Search

This paper proposes an account of the recent works of Peter Sloterdijk, an author that has developed a phenomenological analysis of human spaces. The aim of my contribution is to put this spatial theorization in relation with political constructions. Sloterdijk's enterprise presents itself as a long history of the cosmological and architectural elements that shape the very spaces of human-production. It is also described as a new path for the understanding of the human topos that has been for too long subsumed by metaphysics of the 'beyond' and liquefied nowadays by contemporary mobilization processes of the capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting votes understood as citizens revealed preferences in collective choices allow to evaluate electoral success opportunities both for incumbents and opposition and to anticipate future public policies. In this paper, we provide forecasts for the 2007 French presidential election gathering contributions from Public Choice theory and Political science dealing with electoral behaviors. Forecasts generated at a sub-national level exhibit more accuracy at the second round than at the first one. We propose some explanation and improvements for 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In political discourse as well as scholarly research on the European Union, the last decade of the 20th century was the decade of citizenship. But, despite numerous unresolved questions, there has been a virtual silence on the matter since 2001. Does this mean that there have been no major developments in European citizenship over the past few years? The answer is clearly negative. Via a comparison of the White Paper on European Governance (2001) and the draft Constitution (2004), this article documents a certain tension in the institutional discourse about European citizenship. It proposes a new theoretical model to grasp this tension and to understand European citizenship as it is conceived nowadays. This analytic prism is based on the distinction between "government citizenship" and "governance citizenship." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the use of the concept of freedom of expression by a Quebec City radio station, CHOI-FM, in its dispute with the CRTC and in the court case of Sophie Chiasson before the Quebec Cour supérieure. Although freedom of expression is the main argument used by CHOI-FM in 2004 and 2005, our hypothesis is that this argument is mainly instrumental. Nevertheless, freedom of expression must be analyzed because it is a major symbol of democracy; it is linked with lively public debate and individualism. In this case, freedom of expression is also used in an attempt to lend respectability to populism and illicit discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the difference between the evolution of the protest movement against globalisation in Quebec and in Canada, especially since the end of the eighties. We argue that this difference can be best understood by taking into account the distinctive relationship which prevailed in these two social entities between the national project pursued by social and political actors and the reactions of these actors to the globalisation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We regret that the originally published paper (Dobrescu 2009) did not contain the author's proof corrections. We apologize for this oversight and reproduce the entire corrected paper here. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]