Digging Deeper than Platinum: South Africa's Participation in an Emergent Fuel Cell Industry

Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2016-09-09 11:52:31.446

Om kategorisering og symbolskmagtudøvelse i det sociale arbejde : Myten om de ressourcestærke forældre til børn medneuro-psykiatriske diagnoser

On categorization and symbolic power in social work: The myth of the resourceful parents to children with neuro-psychiatric diagnoses Social workers often use the term resourceful about a certain group of parents to children with neuro-psychiatric diagnoses, e.g. autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. This paper discusses the consequences of this sort of stereotyping/categorization with particular regard to the collaboration between these parents and the social workers as they meet in the social services system, when the parents apply for help for their children. Drawing upon Pierre Bourdieu, it is suggested that the categorization resourceful is not only overly simplistic and a myth, but is straight out misguiding and complicates the interaction – in fact it represents an act of symbolic power. Based upon a six months long sociological field-work study it is shown, that even though social workers seem to acknowledge the difficult and grueling life-situation of the parents, they are first and foremost perceived as resourceful and knowledgeable but hence also as annoying, insufferable, demanding and basically unjustified, even though they have obvious legal rights. Parents and social workers alike described the collaboration as being conflictual and a struggle and the complex power-relations are discussed in the light of Bourdieu.

Initiative huronne-wendat de création d’une aire protégée : Mobilisation des savoirs et affirmation territoriale

Ce mémoire traite du projet de création de l’aire protégée Ya’nienhonhndeh de la Nation huronne-wendat. À travers l’exploration de la production, de la circulation et de l’utilisation des savoirs relatifs à ce projet, nous cherchons à éclairer les dynamiques constitutives des relations entre la Nation huronne-wendat et l’État québécois dans le cadre de la gestion du territoire traditionnel huron-wendat, le Nionwentsïo. Ce mémoire vise d’abord à mettre en lumière les aspirations de la Nation huronne-wendat concernant l’avenir de son territoire ancestral ainsi qu’à documenter les types de savoirs produits pour les faire valoir. Ensuite, à partir de la cartographie du cheminement de ces savoirs, sont exposés les obstacles structurels qui entravent la réalisation de ces aspirations lorsqu’elles doivent passer par la bureaucratie québécoise. Puis, en s’appuyant sur quelques-unes des diverses utilisations qui furent faites de ces savoirs, la réflexion est élargie pour porter sur les rapports de pouvoir établis entre la Nation huronne-wendat et l’État québécois dans le cadre de questions territoriales. Mots clés : aire protégée, Hurons-Wendat, projet autochtone, aspirations autochtones, bureaucratie, institutions, rapports de pouvoir, État québécois

Amistad y relaciones aristocráticas a inicios de la Edad Moderna: la familia Malvezzi y el Colegio de España en Bolonia

Este proyecto pretende profundizar en algunos aspectos del funcionamiento institucional y político del Colegio de España, como ente integrado en las redes políticas y sociales de la ciudad italiana, a través del análisis de sus relaciones con la familia Malvezzi a inicios de la Edad Moderna, un período caracterizado por la creación y reforzamiento gradual de una red social conectada con el mundo hispano. Además, se pretende señalar los canales de colaboración y acuerdo recíproco que el Colegio de San Clemente puso en marcha con distintos miembros de la aristocracia boloñesa. Este estudio concibe el Colegio de España como una institución que va más allá de los límites estrictamente universitarios y que desarrolla un rol político y económico de primer nivel en el contexto local. Por otra parte, se interpretan las dinámicas del poder urbano en clave de red, dentro de la cual se entrecruzaban diversos intereses privados, familiares, clientelares y personales que tuvieron su repercusión en la esfera pública. En resumen, se trata de ofrecer una visión amplia y rica del cuadro de relaciones de poder de la ciudad de Bolonia. El objetivo final es conocer las razones, lógicas y fases que han plasmado, reforzado y caracterizado los vínculos personales e institucionales entre la familia Malvezzi y el Colegio de España.

Relations between high and low power groups: The importance of legitimacy

Using a social identity perspective, two experiments examined the effects of power and the legitimacy of power differentials on intergroup bias. In Experiment 1, 125 math-science students were led to believe that they had high or low representation in a university decision-making body relative to social-science students and that this power position was either legitimate or illegitimate. Power did not have an independent effect on bias; rather, members of both high and low power groups showed more bias when the power hierarchy was illegitimate than when it was legitimate. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2 (N =105). In addition, Experiment 2 showed that groups located within an unfair power hierarchy expected the superordinate power body to be more discriminatory than did those who had legitimately high or low power. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for group relations.

Brazil: an emerging military power? The problem of the use of force in Brazilian international relations in the 21st century

The central goal of this paper is thinking about the Brazilian military power and its linking to the international ambitions of the country in the 21st century. After a comparative analysis to other BRICs and with a historical one about Brazil's strategic irrelevance, we aim to establish what the minimum military capacity Brazil would need in order to meet the country's latest international interests. Similarly, it will be discussed if the National Strategy of Defense, approved in 2008, and the recent strategic agreements signed with France represent one more step toward this minimum military capacity.

China's rising Soft Power: the role of rhetoric in constructing China-Africa relations

As China turns increasingly to the cultivation of soft power in the course of developing its foreign policy, the use of political rhetoric and its explicit and implicit audiences become more and more important, both on a bilateral level and within the international arena at large. Using the case of China's relations with African countries, this article examines key themes within China's diplomatic narrative regarding its role on the African continent and contrasts with Western and African responses.

China's space program : a new tool for PRC "soft power" in international relations?

When China launched an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon in January 2007 to destroy one of its inactive weather satellites, most reactions from academics and U.S. space experts focused on a potential military “space race” between the United States and China. Overlooked, however, is China’s growing role as global competitor on the non-military side of space. China’s space program goes far beyond military counterspace applications and manifests manned space aspirations, including lunar exploration. Its pursuit of both commercial and scientific international space ventures constitutes a small, yet growing, percentage of the global space launch and related satellite service industry. It also highlights China’s willingness to cooperate with nations far away from Asia for political and strategic purposes. These partnerships may constitute a challenge to the United States and enhance China’s “soft power” among key American allies and even in some regions traditionally dominated by U.S. influence (e.g., Latin America and Africa). Thus, an appropriate U.S. response may not lie in a “hard power” counterspace effort but instead in a revival of U.S. space outreach of the past, as well as implementation of more business-friendly export control policies.

On [summation of 1 raised to the power 1] equivalence relations over the natural numbers

"Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt"

Strong armies, slow adaptation: civil-military relations and diffusion of military power

Why are some states more willing to adopt military innovations than others? Why, for example, were the great powers of Europe able to successfully reform their military practices to better adapt to and participate in the so-called military revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries while their most important extra-European competitor, the Ottoman Empire, failed to do so? This puzzle is best explained by two factors: civil-military relations and historical timing. In the Ottoman Empire, the emergence of an institutionally strong and internally cohesive army during the early stages of state formation—in the late fourteenth century—equipped the military with substantial bargaining powers. In contrast, the great powers of Europe drew heavily on private providers of military power during the military revolution and developed similar armies only by the second half of the seventeenth century, limiting the bargaining leverage of European militaries over their rulers. In essence, the Ottoman standing army was able to block reform efforts that it believed challenged its parochial interests. Absent a similar institutional challenge, European rulers initiated military reforms and motivated officers and military entrepreneurs to participate in the ongoing military revolution.