Ethnic Separatism

L'article décrit les principales caractéristiques du séparatisme ethnique en tant que processus. Il analyse ensuite deux théories susceptibles d'expliquer la renaissance, en périphérie, d'une identification réactive, la thèse du colonialisme interne et le rôle de l'élite ethnique. Il aborde les contradictions inhérentes à la politique du Parti Québécois, qui veut créer une nation purement québécoise par la promotion de la culture française, et expose les pièges du référendum sur la souveraineté-association.The paper outlines the main characteristics of ethnic separatism as a process. It then analyses two theories designed to explain the resurgence of reactive peripheral identity, the Internal Colonial thesis and the role of the ethnic intelligentsia. Some of the inherent contradictions in the Parti Québécois's attempt to create a genuine Québécois nation through the promotion of French culture are explored as are some of the pitfalls of a referendum on Sovereignty-Association

Ethnic perceptions of Acadia

Le nom Acadie donné à une certaine portion du territoire atlantique du nord-est de l'Amérique du Nord désigne une grande variété de référents territoriaux. À partir d'une enquête réalisée auprès d'un échantillon d'étudiants, de niveau secondaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, nous constatons que la nature exacte et l'étendue de l'aire symbolisée par ce nom varient en fonction de la provenance des répondants et de leur appartenance ethnique. Cependant, l'unanimité se fait autour de la localisation d'un foyer commun de la culture acadienne : la région de Moncton et son arrière-pays immédiat.The name Acadia, given to a portion of the Atlantic region of North America, connotes a wide variety of territorial referents. From the results of a survey of a sample of New Brunswick high school students, it was determined that the exact nature and extent of the area known under the name of Acadia varied, depending on the sample location and ethnic affiliation of the respondants. But a core area common to all samples is centered on Moncton and its immediate hinterland

Using Gaussian Processes to Optimise Concession in Complex Negotiations against Unknown Opponents

In multi-issue automated negotiation against unknown opponents, a key part of effective negotiation is the choice of concession strategy. In this paper, we develop a principled concession strategy, based on Gaussian processes predicting the opponent's future behaviour. We then use this to set the agent's concession rate dynamically during a single negotiation session. We analyse the performance of our strategy and show that it outperforms the state-of-the-art negotiating agents from the 2010 Automated Negotiating Agents Competition, in both a tournament setting and in self-play, across a variety of negotiation domains

Negotiating Concurrently with Unknown Opponents in Complex, Real-Time Domains

We propose a novel strategy to enable autonomous agents to negotiate concurrently with multiple, unknown opponents in real-time, over complex multi-issue domains. We formalise our strategy as an optimisation problem, in which decisions are based on probabilistic information about the opponents' strategies acquired during negotiation. In doing so, we develop the first principled approach that enables the coordination of multiple, concurrent negotiation threads for practical negotiation settings. Furthermore, we validate our strategy using the agents and domains developed for the International Automated Negotiating Agents Competition (ANAC), and we benchmark our strategy against the state-of-the-art. We find that our approach significantly outperforms existing approaches, and this difference improves even further as the number of available negotiation opponents and the complexity of the negotiation domain increases

From act to action: Implementing language legislation in Finland, Ireland and Wales

This report was submitted in February 2010 for consideration by Svenska Kulturfonden which was the lead agency in the commissioning process. The results were also shared with Foras na Gaeilge and the Welsh Language Board who co-commissioned the research. Beyond these agencies the details of the investigation have been shared with state governments and national parliaments, relevant ministries and selected EU bodies. Between 2010 and 2012 the findings of the in-depth cases studies and recommendations have been highly influential in informing the debate on language legalisation and the reform of the language strategies of Finland, Ireland and Wales respectively. In Finland it has been highly significant as a source of data and insights into the local government reform and restructuring process, especially in terms of the effect of amalgamation on the services provided to Swedish-speaking citizens. In Ireland the report’s results and recommendations have informed the regulatory and public service delivery sections of the 20 Year Irish Language Strategy. In Wales, the report’s investigations of the current operation of the Welsh Language Schemes and its recommendations that a more robust language policy regime be put in place, led to the development of national standards of Welsh language services being adopted within public administration. It also influenced the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, especially in relation to the reach and functions of the Welsh Language Commissioner and the implementation of a stronger statutory basis for the interaction of Welsh speakers both with each other and with service providers. This Summary Report is now made available to the public. Despite some considerable reforms, such as the establishment of a Welsh Language Commissioner in April 2012, or changes in governments within polities and the introduction of revised language strategies, we have not seen fit to report on these changes between the submission of the confidential report in 2010 and now. That is beyond the scope of our remit. It is hoped that the Summary Report findings and recommendations will have some purchase for the exchange of best practice, ideas and processes within a range of official language communities in the EU and beyond

Translating y Cofnod: translation policy and the official status of the Welsh language in Wales

It might safely be said that no issue is as politically contentious in Wales as that of the status of the Welsh language in society in general and in public life in particular, along with its relationship to the English language. This article draws upon a range of papers from within the National Assembly for Wales (NAfW) and the Welsh Government, some of which have been made available only as a result of a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, in its careful examination of how the translation policy of the Welsh Assembly became the subject of a very excited and divisive public row. Moreover, the article shows how this translation problem evolved into a matter of constitutional difficulty, as yet unresolved, at the highest level of public life in Wales