Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Election, 1991'

This thesis explored the role of the six wealthy Russian businessmen, the oligarchs, in 1996 reelection of President Boris Yeltsin. This research was qualitative and descriptive. The goal was to collect the information from various sources and summarize it, demonstrating how the interference of the oligarchs reflected on the process of the election, as well as on the careers of their own.The research concluded that the oligarchs' role was, first of all, in the organization and financing a highly effective election campaign team; consolidating the business elite and big capital around Yeltsin, using the media that they controlled as a tool of pro-Yeltsin propaganda; and influencing some key decision taken by Yeltsin. The result was Yeltsin's victory, and the increase of the oligarchs' wealth and political power.This ability of the oligarchs to manipulate politics completely cemented the interrelation between business and politics in Russia, which contributed to Russia's reputation as a country of corruption and lawlessness.
Department of Political Science

This research on Political Communications in the general elections and its effectiveness is one of the first of its kind on India, the literature having concentrated on voting behaviour in relation to socio-economic characteristics. The importance of communication during elections has been inadequately researched because of the diversity of the country. Through a content analysis of the coverage of election information in the media and case studies of party campaigns, the study evaluates the campaign practices in the mass media and conventional interpersonal forms. It highlights the electronic and outdoor forms like posters, wall writings, symbol displays and cutouts that were important during the 1991 elections. The thesis then examines the impact of these campaigns through a panel survey on a sample of 1155 electors from the three constituencies of Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nagarkurnool in Andhra Pradesh. The voting patterns have been evaluated in relation to access to and the impact of different forms of political' communications. Research revealed that Indian political communication campaigns were well organised and professional advertising agencies were hired to promote the parties. Campaigns have been systematically planned through the development of creative and media strategies. Apart from the mass media channels, interpersonal forms continued to be important to reach the diverse electorate. There was a high level of exposure to newspapers, radio and television which were sought as important sources for election related information. Interpersonal forms were found to be persuasive. Education, urbanization, gender, caste and religion are important factors influencing the voters' perceptions and receptivity to electoral communications. But, while increased level of information does heighten the level of political awareness, it does not determine the final outcome. An important aspect was that families largely tended to vote as single units with men generally deciding who to vote for. Women showed relatively little interest in politics (though comprising an important 45% of voters) and their under representation in the study necessitated the need for weighting. The assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the middle of the elections adds an important dimension to the research, from those who voted in a normal election and those in the 'sympathy wave'. This study, though conducted under unusual circumstances does provide a much needed insight into the political changes in the country and the increasing use of US inspired media driven campaign practices of political marketing combining comfortably with conventional practices of political marketing in India. A final yet important aspect of this research is the exploration of the problems of survey research in a country of cultural plurality such as India.

Ce projet de recherche s'articule autour de la problématique suivante : comment peut-on expliquer les usages multiples et contradictoires du monitoring électoral ? A travers le prisme des relations entre acteurs internationaux et locaux, nous démontrons d'une part comment un régime dit « fort » tel que l'Ethiopie utilise le monitoring électoral pour maintenir une position de pouvoir dans le pays et vis à vis des acteurs internationaux. D'autre part, les dimensions politiques du monitoring électoral soulignent le rôle ambigu joué par les promoteurs européens de la démocratie, qui utilisent également cet instrument comme un outil de politique étrangère, leur permettant ainsi, sous couvert de neutralité, d'interférer dans la politique nationale éthiopienne et justifier ainsi leur intervention. Cependant, en ratifiant un processus électoral non compétitif, ces acteurs sont affaiblis au cours du processus et leur entreprise perd considérablement de sa crédibilité. Au final, le récepteur des observateurs joue alors avec les marges de manœuvre existantes, et manipule les intérêts et intentions plus ou moins cachées des acteurs externes. Il remet ainsi en cause l'ordre diplomatique préétabli et la hiérarchie que cet ordre politique sous-tend. En conséquence, le monitoring électoral devient une zone de conflit où les stratégies politiques s'affrontent. L'instrument censé ouvrir l'espace politique en Éthiopie contribue en fait à sa fermeture
My dissertation examines the construction of power relations in the international system, through the lens of international election monitoring and its politics. Focusing on the relationship between the European Union and Ethiopia, I argue that election monitoring reflects a complex hierarchy of power and serves contradicting purposes. In the hands of the monitors, it is an instrument of discipline, intended to monitor domestic behavior and enforce a standard of performance. The recipient of monitors, while accepting the general rule, finds interstices to manoeuvre within, playing with and against interests and agendas of external actors. Ultimately, the politics of election observing functions as an arena of struggle where power strategies are at stake. Power relations are eventually reversed when international actors are weakened, giving more space for the recipient country to pursue its own electoral strategies

This study looks into the way India's 1991 general election was portrayed in the newspapers of India and Britain. The thesis stipulates that while the elections generated a keen interest in the Indian press, it kept a low profile in the British press. However, the British press' attention was heightened when the former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated during the same election campaign, which failed to invoke a substantial and appreciable amount of coverage. While the Indian newspapers, after providing an extensive coverage to the themes related to the assassinated leader for one week, returned to emphasise the campaign and other contemporary issues, the British newspapers relentlessly continued to fill their pages with the same themes even over three weeks after the event had happened. The thesis also argues that the British press accentuated far more than its Indian counterpart the issue of violence in India during the 47-day long campaign. It clearly emerges from the findings that during an election, the campaign agenda is formed by the journalists rather than by the political parties/leaders. While the newspapers of both the countries carried more media-initiated stories than party- initiated, the British press outnumbers its Indian counterpart. It shows that the sacerdotal role the British journalists are known to play in the coverage of the election in their own country is dissolved when they report election in a Third World country. Discussed in this thesis is also the fact that the powerful political actors and parties are referred to more than the minor parties and their leaders. Nevertheless, the basic and development issues like inflation, poverty, unemployment, education, rural development etc. - notwithstanding their inclusion in the manifestos of virtually all the Indian political parties - get a low priority in the press.

Le " Burkina Faso depuis 1991 : entre stabilité politique et illusionnisme démocratique " ambitionne de se projeter au cœur du régime de la IVème République. Les fondements de la domination de l'élite politique post-transition sont examinés à travers la stratégie de conquête du pouvoir politique et la légitimation électorale à travers l'organisation des premières élections pluralistes. Le président Blaise Compaoré progressivement met en place un système de domination verrouillé où les possibilités de changements démocratiques s'amenuisent pour ses adversaires politiques. Cette mainmise du régime de M. Blaise Compaoré nécessite des ressources qui se déclinent en ressources internes et en un répertoire de légitimation internationale qui fait aujourd'hui du président Blaise Compaoré un acteur majeur du jeu politique sous-régional.

The purpose of this research is to identify major factors that can be used to explain and predict the process of growth in union membership as represented by union victories in certification elections. The emphasis of this research is on organization and social-structural level factors. The logistic regression procedure reveals that organization level variables are most significant in explaining union victories in certification elections. Among the organization level variables, Unit Size, as defined by the NLRB, is the most significant variable in each year of the study and across all industrial classifications.

Le " Burkina Faso depuis 1991 : entre stabilité politique et illusionnisme démocratique " ambitionne de se projeter au coeur du régime de la IVème République. Les fondements de la domination de l'élite politique post-transition sont examinés à travers la stratégie de conquête du pouvoir politique et la légitimation électorale à travers l'organisation des premières élections pluralistes. Le président Blaise Compaoré progressivement met en place un système de domination verrouillé où les possibilités de changements démocratiques s'amenuisent pour ses adversaires politiques. Cette mainmise du régime de M. Blaise Compaoré nécessite des ressources qui se déclinent en ressources internes et en un répertoire de légitimation internationale qui fait aujourd'hui du président Blaise Compaoré un acteur majeur du jeu politique sous-régional.

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union has encouraged democratisation in most parts of Africa. At the same time, Western donors' attitudes towards r~cipients of foreign aid have changed. This has resulted in a new practice, which attempts to force Third World states to move toward liberal democracy by conditioning lending on the holding of mUlti-party elections. In Africa this has resulted to the holding of multi-party elections. This study attempts to examine donor conditionalities and democratisation in Kenya by examining the results of 1992 and 1997 multi-party elections. Kenya attained independence from the British and ushered in a multi-party democracy in 1963. Since then, the country has undergone a full circle of political development, starting with a multi-party democracy at independence, through a one party dictatorship between 1982 and 1992 and back to a multi-party democracy in 1993. The need to satisfy foreign donors forced the leadership to amend Section 2(A) of Kenya' s constitution that had legalised single-party rule in 1982 thus allowing plural politics. The externally pressured transition to multi-party democracy though has resulted in increased corruption, state-sponsored ethnic violence, continued political authoritarianism and disastrous economic mismanagement of what was once considered a model for the continent. This study urges that Western donors should focus less on elections and more on the fostering of democratic institutions through breaking patterns of neo-patrimonial rule that have inforn1ed and continue to inform politics in Kenya. Political reforms have been resisted by the incumbency in the fear tha! they may curtail the power of the political leadership whose main objective has been to cling to power.

La vie politique de Madagascar, durant 54 ans d’indépendance, est jalonnée de crises post-électorales et de mouvements de contestation socio-politiques multiples. De ce constat, le peuple malgache se sent en droit de disposer de ses richesses et de vivre un développement soutenu à partir d’une considération des valeurs traditionnelles. Madagascar exige une vraie mutation de la classe politique qui s’avère être inéluctable, mais le principal doute est de savoir si elle ira dans le sens escompté… Des résistances à cet élan se font sentir cardivers enjeux politiques et économiques, aussi bien internes qu'internationaux, exigent la mise aux pas du pays vers le modèle stéréotypé du développement à l’occidentale. Par conséquent, les termes « démocratie, bonne gouvernance, mondialisation » apparaissent galvaudés au point parfois de perdre la précision et la pertinence nécessaires à la compréhension des systèmes de valeurs et d'échanges politiques qu'ils sont supposés fonder et véhiculer. D’autres corollaires à ces superficiels changements imposés se font jour : prolifération d’acteurs politiques avec la multitude de groupements que cela suppose. Sachons que l’île compte actuellement 150 partis et associations politiques enregistrés auprès du ministère de l’Intérieur alors que, face à l’évolution politique,aucune « opposition » digne de ce nom ne se manifeste positivement. En fin de compte, Madagascar se trouve confrontée à des problèmes d'ordre culturel, historique, institutionnel, économique et social, face à cette inévitable mutation de sa classe politique. Après un essai de définition de la notion de pouvoir à Madagascar etun survol descriptif des acteurs politiques malgaches durant la colonisation, une étude sur le fondement de la classe politique actuelle a été menée afin de déceler les motifs réels de cette résistance à la mutation. Des difficultés socio-économiques internes viennent s'ajouter aux intérêts internationaux géopolitiques et économiques. Une observation particulière a été entreprise sur le comportement des investisseurs et décideurs français. Il s'agit, en fait, d'une illustration réelle et précise des comportements pater familias que la France adopte auprès de ses partenaires africains
The political life of Madagascar is marked by post-election crises and sociopolitical protests, during its 54 years of independence. From this observation, Malagasy people feel entitled to enjoy their riches and live a sustained development based on consideration of traditional values. Madagascar demands a real transformation of its political class. This change seems inevitable, but the main question is whether it will go to the expected direction... Opposition to this impulse is felt, since domestic and international political and economic issues require that Madagascar conforms to the stereotypical pattern of western development. Therefore, the words “democracy, good governance, globalization” seem so overused. By this way, sometimes, they lose the necessary precision and relevance for an understanding of system of values and political exchanges they are supposed to express and establish. Other corollaries of these superficial changes that were imposed are emerging, namely the proliferation of political stakeholders that involve a multiplication of related groups. Infact, there is currently about 150 political parties and associations that are registered at the Ministry of DomesticAffairs. However, with these political developments, no real “opposition” manifest positively. Ultimately, faced with this famous and inevitable change of its political class, Madagascar is encountering cultural, historical, institutional, economic and social problems. To uncover the real motives of this resistance to change, first, atentative definition of the concept of power in Madagascar and a descriptive overview of the Malagasy politicians during the colonial period is conducted. Afterwards, a study on the basis of the current Malagasy political class is performed. In addition to domestic social and economic difficulties, there are international geopolitical and economic interests. A particular observation is undertaken on the behavior of French investors and policymakers. This is actually a real and accurate illustration of pater familias behaviors that France adopts vis-à-vis its African partners

Previous studies of the first direct elections to the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) in 1991 were largely focused on the effect of the Tiananmen Incident on voters' choice, neglecting the domestic dimension of social conflict evolving within Hong Kong from the 1970s. Adopting the social cleavage approach, the present thesis argues that two electoral cleavages, centre-periphery and collective consumption, were important by 1991. It, therefore, explores the international, social and political contexts within which the 1991 LegCo direct elections took place in order to explain the political alignments and electoral cleavages during the period 1982-1991. First, the study examines the Sino-British attitudes towards political reforms in Hong Kong and the development of the centre-periphery cleavage in the 1980s as the two countries negotiated the transfer of sovereignty. Second, the expansion of the Hong Kong Government's activities and its privatisation programmes are analyzed in order to describe the increasingly intimate relations between government and society and to show that, as a result, conflicts evolved over issues of collective consumption. Third, the emerging competition at the time of the 1991 elections is discussed with reference to political mobilisation and alignments during the previous decade. Fourth, the electoral market of 1991 is examined to explain voters' choice. Finally, the election results are analyzed to demonstrate that two electoral cleavages, centre-periphery and collective consumption, played a significant role. The data used in this study were collected from: official documents, such as the Hong Kong Government Gazette, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the Basic Law, the Hong Kong Census and By-census reports, the annual reports of various government departments; opinion polls and one exit poll of the 1991 LegCo direct elections; personal interviews with leading political leaders; campaign materials and election debates on television; and newspaper cuttings.

In what can rightly be said to be one of the most dramatic geopolitical shifts in modern times, the collapse of communist regimes in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union brought about dramatic changes in the entire region. As a consequence, wide ranging political, economic, and social transformations have occurred in almost all of these countries since 1989. The Slovak Republic, as a newly democratic country, went through the establishment of the electoral and party systems that are the central mechanisms to the formation of almost all modern democratic governments. The primary research purpose of this dissertation was to describe and explain regional variations in party support during Slovakia’s ten years of democratic transformation. A secondary purpose was to relate these spatial variations to the evolution of political parties in the post-independence period in light of the literature on transitional electoral systems. Research questions were analyzed using both aggregate and survey data. Specifically, the study utilized electoral data from 1994, 1998, and 2002 Slovak parliamentary elections and socio-economic data of the population within Slovak regions which were eventually correlated with the voting results by party in the 79 Slovak districts. The results of this study demonstrate that there is a tendency among voters in certain regions to provide continuous support to the same political parties/movements over time. In addition, the socio-economic characteristics of the Slovak population (gender, age, education, religion, nationality, unemployment, work force distribution, wages, urban-rural variable, and population density) in different regions tend to influence voting preferences in the parliamentary elections. Finally, there is an evident correlation between party preference and the party’s position on integration into European Union, as measured by perceived attitudes regarding the benefits of EU membership.

Apres l'assassinat de Trujillo, le 30 mai 61, la démocratie va-t-elle pouvoir s'installer en république dominicaine, grâce à l'action des partis politiques ? Très rapidement, de nombreux partis politiques apparaissent et se développent, le bipartisme s'établit avec deux partis dominants qui alternent, le PRD (parti révolutionnaire dominicain) de Juan Bosch et le PR (parti réformiste) de Joaquin Balaguer s'imposent durablement. Les partis jouent leur rôle durant la période très troublée de 61 à 66, où se produisent le coup d'état militaire qui met fin au gouvernement démocratique de Bosch et la guerre d'avril 65. En 66, dans un climat tendu, Balaguer l'emporte face à Bosch. De 66 à 78, pendant le gouvernement très autoritaire de Balaguer, sévit une forte répression allant jusqu'à des assassinats de militants de l'opposition. Le PRD s'abstient en 70 et 74 cl remporte les élections de 78 et de 82. Le gouvernement du PRD modernise l'armée et la cantonne dans son véritable rôle. Des 86. Le multipartisme s'installe avec le PLD (parti de la libération dominicaine) crée en 73 par Bosch, puis le PRI (parti révolutionnaire indépendant) de Majluta, qui ne se développera pas car Majluta meurt en 96. Balaguer revient au pouvoir en 86, avec le PRSC (ex PR devenu social-chrétien) et s'y maintient grâce à la fraude, en 90 face à Bosch et en 94 face à Pena Gomez du PRD. Il s'ensuit une grave crise, la constitution de 1966 est, modifiée, Balaguer doit limiter son mandat et ne peut se représenter. En 96, Leonel Fernandez du PLD l'emporte au deuxième tour face à Peina Gomez qui, terrasse par la maladie le 10 mai 98, prendra une revanche posthume lors des législatives de 98. Le système partisan est consolide, les élections se déroulent démocratiquement à partir de 96, le fantasme de la fraude s'estompe, on pense donc que la démocratie est installée de façon durable en RD.

Russian political parties remained weak and under-institutionalised in the 1990s, with profound implications for the viability of the country's democratic project. This research is concerned with explaining one glaring sign of party under-development - the success of independent candidates in federal parliamentary elections. Its originality rests on focusing on the uneven geographic concentration of independents' electoral success, given that existing accounts have confined themselves to the national, average picture. A second point of originality is the choice of multilevel modelling as the tool of quantitative analysis, applied here for the first time in post-communist electoral studies. The analysis relies on a macro-political explanatory framework where single member electoral districts provide the units of analysis, and where the dependent variable is the district vote share received by independent candidates. Explanatory factors apply at the level of both districts and federal units (regions). They include conflict in centre-regional relations, geographic conditions, candidates' personal resources and the use of administrative resources by regional governors. The main finding confirms the hypothesis that the independents enjoyed a competitive advantage over parties in articulating the new territorial cleavages that emerged, after the collapse of the Soviet-system, as a consequence of state-building and federalisation processes.

Exploring elections features from a geographical perspective is the focus of this study. Its primary objective is to develop a scientific approach based on geoinformation technology (GIT) that promotes deeper understanding how geographical settings affect the spatial and temporal variations of voting behaviour and election outcomes. For this purpose, the five parliamentary elections (1991-2005) following the political turnaround in 1990 in the South East European reform country Albania have been selected as a case study. Elections, like other social phenomena that do not develop uniformly over a territory, inherit a spatial dimension. Despite of fact that elections have been researched by various scientific disciplines ranging from political science to geography, studies that incorporate their spatial dimension are still limited in number and approaches. Consequently, the methodologies needed to generate an integrated knowledge on many facets that constitute election features are lacking. This study addresses characteristics and interactions of the essential elements involved in an election process. Thus, the baseline of the approach presented here is the exploration of relations between three entities: electorate (political and sociodemographic features), election process (electoral system and code) and place (environment where voters reside). To express this interaction the concept of electoral pattern is introduced. Electoral patterns are defined by the study as the final view of election results, chiefly in tabular and/or map form, generated by the complex interaction of social, economic, juridical, and spatial features of the electorate, which has occurred at a specific time and in a particular geographical location. GIT methods of geoanalysis and geovisualization are used to investigate the characteristics of electoral patterns in their spatial and temporal distribution. Aggregate-level data modelled in map form were used to analyse and visualize the spatial distribution of election patterns components and relations. The spatial dimension of the study is addressed in the following three main relations: One, the relation between place and electorate and its expression through the social, demographic and economic features of the electorate resulting in the profile of the electorate’s context; second, the electorate-election interaction which forms the baseline to explore the perspective of local contextual effects in voting behaviour and election results; third, the relation between geographical location and election outcomes reflecting the implication of determining constituency boundaries on election results. To address the above relations, three types of variables: geo, independent and dependent, have been elaborated and two models have been created. The Data Model, developed in a GIS environment, facilitates structuring of election data in order to perform spatial analysis. The peculiarity of electoral patterns – a multidimensional array that contains information on three variables, stored in data layers of dissimilar spatial units of reference and scales of value measurement – prohibit spatial analysis based on the original source data. To perform a joint spatial analysis it is therefore mandatory to restructure the spatial units of reference while preserving their semantic content. In this operation, all relevant electoral as well as socio-demographic data referenced to different administrative spatial entities are re-referenced to uniform grid cells as virtual spatial units of reference. Depending on the scale of data acquisition and map presentation, a cell width of 0.5 km has been determined. The resulting fine grid forms the basis of subsequent data analyses and correlations. Conversion of the original vector data layers into target raster layers allows for unification of spatial units, at the same time retaining the existing level of detail of the data (variables, uniform distribution over space). This in turn facilitates the integration of the variables studied and the performance of GIS-based spatial analysis. In addition, conversion to raster format makes it possible to assign new values to the original data, which are based on a common scale eliminating existing differences in scale of measurement. Raster format operations of the type described are well-established data analysis techniques in GIT, yet they have rarely been employed to process and analyse electoral data. The Geovisualization Model, developed in a cartographic environment, complements the Data Model. As an analog graphic model it facilitates efficient communication and exploration of geographical information through cartographic visualization. Based on this model, 52 choropleth maps have been generated. They represent the outcome of the GIS-based electoral data analysis. The analog map form allows for in-depth visual analysis and interpretation of the distribution and correlation of the electoral data studied. For researchers, decision makers and a wider public the maps provide easy-to-access information on and promote easy-to-understand insight into the spatial dimension, regional variation and resulting structures of the electoral patterns defined.
Gegenstand der vorliegenden Studie ist die Erforschung der aus politischen Wahlen resultierenden Raumstrukturen mit Methoden und Techniken der Geoinformationsverarbeitung. Auf der Basis eines gemeinsamen räumlichen Bezuges wird es durch die Verknüpfung der Wahlergebnisse mit ausgewählten wirtschaftlichen, demographischen und sozialen Parametern möglich, die räumliche Verteilung, Kernräume (Hochburgen) und räumlich-strukturelle Verknüpfungen der Wahlergebnisse politischer Parteien zu untersuchen. Die Resultate tragen zu einem besseren Verständnis der Ergebnisse politischer Wahlen und deren räumliche Dimensionen auf nationaler bis lokaler Ebene bei. Die Studie wird am Beispiel der fünf Parlamentswahlen (1991-2005) des südosteuropäischen Reformstaates Albanien durchgeführt, die seit der politischen Wende 1990 stattgefunden haben. Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchung ist die Tatsache, dass Wahlen, wie zahllose andere gesellschaftliche Phänomene auch, eine räumliche Dimension besitzen. Diese kommt in der territorialen Organisation politischer Wahlen in Wahlkreisen explizit zum Ausdruck. In der parlamentarischen Vertretung der politischen Parteien spiegelt sich dies allerdings nur indirekt wider. Zwar waren die parteipolitischen Aspekte politischer Wahlen als auch die parlamentarische Repräsentation sowie die soziodemographischen Strukturen der Wahlbevölkerung Gegenstand einer Vielzahl von Studien aus Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften. Dies auch gilt für die Geographie. Die erwähnte räumliche Dimension politischer Wahlen wurde bislang aber seltener in das Zentrum von Untersuchungen gestellt. Es mangelt insofern auch an spezifischen Methodologien, die eine integrierte Untersuchung aller relevanten Wahlparameter ermöglichen und eine umfassende Bewertung alle Aspekte des Wahlwahlverhaltens einer Wahlbevölkerung bei politischen Wahlen unterstützen. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht strukturelle wie räumliche Merkmale und Zusammenhänge der wesentlichen Faktoren, die bei politischen Wahlen relevant sind. Ausgangspunkt ist die Untersuchung so genannter Wahlmuster, die durch das Zusammenwirken folgender Faktoren entstehen: Wahlprozess (Wahlsystem, Wahlcode), politische und soziodemographische Kenndaten der Wahlbevölkerung, räumliche Ausbreitung und regionale Struktur der Wahlbezirke sowie die räumliche Verteilung und Strukturierung der Wahlbevölkerung. Als Wahlmuster wird die endgültige Repräsentation von Wahlergebnissen, i.d.R. in Tabellen- und Kartenform, betrachtet. Wahlmuster entstehen durch komplexe Interaktion der sozialen, wirtschaftlichen, juristischen und räumlichen Merkmale der Wahlbevölkerung zu einer bestimmten Zeit (Wahltag) in einem bestimmten Raum (Wahlgebiet). Für die Untersuchung der räumlichen und zeitlichen Dimension der Wahlmuster werden Methoden und Techniken der Geoinformationsverarbeitung eingesetzt. Die räumliche Dimension wird dabei in drei Merkmalsgruppen untersucht: Erstens, die Beziehungen zwischen Raum (Standort) und Wahlbevölkerung, wie sie sich in den demographischen, wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Kennwerten der Wahlbevölkerung manifestieren. Zweitens, die Interaktion zwischen Walbevölkerung und Wahl, die die Grundlage bildet, um regionale Kontexteffekte bei Wahlverhalten und Wahlergebnissen zu untersuchen. Drittens, die Verknüpfung von Wahlergebnissen und deren räumlichen Bezügen, wie sie sich in der stetigen Veränderung der Wahlkreisgrenzen niederschlägt. Um die genannten Merkmalsgruppen zu untersuchen, werden drei Variablengruppen gebildet: räumliche, unabhängige, abhängige Variablen. Ihre raumzeitlichen Interaktionen werden mittels zweier raumbezogener Modelle untersucht. Das graphikfreie Datenmodell wird in einem Geoinformationssystem erstellt und erlaubt die Strukturierung der Wahldaten. Dies bildet eine Voraussetzung für die nachfolgende räumliche Analyse. Das besondere Kennzeichen der Wahlmuster – eine mehrdimensionale Matrix der Variableninformation, die in unterschiedlichen, nicht aggregierbaren administrativen Raumbezugseinheiten vorliegt – behindert die räumliche Analyse der Originaldaten. Um dennoch räumliche Analysen durchzuführen, ist es erforderlich, den Raumbezug zu verändern bei gleichzeitiger Beibehaltung der thematischen Merkmale. Hierbei werden alle Wahldaten sowie die relevanten soziodemographischen Daten auf eine gemeinsame Raumbezugseinheit bezogen. Statt unterschiedlich administrativ abgegrenzter Raumeinheiten werden regelmäßige Rasterzellen gleicher Maschenweite als Raumbezugseinheiten definiert und den bisherigen, separaten Raummustern der Variablen überlagert. Auf diese Weise wird die räumliche Gleichverteilung aller Variablen in eine gemeinsame räumliche Bezugsbasis überführt, ohne dass die semantischen Merkmale verändert werden. Entsprechend dem Erfassungs- und Präsentationsmaßstab wurde eine Maschenweite von 0,5 km gewählt. Der hieraus resultierende feingranulare Raumgitter bildet die gemeinsame Basis für die nunmehr möglich integrierte räumliche Analyse aller Merkmalsgruppen. Die hier beschriebene rasterbasierte Raumanalyse stellt eine eingeführte Methode der GIS-basierten Geoinformationsverarbeitung dar. Sie wurde bislang jedoch selten zur Verarbeitung und Analyse von Wahldaten eingesetzt. Das mit dem Datenmodell korrespondierende graphikbezogene Visualisierungsmodell wird in einer Kartenkonstruktionsumgebung erstellt und erlaubt die fachgerechte kartographische Veranschaulichung ausgewählter Analyseergebnisse des Datenmodells. Daten- und Kartenmodell sind durch einen Datenfilter verknüpft, der die erforderliche Datenkonversion ermöglicht. Auf Basis des Visualisierungsmodells wurden zweiundfünfzig Kartenmodelle des Kartogramm- bzw. Kartodiagrammtyps erzeugt. Sie ermöglichen die vertiefte visuelle Exploration, Analyse und Interpretation der räumlichen Verteilung und Korrelation der untersuchten Wahldaten. Komplementär zum graphikfreien Datenmodell eröffnet das Visualisierungsmodell Fachwissenschaftlern, politischen Entscheidungsträgern und - in begrenztem Umfang – einer interessierten Öffentlichkeit einen intuitiven Erkenntniszugang zur den räumlichen Dimensionen, der regionalen Variation der Wahlergebnisse und den resultierenden raumgebundenen Wahlmustern.

In this study, I have examined the previous Social Democratic government’s communication with the voters, focusing on its promises during election campaigns, and the presentation of achieved results. The theories used are the mandate- and sanction theory; the first focuses on voters comparing manifestos to find the most agreeable, whilst the latter concentrates on voters evaluation the work of the previous government, to either discharge or support it. For the sanction theory to work, voters must have the necessary information to evaluate the government in progress. The question is; did the previous government provide the voters with such information?

This has been done through scrutinizing the Social Democrats’ election manifestos that was used between 1994 and 2006, to examine what the party promised to achieve in economics and the labor market. Furthermore, I have studied the official statistics, provided by Statistiska Centralbyrån, to see whether the government fulfilled these promises, and if they provide the voters with the results of these promises.

The study shows that the Social Democrats display a lack of result presentation to the voters; neither the promise that was fulfilled, nor the ones the party failed to achieve were properly accounted for. This makes it more difficult for voters to evaluate the government’s performance, which poses a threat to the representative democracy; voters must be able to assess the governments, so that they may execute sanctions and remove the government from office when unsatisfied.

This thesis examines the construction of White anxiety through an analysis of discursive strategies used to marshal racialised fears and resentments within the context of specific political cultures. Here, White anxiety is defined as the imagined threats and displacements felt in response to the presence of those identified as ethnically or racially different, and in particular fears of loss over resources assumed to be scarce. I analyse the way political discourses in the USA and the UK deploy or negotiate such white anxiety in the post-war period with specific case studies focussed on the 1992 US and 1997 UK election campaigns. The topic of 'race' in contemporary politics has proved to be a potent and difficult issue for politicians. On the one hand appeals to 'race' and racialised resentments continue to be assumed as vote winners. On the other hand, in liberal democracies such as the US and the UK, such appeals attract accusations of 'playing the race card' to signify improper politics. These accusations prompt contrasting political responses and media participation in each country. The comparative analysis indicates the importance of specific political cultures in the construction and deployment of White anxieties grounded in assumptions of popular racisms. What is common to both contexts is that politicians with the help of the media rely upon and tacitly collude with White racialised resentments keeping notions of immutable racial differences in play. This is done through appeals that have distinct historical and contingent resonances. I have identified three narrative frames that have been persistently deployed, with contingent modifications, in order to marshal and construct White anxieties within each political culture. In Britain immigration numbers linked to racial harmony has been an enduring theme, supplemented by a second narrative frame of nation and belonging. In the US the dominant theme is tax resentments linked to Affirmative Action, with a second frame of national belonging becoming increasingly important. I show how the development of these historically and culturally specific narrative frames have retained validity and resonance even as they have been modified for new conjunctures.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 11, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-226).

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze and explain the variance of electoral volatility between the Lithuanian municipalities. All local elections held since the restoration of Lithuania’s independence are analyzed (a total of six elections from 1995–2011). Dissertation is based on all the principal theoretical explanations of electoral volatility: sociostructural theory, economic voting, party system and institutional-contextual factors. Some theories are modified in order for them to be used in the context of Lithuanian local elections. Dissertation also proposes a four-fold party system classification that allows discerning different long-term coalitional patterns in Lithuanian municipal councils. The empirical investigation relies on quantitative (statistical) methods: descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, non-parametric tests of population comparison and ordinary least squares regression. Three dependent variables (facets of electoral volatility) are used in the empirical analysis: total electoral volatility, extra-systemic volatility and vote share stability of a municipality’s dominant (mayor’s) party. It is found in the dissertation that these three facets of electoral volatility are influenced by various factors: cultural heterogeneity (increases electoral volatility), supply of parties, the correspondence between local and national party systems, electoral turnout (influence weakens since 2002), party membership density (influence not stable)... [to full text]
Šios disertacijos tikslas yra ištirti ir paaiškinti rinkėjų elgsenos kaitumo skirtumus rinkimuose į savivaldybių tarybas tarp Lietuvos savivaldybių. Tiriami visi nuo Lietuvos nepriklausomybės atkūrimo vykę demokratiniai savivaldos rinkimai (iš viso šeši rinkimai nuo 1995 m. iki 2011 m.). Disertacijoje remiamasi visais svarbiausiais teoriniais rinkėjų elgsenos kaitumo aiškinimais: sociostruktūra, ekonominis balsavimas, partinė sistema ir instituciniai-kontekstiniai veiksniai. Kai kurios teorijos yra modifikuojamos tam, kad jas būtų galima naudoti Lietuvos savivaldos rinkimų kontekste. Disertacijoje siūloma partinių sistemų klasifikacija pagal partijų koalicinio elgesio šablonus ilgajame laikotarpyje, įgalinanti atskirti partines sistemas Lietuvos savivaldybių tarybose. Empirinis tyrimas remiasi kiekybiniais (statistiniais metodais): aprašomoji statistika, ryšio matai, neparametriniai populiacijų skirtingumo matai ir tiesinė regresinė analizė. Empirinėje analizėje naudojami trys priklausomi kintamieji, kurie atitinka tris rinkėjų elgsenos kaitumo aspektus: bendras rinkėjų elgsenos kaitumas, išorinis nestabilumas ir savivaldybėje dominuojančios (mero) partijos balsų pokytis. Disertacijoje atrandama kad šie trys rinkėjų elgsenos kaitumo aspektai yra veikiami įvairių veiksnių: kultūrinio heterogeniškumo (didina rinkėjų elgsenos kaitumą), partijų pasiūlos, atitikimo tarp vietos ir nacionalinės partinių sistemų, rinkiminio aktyvumo (įtaka susilpnėja nuo 2002 m.), partinės narystės... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Ce travail rend compte des potentialités et des obstacles majeurs des principaux partis et mouvements politiques colombiens. Ces groupes seront étudiés dans le champ désigné ici comme la gauche légale et réformiste. Cette analyse concerne la période entre la rédaction de la Constitution politique de 1991, et les élections sénatoriales et présidentielle de 2010. Le travail en trois parties décrira comment ces organisations ont été les actrices prépondérantes du renforcement de la démocratie, de la consolidation d’un groupe de politiciens professionnels de la gauche, et la recherche d’une solution du conflit armé qui (symbolise la Colombie) et les causes qui le déclenchent. La première partie montre une coalition politique formée des quelques organisations de gauche, en particulier des anciennes guérillas ayant abandonné leurs armes, qui forment l’Alliance Démocratique M-19 (Alianza Democrática M-19). Il sont impliqués dans l’élaboration de la Constitution et la transformation du bipartisme historique. La deuxième partie décrit les dynamiques concernant la recherche de la Paix (comme les conversations gouvernement-FARC). Les organisations appartenant à la gauche légale et réformiste y ont joué un rôle actif, qui fait renaître entre elles les liens brisés après le fiasco de l’AD M-19. La dernière partie met en évidence comment la recherche de la paix parmi d’autres conjonctures permet l’émergence de nouvelles alliances et organisation politiques. Elles donneront naissance à une sorte de parti qui est la synthèse de tous les groupes précédents. Ce parti sera le Pole Démocratique Alternatif (Polo Democrático Alternativo ; la plus grande expérience de cette gauche jusqu’à nous jours)
This work reports on the major achievements and hurdles encountered by the principal Columbian political parties and movements; these groups will be studied within the scope of the legal and reformist Left. The analysis spans from the drafting of the political constitution of 1991 until the senatorial and presidential elections of 2010. The work is divided in three parts: how these organisations became the major actors of the reinforcement of democracy; the story of the consolidation of a group of left political professionals, seeking a solution to the armed conflict which has become the symbol of Columbia; and finally, the causes which set these events into motion. The first part shows the implication of a political coalition –the Democratic Alliance M19-composed of a sample of leftist organisations and in particular the former and now disarmed guerrillas, in the elaboration of the constitution and the transformation of the historical bipartisanship. The second part shows the impulse given in part by the quest for peace (for example the talks between the government and the FARC). The movements connected with the legal reformist Left, played once again an active part which revived among them the ties distended after the fiasco of the ADM19. The last part underlines how the quest for peace, among other factors, allowed the forthcoming of new coalition and political organisations. They later give birth to a kind of party which is the synthesis of all the earlier groups. This party became the Democratic Alternative Pole (Polo Democrático Alternativo),the most important experience of the Columbian Left up to now

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This thesis aims, through quantitative and qualitative content analysis, to further our understating how Veja magazine covered Fernando Henrique Cardoso election in 1998, and how his public image was formed through its publications from June to October of that year, which Fernando Henrique was elected in the first round, analyzing whether the magazine Veja has given more credit to FHC rather than to his opponents. In order to increase the knowledge about the subject, we studied the world behind political propaganda, ideological and political marketing, and also the magazines historical ideological values. Thus, it was concluded that the magazine during the period analyzed, has published more articles on Fernando Henrique Cardoso rather than any presidential candidate in 1998, always considering him as the best to govern the country, that time. Any material published significantly strengthened FHCs influence on Veja s readers, which has favored him during the campaign.
Esta dissertação tem por objetivo, através da análise de conteúdo de naturezas quantitativa e qualitativa, verificar como a revista Veja fez a cobertura da campanha eleitoral de Fernando Henrique Cardoso, em 1998, bem como verificar de que forma se deu a construção da imagem pública do candidato FHC pela publicação no período de junho a outubro do referido ano, no qual Fernando Henrique foi reeleito em primeiro turno, analisando se Veja deu mais espaço para FHC do que para seus oponentes. Para ampliar o conhecimento em relação ao objeto, estudou-se o universo da propaganda política, ideológica e do marketing político, bem como se discutiu os valores ideológicos históricos da revista Veja. Com isso, verificou-se que Veja, no período analisado, publicou mais matérias sobre Fernando Henrique Cardoso do que qualquer outro candidato à presidência, em 1998, além de colocá-lo, quase sempre, como o mais bem preparado para continuar à frente da presidência da República, naquela época. As matérias publicadas, portanto, fortaleceram significativamente a imagem de FHC perante os leitores de Veja, favorecendo-o em relação a seus oponentes.