Why has international society been unable to develop political and judicial collective-security arrangements to limit external aggression? The thesis argues that efforts to limit aggression in moral and legal theory have created an unjust order in which great powers have used these theoretical traditions to reinforce their power in the global order. The thesis argues that is not a new development but can be found in one of the oldest traditions of moral reflection on war, the just war tradition. To substantiate this point, the thesis critically surveys the philosophers of the ancient Greek, Roman, Medieval Christian Renaissance, and early modern theorists of just war and demonstrates that their just war ideas contain assumptions about exclusion, identity and power reflecting their cultural superiority which underlie the practices and theories of the leading states and justifications of their aggressive wars. The thesis connects these moral reflections to the emergence of modern international law and the European pluralist international society of states based on mutual respect for sovereignty and the norm of non-intervention, highlighting how justifications of its colonial aggression against non-Europeans established an unjust solidarist order against them which persists in the post-Cold War era. To conclude it presents suggestions for improvement in the current pluralist international arrangements to address the issue of aggression.

The thesis in question is titled “Readjusting Orthodoxy”. It constitutes a discourse in UK constitutional law although legal theoretic, historical, politicial, philosophical, and EU-related complementary themes are also present. It is founded upon, and driven by, two fundamental, inter-related premises. First, that it is the orthodox reading of the UK Constitution which best describes and explains the present constitutional arrangement: the UK Parliament is a sovereign institution sitting at the apex of the UK Constitution and vested with the right to make and unmake any law whatsoever. In the second place, that, notwithstanding the above, this very reading of the UK Constitution is currently deficient in terms of internal cohesion, is plagued by ingrained anachronistic dogmas and enjoys only a limited adaptability. From these premises emerges a third proposition; namely, that the UK constitutional discourse as a whole would stand to lose greatly should alternative constitutional theories that are less suited to describe and explain the current constitutional arrangement replace the orthodox reading of the Constitution by exploiting these conspicuous drawbacks. Thus, the present treatise argues that the orthodox reading should after critical evaluation be readjusted in the various ways to be proposed so as to be rendered coherent, consistent, impervious to the numerous challenges it currently faces and, ultimately, capable of continuing to offer the canonical account of the ever-changing UK Constitution.

This thesis starts by describing the legal foundation of religious liberty in the United States and the evolvement of the religion clause jurisprudence. Then follows an outline of the main legal theories on religious liberty. It continues to describe a case study conducted on how Americans citizens perceive the protection of their religious liberty. Upon this there is a chapter where the detailed findings from the case study are described in juxtaposition to the relevant jurisprudence and how this can be applied to the overall legal framework protecting religious liberty.  The final chapter is a discussion on what conclusions that can be drawn.

This dissertation analyzes the representations of immigrants from North Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe in Spain. As engaged scholarship, it seeks to better the portrayal of immigrants in the mass media through the study of literature, film, and music about immigration spanning from the year 2000 to 2016. Because misconceptions continue to propagate in the media, this dissertation works to counteract anti-immigrant, xenophobic representations as well as balance out overly positive and orientalized portrayal of immigrants with a call to recognize immigrants as human beings who deserve the same respect, dignity, and rights as any other citizen. Chapter 1 examines and analyzes the background to immigration in Spain by covering demographics, the mass media, and political theories related to immigration. Chapter 2 analyzes Spanish music about immigration through Richard Rorty’s social theory of ‘sentimental education’ as a meaningful way to redescribe marginalized minorities as full persons worthy of rights and dignity. Chapter 3 investigates the representation of immigrants in Spanish filmic shorts and cinema. Lastly, Chapter 4 demonstrates how literary portrayals of immigrants written by undocumented immigrants can give rise to strong characters that avoid victimization and rear empathy in their readers in order to affect a social change that minimizes cruelty.

La règlementation des jeux semble frappée de désuétude, à l’image des articles 1965 à 1967 du Code civil qui n’ont jamais été modifiés depuis 1804. Cependant, l’avènement successif de la télévision, des logiciels informatiques et d’Internet a métamorphosé les problématiques ludiques. Les juristes s’étonnent, après s’être désintéressés du jeu pendant de longues années, de le voir ressurgir dans toutes les composantes de leur discipline. À l’heure où le jeu sportif échappe encore à l’obsession réparatrice du droit de la responsabilité civile, où le jeu de hasard sacrifie un monopole étatique sur l’autel de la libre concurrence, et où le jeu télévisé redéfinit les frontières de la prestation de travail, le moment semblait propice à l’élaboration d’une réflexion globale sur les problèmes juridiques du jeu. Dans le cadre d’une démarche systémique, le jeu sera le point de départ de nos travaux et la règle sa pierre angulaire, permettant ainsi d’écarter l’amusement libre au profit du jeu réglé. Ce dernier, lorsqu’il prend naissance dans la rencontre de consentement entre un organisateur, qui émet une offre de jeu, et un ou plusieurs joueurs qui l’acceptent, soulève des problèmes juridiques similaires dans toutes les disciplines ludiques. L’organisateur d’un jeu est-il responsable des équipements de jeu qu’il fournit ? Doit-il règlementer l’accès à son jeu ? A-t-il l’obligation de délivrer un enjeu au gagnant d’une partie ? Quelles sont les conséquences des différentes fautes de jeu ? La licéité du but fixé est-elle une condition de validité du jeu ? En nous efforçant d'approfondir ces interrogations, nous chercherons à poser les premiers jalons d’une théorie juridique du jeu. / Gaming regulations appear to have become obsolete as articles 1965 to 1967 of the Civil Code which has not been modified since1804 demonstrate. However, the successive arrival of television, computer software and internet has metamorphosed recreational activities, including gaming. Lawyers, long disinterested by gaming issues, are now surprised to see these reemerging throughout their profession. At a time when sports games still escape the “obsessive rectification” the rights of civil responsibility grant, where principles of free competition have removed the state monopoly concerning the games of chance and where televised games redefine the characteristics of work contracts, it seems to be appropriate to elaborate a global discussion on the judicial aspect of gaming. Within a framework of a general approach gaming will be studied but from the point of view of its rules in order to lay aside unregulated amusement activities to favor regulated gaming. The latter, whenever it takes place under an agreement between an organizer presenting an offer to participate and one or several players who accept, raises similar juridical questions for all types of gaming activities. Is the organizer responsible for the equipment he provides? Should he regulate access to his game? Does he have an obligation to offer a prize to the winner of a game? What are the consequences concerning the various violations of the game? Is the licitly of the established target a valid condition of the game? By seeking to elaborate on these questions, this dissertation aims to pave the way for a more appropriate judicial framework for gaming.

Feministische Rechtswissenschaft beschäftigt sich mit der Vergeschlechtlichung des Rechts und seiner Diskurse. Sie benennt und analysiert Ungleichheiten aufgrund des Geschlechts, die durch das Recht legitimiert oder hergestellt werden. Feministische Rechtswissenschaft setzt sich mit dem Potenzial von Recht als feministischem und emanzipatorischem Instrument auseinander. Anhand des ‚Dilemmas der Differenz‘ wird deutlich, wie ambivalent rechtliche Bemühungen um Gleichstellung ausfallen. Feministische Rechtswissenschaft knüpft an die Lebenswirklichkeiten von Frauen* an und ist in allen Rechtsgebieten – vom Verfassungsrecht über die Rechtsgeschichte bis hin zu Familien-, Arbeits- und Strafrecht – vertreten.

[pt] Nesta tese enfrento problemáticas dos Direitos Humanos pela filosofia política e crítica ao direito. Num primeiro momento, apresento crítica à tradição e uma breve genealogia de como se dá o pensamento e a história desses direitos, tanto da ordem dos discursos de fundamentação como da sua afirmação social. Em seguida, trabalho a encruzilhada dos Direitos Humanos a partir da relação com a soberania e a biopolítica, respectivamente, segundo Jacques Derrida e Michel Foucault. Por um lado, é de se destacar o acentuado caráter histórico e político dos Direitos Humanos, de outro, questionar seu potencial de transformação social. A encruzilhada aparece e a problematização se dá, pois, se os Direitos Humanos são esforço do histórico de mobilizações contrário a injustiças sociais e modelos jurídicos conservadores, também, passam a fazer parte de nossa era de direitos como fundamento e manifestação legítima do direito. Inclusive, por vezes, se voltam contra seus próprios fins. Nesse contexto, os Direitos Humanos estão atrelados ao ímpeto civilizatório ocidental, ao capitalismo global, à ordem internacional e às violências de estado, ao mesmo tempo em que se manifestam com as lutas políticas, as conquistas sociais e as defesas contra violações de direito. A partir disso, problematizo os Direitos Humanos diante de seus fins e de sua força como direito, também, lanço a problemática de como pensá-los diante dos caminhos cruzados, da diferença das forças e da contínua abertura à mudança social presentes em sua atualidade. Com essa delimitação, estudo o potencial dos ‘Direitos Humanos na encruzilhada’, segundo a produção social e a definição da humanidade. Isso se dá, pela intersecção da soberania e da biopolítica, conforme são ultrapassados limites do direito e atingidos novos domínios da vida e da sociedade. O que implica reformular questões em torno da normatividade, da força e da realização dos Direitos Humanos. Por fim, destaco algumas tensões em meio às relações sociais e às composições de poder dos Direitos Humanos no cenário político atual. / [en] This thesis consists of a study about problems concerned to Human Rights from political philosophy and critique of law. At first, with a critique of the tradition of Human Rights and a brief genealogy of how thought and history of Human Rights took place, both in terms of foundational speeches and social statements. After that, due to open fractures with the philosophy of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, the idea is to distinguish how Human Rights function when related to sovereignty and biopolitics. It is important to highlight the historical and political nature of law, and to question its potential of social transformation, once Human Rights are at the crossroads: If Human Rights are an effort of the history of mobilizations contrary to social injustices and conservative legal models, they also become our era of rights as foundations and part of legitimate law. Even, at times, they turn against their own ends. In this context, the concept of Human Rights is linked to western civilization, global capitalism, international order and state violence, at the same time that Human Rights are made with political struggles, social conquests, institutional protection and defense against rights violation. In this context, is important to investigate how to think about Human Rights once considered the difference of forces of their formation and continuous openness to changes. This work turns to the potential of Human Rights at the crossroads, which is crucial to the crossroads itself, according to its social production and ability to define the political and humanity. Which results from the intersection of sovereign power and biopolitics, as the premises of law are displaced and the Human Rights reaches new domains of life and society. This implies reformulating questions about normativity, enforcement and achievement of Human Rights. At the end, it is consequential to highlight tensions of these rights in the midst of social relations and compositions of power in the current political scenario. / [fr] Dans cette présente thèse, les questions de Droits de l Homme sont confrontées à la philosophie politique et à lacritique du Droit. Dans un premier temps, il se fait une critique de la tradition et une brève généalogie de la manière dont la pensée et l histoire de ces droits se déroulent, tant au niveau des discours de raisonnement que de leur affirmation sociale. Ensuite, le travail se retrouve dans une sorte de croisement des Droits de l Homme à partir du rapport à la souveraineté et à la biopolitique, respectivement, selon Jacques Derrida et Michel Foucault. D une part, il faut souligner l important caractère historique et politique des Droits de l Homme, d autre part, s interroger sur leur potentiel de transformation sociale. La croisée des chemins apparaît et la problématisation s opère, car si les Droits de l Homme sont le résultat de l effort historique de mobilisations contre les injustices sociales et les modèles juridiques conservateurs, mais, ils s inscrivent aussi dans notre ère des droits comme fondement et manifestation légitime du droit.Parfois, ils se retournent même contre leurs propres fins. Dans ce contexte, les Droits de l Homme sont liés à la poussée civilisatrice occidentale, au capitalisme mondial, à l ordre international et à la violence d État, mais aussi aux luttes politiques, aux conquêtes sociales et à la défense face aux violations des droits. A partir de là, les Droits de l Homme sont premièrement problématisés face à leurs fins et leur force en tant que droit, et, ensuite, problématisés sur la façon de les penser face aux chemins croisés, à la différence des forces et à l ouverture continue aux changements sociaux présents de nos jours. Dans cette délimitation, il convient de souligner le potentiel des Droits de l Homme à la croisée des chemins à partir de leur production sociale et de leur capacité à définir l espace politique et celui de l humanité. Cela arrive à travers l intersection de la souveraineté et de la biopolitique, au fur et à mesure que les limites du droit sont dépassées et que de nouveaux domaines de la vie et de la société sont atteints. Cela implique de reformuler les questions autour de la normativité, de la force et de la réalisation des Droits de l Homme. Enfin, les tensions de ces droits sont questionnées face aux relations sociales et aux compositions du pouvoir dans le scénario politique actuel.

This work highlights specific lexical items that have become racialized in specific contextual applications and tests how these words are cognitively processed. This work presents the results of a visual world (Huettig et al 2011) eye-tracking study designed to determine the perception and application of racialized (Coates 2011) adjectives. To objectively select the racialized adjectives used, I developed a corpus comprised of popular media sources, designed specifically to suit my research question. I collected publications from digital media sources such as Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and Fortune by scraping articles featuring specific search terms from their websites. This experiment seeks to aid in the demarcation of socially salient groups whose application of racialized adjectives to racialized images is near instantaneous, or at least less questioned. As we view growing social movements which revolve around the significant marks unconscious assumptions leave on American society, revealing how and where these lexical assignments arise and thrive allows us to interrogate the forces which build and reify such biases. Future research should attempt to address the harmful semiotics these lexical choices sustain.

This paper has attempted to determine if there is a significant relationship between self-determination and client outcomes among the homeless. The study has been based upon the conceptual framework set forth in Self-Determination Theory. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between self-determination and client outcomes among the homeless. Using a data collection instrument, based on empirically validated instrumentation, clients from several homeless service providers in the City of San Bernardino were assessed for the level of self-determination and autonomy support they experience within these agencies. Outcome measures included such things as whether the client was going to school, had a job and had a bank account. Overall, the results of the study were inconclusive, though some interesting post hoc observations were made. It was the primary aim of this paper to increase the knowledge base of the local network of homeless service providers and to promote the compassionate, equitable, and dignified treatment of the population they serve.

This project, overall, involves a theory of law as dimensions. Throughout the history of the study of law, many different theoretical paradigms have emerged proffering different and competing ways to answer the question ‘what is law’? Traditionally, many of these paradigms have been at irreconcilable odds with one another. Notwithstanding this seeming reality, the goal of this project was to attempt to take three of the leading paradigms in legal theory and provide a way to explain how each might fit into a single coherent theory of law. I set out to accomplish this by drawing on the field of theoretical physics and that field’s use of spatial dimensions in explaining various physical phenomena. By engaging in a dimensional analysis of law, I found that I was able to place each paradigm within its own dimension with that dimension being defined by a specific element of time, and in doing so much of the conflict between the paradigms came to be ameliorated. The project has been divided into two main parts. PART I discusses the fundamentals of legal theory (Chapter 1) and the fundamentals of dimensions (Chapter 2). These fundamentals provide a foundation for a dimensional analysis of law which takes place throughout PART II. In Chapter 3, I argue that the three fundamental theses of Positivism coalesce with the 1st-dimension of law, which is defined as law as it exists at any one point in time. From there, I argue in Chapter 4 that the 2nd-dimension of law, being law as it exists between two points in time (i.e. when cases are adjudicated), is characterized by Pragmatism. I then turn, in Chapter 5, to argue that the 3rd-dimension of law, being law as it exists from the very first point in legal time to the ever changing present day, coalesces with the fundamental theses of Naturalism. Ultimately then, I argue that a theory of law as dimensions, through the vantage points of the specific elements of time, provides a more complete account of the nature of law.