The aim of this study was to explore cultural representations conveyed in the media discourse using a content-analysis software called ALCESTE. Our exploration focused on a sample of written media discourse in the Quebecois linguistic context, the Michaud affair, comparing and contrasting two different perspectives. We retrieved from the Internet all the articles published between December 2000 and January 2001 related to the case under study from two English Canadian newspapers, the National Post and The Gazette . The two corpora were submitted to ALCESTE software. / Using the factorial correspondence analysis of ALCESTE, we identified four different lexical worlds in the corpora of over fifty thousand words. Those lexical worlds correspond to the different positions of the utterers vis-a-vis the issue under study. / Specific vocabulary from the lexical worlds were found to convey cultural representations. Our study has permitted to uncover differences and similarities in the analysis of the Michaud affair reported in the National Post , an English newspaper in Toronto, Ontario, and in The Gazette , an English newspaper edited in Montreal, Quebec.

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Among the officers sent to Tibet by the government of Republican China, fifteen were investigated in detail in this dissertation based on their significant influences on Han-Tibetan relations. I refer to them as the "special envoys on mission to Tibet". After examining the background of the envoys' mission, their activities in Tibet, their perception about Tibet and the Tibetans, and their roles in Tibetan affairs, the author argues that there was a substantial discrepancy between the information obtained by these envoys "on the spot" for their central government and the reality that was happening in Tibet. It was the strong Han nationalist historical context in which the envoys and their government perceived and dealt with Tibetan issues that resulted in a more complicated and delicate development of Han-Tibetan relationships. The historically formed inequality between the Han Chinese and non-Han minorities who scattered around the frontiers still has impacts upon contemporary China's ethic agendas. / This dissertation explores the problematic yet relatively unstudied topic of the relationship between Chinese government and Tibet during the Republican period, 1912-1949. Drawing on the abundant English and recently declassified Chinese archival materials, as well as plentiful travel records of some individuals who traveled to the Tibetan areas during that time, this dissertation firstly presents a historical narrative of officers whom the government of the Republican China sent to Tibet, and thus attempting to reconstruct an objective picture of the Republican China's relations with Tibet. / 朱麗双. / 呈交日期: 2006年10月. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2007. / 參考文獻(p. 350-366)及索引. / Cheng jiao ri qi: 2006 nian 10 yue. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 3907. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2007. / Can kao wen xian (p. 350-366) ji suo yin. / Zhu Lishuang.

Over the past decades, the pronounced increase of international migration has led many nations to confront themselves with the pressing issue of how to ameliorate and make more harmonious the engagement among people with different cultural backgrounds. The present thesis enters this debate focusing on the mutual relations between Italians and Moroccan immigrants living in Turin (North-West Italy). By means of this case study, this research demonstrates that the support and valorisation of cultural diversity do not damage social cohesion, as some scholars believe, but rather they may contribute to positive intergroup relations if they are well balanced by the adaptation of immigrants to the host country’s culture and by the development of a sense of belonging with the new country. In order to test my assumption I analyzed the impact of a preference for the integration strategy of acculturation (rather than assimilation or segregation) and the extent to which Moroccans and Italians share this preference. These analyses build on the distinction between acculturation in the public and in the private domain and between the concepts of culture and identity. A total of 281 respondents, of whom 136 were Moroccans and 145 Italians, participated in a questionnaire study. Both groups clearly expressed their preference for the integration strategy in the public and in the private domain, and for a dual identity, where migrants identified with both their own ethnic group and with Italy. In addition, these findings revealed that both acculturation strategies and identity patterns were predictive of intergroup relations, with the latter having the strongest impact. These findings were deepened through qualitative interviews, which aimed to explore whether for the specific context of this study the conditions were such that the dual identity could realistically develop. Results indicated that while culture diversity is encouraged and supported, Moroccans still experience a degree of discrimination. Such situation delineates a reality characterised by a ‘segmented pluralism’, that is, a reality where the recognition of cultural and ethnic differences coexist with the persistence of structural inequalities.

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Interethnic communication is the focus of this thesis, as the basis for understanding Mexican culture and identity as a dynamic and complex process, which acts, from the past and in the present, to create what Mexicans are and will be.By exploring different instances where interethnic communication occurs and produces various representations of culture, this work shows the complexities of interethnic exchanges at different levels of Mexican society (in the community or in the nation) and at different moments of its history (from the conquest to the present).This complex picture is constructed using an interdisciplinary framework that includes radical ethnography, social semiotics and new social history; all of them oriented to the understanding of culture as a meaningful way to analyse society in the context of its cultural, economic and political life.Through different interethnic activities (political meetings, cultural representations, religious practices, economic activities, institutional projects, social movements) this research explores what Indian creativity can offer to construct a society that is simultaneously ancient and new, united and diverse, Indian and Mexican, and, more than ever, just and inclusive of all sectors that form Mexican society / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Social Ecology)

This project suggests a method of conflict analysis, anchored in Bourdieu's social theory, that weds approaches within sociological, political, and international relations theory. I focus on the contemporary conflict between the French state, and the substantial population considered "foreign" within France. This tension has regularly exploded into physical confrontation, most notably in the fall of 2005, though violence has been a persistent feature of the urban periphery for more than two decades. Moreover, tensions within France have often been co-opted into a larger "East vs. West" discourse, and this complex relationship is folded into an international conflict to which it may not belong. With this in mind, the project undertakes a thorough analysis of these complexities as they exist in France, proposing finally a means of transforming the conflict from violent to non-violent through a new theory of mediation.

One of the most challenging issues for students of international relations is the interstate dimension of ethnic conflict in both its secessionist and irredentist forms. This thesis contributes to an understanding of the interstate dimension of ethnic conflict in three ways. First, the thesis provides a more precise delineation of the causal relationship between ethnic and interstate conflict. Second, the thesis develops a model to identify the conditions under which ethnic conflict is most likely to lead to interstate conflict. Third, and finally this thesis provides insight into a theory and policy for management and resolution of ethnic conflict. The results of this research are used to identify the international conditions and actions that affect the dynamics and resolution of ethnic conflict. From that perspective, the central goal of this inquiry is to lay the groundwork for preventive peacekeeping. / The inquiry unfolds in five stages. First, a formal model, specifying the precise causal relationship of the selected variables and their interaction effects, is presented. Second, two cases (Somali irredentism and the Indo-Sri Lankan crisis) are used to test the assumed linkage. Third, aggregate data from the International Crisis Behavior Project data base, for the period 1918-1988, are used to test the explanatory power of variables derived from the combined framework. Fourth, two additional cases (Thai Malay separatism and the Balkans War) are used to test the most relevant propositions from the previous phase. Fifth and finally, based on the degree of support for propositions from both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the model is refined. Policy relevant and theoretical contributions are presented in the light of the findings. Directions for further research also are discussed.

An individual faced with intergroup conflict must choose from a vast array of possible actions, ranging from grumbling among ingroup friends to voting and demonstrating to rioting and revolution. The present thesis proposes a model of decision-making in intergroup contexts oriented towards understanding how group members choose among these behavioural alternatives. Intergroup decisions are conceptualized as rationally shaped by perceptions of the benefits and costs associated with the action (expectancy-value processes). In intergroup contexts, group-level costs and benefits may play a critical role in individuals' decision-making. Perception of the dynamic between ingroup and outgroup norms is thought to be a key determinant of the group-level benefits and costs associated with individualistic or collective actions. Four studies explore the predictive value of this model for understanding decision-making in the context of English-French conflict in Quebec. Studies 1 and 2 provide evidence that group-level costs and benefits influence individuals' decision-making, in intergroup contexts. Contrary to the predictions of individualistic models of decision-making such as the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1985), the individual level of analysis was not observed to mediate the group level of analysis. Moreover, contrary to recent social identity theorizing (Kelly, 1993; Simon et al., 1998), perceived group-level costs and benefits were implicated in the relationship between social identity and intentions to engage in collective action. Studies 3 and 4 provide evidence that outgroup and ingroup norms may interact to influence decision-making. Thus, contrary to the referent informational influence model (Terry & Hogg, 1996; Turner, 1991), ingroup norms alone did not determine group members' actions. Moreover, Study 4 provides evidence that the dynamic between ingroup and outgroup norms influences evaluations of the costs and benefits of intergroup behaviours, both

Humanitarian intervention lies at the fault-line in international relations between the principles of international law and state sovereignty (pluralism) on the one hand, and morality and the protection of human rights (solidarism) on the other. Whereas the pluralist international-society theory defines humanitarian intervention as a violation of the cardinal rules of order, it is being challenged by the solidarist view, that seeks to strengthen the legitimacy of the international community by developing its commitment to justice. As a result, a solidarist international community is one in which states accept a moral responsibility to protect the security, not only of their own citizens, but of humanity everywhere. The humanitarian tragedies in Somalia, Rwanda and Srebrenica in the 1990s and in Darfur currently, have highlighted to the international community the need for the notion of sovereignty to be re-defined, to permit intervention in support of the emerging norm of the responsibility to protect. In the 21st century, a state that violates the fundamental norms of human rights by failing to provide for the safety, security and well-being of its citizens creates a legal and moral burden on the international community to act. This dissertation contends that the international community has a legal and moral responsibility to intervene to prevent humanitarian emergencies. To test the veracity of this thesis, it was assessed against a number of case studies that span India's intervention into East Pakistan in 1971 to the ongoing crisis in Darfur in 2006. While many aspects of humanitarian intervention remain contentious this dissertation found that there is a trend towards the solidarist approach that is reflected in the emerging international norm of the "responsibility to protect". Further, it confirmed that the most successful interventions involve a range of actors, usually, the United Nations and/or a regional organisation, backed by a hegemonic power. Finally, it found that a successful humanitarian intervention is dependent upon the international community's commitment to understanding the gravity of the situation at hand and, if necessary, confronting the Westphalian tradition of sovereignty, to provide the appropriate institutional support and resources, and the political will to mobilise that capacity in the face of other priorities and preoccupations.