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Grounded by l'abbe Pierre in 1949, Emmaus is a major French NGO (non-governmental organization) & also an international movement. To answer the question of the frontiers & scales changes in social movements, this article analyses how politics circulated & transformed since the 1950s between a national space & the international associative space, how it led Catholics to political thinking & acting, & finally to the emancipation of religious aspects. This geographical porosity is also linked to a generational one: Emmaus can be considered as an "old" social movement, which is today very close to the "new" social ones. Adapted from the source document.

Discusses the concept of democracy as having built-in tensions which lead to a constant questioning of its basic principles and of what it is and ought to be; 7 articles. Summaries in English. Topics include the potential of multicultural societies to reconstruct social life; principles of humanism and equality as the basis of democracy's moral system; the communitarian theory of Alasdair MacIntyre; operations of Canada's Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies; constitutional problems between the Province of Quebec and Canada.

Examines trade and business conditions in sub-Saharan Africa; addresses borders inherited from colonial period, regionalism, ethno-regional and religious factors, identity, and other issues. Summary in English p. 1058-9.

The United Kingdom is divided on several critical aspects. There are religious divisions, namely the Muslim community's feeling of isolation & the debate on schooling, a stiffening of social classes due to the slowing of social mobility, & clashes of interest between generations, an issue heightened by an ageing population. Finally, the future of institutional relations between England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland remains uncertain. Adapted from the source document.

The pilgrimage is a central religious practice in Islam. But beneath this banal observation lies a great social & historical complexity. On the one hand pilgrimage is not a timeless phenomenon, it is located within time & of course space, on the other hand it is made up of religious & mundane or profane aspects that are looked upon as unconnected with religion. It is this complexity that makes pilgrimage a political practice important to the formation of civil society. The observation of a group of Iranian Shiites throughout the pilgrimage to the holy sites of Syria, in July 2003, should help to understand the role played by women both as pilgrims & traders. It should also highlight the social impacts of such practices as referred to gender relationships, the autonomy of business in front of the State, & the process of individuation. Although as transcendental as they have ever been, the religious experiences are far from being opposite of a rational & economical calculation. Thus the pilgrimage is less a kind of updating of communitas for believers than a perfect area where are shaped social practices & identified struggles in the double context of nation & globalization. Adapted from the source document.