Suchergebnisse

This essay shows how the term 'political profiling' developed in Quebec's public space in the 2000s. It thus recalls the relations between the police forces and social movements in the 2000s, offers a synthesis of the main academic studies discussing the relations between the police and social movements in Canada and Quebec, explains the history of the emergence of different notions of profiling (criminal, racial, social, political), and tries to capture the level of dissemination of the term 'political profiling' today. Adapted from the source document.

An examination of the speeches of modern Canada's "founding fathers" lays bare their openly anti-democratic outlook. How did a regime founded on anti-democratic ideas come to be positively identified with democracy? Drawing on the examples of similar studies carried out in the United States and France, this analysis of the history of the term "democracy" in Canada shows that the country's association with "democracy" was not due to constitutional or institutional changes that might have justified re-labelling the regime. Instead, it was the result of the political elite's discursive strategies, whose purpose was to strengthen the elite's ability to mobilize the masses during the world wars. Adapted from the source document.

The idea of a social contract is central to the tradition of liberal political philosophy. Staging a critical dialogue between liberalism & anarchism makes it possible to locate nodes of tension within both the liberal thesis of the social contract, which bespeaks an uchronia, & anarchist political philosophy, where a social contract is also considered but from a utopian perspective. Through this debate between political philosophies that converge & diverge at various points, the liberal fiction of the social contract can be more easily scrutinized from a critical perspective; at the same time, the anarchist notions of contract, free association, & mutual aid can be analyzed in finer detail. Adapted from the source document.

In this article I examine the legitimacy of direct action in relation to liberal deliberative norms and global institutions (World Bank, World Trade Organization, etc.). Because the deliberative processes of these institutions are illegitimate according to the theory of deliberative politics, the activists of the movement for global justice are legitimate to confront these institutions. Moreover, confrontational action in itself may have a deliberative value for at least seven reasons: (1) initiating deliberation (agenda-setting); (2) enlarging participation; (3) enlarging representation; (4) disseminating information and arguments (publicity); (5) stimulating imagination; (6) pushing for action; (7) re-opening deliberations. Finally, social movements such as the movement for global justice may be seen themselves as deliberative arenas. Thus, those who seek to evaluate the legitimacy of direct actions need to take into consideration the deliberative nature of the process through which activists decide which means may be more efficient in order to repair defects in the official deliberative process, and promote equality, liberty, and justice. Adapted from the source document.

Comparing France & the US, I propose a general model for assessing the birth of prodemocratic discourse. I first explain why founders of the modern "democracies" were openly & vehemently antidemocratic. Next, I focus on two types of situation where the word "democracy" is used on the political stage -- when political actors want to distinguish themselves from their opponents & when political actors want to sanctify the political regime. The first case covers three specific modes of the use of the term "democracy": (1) distinguishing oneself negatively by discrediting the opponent (the term "democracy" is pejorative & associated with the "enemy"); (2) distinguishing oneself positively by asserting one's worthiness (the term "democracy" is positive & associated with "us"); (3) fighting for an exclusive claim to the term in order to set oneself apart (several camps proclaim themselves "democrat" & mutually accuse each other of usurping or even "stealing" the title). I conclude that the use of the word "democracy" generally results from a single motivation -- to increase one's own political power or to diminish the power of one's opponents. 90 References. Adapted from the source document.

Penser l'action directe des Black Blocs
Francis Dupuis-Deri
Les Black Blocs ont fait une entrée spectaculaire dans le mouvement altermondialiste lors de la « Bataille de Seattle » du 30 novembre 1999 en fracassant les vitrines de Mc Donald's, Nike, Gap et de succursales de banques. L'analyse proposée, qui s'inspire d'entretiens avec des militants, d'analyses de leur discours et d'observations de manifestations, a pour objectif d'identifier l'origine et la diffusion de la tactique du Black Bloc et de comprendre les raisons politiques qui poussent des militants à y avoir recours. Trois questions d'ordre politique seront soulevées : (1) qui doit décider des modalités d'actions au sein d'un groupe militant particulier (2) et au sein d'une manifestation en général et (3) qui doit décider des critères d'efficacité des actions d'un mouvement social et parler en son nom ? Pour y répondre, la notion de « respect de la diversité des tactiques » et les liens entre les Black Blocs et des organisations militantes « radicales » et « réformistes » mais aussi avec d'autres blocs (les Tute Bianche et les Pink blocs) sont discutés.