivas oposições. O principal desdobramento observado é a maneira como os deputados da 18ª legislatura mobilizam um discurso gerencialista da cidade que se mostra estratégico para o discurso do populismo penal, em que o princípio de tolerância zero é agenciado sobre toda sorte de comportamentos, figuras e atividades presentes nos espaços de grande circulação de pessoas e mercadorias. Conclui-se que a estruturação desses grupos se realiza discursivamente e politicamente, não apenas em relação à identidade policial, pautas corporativas e bandeiras securitizadoras, mas também na forma como esses elementos geram identificação, conferem legitimidade, se combinam e atualizam sensibilidades e representações enraizadas socialmente. Esses elementos acrescem discursos sobre o fenômeno da punição, que, por sua vez, fala à sociedade muito mais do que em termos de crime e castigo: canaliza ansiedades e insatisfações, produz solidariedade, organiza o mundo conforme diferentes territórios morais. Assim, os discursos mobilizados por bancadas da bala possibilitam comunicações com públicos e grupos políticos diversos, reorganizando conservadorismos nos campos político e de controle do crime. / The expression bullet caucus describes supra-party organized groups of legislators composed mostly of former members of police and military forces, whose agenda is built around public security issues. Its members are associated with an authoritarian and repressive vision of social control, as with the interests of the arms industry, and constant tension over human rights policies. The media portrays the success and political articulation of candidates in this profile as an expression of a conservative rise in the Brazilian political and social scene. However, the emergence of these groups is not a recent phenomenon, especially for the São Paulo legislature, which since 1987 has had groups of police-officer-congressmen in favor of hard-hitting policies. We sought to understand the constitution of these groups, based on authors of Sociology of Punishment who identify similar reconfigurations in the field of crime control in most contemporary democracies (such as contradictory and ambivalent containment policies, changes in official discourses on crime towards criminal populism, growing feelings of insecurity, and their instrumentalization by the political and electoral spheres). We investigated how these issues appear in speeches of police-officercongressmen of the 18th legislature of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo, comparing them to speeches of the so-called security caucus, elected for the first time in the 11th legislature. Documentary research on legislative propositions, legislative sessions, and congressional fronts was carried out using discourse analysis, based on Foucaultian analytical instruments. Continuity has been observed between the two groups, to which the image of war reaches far beyond the classic subjects of criminal law and law enforcement, becoming a world organizer that defines the boundaries between good, legitimacy, order, and their respective oppositions. The main development observed was the way in which congressmen of the 18th São Paulo state legislature resort to a managerial discourse about the city, strategically favoring tendencies of penal populism, which enforces principles of zero tolerance over all sorts of behaviors, figures and activities found in massive people and goods circulation areas. We concluded that the structuring of these groups takes place discursively and politically, referring to police identity, corporate topics and public security causes, and enabling these elements to generate identification, confer legitimacy, and combine and update firmly rooted social sensitivities and representations. These elements add discourses on the phenomenon of punishment, which, in turn, speaks to society much more than in terms of crime and punishment: it channels anxieties and dissatisfaction, produces solidarity, and organizes the world according to different moral territories. The discourses mobilized by bullet caucuses communicate with distinct publics and political groups, reorganizing conservatism in the political and crime control fields.

O termo bancada da bala descreve as bancadas suprapartidárias do Legislativo compostas majoritariamente por egressos das forças de segurança, cuja agenda se organiza em torno de temas da segurança pública. Seus membros são associados a uma visão autoritária e repressiva de controle social, aos interesses da indústria armamentista e a uma tensão constante com a política de Direitos Humanos. O sucesso e a articulação política de candidatos com esse perfil são retratados midiaticamente como expressão de uma onda conservadora no cenário político e social brasileiro. No entanto, a estruturação desses grupos não é um fenômeno recente, principalmente para o legislativo paulista que, desde 1987, apresenta grupos de deputados-policiais favoráveis a políticas de mano dura. Buscou-se compreender a estruturação desses grupos, com base em autores da Sociologia da Punição que identificam reconfigurações semelhantes no campo de controle do crime na maioria das democracias contemporâneas (como políticas de contenção contraditórias e ambivalentes, transformações nos discursos oficiais em relação ao crime no sentido de um populismo penal, crescimento dos sentimentos de insegurança e sua instrumentalização pela esfera política e eleitoreira). Investigou-se como essas questões se organizam nos discursos de deputadospoliciais da 18ª legislatura da Assembleia Legislativa de São Paulo, comparando-os aos discursos da chamada bancada da segurança, eleita pela primeira vez na 11ª legislatura. Realizou-se a pesquisa documental sobre as proposições legislativas, sessões e frentes parlamentares mediante a análise do discurso com base no instrumental analítico foucaultiano. Observou-se uma trajetória de continuidade entre os grupos em que a matriz da guerra estende-se para além dos objetos clássicos do penal e do trabalho policial, tornando-se um organizador de mundo pelo qual se definem as fronteiras entre o bem, a legitimidade, a ordem e suas respectivas oposições. O principal desdobramento observado é a maneira como os deputados da 18ª legislatura mobilizam um discurso gerencialista da cidade que se mostra estratégico para o discurso do populismo penal, em que o princípio de tolerância zero é agenciado sobre toda sorte de comportamentos, figuras e atividades presentes nos espaços de grande circulação de pessoas e mercadorias. Conclui-se que a estruturação desses grupos se realiza discursivamente e politicamente, não apenas em relação à identidade policial, pautas corporativas e bandeiras securitizadoras, mas também na forma como esses elementos geram identificação, conferem legitimidade, se combinam e atualizam sensibilidades e representações enraizadas socialmente. Esses elementos acrescem discursos sobre o fenômeno da punição, que, por sua vez, fala à sociedade muito mais do que em termos de crime e castigo: canaliza ansiedades e insatisfações, produz solidariedade, organiza o mundo conforme diferentes territórios morais. Assim, os discursos mobilizados por bancadas da bala possibilitam comunicações com públicos e grupos políticos diversos, reorganizando conservadorismos nos campos político e de controle do crime. / The expression bullet caucus describes supra-party organized groups of legislators composed mostly of former members of police and military forces, whose agenda is built around public security issues. Its members are associated with an authoritarian and repressive vision of social control, as with the interests of the arms industry, and constant tension over human rights policies. The media portrays the success and political articulation of candidates in this profile as an expression of a conservative rise in the Brazilian political and social scene. However, the emergence of these groups is not a recent phenomenon, especially for the São Paulo legislature, which since 1987 has had groups of police-officer-congressmen in favor of hard-hitting policies. We sought to understand the constitution of these groups, based on authors of Sociology of Punishment who identify similar reconfigurations in the field of crime control in most contemporary democracies (such as contradictory and ambivalent containment policies, changes in official discourses on crime towards criminal populism, growing feelings of insecurity, and their instrumentalization by the political and electoral spheres). We investigated how these issues appear in speeches of police-officercongressmen of the 18th legislature of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo, comparing them to speeches of the so-called security caucus, elected for the first time in the 11th legislature. Documentary research on legislative propositions, legislative sessions, and congressional fronts was carried out using discourse analysis, based on Foucaultian analytical instruments. Continuity has been observed between the two groups, to which the image of war reaches far beyond the classic subjects of criminal law and law enforcement, becoming a world organizer that defines the boundaries between good, legitimacy, order, and their respective oppositions. The main development observed was the way in which congressmen of the 18th São Paulo state legislature resort to a managerial discourse about the city, strategically favoring tendencies of penal populism, which enforces principles of zero tolerance over all sorts of behaviors, figures and activities found in massive people and goods circulation areas. We concluded that the structuring of these groups takes place discursively and politically, referring to police identity, corporate topics and public security causes, and enabling these elements to generate identification, confer legitimacy, and combine and update firmly rooted social sensitivities and representations. These elements add discourses on the phenomenon of punishment, which, in turn, speaks to society much more than in terms of crime and punishment: it channels anxieties and dissatisfaction, produces solidarity, and organizes the world according to different moral territories. The discourses mobilized by bullet caucuses communicate with distinct publics and political groups, reorganizing conservatism in the political and crime control fields.

In 1972, the campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) began in the states. Many states quickly ratified the amendment but the ERA stalled fifteen states short of the necessary three-fourths to become part of the United States Constitution. Virginia was one of the states who did not ratify the amendment and this study examines the reasons why. Much like other southern states, conservative Virginia legislators wanted to maintain traditional gender roles. STOP ERA and other anti-ERA organizations mobilized before the proponents developed a unified campaign. Legislators were able to use the rules of the General Assembly to block serious consideration and ratification of the ERA. Proponents of the amendment started with an educational campaign but faced the problem of not being in a position to challenge the powerful conservative leaders in the General Assembly. They then shifted to a campaign based on electoral politics. However, the transition occurred too late to effect the outcome of ERA ratification in Virginia.

Esta dissertação tem foco na ação dos deputados e senadores que compuseram e ainda compõem a Bancada Ruralista do Congresso Nacional, em um contexto de consolidação do neoliberalismo da economia e de acirramento das disputas políticas e dos conflitos territoriais que marcam a questão agrária no Brasil nas últimas décadas (1995-2010). As questões abordadas discutem a importância do estudo deste sujeito social na Geografia Agrária brasileira, também o papel das organizações de representação dos interesses da classe dos proprietários de terra, como a União Democrática Ruralista (UDR). Analisa também a constituição de relações de poder em torno do patrimônio, parentesco e política, que resultam na acumulação de bens e renda, principalmente a renda fundiária. Destarte, foi imprescindível considerar os desdobramentos históricos da formação da propriedade privada da terra no Brasil, e o papel das oligarquias estaduais na qual foram gestadas determinadas lideranças políticas tradicionais que fazem parte desta bancada. A partir da análise das biografias e do estudo sistemático dos dados declarados pelos parlamentares ao Cadastro do Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA) no ano de 2003 e dos bens declarados à Receita Federal e entregues a Justiça Eleitoral, nos pleitos de 1998, 2002, 2006 ou 2010 constatou-se a inserção destes políticos ruralistas nas dinâmicas territoriais de apropriação de terras em meio à lógica do desenvolvimento contraditório, desigual e combinado no modo capitalista de produção na agricultura, e as distinções de cada político no processo de territorialização dos monopólios e na monopolização dos territórios, porque além de políticos a maioria atua diretamente no campo. Foi construída uma cartografia da concentração fundiária ruralista, que mostra que os parlamentares, nos municípios brasileiros, concentram a maior parte de suas terras na propriedade improdutiva, mas também acumulam além da grande propriedade, as médias, pequenas e minifúndios. Esta complexa dinâmica envolve atuação de empresas do agronegócio, relações de parentesco e tramas inter-regionais entre os políticos da bancada que resultam na apropriação de terras, especialmente nas áreas de expansão do agronegócio, e também em conflitos com a classe camponesa, os povos indígenas e as comunidades quilombolas. / This study aims at important aspects of the rural issues in Brazil for the last decades, such as the former and current Brazilian Congressional Rural Caucus members performance- congressmens and senators - inside a context of stability of the neoliberal economy, intense political disputes, and territorial conflicts. This article also presents the importance of the study on the mentioned social beings and the representative organization for landlords roles in the Brazilian Rural Geography, such as the Rural Democratic Union (UDR).The patrimonial power, kinship, and politics relationship constituting, which has resulted in the accumulation of property and income, especially in land income, will also be pointed out. Therefore, it was extremely necessary to take the Brazilian land private property formation historical development and the state oligarchies role, in which specific traditional political leadership was first elaborated, being it a part of the rural caucus basis, into consideration. Through biographical analysis and systematic study of the Income Tax Return declared by the parliamentarians to the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) by the year 2003, and the property and vehicles Income Tax Return declared to the Brazilian Federal Revenue (FRB) and delivered to the Electoral Justice, in the elections of 1998, 2002 or 2010, it was possible to verify the integration of these rural politicians in the land ownership dynamics through the logic of uneven and combined development in the capitalist production in agriculture, as well as the distinctions of each politician in territorialization processes of the monopolies and monopolization of the territories. The conclusion is that, although they are politicians, most of them act directly in the field. A Cartography of the rural land concentration was prepared in order to display that the parliamentarians have concentrated most part of their lands in the non productive large properties, but they have also accumulated the medium, small ones and minifundios. This complex dynamics involves the performance of agribusiness companies, kinship relationships and inter regional transactions among the politicians. It ends up resulting in conflicts with the peasantry class, the indigenous peoples, the maroon communities and ownership of lands, especially in the expansion areas of agribusiness.

Esta dissertação tem foco na ação dos deputados e senadores que compuseram e ainda compõem a Bancada Ruralista do Congresso Nacional, em um contexto de consolidação do neoliberalismo da economia e de acirramento das disputas políticas e dos conflitos territoriais que marcam a questão agrária no Brasil nas últimas décadas (1995-2010). As questões abordadas discutem a importância do estudo deste sujeito social na Geografia Agrária brasileira, também o papel das organizações de representação dos interesses da classe dos proprietários de terra, como a União Democrática Ruralista (UDR). Analisa também a constituição de relações de poder em torno do patrimônio, parentesco e política, que resultam na acumulação de bens e renda, principalmente a renda fundiária. Destarte, foi imprescindível considerar os desdobramentos históricos da formação da propriedade privada da terra no Brasil, e o papel das oligarquias estaduais na qual foram gestadas determinadas lideranças políticas tradicionais que fazem parte desta bancada. A partir da análise das biografias e do estudo sistemático dos dados declarados pelos parlamentares ao Cadastro do Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA) no ano de 2003 e dos bens declarados à Receita Federal e entregues a Justiça Eleitoral, nos pleitos de 1998, 2002, 2006 ou 2010 constatou-se a inserção destes políticos ruralistas nas dinâmicas territoriais de apropriação de terras em meio à lógica do desenvolvimento contraditório, desigual e combinado no modo capitalista de produção na agricultura, e as distinções de cada político no processo de territorialização dos monopólios e na monopolização dos territórios, porque além de políticos a maioria atua diretamente no campo. Foi construída uma cartografia da concentração fundiária ruralista, que mostra que os parlamentares, nos municípios brasileiros, concentram a maior parte de suas terras na propriedade improdutiva, mas também acumulam além da grande propriedade, as médias, pequenas e minifúndios. Esta complexa dinâmica envolve atuação de empresas do agronegócio, relações de parentesco e tramas inter-regionais entre os políticos da bancada que resultam na apropriação de terras, especialmente nas áreas de expansão do agronegócio, e também em conflitos com a classe camponesa, os povos indígenas e as comunidades quilombolas. / This study aims at important aspects of the rural issues in Brazil for the last decades, such as the former and current Brazilian Congressional Rural Caucus members performance- congressmens and senators - inside a context of stability of the neoliberal economy, intense political disputes, and territorial conflicts. This article also presents the importance of the study on the mentioned social beings and the representative organization for landlords roles in the Brazilian Rural Geography, such as the Rural Democratic Union (UDR).The patrimonial power, kinship, and politics relationship constituting, which has resulted in the accumulation of property and income, especially in land income, will also be pointed out. Therefore, it was extremely necessary to take the Brazilian land private property formation historical development and the state oligarchies role, in which specific traditional political leadership was first elaborated, being it a part of the rural caucus basis, into consideration. Through biographical analysis and systematic study of the Income Tax Return declared by the parliamentarians to the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) by the year 2003, and the property and vehicles Income Tax Return declared to the Brazilian Federal Revenue (FRB) and delivered to the Electoral Justice, in the elections of 1998, 2002 or 2010, it was possible to verify the integration of these rural politicians in the land ownership dynamics through the logic of uneven and combined development in the capitalist production in agriculture, as well as the distinctions of each politician in territorialization processes of the monopolies and monopolization of the territories. The conclusion is that, although they are politicians, most of them act directly in the field. A Cartography of the rural land concentration was prepared in order to display that the parliamentarians have concentrated most part of their lands in the non productive large properties, but they have also accumulated the medium, small ones and minifundios. This complex dynamics involves the performance of agribusiness companies, kinship relationships and inter regional transactions among the politicians. It ends up resulting in conflicts with the peasantry class, the indigenous peoples, the maroon communities and ownership of lands, especially in the expansion areas of agribusiness.

Tea Party affects American politics since 2009 when she began under the name of former revolutionary movement to fight government interventions with massive demonstrations. There was often incorrect expectation concerning Tea Party's potential in the first years of her activity. Tea Party supporters cannot be easily characterized, since a very differentiated group of Americans identifies itself with the movement, they come from a broad scale of social groups from Religious Right to libertarians or radical populists, which makes Tea Party an easy subject of criticism. Such criticism is often related to accusations of racism and rigid approach to social issues, to which contributed also certain Tea Party candidates. Nationwide political radicalization, which Tea Party allegedly caused up to a great extent, cannot be confirmed, though, radicalization can be discerned rather within the ideologically differentiated Congress. Although the elections of 2010 and 2012 brought a group of Tea Party supporters into the Congress, it wasn't such a significant success, as many of her protagonists expected. Tea Party established the Tea Party Caucus as an organizational tool. The members of the Caucus ranked among the most active congressmen, the number of their achievements is questionable, though. Throughout the year...

Le mouvement initié le 6 mars 1957 par l’indépendance du Ghana de la Grande-Bretagne balaya l’ensemble de l’Afrique australe jusqu’à culminer en 1960 – « année de l’Afrique ». La décolonisation et la résultante émergence d’une troisième voie dans le conflit idéologique entre les Etats-Unis et l’URSS provoqua l’irruption du continent africain sur l’échiquier politique international. Parallèlement, dans le Sud des Etats-Unis, les Noirs luttaient pour obtenir la reconnaissance de leurs droits civiques. Dès lors, les connections entre ce combat et la lutte internationale pour la décolonisation apparurent, échos modernes aux liens déjà tissés plus tôt entre les Afro-Américains et leur continent d’origine. Le changement dans les relations raciales s’accompagna par un regain de conservatisme aussi bien aux Etats-Unis qu’en Afrique subsaharienne. L’élection du républicain Nixon en 1968 faisait écho au maintien de régimes dirigés par la minorité blanche en Afrique du Sud, en Rhodésie et dans l’ensemble de l’Afrique lusophone. C’est dans ce contexte « globalisé », où politiques intérieure et internationale, race et nation commencèrent à fusionner que les relations raciales émergent sur la scène internationale comme enjeu politique. Les Etats-Unis durent faire face à la ségrégation et à la discrimination dans leur propre pays ainsi qu’à la décolonisation à l’étranger. L’émergence des relations raciales en tant qu’enjeu global se posait comme un obstacle aux tentatives américaines de construire une coalition internationale et multiraciale contre le communisme. L’émergence d’un corps politique noir américain à la fin des années 1960 dans ce contexte pose la question des Représentants afro-américains au Congrès et de la politique africaine des Etats-Unis. Se situant dans ce contexte, cette thèse examine le rôle que le Représentant Charles C. Diggs a joué dans les politiques de Washington vis-à-vis de l’Afrique subsaharienne de 1955 à 1980. Représentant démocrate du Michigan, « Mr. Africa » devint le premier Afro-Américain nommé à la Commission des Affaires étrangères de la Chambre basse en 1959. Il présida, sous l’Administration Nixon, la Sous-commission aux Affaires africaines, orchestra la fondation du lobby parlementaire noir, le Congressional Black Caucus, en 1971 et fut l’architecte de TransAfrica – un lobby non-institutionnel visant à sensibiliser les Américains à la situation raciale en Afrique – en 1977. De par sa carrière, ses engagements politiques et sa nature même de Représentant noir, Charles Diggs a incarné une vision transnationaliste des relations raciales. Notre propos vise à analyser le rôle de Diggs dans la reconnaissance nationale de problèmes raciaux globaux à travers sa définition de ces problèmes en des termes transgressant le simple intérêt racial. / The movement which began on 6th March 1957 with Ghanaian independence from Great Britain swept through the rest of southern Africa, culminating in 1960, hailed the ‘Year of Africa’. Decolonization and the resultant emergence of a third way in the ideological conflict between the United States and the USSR led to the sudden appearance of the African continent on the international political stage. At the same time, in the southern United States, blacks fought for recognition of their civil rights. From this point on, contemporary resonances of the links already woven by Afro-Americans with their continent of origin allowed the connections of their combat with the international struggle for decolonization to become apparent. Changes in race relations were accompanied by a rise in conservatism as much in the United States as in sub-Saharan Africa. The election of the Republican Nixon in 1968 was mirrored in the preservation of regimes of minority white rule in South Africa, Rhodesia and the whole of Portuguese speaking Africa.It is in this ‘globalised’ context, in which domestic and international politics, race and nation began to fuse that race relations emerged on the international scene as a political issue. The United States had to confront segregation and discrimination in their own country, as well as decolonization abroad. The emergence of race relations as a global issue acted as an obstacle to American efforts to construct a multiracial international coalition against communism. The emergence of a Black American political body at the end of the 1960s raises, within this context, the question of the status of Afro-American Representatives at Congress and the African politics of the United States as a whole. Rooted in such a context, this thesis examines the role that Representative Charles C. Diggs played in Washington politics in relation to sub-Saharan Africa from 1955 to 1980. Democrat Representative for Michigan, Diggs, later to be known as ‘Mr Africa’, became, in 1959, the first Afro-American appointed to the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the lower house. Under the Nixon administration, he presided over the Subcommittee on Africa, orchestrated the foundation of the black parliamentary lobby the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971, and was the architect in 1977 of TransAfrica, a non-institutional lobby aiming to raise American awareness of the racial situation in Africa. Through his career, his political engagements, and the very fact of being a black Representative, Charles Diggs incarnated a transnationalist vision of race relations. Our intention is to analyze Diggs’ role in the national recognition of global racial problems, through the terms he used to define them, terms which exceeded straightforward racial interest.