Dr Nathalie Mrgudovic

Profile

I was awarded a 'Licence de droit' (Bordeaux Uni.), a 'Maîtrise de science politique' (Bordeaux Uni.), a 'Maîtrise de juriste franco-anglais' (Warwick Uni-Bordeaux Uni. ERASMUS programme, a 'DEA en Relations Internationales' (Paris, Sorbonne) and a “Doctorat en Science Politique” (Bordeaux University) on «La France dans le Pacifique Sud, 1966-2006, Enjeux et mutations».

Research interests

My research focuses on the French presence in the South Pacific :

• the evolution of the political status of the French territories in the region (New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis & Futuna) 
• the regional integration process
• the evolving role of French foreign policy in Oceania 

I am also interested in the political evolution of the other French Overseas « Collectivités » (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane, Réunion, Mayotte, St Pierre et Miquelon, St Martin, St Barthélémy).

Teaching

My specialisms include:

• Legal and political matters such as Commercial Law
• Constitutional Law
• Contemporary French Society
• French Decolonisation
• French Overseas Territories (the DOM, TOM and other categories)
• International Relations

Publications

Articles:

• “New Caledonia Struggle for Independence. A Regional Perspective”, The New Pacific Review, Vol.2,1, December 2003, pp.105-125
• “ Nouvelle-Calédonie ou Kanaky : perceptions régionales du “Caillou””, Journal de la Société des Océanistes, N° 117, September 2003, pp.
• Forthcoming : I am currently working on an article on the evolution of the notion of independence in New Caledonia. This article should be the first of a series of three that should eventually transform into a book assessing the issue of independence in all French Overseas entities.

Conference Proceedings:

•  « Les évènements de Nouvelle-Calédonie vus par les États de la région », Colloquium organised by the CNRS on “Les Accords de Matignon vingt ans après », 25-26 April 2008, Sénat, Paris. To be published before end 2008 by the CNRS.
• « L’affirmation des dynamiques internes en Mélanésie, le Groupe Mélanésien du Fer de Lance », Colloquium organised by the Maison de la Mélanésie on « La Nouvelle-Calédonie pour l’intégration de la Mélanésie », Nouméa, 4 and 5 September 2008, to be published before end 2008.
• “The French Overseas Territories in Change” in D. Killingray and D. Taylor (ed.), The United Kingdom Overseas Territories. Past, Present and Future. Occasional Paper of the OSPA, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Number 3, 2005, pp. 65-86.

Book Reviews: for the Journal of Modern and Contemporary France.

• Aldrich R., Connell J. The last colonies (Cambridge University Press, 1998), 335 pp.
• Boniface P., Atlas des relations internationales (Hatier, 1997) 176 pp.
• Messmer P. Les blancs s’en vont. Récits de décolonisation (Albin Michel, 1998), 303 pp.

Reader’s Report: for Taylor and Francis Publishing Ltd

• Betts R. F., Decolonisation, Routledge, 1998.

Conferences

•  « L’affirmation des dynamiques internes en Mélanésie, le Groupe Mélanésien du Fer de Lance », Colloquium organised by the Maison de la Mélanésie on « La Nouvelle-Calédonie pour l’intégration de la Mélanésie », Nouméa, New Caledonia 4 and 5 September 2008.
• « Les évènements de Nouvelle-Calédonie vus des  États et territoires du Pacifique Sud », Colloquium organised by the CNRS (Réseau Asie-Pacifique) on « La Nouvelle-Calédonie : vingt années de concorde », Mairie de Paris and Sénat, 25 and 26 April 2008.
•  “The French Overseas Territories in the Post-Colonial Context”, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 29 June 2004.
• “ Droit à l’autodétermination et Outre-mer français”. Institut français, London, 28-29 November 2003, “Postcolonialisme: le nouveau comparatisme?”,
• “The Loi d’orientation pour l’Outre-mer: Hope or Mirage?”, University of West England, 22 March 2003, Caribbean Inter-Disciplinary Conference on “ Land and Identity in the Caribbean”.
• “The Evolution of New Caledonia’ Status within France”. Newcastle University, 4-6 April 2002, The Society for the Study of French History Sixteenth Annual Conference University shield, "The Hexagone and Beyond: France, Europe and the Wider World”.

Seminar Papers

“The new status of New Caledonia” University of Birmingham, November 1998.

“Les statuts de l’Outre-mer en 2003”, Université de Nouvelle-Calédonie, (this paper was also recorded by the Centre Culturel JM Tjiboaou in Nouméa,, New Caledonia), 18 June 2003,

“The French Overseas Territories and the Right to Self-Determination”, Centre for the Study of European Politics and the History of Ideas (CESPHI), Aston University, 10 December 2003,

Invited Lecturer

28 November - 5 December 1999, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic.

I was invited to Mendel University, within the European exchange programme, Tempus, to give a series of lectures to Masters degree students on the EU and the ACP (Africa-Caribbean-Pacific) countries. An edited publication of these lectures (with the other lectures given within this programme) is being negotiated.

Visiting Scholar

During a three months sabbatical (May to August 2003) I have been invited to do my research in the following universities:

• University of Sydney, Department of Economics History, Sydney, Australia
• Australian National University, Department if International Relations, Canberra, Australia
• Université de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Département d’Histoire contemporaine, Nouméa, New-Caledonia
• University of the South Pacific, Department of Law, Port-Vila, Vanuatu
• University of the South Pacific, Department of Politics, Suva, Fiji
• Contacts with members of the Université de Polynésie française, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia.

Broadcasts

Les Nouvelles-Calédoniennes (the leading newspaper in New Caledonia), 17/06/2008 , « La France dans le Pacifique Sud : une mal-aimée enfin acceptée » by Henri Lepot.

RFO (TV and Radio Channels dedicated to the French Overseas territories), 26/04/2008 Interview on my book « La France dans le Pacifique Sud. Les enjeux de la puissance « .

BBC Midlands, 17/04/2002, interview on the French presidential elections of 2002.

BBC World Service Programme "Calling the Falklands", invited specialist on the French Overseas situation today, 27/06/1999. (The producers asked me, as a specialist on the French Overseas territories, to contribute to their programme on the future of the Falkland Islands and to compare it with the recent developments in New Caledonia).