This study explores the motivations, perceptions, and imagery of beginning teachers in Lebanon. It foregrounds the importance of ‘images’ as potentially useful conceptual tools for understanding the developing identities of beginning teachers. The research consists of in-depth, semi-structured interviews in which student-teachers are encouraged to reflect on their own and other people’s views and perceptions about teaching. The thesis places the students-teachers’ personal portraits of teaching within broader cultural-historical representations of teachers in Lebanon and examines how the student-teachers deal with such representations while still in training. The core research questions focus on the participants’ motivations as well as the underlying cultural, social, and political factors that influence their views and perceptions about teaching. The research questions were designed to explore the various images of teachers and teaching that the students draw on in their personal portraits. Biographical information as well as students’ experiences at the time of training were explored for this purpose. The findings suggest that student-teachers’ developing identities emerge through their identification with competing images and representations of teaching and teachers. These images cut across various contexts, temporalities, and imagined settings in the student-teacher portraits, linking personal, educational and professional experiences. Many of the images synthesized large amounts of experiences and knowledge about teaching and contained gendered, religious, affective and interpersonal dimensions. Finally, the thesis offers a new way of conceptualizing images. This study hopes to help teacher education programs gain greater insight into beginning teachers’ thinking, motivations and developing identities.

his study attempts to obtain a holistic view of ICT application and its impact in the context of a developing economy taking the Lebanese Ministry of Finance as a case study. It draws on the works of Heeks and Stanforth (2007) and Tseng (2008) for the pre-deployment phase of the e-Gov application and the post-implementation phase respectively. Heeks and Stanforth used actor network theory to study the trajectory taken by the Sri Lankan e-Gov project, while Tseng used a form of Structuration theory known as Orlikowski's Model of Technology to gauge the impact of an Electronic Government Information System (EGIS) on the Taiwanese Ministry employees. To the knowledge of the researcher the chosen research site has never been investigated before. This necessitated that the design phase of the study needed to be assessed first in order to get in-depth information about the contingent and local contextual factors and to ascertain the level of progress in the design and deployment of the ICT tools and techniques. For the post- implementation phase, this longitudinal study assessed the perceived effectiveness of the ICT impact on the end users - the employees. In addition, secondary data collected from the Ministry and the International Monetary Fund was used to corroborate the research. The study found that the use of 'trajectory mapping' was a crucial tool for investigating the initial ICT adoption process. This is due to its strength in exposing contextual factors, its ability to identify social and technical determinism at different stages of the investigation and its suitability in revealing political wrangling and identifying the dynamism of power in a public institution. The study's findings also reveal the presence of both technical determinism and social determinism throughout the project, restructuring of the organisation due to the introduction of an ICT unit and job redesign in the whole MoF. The study also found out that ICT resulted in a power shift within the organisation by having the IT unit gain power due to its ICT knowledge. The investigation, however, could not find a direct relationship between the 'degree of success' end point suggested by Heeks and Stanforth (2007) and the sought benefits from the ICT impact. In other words, the proposed 'degree of success' may only explain the design aspect of the EGIS, however, this study found that success or demise depends also on the implementation process and the preparedness of citizens to receive such IT services. Furthermore, the study was able to empirically investigate the applicability of the three layered model suggested by Omoteso et al. (2007) and found out that considering contingency as dynamic is more applicable than the static contingency proposed in the model. The study realised that there is a great need for a continuous, contemporary training process in the ever-changing ICT environment in order to achieve uninterrupted positive results. Finally, the study indicates that lack of vertical communication, as observed in the Lebanese public institution, between users, ICT designers, and decision makers weaken the whole change process. Therefore, it suggests a form of knowledge management application using ICT as the main venue, a transition from the current mechanistic (bureaucratic) structure to an organic (flat) structure.

Lebanon has historically been at the center of Middle Eastern conflict. Religious diversity and weak institutions have resulted in the country’s continual exploitation by powerful foreign states. At first, a historical overview of Lebanon demonstrates how certain events over the past 200 years have shaped the country. Based on recurring political and economic misfortunes, sectarian tensions within Lebanon have flared since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. This thesis argues that in order to stabilize the country and prevent the meddling of foreign powers, a focus must be placed on establishing a national identity, strengthening the country’s political institutions, and creating an accountable economic system.

The record of American foreign policy in the Middle East between 2001 and 2006 is marked mostly by failures of the Bush Administration to achieve its stated objectives, including reducing terrorism, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and spreading liberal democracy. Still, there are also notable bright spots, including the case of Libya’s diplomatic rehabilitation. What is it, then, that accounts for this success in the face of so many other failures where the policy goals were markedly similar? I argue that a partial explanation of this discrepancy can be found in the nature of infighting between ideological realists and neoconservatives within the foreign policy bureaucracy. In doing so, process tracing is used to examine policy development toward four country cases: Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Libya, with Libya acting as the control. The object of these case studies is to demonstrate existence of a previously undescribed model of bureaucratic infighting, based on competing ideological differences regarding the fundamental direction and conduct of US foreign policy. I call this the Ideological Infighting, or I2, Model. Whereas previous works of US foreign policy analysis have focused only on the roles of individuals’ ideology or on bureaucratic interests, this study unites both. In doing so, it describes the policy effects that result from ideological disagreements within the executive agencies, rather than viewing a presidential administration as an ideologically coherent entity. It also refines understandings of the relationship between the President and his advisors. Finally, although this work deals specifically with the Middle East, the model is generalizable to all areas of US foreign policy.

The University of Piano was a private, liberal arts college with a campus in Piano, Texas and an extended campus in Frisco, Texas. The University was incorporated in 1964 under the original name of the University of Lebanon. Classes began in temporary space in downtown Dallas in 1964 and continued on its campuses in Piano and Frisco until the summer of 1976. The University of Piano was comprised of two separate schools within the University: the School of Developmental Education and the Frisco College of Arts and Sciences. This study explores the curricula of both schools and the students and faculty who participated in both programs. This study focuses on the establishment, development and final closing of a wholly privately supported university which accepted both traditional college students and students whose basic academic skills or neurological development prevented their acceptance into traditional college programs. It addresses the history of the University, the roles of its leaders, and the lasting effects of its programs.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Le conflit israélo-palestinien dure depuis plus de 60 ans. Non seulement perdure-t-il, il gagne aussi en complexité. Cette thèse s’intéresse à l’expérience d’exil des Palestiniens et plus particulièrement à celle de femmes palestiniennes vivant en camp de réfugiés au Liban. La mémoire palestinienne a longtemps été, dans son ensemble, occultée dans la littérature, et qui plus est l’expérience des femmes; la façon dont leurs récits sont construits nous le démontre bien. La présente étude s’inscrit donc dans la lignée de travaux qui font une place aux « voix silencieuses » que sont souvent celles des femmes réfugiées palestiniennes des camps. Cette thèse s’appuie sur une approche qualitative – récits de vie et observation participante – et fait suite à une recherche qui a été menée entre 2009 et 2011 dans le camp palestinien de Bourj El Barajneh au Liban. Les résultats dégagés confirment que, dans l’exil, une partie de l’expérience de la nakba palestinienne telle que vécue par les femmes s’est perdue. Ceci dit, si la quasi-absence des femmes caractérise l’exode, on voit ces dernières s’affirmer au fil de l’exil qui devient une réalité durable. Au cours des deux premières décennies, les femmes apparaissent comme des « résistantes du quotidien ». Puis, la montée du sentiment national palestinien et l’éclatement de la guerre civile libanaise amènent les femmes à investir de plus en plus l’espace public. En temps de guerre, toutes les femmes participent à la survie de la communauté, et cela, par l’extension de leurs tâches domestiques et sociales. Plus le conflit prend de l’ampleur, plus leurs activités se diversifient : elles intègrent d’autres tâches à celles qui leur sont traditionnellement assignées. À l’issue du conflit, une grande partie des femmes palestiniennes commencent à prendre leurs distances de la lutte nationale partisane. Pour plusieurs d’entre elles, la fin de la guerre est aussi la fin des illusions : elles ont le sentiment d’avoir été abandonnées par la classe politique. Ainsi, le mouvement nationaliste palestinien a certes bousculé les rôles de genre, mais il n’a pas permis d’induire des changements durables. Dans les récits des femmes, on voit qu’à travers l’exil s’est créé un lien avec ce milieu que l’on croyait temporaire, le camp de Bourj El Barajneh : un lien qui se situe au cœur d’une tension entre un pôle réel et un pôle symbolique. Le camp « réel » est décrit comme insalubre, instable et non sécuritaire, et la vie dans ce camp est à ce point précaire et difficile que les femmes s’accrochent à cet autre camp qui, lui, est porteur de mémoire, de souvenirs, de relations et de rêves. C’est d’ailleurs parce que ce second pôle existe que la vie dans le camp peut être tolérée. Si la lutte nationale a été pour une certaine génération de Palestiniennes la préoccupation première, la fin de la guerre signe la perte de vitesse de cette lutte qui s’est longtemps avérée structurante. Ceci dit, le modèle de résistance, lui, persiste. Les femmes continuent de lutter et apparaissent comme des « actrices de la transmission ». L’un de ces projets qu’elles font leur, la transmission de l’identité religieuse, prend rapidement de l’ampleur alors que la communauté palestinienne peine à se relever des affres de la guerre. Nombreuses sont les femmes qui cherchent un sens à la vie dans ce cumul de catastrophes, et la religion les soutient dans cette quête, mais en plus c’est à travers elle que le projet du retour en Palestine est porté. D’ailleurs, la mémoire de la Palestine est une autre valeur que les femmes cherchent à transmettre d’une génération à l’autre. Maintenir la mémoire de la Palestine est un rôle traditionnel de la femme palestinienne. Ceci dit, les femmes ne remplissent pas ce rôle « aveuglément » : elles transmettent une mémoire, un message qu’elles ont cherché, reconstruit, évalué et parfois critiqué. Enfin, un autre projet se manifeste rapidement dans l’exil : la transmission des connaissances, une valeur phare pour les Palestiniennes puisque à la fois stratégie de survie, de développement et d’ascension sociale. Mais pour quelques-unes, l’éducation est une lutte parce que confrontée à des contraintes contextuelles et au poids des traditions. Ainsi, c’est par des valeurs traditionnellement portées et transmises par les femmes – l’identité religieuse, la mémoire et l’éducation – que l’oppression et la colonisation des Palestiniens se combattent au quotidien. / The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has lasted more than 60 years and persists not only in time but also in complexity. This thesis focuses on the Palestinian exile and particularly, the experience of exile of Palestinian women living in refugee camps in Lebanon. Palestinian memory has for a long time been occulted in the literature and specifically, the experience of women and how their stories are constructed by gender. The present study is therefore in a line of work that gives a place to these “silent voices” that are often those of the Palestinian women of the camps. This research is based on a qualitative methodology – life stories and participant observation –, research that took place between 2009 and 2011 in the refugee camp of Bourj El Barajneh in Lebanon. The results show that, in exile, a part of the Palestinian nakba experienced by women, has been lost. That said, if a virtual absence of women characterizes the exodus, over exile, women become more assertive. During the first two decades in exile in Lebanon, women appear as “everyday resistant”. Then, the rise of a national sentiment which was rapidly followed by the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war, made women more and more present in the public space. Indeed, in wartime, all the women were involved in the community’s survival, and that, by an extension of their domestic and social roles. The longer the conflict lasts, the more diverse are their activities: it includes other tasks than those traditionally assigned to them. At the end of the conflict, a large part of Palestinian women are beginning to distance themselves from the national struggle. For many, the end of the war also means the end of illusions: they feel they have been abandoned by the political class. Thus, if the Palestinian nationalist movement has certainly brought changes in gender roles, it has failed to bring about lasting changes. Also, in the women's narratives, we see that in time, a bond is created with the space “Bourj El Barajneh camp”, a, bond that is located in a tension between two poles. First, there is a “real pole” where the camp appears as unsafe and unstable. Second, life in the camp is so precarious and difficult that women cling to another pole, a “symbolic pole” which represents the camp as a bearer of memories, relationships and dreams. And it’s because this last pole exists that life in the camp can be tolerated. If the Palestinian national struggle – for a certain generation of Palestinian women – was the main struggle, the end of the war signed “the end of illusions” and the slowing of the national struggle which has long proven structuring. That said, the pattern of resistance persists while women continue to resist and appear as “actresses of transmission”. The transmission of religious identity quickly gained in importance as the Palestinian community struggled to recover from the horrors of war. Through religion, many women found meaning in a life and it is also through religion that the return to Palestine is now carried. Moreover, the memory of Palestine is another value that women seek to pass on from a generation to another. Even though, passing on the memory of Palestine is a role traditionally carried by women, they do not fulfill it “blindly” but they convey a message that has been sought, rebuilt and sometimes criticized. Finally, another project arrives rapidly in exile: the transmission of knowledge, a core value for Palestinian women as it is a strategy for survival, development and social mobility. But for some, because faced with contextual constraints and the weight of tradition, education is still a struggle. Thus, it is because women carry and transmit traditional values – religious identity, memory and education – that the oppression and colonization of Palestinians can be fought everyday.

Une des conséquences de la crise économique et financière de 2008 réside dans des tentations incessantes et continues de récupérer la confiance ébranlée du consommateur vis-à-vis des professionnels du secteur des services financiers. Alors que la protection du consommateur constitue un thème fréquent en droit français -et récent en droit libanais- une telle recherche fait défaut en matière spécifique aux services bancaires et aux services des assurances en droit comparé. En effet, le sujet est souvent présenté sous des angles séparés de la protection du consommateur dans chacun des deux services, dans chacun des deux droits. Il en découle qu’un approfondissement global, mais non exhaustif, sur « la protection du consommateur des services bancaires et des services d’assurance » dans une perspective comparative entre les deux droits, français et libanais, nous permettrait de mieux connaître les caractéristiques d’une telle combinaison. Ainsi, une série de questions se pose : Quels sont les contours des protections octroyées à ces consommateurs ? Comment leurs intérêts collectifs et individuels sont-ils défendus par les gouvernements, les législateurs, les juges, et la société civile ? Quelles sont les conséquences juridiques d’une telle protection qui s’avère être parfois « irrationnelle » ? Cette recherche a donc pour finalité de tenter de répondre à toutes ces questions, à travers deux parties. Dans la première, il s’agit d’analyser la protection octroyée aux intérêts collectifs et individuels des consommateurs des services bancaires et d’assurance. Dans la seconde, l’attention sera portée sur la mise en oeuvre d’une protection curative, parfois « déraisonnable » des consommateurs des services bancaires et d’assurance. / One consequence of the 2008 economical and financial crisis is the constant and continuous temptations to recover the shaken confidence of the consumer towards the professionals of the financial services sector. While consumer protection is a common theme in French law, and a recent one in Lebanese law, such research is lacking in specific banking and insurance services in comparative law. Indeed, the subject is often presented in separate angles of consumer protection in one of these two services, in one of these two rights. It follows that a global, but not exhaustive deepening in “the protection of consumer banking and insurance services” through a comparative perspective between the French and Lebanese Laws allow us to better understand the characteristics of such a combination. Therefore, a series of questions flush: What are the frameworks of the protections granted to these consumers? How do their governments, legislators, judges, and civil society defend their individual and collective interests? What are the legal consequences of such protection that sometimes proves to be unreasonable? This research seeks to try to answer all these questions, through two parties. The first, analyses the protection granted to individual and collective consumers interests in banking and insurance services sector. The second focuses on the implementation of such a curative, sometimes unreasonable protection of banking and insurance services consumers.

Le 11 septembre 2001 est devenu une date butoir du terrorisme international car les attentats qui ont frappé New York visaient à déstabiliser l’hyper puissance de ce siècle. Ces attaques ont bénéficié d’une très large couverture médiatique. Il serait donc intéressant de voir comment un seul et même phénomène, en l’occurrence le terrorisme, ou terrorisme islamique ainsi qu’il a été désigné après ces « violences », n’a pas la même signification selon le point de vue duquel on se place. Le journaliste se doit de montrer et d’écrire ce qu’il a vu ou entendu. Il doit la vérité au lecteur, mais, consciemment ou pas il manque d’objectivité et de neutralité. Ceci est dû au fait qu’étant un homme ses émotions le trahissent, et ce qu’il ressent transparait dans ses écrits. L’on peut le deviner à travers son choix des mots et adjectifs. D’autre part le journaliste est tributaire de la ligne politique de son journal. De plus, les évènements sont, par la force des choses, amputés, ceci est lié au choix de l’angle que le journaliste désire traiter. Les faits parviennent donc au lecteur tronqués. Et enfin, l’on peut dire que l’expérience et le vécu du journaliste ainsi que l’environnement dans lequel il a évolué influent sur ses articles. Donc cette subjectivité latente ne montre finalement qu’une partie des faits, et cette représentation est transmise au lecteur qui se laisse « faire » selon s’il partage ou non l’avis du journaliste. Le lecteur puise son opinion du quotidien qu’il lit d’autant plus qu’il opte en général pour celui dont il se sent le plus proche. / September 11, 2001 became a cut-off date of international terrorism since the attacks in New-York aimed at destabilizing the super power of this century. These attacks have received extensive media coverage. It would be interesting to see how a single phenomenon, namely terrorism, or Islamic terrorism as it has been designated as such after these "aggressions", has different meanings depending on the point of view of each of the actors and witnesses. The journalist has to show and write what he saw or heard. He owes the truth to the reader, but, consciously or not he lacks objectivity and neutrality. This is because being a man betrays his emotions, and what he feels shows through his writings. One can guess that through his choice of words and adjectives. On the other hand, the reporter is dependent of the political line of his paper. Moreover, events are by nature of things cut off, this is related to the choice of the angle the journalist wants to address. The facts come to the reader truncated. And finally, we can say that the experience of the journalist, what he saw during his life and the environment in which he evolved affect his articles. So this latent subjectivity finally shows only a side of the facts, and this representation is transmitted to the reader who allows himself to "agree" depending on whether or not he shares the opinion of the journalist. The reader draws his opinion of the newspaper he reads as he usually opts for the one he feels closest to.

En dépit des tensions régionales et de l'étroitesse de son marché intérieur, le Liban présente toujours de multiples atouts et le potentiel d'occuper une place pionnière en matière d'investissement international parmi les pays voisins. Pour la mettre effectivement en oeuvre, cette position requiert une volonté politique déterminée à cet effet. Or, cette politique doit nécessairement et impérativement être traduite par l'adoption d'une stratégie nationale de développement en vue de la mise en place d'un régime juridique compétitif favorable à l'investissement étranger de standards internationaux. Le régime juridique libanais actuel relatif aux investissements étrangers ne suffit pas pour achever cet objectif dû aux lacunes structurelles du système administratif et judiciaire. Dans le contexte actuel, les éléments considérés jadis comme facteurs d'attractivité du pays, tels que sa position géographique et son économie de marché libre, commencent à perdre de leur valeur en matière d'investissement international s'ils ne sont pas consolidés par une législation consciente favorisant l'investissement étranger. Aussi méritoires que soient les efforts d'attraction des investissements étrangers, il n'en reste pas moins que le degré d'attractivité du pays reste décevant dû à certains facteurs limitatifs et contraintes (les tensions provoquées par les agitations politiques internes et régionales). Or, ces obstacles semblent être les plus délicats à franchir et constituent sans doute une barrière à l'investissement international. Leur abolition apparaît comme un préalable incontournable pour l'attraction des investissements étrangers au pays. / Any investment project is basically an act of faith on the part of the foreign investors based on the actions of the host State. Despite regional tensions and the narrowness of its domestic market, Lebanon still has many strengths and potential to occupy a pioneer position compared to neighboring countries. However, such a position requires a determined political will which must be reflected by the adoption of a national development strategy for the establishment of a competitive legal regime open to foreign investment and adapted to international standards. In a general context marked by a decline in foreign direct investment, Lebanon must advocate a policy that is attractive and adapted to the needs and expectations of foreign investors. This would require: first, the reform of the current legal environment of foreign investment through the adaptation of the legal corpus, then the implementation of a plan for systematic development based on international standards. Thus, the priority of the Lebanese authorities should consist in ending any possible obstacle in the internal market towards foreign investment. Despite some advantages, the current Lebanese legal regime for foreign investment is not enough to complete this objective due to structural weaknesses of the administrative and judicial systems. The country's degree of attractiveness remains disappointing due to certain limiting factors and constraints (tensions caused by internal and regional political turmoil). These obstacles seem to be the most difficult to overcome. Their abolition appears as a key prerequisite for attracting foreign investment in the country.