FELLOWS 2016

ABSTRACT
Quasi-States are defined as self-proclaimed entities, de facto sovereign, most of which have been produced by a military conflict between "separatists" and government forces. These entities are more or less institutionalized and generally seek to assert themselves as new members of the international community but most of them get limited international recognition. This dissertation, based on fieldwork in Transnistria (in Moldova from the international point of view) and Nagorno-Karabagh (in Azerbaijan for the international community), aims at producing a model of the Quasi-State, putting the emphasis on the state and nation building process (statogenesis and ethnogenesis).

BIOGRAPHY
Thomas Merle is a Ph.D. candidate in geography at the University of Reims (France). Holding a master in Political Geography (with a dissertation about states with limited recognition in the former USSR which resulted in a scientific award from the French Institute of High Studies about National Defence, the IHEDN) and a master in Ancient Greek History, he also passed the French national competition (« agrégation ») to teach geography and history. Elected at the Research Committee of its University as a representative of the Ph.D students, he is interested in Geopolitics, Military History and has some mapping and cartography skills.

PUBLICATIONS
2017: (forthcoming) Thomas Merle: « Les contentieux frontaliers et leur règlement » ([Border disputes and their resolution], in François Moullé (dir.), Frontières, Bordeaux, Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux.
2016: : Thomas Merle: Réussir le CAPES (et/ou l’agrégation) d'Histoire-Géographie [How to success in the French national teaching examinations in History and Geography], Neuilly, Atlande, 505 p. 
2016: Thomas Merle: « La Transnistrie, une économie mondialisée mais victime de la mondialisation » [Transnistria, a globalized economy but a victim of globalization], Regard sur l’Est, dossier 72 À l’Est, des territoires aux statuts incertains.
2016: Thomas Merle: « Logiques et dynamiques de la reconnaissance pour les États autoproclamés postsoviétiques » [The recognition of the postsoviet states with limited recognition, what logics, what dynamics?], Regard sur l’Est, dossier 72 À l’Est, des territoires aux statuts incertains.