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One of the main concerns of the international legal community consists in determining if the right of peoples to self-determination is one that has exhausted its utility and raison d'être with the end of the decolonization period or if it has a universal vocation that will lead to new applications in unforeseen situations among other peoples. Native peoples may in this respect be entitled to a new right of self-determination that would allow them greater control over their destiny without dealing a blow to the States in which they live.

From the first day the American Embassy was invaded and its diplomatic staff was seized as hostages by Iran, the United States of America has pursued every legal channel in order to resolve this crisis by peaceful means. Its efforts started with the immediate dispatch of Mr. Ramsey Clark on a mission to negotiate with the government of Iran and were continued in the United Nations through the Secretary General, the Security Council, the U.N. Commission of Inquiry and the World Court. Though one can say that all disputes may theoretically be capable of settlement according to rules of law, it should also be said, as a matter of fact, that international law often has only limited relevance to disputes arising among States. This is so because international legal rules operate within a system which has no general scheme of sanctions and no central organ for the enforcement of international legal rights. States have traditionally utilized coercitive measures short of war in attempting to prevail in disputes with other States. Does this authorize a State to intervene by the use of force for the protection of its nationals abroad ? Even though, from the standpoint of morality, the abortive U.S. rescue operation in Iran may have had sound justifications, any legal justifications that could be put up had to give way before the principle of territorial sovereignty.

Louvigny de Montigny, a well-known writer in his time, also played an active role on the literary scene of the early 20th century. This article outlines how Montigny contributed to the history of the book in Québec, as a cultural broker. As well, in the light of his contribution, this article analyses how the social capital contributes to the symbolic capital of the writer in his quest to gain literary legitimacy.

This paper questions the conditions of the ecological transition in the Mediterranean cities. It examines the emergence of the concept of “city in transition”. Then it observes its institutional implementation in Barcelona (Spain), Marseille (France) and Sfax (Tunisia) and focuses on their ongoing urban major projects (22@barcelona, Euroméditerranée, Taparura). Lastly, it analyses the ways by which the stakes of sustainable development urban have been appropriated by professionals and in the midst of local civil society.

Keywords: Ville en transition, Méditerranée, grands projets, développement durable, mobilisations sociales, City in transition, Mediterranean region, major projects, sustainable development, social mobilizations

Through a cross-sectional and comparative approach, this contribution aims to study the different experiences that have marked the process of tunisian local Agendas 21 during the period of 2000-2011. It tries to reposition projects in the logic of the stakeholders involved in the fabric of local Agendas 21. The balance sheet drawn up through various projects will be, then, returned to the cross-thematic of local participatory initiatives and the role of the local Agendas in the territorial prospecting. This central question would be repositioned in a context of social revolution and of legitimacy crisis, whose effects have hit full force, from 2011, the representative and the decision-making of tunisian cities structures.

Keywords: Agenda 21 local, démocratisation, développement durable, planification urbaine, prospective territoriale, local Agenda 21, democratization, sustainable development, urban planning, territorial prospecting

Initiatives on behalf of sustainable development are often criticized for inadequate consideration and advice of local issues and replication of decontextualized good practices only. This is particularly the case in Arab countries with authoritarian regimes. This article reviews the experience of the Development Strategy of Greater Sfax, considered as a success by many international, Tunisian and Sfaxian actors. We seek to identify the factors behind this relative success, while emphasizing the limits of this experiment. The article first presents the debate on sustainable urban development in Arab countries and especially in the Tunisian context. Then it analyzes the experience of Sfax emphasizing the role of international institutions which played a major role in launching the process, the nature of interactions between participants in the strategy development, including the role taken by local actors from the civil society, and the argumentation used to reach this consensus. Examining two projects from this strategy, the paper considers the inclusion in the local history of development as an essential condition for the continuation of this process. However, by focusing on the development of these projects until the current period of political change, the article also highlights the limits of consensus, including in particular the tensions that arise around the social issue.

Keywords: Urbanisme, développement durable, environnement, concertation, participation, société civile, régime autoritaire, Sfax, Tunisie, Urban planning, sustainable development, environment, consultation, participation, civil society, authoritarian regime, Sfax, Tunisia

In most European metropolitan areas of Europe – like Brussels or Luxembourg – social and spatial inequalities have been rising since the last decades. Mechanisms of selective inward and outward migration have been playing a major role of both reinforcing existing segregation structures and initiating gentrification and spatial dispersion. We analyse the dynamics caused by both residential mobility and international immigration and look at their effects on the rise of disparities, by studying the diffusion of different social groups in the metropolitan areas. Against the background of post-fordist competitive mechanisms we will thus question the role of residential movements as a motor of social composition and spatial structure in Brussels and Luxembourg.

Keywords: Inégalités sociales, inégalités spatiales, mobilité résidentielle, immigration sélective, double immigration, Spatial inequalities, social disparities, residential mobility, selective immigration, dual immigration