The use of Private Military Companies (PMCs) has become an increasingly common feature of contemporary armed conflict. Because of their autonomous contractual status, PMCs have presented governments with problems of accountability on several levels, including violations of international human rights and humanitarian law (IHL) standards. This thesis argues that PMCs should be considered to be non-state actors (NSAs), subject to international law from both an International Relations Theory and a Legal Theory perspective. This conclusion is linked to the issue of whether individual PMC employees can be treated as legitimate combatants according to IHL. State practice has not led to a clear understanding of the definition of combatant, a problem which has been compounded by a lack of government policy on the use of PMCs. Using Canadian experience as a case study, the thesis concludes that IHL suggests two options for regularizing the status of PMCs which would both strengthen accountability and uphold the rule of law.

The use of Private Military Companies (PMCs) has become an increasingly common feature of contemporary armed conflict. Because of their autonomous contractual status, PMCs have presented governments with problems of accountability on several levels, including violations of international human rights and humanitarian law (IHL) standards. This thesis argues that PMCs should be considered to be non-state actors (NSAs), subject to international law from both an International Relations Theory and a Legal Theory perspective. This conclusion is linked to the issue of whether individual PMC employees can be treated as legitimate combatants according to IHL. State practice has not led to a clear understanding of the definition of combatant, a problem which has been compounded by a lack of government policy on the use of PMCs. Using Canadian experience as a case study, the thesis concludes that IHL suggests two options for regularizing the status of PMCs which would both strengthen accountability and uphold the rule of law.

During negotiating process of drawing up global environmental conventions or protocols, negotiating parties to form different negotiation coalitions can be observed. However, few existing academic literature or studies have taken a systematic approach to explore the elements that contribute to the formation of these coalitions and to the changes of coalitions in the middle stage of negotiating process. Through examining the negotiating process of several selected conferences for the establishment of global environmental treaties which are representative in nature and from different international environmental domains, this study is to find the core elements and sub-elements which contribute to the formation of negotiation coalitions. This study shows that the composition of negotiation coalitions is dynamic. The timing of reorganizing the negotiating coalitions falls on the stage in which negotiation proceeds from principle issues to substantive ones. In other words, when the issues under negotiation begin to involve legally binding substantive commitments to State parties, the reorganization of negotiation coalitions emerges. Furthermore, this study also finds that common elements do exist in the formation of negotiation coalitions. The core elements are ¡§the source of threat¡¨ and ¡§enhanceing the influence of a State¡¨; they are not affected by the change of negotiating issues. The other two sub-elements are: ¡§the same experience of participating in the same international organizations¡¨, the factor for forming negotiation coalitions during the stage of negotiation on principle issues, and ¡§domestic economic structure¡¨ during the stage of substantive issues negotiation for the formation of negotiation coalitions.

Across the globe, people are everyday audiences of advertising images, which have become integrated in our life worlds. Advertising images are entangled with interesting moral conflicts. This study analyses the decision-processes of advertising self-regulators, who are in the midst of such moral conflicts, with the purpose of showing how and why they decide if advertising images are acceptable or not. Two organizations based in different countries are included in the study; The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the United Kingdom and The Trade Ethical Council against Sexism in Advertising (ERK) in Sweden. The empirical material consists of interviews with 38 people, images and text documents, from the two mentioned self-regulatory bodies, and some (participant) observation. The study focuses on cases of potentially offensive advertisements. The material is primarily analysed using the theory of worlds of worth, developed by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot. The thesis argues that advertising self-regulation is about ascertaining, and making compromises between, conventions of morality. The study demonstrates the pattern of how the contextual circumstances influence the moral decisions that are made. It is shown that a decisive feature of the decisions is to conceptualize the general public in a justified way. This means that decision-makers picture the public as types of people who hold one or a combination of moral logics, and assume that they use these to interpret and evaluate advertising images. How these publics are defined depends on how the settings of the different advertising images are collectively interpreted by the decision-makers. The thesis argues more generally that to understand people’s values we must look at conflict situations in which current morals surface, such as the ways they appear in relation to advertising images.

The social transmission of social behaviours in nonhuman primates has been understudied, experimentally, relative to instrumental, food-related behaviours. This is disproportional in relation to the comparatively high percentage of potential social traditions reported in wild primates. I report a systematic survey of the social learning literature and provide quantitative evidence of the discrepancy (Watson and Caldwell, 2009). Addressing the identified deficit in experimental work on social behaviours, I also report three empirical studies investigating the contagious nature of affective states in captive, socially housed marmosets. I carried out an observational study, to determine whether marmosets are influenced by spontaneously produced neighbour calls to perform a range of behaviours associated with similar affect. My results supported a neighbour effect for anxiety in marmosets. Consistent with previous findings for chimpanzees (Baker and Aureli, 1996; Videan et al., 2005), I also found evidence for neighbour effects for aggression and affiliation (Watson and Caldwell, 2010). Through experimental playback, I investigated contingent social contagion in the auditory and visual modalities. The playback of pre-recorded affiliative (chirp) calls was found to be associated with marmosets spending increased time in a range of affiliative behaviours. Playback of video showing conspecifics engaged in a positive affiliative behaviour (allogrooming) also appeared to cause marmosets to spend longer performing various affiliative behaviours. My results indicate that social contagion of affiliation is a multi-modal phenomenon in marmosets and also represent the first evidence that allogrooming is visually contagious in primates. Sapolsky (2006) conceptualised culture as the performance of species-typical behaviours to an unusual extent, termed ‘social culture’. Researchers have yet to directly investigate a transmission mechanism. I investigated whether a social culture of increased affiliation could be initiated in marmosets through the long-term playback, of positive calls, or of video of positive behaviour. The results were consistent with a relatively long-lasting influence of the playback of affiliative calls across several affiliative behaviours. The effect appeared to last substantially beyond the specific hours of playback, between playbacks, and after playback had ceased, potentially indicating a temporary shift in social culture. These results are preliminary but provide some support for the proposal that auditory social contagion may be a transmission mechanism for social culture. The long-term video playback of allogrooming appeared to result in a transitory shift in performance of the identical behaviour (increased allogrooming) after playbacks had ceased. In addition to theoretical implications for social cognition and social culture, my findings have potential practical application for the enhancement of welfare in captive marmosets through sensory, and non-contact social, enrichment.

S'appuyant sur les principales théories de financement et tenant compte du contexte qui cadre les décisions de financement, cette recherche a un double objectif. D'une part, appréhender les déterminants de la structure financière des entreprises marocaines et d'autre part, évaluer l'effet des décisions de financement de ces entreprises sur leurs cours boursiers. Dans un premier temps et à travers une étude économétrique, nous avons vérifié la capacité des déterminants traditionnels de l'endettement à expliquer la structure financière des entreprises marocaines en période normale et en période de crise financière. Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons testé la théorie des conventions qui stipule l'existence de régimes de financement. Pour ce faire, nous avons réalisé une analyse en composantes principales et une classification hiérarchique ascendante. Dans un dernier temps, nous avons conduit une étude d'événement pour évaluer la réaction du marché boursier aux décisions de financement. Notre recherche a porté sur un panel de 50 entreprises non financières cotées à la bourse des valeurs de Casablanca et sur 16 annonces relatives à des décisions d'augmentation de capital et d'emprunt obligataire. Les résultats indiquent que seules quelques variables issues de la théorie financière jouent un rôle important dans la politique de financement des entreprises marocaines. Ainsi, en tenant compte de l'effet taille et de l'effet de la crise financière, l'influence de ces variables diffère d'un compartiment de cotation à l'autre ainsi que d'une période à l'autre. Par ailleurs, les résultats obtenus indiquent que la structure financière se présente comme un régime de financement qui est influencé par la nature des besoins à financer. Ainsi, en période normale, l'autonomie est le régime auquel adhère la plupart des entreprises de l'échantillon. En revanche, le régime de découvert est le mieux représenté en période de récession. Les résultats de l'étude d'événements indiquent que le marché boursier marocain ne réagit pas aux annonces d'augmentations de capital et d'émissions obligataires et montrent que les informations transmises par les décisions de financement n'auraient pas de valeur pour les investisseurs marocains.

In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, gender roles and gender expectations relate to class differences in a system of social convention which operates to delimit all of the characters - men and women, rich people and less privileged people - to a greater or lesser extent, in a way which reflects actual class and gender structures in England around 1800. The most important strain of social commentary on gender and class in the novel is constituted by the characterisation of Elizabeth Bennet. She is associated with intelligence in a way which is vital to her successful breach of gender and class conventions. This essay starts out from Susan Morgan’s ”Intelligence in Pride and Prejudice” and will extend her arguments in my reading of the novel to prove that Elizabeth’s intelligence allows her to transgress social conventions related to gender and class more successfully than other characters and arrive at a happy ending despite having defied social convention. A number of other characters also represent a breach of class and gender conventions. Lydia Bennet elopes with Mr. Wickham, which at the time was considered scandalous. Mr. Darcy tries to ignore his affection for Elizabeth but fails to do so. In comparison to the unconventionality of Elizabeth, who manages to overcome every obstacle by relying on her intelligence in a way which also benefits Darcy and secures a happy ending for him as well, their transgressions are not as successful. / Sammanfattning I Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice så relaterar könsroller och könsförväntningar till klassskillnader i ett system av sociala konventioner som fokuserar på att begränsa alla karaktärer, t.ex. kvinnor, män, rika och fattiga , till en större eller mindre utsträckning samt på ett sätt som reflekterar faktiska köns och klasstrukturer i England runt 1800-talet. De viktigaste sociala kommentarerna som rör köns- och klassteman i novellen utgörs av Elizabeth Bennets karaktärisering. Hon associeras med intelligens på ett sätt som är betydande för hennes lyckade överträdande mot köns- och klasskonventioner. Denna uppsats utgår från Susan Morgans ”Intelligence in Pride and Prejudice” och kommer förlänga hennes argument inom min läsning av romanen för att bevisa att Elizabeths intelligens tillåter henne att överträda sociala konventioner relaterade till genus och status på ett framgångsrikare sätt än andra karaktärer samt åstadkomma ett lyckligt slut trots att hon utmanat sociala konventioner. Andra karaktärer i romanen representerar också ett överträdande mot köns- och klasskonventioner. Lydia Bennet rymmer med Mr Wickham, vilket under den tiden ansågs vara skandalöst. Mr Darcy försöker ignorera sina känslor för Elizabeth men lyckas inte. I jämförelse med Elizabeth, som genom att förlita sig på sin intelligens lyckas överkomma varje hinder på ett sätt som också gynnar Darcy och även säkrar ett lyckligt slut för honom, så är de andra karaktärernas överträdande inte lika framgångsrikt.

Ce mémoire de thèse a pour objet la pénurie en eau. Face aux analyses techniques a-historiques centrées sur la rareté physique de l'eau, nous développons une problématique sociale-contingente pour laquelle les usages de l'eau sont au cœur de l'explication. La première partie correspond à l'étape d'observation. Elle a pour objectif de retracer l'évolution du mode d'usage de l'eau à Almeria (Andalousie) et à Marrakech et Agadir (Maroc) entre la fin du XIXe siècle et aujourd'hui. Considéré comme domaine d'observation, le mode d'usage de l'eau (Arrus) qualifie l'articulation d'un volet " économique ", relatif à l'ajustement réciproque de l'offre et des usages finals de l'eau produite (formalisé par des normes-procédures) et d'un volet " institutionnel ", relatif aux normes sociales (qualifiées de normes-règles) présidant à la définition des droits de disposition sur les ressources en eau. Pour chacun des trois terrains, cette étape comprend une étude de terrain qualitative combinée à une analyse historiographique et à une analyse textuelle de documents de planification selon la méthode Alceste. Cette étape débouche sur la formulation de quatre faits stylisés chronologiques traduisant la succession de quatre phases constitutives du cycle de vie d'un mode d'usage de l'eau particulier. La deuxième partie est d'ordre théorique. Elle correspond aux étapes de caractérisation et de compréhension. Ces deux étapes reposent sur la mobilisation d'une grille théorique nouvelle élaborée par Billaudot sur la base d'une mise en rapport de l'institutionnalisme de Commons et de l'institutionnalisme sociologique de l'approche interprétative de l'économie des conventions (Boltanski et Thévenot). Qualifiée d'institutionnalisme historique et pragmatique, cette approche se présente comme une perspective d'approfondissement de l'institutionnalisme historique de la théorie de la régulation. Elle a pour objectif d'articuler genèse et fonction des institutions et conduit notamment à associer à chacune des modalités de règlement des transactions de Commons une valeur de référence et un bien supérieur. Ainsi, le mode d'usage de l'eau particulier ayant connu une phase de régime en Espagne et au Maroc au cours de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle est qualifié d'" hydrauliciste ". Il se caractérise par une représentation de l'eau essentiellement comme ressource d'allocation, dont l'abondance obtenue par des infrastructures à haute intensité de génie civil constitue une des prérogatives de l'État " moderne " qui, en aval, régit également son usage. L'identification des principales caractéristiques du mode d'usage " hydrauliciste " permet d'aboutir à la troisième étape, à savoir la compréhension des déterminants de son entrée en crise à partir des années 1980. D'une part, cette crise porte sur l'arrivée à terme des régularités antérieures quant à l'ajustement réciproque de l'offre et des usages finals de l'eau produite : on constate une raréfaction des ressources primaires (on qualifie cet aspect de " crise de la régulation "). D'autre part, elle correspond à la remise en question du cadre institutionnel qui soutient le volet économique (on constate une " crise du fondement du régime "). Ainsi, les normes sont partiellement disqualifiées par un double processus de délocalisation en faveur d'une décentralisation de la gestion de l'eau. De plus, le caractère non soutenable du mode d'usage antérieur conduit à l'émergence d'aspirations écologistes concrétisées par la proposition de nouvelles normes d'usage. Le registre de socialisation écologique pour lequel l'eau est comprise comme un milieu de vie se renforce. Au final, nous aboutissons à l'identification d'un nouveau mode d'usage actuellement en vigueur. Nous montrons qu'il ne procède pas d'une rupture paradigmatique mais correspond à un " régime de crise ".

The primary goal of this study was to identify key success factors for the management of a conference centre in South Africa. This goal was achieved by firstly portraying an overview of the conference industry in South Africa. Secondly, a literature study was conducted in order to determine the aspects in the literature that are regarded as of vital importance in managing a conference centre. Thirdly, the results of the empirical research were discussed. Lastly, conclusions were drawn from the research and recommendations were made with regard to further research. From the literature study, aspects of strategic management, financial management, marketing management, human resource management and management of operational aspects were identified as being important in the management of a conference centre. These aspects were used to compile a questionnaire. The objective of the questionnaire was to measure the importance that conference centre managers attach to the identified elements. Questionnaires were e-mailed to 250 conference centres. A total of 100 questionnaires were received back. The study population consisted of a database as compiled by the researcher from the Direct Access Conference Handbook (2004) and the Africa Conference Directory (2006/7). Questionnaires were also handed out personally to exhibitors at the INDABA Tourism Exhibition (2006). From the responses to the questionnaire it can be deduced that conference centre managers regard the aspects of strategic management, financial management, marketing management, human resource management and management of operational details as important to very important. A factor analysis was done to determine the key success factors in managing a conference centre. The following factors were identified, namely to: • Provide a conference centre with a functional layout and the correct variety of activities; • perform marketing management; • ensure that operational aspects are in place; • do proper planning; • provide an attractive venue and conduct a post-conference evaluation; and • perform human resource management. Conference centre managers have to apply the above-mentioned key success factors to ensure that the conference centre is successful over the longterm. / Thesis (M.A. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Cette recherche vise à décrire comment a évolué l’évaluation de la compétence à écrire dans les épreuves uniques d’écriture de 5e secondaire, en portant spécifiquement le regard sur la composante linguistique de cette compétence. Une recherche documentaire a permis de recueillir des épreuves et autres documents les concernant pour une période allant de 1971 à 2012. Bien que notre étude porte en particulier sur les épreuves uniques d’écriture, implantées en 1986, nous avons pu remonter plus loin dans le temps afin de brosser un tableau le plus large possible de l’évaluation certificative de l’écriture en 5e secondaire. Plusieurs aspects sont analysés : le contexte des épreuves, les tâches qu’elles contiennent, les paramètres encadrant leur correction, ainsi que les seuils de réussite relatifs à la langue, les épreuves entières, la compétence à écrire et la matière français, langue d’enseignement. Nous avons également pu observer, à l’échelle provinciale, l’évolution des résultats des élèves aux épreuves uniques d’écriture. À l’aide de divers concepts théoriques reliés à l’évaluation de la compétence écrire et sa composante linguistique, un cadre méthodologique a été développé pour permettre l’analyse des épreuves d’écriture. Celle-ci révèle notamment que la nature des tâches et leurs paramètres sont restés assez constants dans le temps, particulièrement depuis 1986. Le nombre d’erreurs linguistiques permises a augmenté, alors que les résultats des élèves sont restés stables. De plus, le regard historique de cette étude montre comment le ministère de l’Éducation accorde à notre époque une grande importance à l’écriture et à la correction de l’orthographe. / This research aims to describe the ways in which the evaluation of written French has evolved within the “épreuves unique” of secondary 5. More specifically, it analyzes the evolution of evaluation methods regarding written language conventions in these examinations. A documentary research has allowed us to collect examinations and other related documents for a time span stretching from 1971 to 2012. Although our study specifically looks into the “épreuves uniques”, which were implanted in 1986, we have chosen to go back further in time in order to depict a larger portrait of certificate evaluation of French writing in secondary 5. Many aspects are analyzed: context of examinations, tasks contained within them, scoring parameters and pass levels regarding language conventions, examinations as a whole as well as writing and the French language. We have also observed the province-wide evolution of students’ results for these examinations. Using a variety of theoretical concepts related to the evaluation of written language conventions, a methodology was developed in order to allow the analysis of writing assignments. The latter notably reveals that the nature of such tasks and their parameters have remained relatively constant in time, particularly since 1986. The number of allowed language-related mistakes has augmented, whereas students’ results have remained stable. Furthermore, the historic perspective of this study illustrates how the ministère de l’Éducation nowadays allows a great importance to writing and the correction of spelling mistakes.