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In this paper, our purpose is to identify the influence of politics for building a metropolitan solidarity. Our purpose is based on a double comparison between France and Spain, two countries that have experienced phases of centralization and decentralization of metropolitan issue. The first national comparison makes us identify ambivalences state policy on the metropolitan debate. A second comparison between two separate metropolitan narratives (Montpellier and Barcelona), allows us to identify the weight of the political variable when observed - over time and the plurality of levels of power - the conditions for metropolitan solidarity. If politics should not be overstated — in the sense that everything could be summarized on politics in the cities, and the economy would be its simple joystick — it should not be underestimated. We propose somehow to put politics back into its place.

Keywords: métropole, politique, solidarité, Barcelone, Montpellier, France, Espagne, city, political solidarity, Barcelona, Montpellier, France, Spain, metrópolis, política, solidaridad, Barcelona, Montpellier, Francia, España

The territory represents the duality between man and nature, mixing subjective and objective elements. For some authors, this polysemic notion makes less and less sense and should be abandoned. We propose on the opposite to deepen the analysis of this territorial complexity. To do so, this paper explores two complementary theses. On a theoretical basis, we define the territory as a socio-patrimonial system: an interactional nexus between social relations and what we call patrimonial relations (links to natural and cultural heritage). On a practical basis, we operationalized this definition through a model entitled the Actor in 4 Dimensions (A4D) which examines relations between humans and relations to non-humans on a specific area. The A4D leads to territorial footprints for each actor of the area, a synchronic radiography of their social and patrimonial links. This analytical model is a vector of data on the actors and of dialog between them; it can be of interest for researchers, mediators, administrators and for territorial actors themselves. Our results show that social relations depend on the context in which they are anchored and that man and nature relationships exist through social links. In order to decrypt what a territory is, this socio-patrimonial nexus should be more deeply decorticated by studying the attaches between nature and culture.

Keywords: Territoire, patrimoine, acteur, rapport social, rapport patrimonial, empreinte territoriale, Territory, heritage, actor, social relation, patrimonial relation, territorial footprint

This article shows that four American animated television series, The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park and American Dad!, are more than mere entertainment and contain political discourses on undocumented immigration and the building of a fence along the US-Mexico border. Relying on Daniel Tichenor's categorization of the main US currents of thought on immigration, we proceed to a qualitative content and discourse analysis of a selected corpus of episodes of the aforementioned animated television series to show that they offer a discursive space to each of the main currents of thought identified by Tichenor. The article also shows that The Simpsons, American Dad! and Family Guy contain a satirical discourse that aims to discredit conservative positions and valorize liberal views on immigration, but that South Park does not include a similar bias nor a bias for any of the currents of thought on immigration or the building of a fence between the US and Mexico.

Since the 1990s, francophone IR has burgeoned to the point of becoming one of the most popular subfields of political science for undergraduate and graduate programs alike in francophone Quebec and French-speaking Canadian universities. Beyond these institutional developments and in light of the recent findings of Cornut et al. (in this issue) on new francophone political scientists, what assessment can be drawn from the state of “francophone IR”? The likely effect of the most evident practice in IR – the hegemonic use of English – on IR in francophone Canada and Quebec and especially on the new Ph.D. students that are trained there has hardly been questioned. We thought it was important to highlight that assessing francophone IR in Canada and Québec requires to question not only the intellectual peculiarity of the “francophone” label added to “IR,” but also the so-called Anglophone nature of the discipline of IR. The conclusions of our sociology of the discipline centered on the political role of language in research and teaching offered in this article sought to shed light on the reality of different power structures linked to the production of knowledge in a language instead of another. By raising difficult questions with which IR students and faculty are confronted and by proposing certain concrete measures, our intent was not so much to ignite the inevitable and necessary controversy that accompanies sensitive political questions but rather to sow the seeds of a forthcoming crucial debate concerning the future of francophone intellectual production in IR and the training of francophone doctoral students in Québec and Canada.

The article discusses key issues and theoretical debates about small nations and minority nations in comparative politics. Its more specific objective is to evaluate the role Quebec plays in those debates. Three questions motivate the authors' inquiry. First, it addresses the main questions and analytical perspectives that characterize the comparative study of small nations. For instance, it examines the key role normative debates have played in our understanding of the nationalism of small nations such as Catalonia, Flanders, Scotland and Quebec as well as more empirical analyses on territorial governance. Secondly, it evaluates the theoretical contributions of studies about Quebec to the field. It discusses the literature in two specific areas, that of paradiplomacy and public policies. Thirdly, the authors ask whether the comparison of Quebec with other small nations and national minorities is the most appropriate in order to understand its own political dynamics. They suggest that Quebec should also be compared with other small societies or small sovereign states such as Ireland, Israel or the Scandinavian countries in order to better understand its actions. In conclusion, the article also serves to underline the limits of such comparison.