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Brelsford, Eric. "Approximation and elections." Online version of thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/3959.
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Almeida, João Vitor Granja de. "A Theory of voter experimentation in repeated elections." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/13832.
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Previous issue date: 2015-04-30<br>Nesse artigo, eu desenvolvo e analiso um modelo de dois perí odos em que dois polí ticos competem pela preferência de um eleitor representativo, que sabe quão benevolente é um dos polí ticos mas é imperfeitamente informado sobre quão benevolente é o segundo polí tico. O polí tico conhecido é interpretado como um incumbente de longo prazo, ao passo que o polí tico desconhecido é interpretado como um desa fiante menos conhecido. É estabelecido que o mecanismo de provisão de incentivos inerente às elei cões - que surge através da possibilidade de não reeleger um incumbente - e considerações acerca de aquisi cão de informa cão por parte do eleitor se combinam de modo a determinar que em qualquer equilí brio desse jogo o eleitor escolhe o polí tico desconhecido no per íodo inicial do modelo - uma a cão à qual me refi ro como experimenta cão -, fornecendo assim uma racionaliza cão para a não reelei cão de incumbentes longevos. Especifi camente, eu mostro que a decisão do eleitor quanto a quem eleger no per odo inicial se reduz à compara cão entre os benefí cios informacionais de escolher o polí tico desconhecido e as perdas econômicas de fazê-lo. Os primeiros, que capturam as considera cões relacionadas à aquisi cão de informa cão, são mostrados serem sempre positivos, ao passo que as últimas, que capturam o incentivo à boa performance, são sempre não-negativas, implicando que é sempre ótimo para o eleitor escolher o polí tico desconhecido no per íodo inicial.<br>In this paper, I develop and analyze a two-period model where two politicians compete for the preference of a representative voter, who knows how benevolent one of the politicians is but is imperfectly informed about the benevolence of the second politician. The known politician is interpreted to be a long time incumbent, whilst the unknown politician is taken to represent a lesser known challenger. I show how the incentive provision mechanism inherent in elections - which arises through the possibility of voting an incumbent out of offi ce - and information acquisition considerations by the voter combine to determine that in any equilibrium of the game the voter chooses the unknown politician in the initial period of the model - an action referred to as experimentation -, thus providing a rationale for voting long time incumbents out of offi ce. Speci cally, I show that the voter's decision over whom to elect in the initial period boils down to a comparison of the informational benefi ts of choosing the unknown politician and the economic losses of doing so. The former, which captures information acquisition concerns, is shown to be positive, whereas the latter, which captures incentive provision, is shown to be non-positive, implying that it is always optimal for the voter to choose the unknown politician.
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Koenig, Christoph. "No ordinary elections : essays in empirical political economy." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2015. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/82133/.
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Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. —George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903) This thesis consists of three essays in the field of empirical political economy. The topics addressed in these essays are very diverse, as are the historico-institutional settings. What they share is the quantitative analysis of election results and – at least in the author’s opinion – the inquiry of relevant research questions about political attitudes and institutions. This gives the dissertation its title “No Ordinary Elections”. Chapter one looks at the effect of war service on political attitudes. I analyse the impact of WWI veterans on changes in electoral support for Germany’s antidemocratic right after 1918. In order to quantify the effect, I construct the first disaggregate estimates of German WWI veterans since official army records were destroyed. I combine this data with a new panel of voting results from 1881 to 1933. Differences-in-Differences estimates show that war participation had a strong positive effect on support for the right-wing at the expense of socialist parties. A one standard deviation increase in veteran inflow shifted voting patterns to the right by more than 2%. My findings are robust to a number of checks including an IV identification strategy based on draft exemption rules. The effect of veterans on voting is highly persistent and strongest in working class areas. Gains for the right-wing, however, are only observed after a time period of communist insurgencies. I argue that veterans’ impact is consistent with the spread of a popular anti-communist conspiracy theory, the stab-in-the-back myth. I provide suggestive evidence that veterans must have picked this idea up during wartime, injected it into the working class and facilitated the rise of right-wing parties. The second chapter documents evidence on how election fraud in authoritarian regimes can be used by lower-tier officials to cast signals about their loyalty or competence to the central government. I exploit a radical policy change in Russia in 2004 which allowed the president to replace governors of the country’s 89 regions at his own will. As a result, federal elections after 2004 were organised by two types of governors: one was handpicked by the president, the other one elected before the law change and re-appointed. Even though both types faced removal in case of bad results, the need to signal loyalty was much lower for the first type. In order to estimate the effect of handpicked governors on electoral fraud, I use a diff-in-diff framework over 7 federal elections between 2000 and 2012. For this time period, I construct a new indicator of suspicious votes for each region which correlates strongly with incidents of reported fraud. My baseline estimates show that in territories with a handpicked governor the share of suspicious votes decreased by more than 10% on average and dropped even further if the region’s economy had done well over the past legislature. These findings suggest that officials have less need to use rigging as a signal once loyalty is assured unless faced circumstances raising doubts about their competence. Finally, chapter three studies the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of April 1986 and voters’ response in West Germany. The analysis uses a diff-in-diff estimation which exploits variation in proximity to the nearest nuclear power plant (NPP) across 301 counties. Proximity is used as proxy for the shock from perceived risk of a nuclear accident. Using data over a time period of almost 40 years and 11 elections, my results indicate that living closer to an NPP increased polarisation and benefited anti- but even more pro-nuclear parties. While gains of Greens are shown to be similar across social groups and therefore in line with home-voter effects, the increase of conservatives runs counter to most expectations. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect on conservatives is far stronger in areas with an above-median share of adolescents in their impressionable years and of higher average education. I argue that this can be explained by differences in assessing the economic losses from exiting nuclear power over the risk of a nuclear accident after the disaster. Using variation in the scheduling of state elections, I can also show that the pro-nuclear response was stronger in counties which did not vote in the immediate aftermath of Chernobyl leaving more time for a rational electoral choice.
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Karzen, Brittany K. "#DoINeedSocialMedia: Social Media in Local Political Elections." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2015. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5522.
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More research is needed to be able to fully understand the role that social media plays in elections, specifically in local elections. Candidates need to understand how it works and how they can effectively use this new communication medium. By exploring Diffusion of Innovation Theory, Social Information Processing Theory, and the Two-Way Symmetrical Model of communications this study sought to answer one overarching question: how should a candidate employ social media in a local election? This qualitative, single case study explores the 2014 recall and general election in Yorba Linda, California. Councilman Tom Lindsey and candidate Matt Palmer are the primary subjects of study. Observations were made through analysis of documentation, interviews, and participant and direct observation. The researcher was employed as the campaign manager for both Lindsey's and Palmer's campaigns. The findings support the use of social media in local campaigns on a case by case basis. Determining use depends on the demographics of the voters and the abilities of the candidate. The data suggests that social media needs to be part of comprehensive strategy that includes traditional communication tools. Observations from the case study illustrate the need for candidates to engage in two-way communication that is monitored and regulated. This study begins to establish social media as a tool that candidates can use to inexpensively reach voters in a way that showcases the candidate's personality and allows them to connect on a personal level with constituents. Social media will play a role in politics at all levels.
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Norris, Mikel, and Colin Ross Glennon. "Gendered Vulnerability and State Supreme Court Elections." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/528.
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Norris, Mikel, and Colin Glennon. "Analyzing Gendered Vulnerability in State Court Elections." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/7771.
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Gunnarsson, Maja. "Tanzania – a democracy by elections? : Testing Staffan I Lindberg’s theory on democratization by elections on Tanzania in 2005, 2010 and 2015." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-412743.
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Zunis, Anthony Alan. "A Game Theoretic Analysis and Simulation of Non-Incumbent Elections." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1396541701.
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Ferguson, Vernon Neil. "Lagom: Intersects of nationalism and populism in Swedish parliamentary elections." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/77592.
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This thesis examines the unique set of circumstances which led to the rapid rise of a supposed right-wing populist party in Sweden. The Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats) are not the first nationalist party to enter the Swedish parliament, but are the first to survive multiple parliamentary elections and are currently the third largest party in parliament. This thesis argues the Sverigedemokraterna do not constitute a political party, but remain a populist movement within Swedish politics, are not right-wing but rather a lagom-inspired hybrid, and the stabilizing effects of the culture of lagom prevents the permanence of extremism in Swedish politics. The increase in immigrants from predominantly Muslim states due to the Arab Spring and the Syrian civil war stoke the anti-Islamic rhetoric of this nationalist group, but did not cause their rapid ascent and neither did the entry of Sweden into the European Economic Community. The Sverigedemokraterna are a single-point culmination of a century of nationalist and fascist groups splitting and merging within Sweden, but as other groups continue to appear the SD cannot be the only culmination.<br>Master of Arts
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Zhang, Chian-fan. "Applying spatial theory to new democracies : a model for analyzing aggregate election data /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Mitchell, Meredith A. "Muted group theory and U.S. politics examining third parties and their supporters /." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 2008. https://eidr.wvu.edu/etd/documentdata.eTD?documentid=5788.
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Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2008.<br>Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 55 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-47).
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Kahanek, Jared E. Eshbaugh-Soha Matthew. "An informational theory of midterm elections the impact of Iraq war deaths on the 2006 election /." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12136.
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Kahanek, Jared E. "An Informational Theory of Midterm Elections: The Impact of Iraq War Deaths on the 2006 Election." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12136/.
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There has been much scholarly attention directed at the Iraq war's role in determining voter choice. I attempt to extend that research into voter turnout to determine what role the Iraq war played in 2006 voter turnout. This paper argues that turnout at the state level could be explained by the number of US deaths each state had sustained from the Iraq occupation at the time of the election. A theory of voter activation based on information availability is put forth to explain the relationship between national events and voter turnout wherein national events like the Iraq war will raise the amount of information voters have at their disposal, which will increase the likelihood of their voting on election day. Regression analysis comparing the turnout rates of the 50 states to their casualties in Iraq revealed no relationship between the two factors, indicating that something else is responsible for the high turnout of the midterm.
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Onyebadi, Uche. "Towards an examination and expansion of the agenda setting theory did the media matter in Kenya's presidential election, 2007? /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/5559.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008.<br>The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on July 28, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.
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Luca, Davide. "Essays on the political economy of development : elections, public investment and regional economic growth in post-2002 Turkey." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3237/.
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Much academic debate in the tradition of economic geography has focused on how to design successful strategies to trigger local and regional development. How a more effective economic policy to tackle regional imbalances and inequalities should be developed remains hotly discussed. Too frequently, however, the effective delivery and implementation of policies across all cities and regions fail not simply because of wrong policy tools. Often, one of the challenges is, also, to sort out the institutional process so that incentives to achieve effectiveness arise among politicians and bureaucrats. This thesis specifically focuses on pork-barrelling and distributive politics, that is, how politicians selectively target cities and regions with more or less governmental goods to reinforce their electoral advantage. While a significant number of contributions have been made to this field of enquiry, numerous gaps remain in understanding the implications of distributive politics on regional economic development policymaking and performance. The dissertation critically examines four different aspects and effects of distributive politics, drawing from the case of post-2002 Turkey. In spite of a significant burgeoning of this line of research across the world, questions about the extent to which ‘tactical allocative games’ prevail over technical policymaking criteria are frequently left unanswered. The first theme concerns the extent to which electoral factors prevail over technical considerations in the allocation of public investment by the central state to Turkey’s provinces. The evidence suggests that, while the government has allocated spending to reward its core constituencies, socioeconomic factors nonetheless remain the most relevant predictors of investment. Relatedly, almost no research has so far explored whether pork-barrelling has any economic consequences on regional economies. The second theme explores whether votes for the incumbent party can ‘buy’ preferential policy treatment and regional economic growth. The results show how, after addressing potential endogeneity, economic performance is almost entirely explained by ‘standard’ drivers, primarily human capital endowment. Third, the literature on distributive politics has frequently been legislature centric, in the sense that it has not paid adequate attention to the role played by bureaucratic agencies. The third paper explores whether the institutional characteristics of the agency in charge of the project cycle condition the attainment of publicly-oriented goals. Results point towards the argument that, to enhance policy effectiveness, bureaucracies must be not only capable an autonomous, but also accountable. Finally, the literature still provides unclear evidence on whether shifts from highly competitive electoral environments towards electoral one-party hegemony may lead to higher – or to lower – levels of pork-barrelling. The fourth theme therefore explores whether the constant surge of power enjoyed by Turkey’s AK Party has determined any change in the way public investment is allocated for tactical redistribution. Findings unexpectedly uncover decreasing levels of ‘punishment’ against opponents’ strongholds. Such reduction, however, is accompanied by increasing populist spending throughout the country. Overall, by providing novel evidence on the links between elections, public investment, and regional economic growth in post-2002 Turkey, the thesis contributes to advancing the understaning of the political economy of local and regional development.
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Nownes, Anthony J., and Colin Glennon. "An Experimental Investigation of How Judicial Elections Affect Public Faith in the Judicial System." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1111/lsi.12159.
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Judicial scholars have often speculated about the impact of elections on the administration of justice in the state courts. Yet relatively little research has concerned itself with public perceptions of state court selection methods. Of particular interest is the concept of legitimacy. Do elections negatively affect public perceptions of judicial legitimacy? Bonneau and Hall (2009) and Gibson (2012) answer this question with an emphatic “No.” Judicial elections, these studies show, are not uniquely troublesome for perceptions of institutional legitimacy. This article aims to extend the findings of Bonneau and Hall and Gibson via a laboratory experiment on the effects of elections on public perceptions of judicial legitimacy. In the end, we find that because elections preempt the use of the other main selection method—appointment—they actually enhance perceptions of judicial legitimacy rather than diminish them.
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Kentmen, Cigdem. "Why do people abstain from the European Parliament elections? am empirical test of second order theory, 1979-1999 /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/5976.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.<br>The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 26, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.
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Dwyer, Laurel Kristin. "Elections and Tensions and Constitutions! Oh, My! A Process-Oriented Analysis of Bolivian Democratization from 1993 to 2009." Scholar Commons, 2011. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3083.
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Many Latin American countries which underwent democratic regime transformations within the last thirst years have seemingly stalled. Unable to meet the demands of their citizens, which grow increasingly restless and confrontational, they have become subjected to a series of economic and political crises. Contemporary democratic theorists are at a loss to explain why this region has failed to deepen over time. The purpose of this paper is threefold: it questions the analytic utility of contemporary liberal and representative models, it argues for the inclusion of an alternative process-oriented model provided by Charles Tilly (2007), and tests this model through a partial application to Bolivia from 1993-2009 in hopes of elucidating a clearer state of democratization than contemporary models offer.
The analysis portion focuses on the incorporation of networks of trust into public politics, and determines what effect(s) this had on Bolivian democracy during the time period under review. It is hypothesized that an increase in the integration of interpersonal trust networks with public politics will result in democratization, which is measured through changes in demand incorporation, protection, equality, and state-society accountability. A diachronic analytical narrative is constructed to identify the mechanisms and signs associated with the emergence and incorporation of trust networks into public politics and then evaluated in terms of state-society transformation. The findings suggest that new trust networks were created following the political restructuring done during the Sánchez de Lozada presidency, deepened over the next four presidencies, and integrated in their fullest capacity during the first part of Evo Morales's term. This process affected the contemporary representative and structural nature of the state itself, and shows positive changes in demand incorporation, protection, equality, and state-society accountability. Finally, it is concluded that when compared with popular measures of democracy, this model has more explanatory power, and Bolivia did democratize within the period of analysis.
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Bäckström, Gustav. "Tala är silver, men är tiga guld? : En studie av den socialdemokratiska regeringens kommunikation till väljarna, åren 1994-2006." Thesis, University of Kalmar, School of Human Sciences, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hik:diva-42.
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<p>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?</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p>
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Renner, Tracey Kimberly. "A theory of cross-pressures and reinforcement : the impact of presidential evaluations and party identification on voter turnout and choice in congressional elections /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Lee, Stephen C. "Understanding Voting for Committees Using Wreath Products." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2010. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/hmc_theses/23.
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In this thesis, we construct an algebraic framework for analyzing committee elections. In this framework, module homomorphisms are used to model positional voting procedures. Using the action of the wreath product group S2[Sn] on these modules, we obtain module decompositions which help us to gain an understanding of the module homomorphism. We use these decompositions to construct some interesting voting paradoxes.
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Bouton, Laurent. "Essays in game theory applied to political and market institutions." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/210325.
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My thesis contains essays on voting theory, market structures and fiscal federalism: (i) One Person, Many Votes: Divided Majority and Information Aggregation, (ii) Runoff Elections and the Condorcet Loser, (iii) On the Influence of Rankings when Product Quality Depends on Buyer Characteristics, and (iv) Redistributing Income under Fiscal Vertical Imbalance.<p><p>(i) One Person, Many Votes: Divided Majority and Information Aggregation (joint with Micael Castanheira)<p>In elections, majority divisions pave the way to focal manipulations and coordination failures, which can lead to the victory of the wrong candidate. This paper shows how this flaw can be addressed if voter preferences over candidates are sensitive to information. We consider two potential sources of divisions: majority voters may have similar preferences but opposite information about the candidates, or opposite preferences. We show that when information is the source of majority divisions, Approval Voting features a unique equilibrium with full information and coordination equivalence. That is, it produces the same outcome as if both information and coordination problems could be resolved. Other electoral systems, such as Plurality and Two-Round elections, do not satisfy this equivalence. The second source of division is opposite preferences. Whenever the fraction of voters with such preferences is not too large, Approval Voting still satisfies full information and coordination equivalence.<p><p>(ii) Runoff Elections and the Condorcet Loser<p>A crucial component of Runoff electoral systems is the threshold fraction of votes above which a candidate wins outright in the first round. I analyze the influence of this threshold on the voting equilibria in three-candidate Runoff elections. I demonstrate the existence of an Ortega Effect which may unduly favor dominated candidates and thus lead to the election of the Condorcet Loser in equilibrium. The reason is that, contrarily to commonly held beliefs, lowering the threshold for first-round victory may actually induce voters to express their preferences excessively. I also extend Duverger's Law to Runoff elections with any threshold below, equal or above 50%. Therefore, Runoff elections are plagued with inferior equilibria that induce either too high or too low expression of preferences.<p><p>(iii) On the Influence of Rankings when Product Quality Depends on Buyer Characteristics<p>Information on product quality is crucial for buyers to make sound choices. For "experience products", this information is not available at the time of the purchase: it is only acquired through consumption. For much experience products, there exist institutions that provide buyers with information about quality. It is commonly believed that such institutions help consumers to make better choices and are thus welfare improving.<p>The quality of various experience products depends on the characteristics of buyers. For instance, conversely to the quality of cars, business school quality depends on buyers (i.e. students) characteristics. Indeed, one of the main inputs of a business school is enrolled students. The choice of buyers for such products has then some features of a coordination problem: ceteris paribus, a buyer prefers to buy a product consumed by buyers with "good" characteristics. This coordination dimension leads to inefficiencies when buyers coordinate on products of lower "intrinsic" quality. When the quality of products depends on buyer characteristics, information about product quality can reinforce such a coordination problem. Indeed, even though information of high quality need not mean high intrinsic quality, rational buyers pay attention to this information because they prefer high quality products, no matter the reason of the high quality. Information about product quality may then induce buyers to coordinate on products of low intrinsic quality.<p>In this paper, I show that, for experience products which quality depends on the characteristics of buyers, more information is not necessarily better. More precisely, I prove that more information about product quality may lead to a Pareto deterioration, i.e. all buyers may be worse off due.<p><p>(iv) Redistributing Income under Fiscal Vertical Imbalance (joint with Marjorie Gassner and Vincenzo Verardi)<p>From the literature on decentralization, it appears that the fiscal vertical imbalance (i.e. the dependence of subnational governments on national government revenues to support their expenditures) is somehow inherent to multi-level governments. Using a stylized model we show that this leads to a reduction of the extent of redistributive fiscal policies if the maximal size of government has been reached. To test for this empirically, we use some high quality data from the LIS dataset on individual incomes. The results are highly significant and point in the direction of our theoretical predictions.<p><br>Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
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Hoekstra, Anne-Lotte. "Up next: Recommended for you by YouTube : A case study analysis on the implications of YouTube’s advertising-based business model on the US 2016 presidential elections." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-272105.
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The information technology revolution has completely changed the world economy. This industry that has revolutionized many aspects of social life, created an incredible amount of jobs, and generated an enormous amount of wealth, has been growing exponentially fast since the beginning of this century. Billions of people all over the world tap into the various services and products that have sprung from this information technology revolution. While these products and services have undisputedly enabled incredible features that previous generations could only have dreamt of, it might be time to take a step back and analyze the various aspects of some of these products and services in terms of their societal value and business models. Many of the social media platforms that exist today promise a free access to content and information, and the world has grown so accustomed to this, that the dynamics behind this promise of free access are often overlooked. Data from users is being collected on social media platforms and sold to interested parties like advertisers, who in turn can create customized and targeted ads that will be displayed on these same social media platforms. This is the simple exchange that fuels the advertisement-based business models of many of these platforms. Awareness and understanding around the workings of this business model is growing, but it seems interesting to illustrate a better picture of what implications these business models fueled by data have on our society. Specifically, this research aimed at answering the question: What are the implications of the advertisement-based business model of YouTube in relation to the 2016 presidential elections of the United States? Through an extensive literature review, as well as a case study analysis, this research reported various implications of the business model of YouTube that were discussed both in light of their relevance to the specific political event mentioned in the research question, as well as in light of larger overarching institutions like democracy.<br>Informationsteknologirevolutionen har förändrat världsekonomin helt. Denna industri som har revolutionerat många aspekter av det sociala livet, skapat en otrolig mängd arbetstillfällen och genererat en enorm mängd rikedom har vuxit exponentiellt snabbt sedan början av detta århundrade. Miljarder människor över hela världen utnyttjar de olika tjänsterna och produkterna som härrör från denna informationsteknologirevolution. Även om dessa produkter och tjänster otvivelaktigt har möjliggjort otroliga funktioner som tidigare generationer bara kunde ha drömt om, kan det vara dags att ta ett steg tillbaka och analysera de olika aspekterna av vissa av dessa produkter och tjänster när det gäller deras samhällsvärde och affärsmodeller. Många av de sociala medieplattformarna som finns idag lovar en fri tillgång till innehåll och information, och världen har blivit så vana vid detta att dynamiken bakom detta löfte om fri tillgång ofta förbises. Data från användare samlas in på sociala medieplattformar och säljs till intresserade parter som annonsörer, som i sin tur kan skapa anpassade och riktade annonser som kommer att visas på samma sociala medieplattformar. Detta är det enkla utbytet som drivs av reklambaserade affärsmodeller för många av dessa plattformar. Medvetenhet och förståelse kring hur denna affärsmodell fungerar växer, men det verkar intressant att illustrera en bättre bild av vilka konsekvenser dessa affärsmodeller drivs av data har på vårt samhälle. Specifikt denna forskning syftar till att besvara frågan: Vilka är konsekvenserna av den annonsbaserade affärsmodellen för Youtube i samband med USA: s presidentval 2016? Genom en omfattande litteraturöversikt, såväl som en fallstudieanalys, rapporterade denna forskning olika implikationer av affärsmodellen på Youtube som diskuterades både mot bakgrund av deras relevans för den specifika politiska händelsen som nämns i forskningsfrågan, liksom i ljuset av större övergripande institutioner som demokrati.
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Krines, Mark A. "On the probabilistic modeling of consistency for iterated positional election procedures." Diss., University of Iowa, 2014. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/4668.
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A well-known fact about positional election procedures is that its ranking of m alternatives can change when some of the alternatives are removed from consideration—given a positional procedure on each of 2, 3, …, m alternatives and a collective preference order for each distinct subset of the m alternatives. Saari has established that with few exceptions, we can find a voter profile for which the collective preference order for each subset under the according positional procedure is the one given. However, Saari's results do not quantify the likelihood of finding such voter profiles. For small numbers of alternatives, William Gehrlein developed a statistical model to explore the probabilities that particular collective preference orders on subsets of alternatives can occur for large electorates. One goal of this research is to determine whether changes in the collective preference order as alternatives are removed can be considered to be the norm or an outlier for positional procedures.
This dissertation extends the research headed by Gehrlein in two directions. One, I generalize his statistical model to explore probabilities for iterated election procedures. Gehrlein's model previously produced results only for three alternatives and in limited cases for four alternatives. I have extended this model to produce results for up to five alternatives, including analysis of instant-runoff voting and runoff elections. Two, Gehrlein's model required specific conditions on the probability distribution of individual voter preferences across the population. I relax this assumption so that for any probability distribution of individual voter preferences across the population, I can explore the probability that a collective preference order is inconsistent with the outcomes when alternatives are removed. These results provide a foundation for discussing the impact of removing alternatives on elections across all large electorates. I also apply these results to two recent United States elections wherein a third-party candidate received a significant share of the votes: the 1992 U.S. Presidential election and the 1998 Minnesota Gubernatorial election. Overall, my research will suggest that as the number of alternatives increases, the likelihood of finding changes in the collective preference order as alternatives are removed will approach one.
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Berisha, Visar. "AI as a Threat to Democracy : Towards an Empirically Grounded Theory." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-340733.
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Artificial intelligence has in recent years taken center stage in the technological development. Major corporations, operating in a variety of economic sectors, are investing heavily in AI in order to stay competitive in the years and decades to come. What differentiates this technology from traditional computing is that it can carry out tasks previously limited to humans. As such it contains the possibility to revolutionize every aspect of our society. Until now, social science has not given the proper attention that this emerging technological phenomena deserves, a phenomena which, according to some, is increasing in strength exponentially. This paper aims to problematize AI in the light of democratic elections, both as an analytical tool and as a tool for manipulation. It also looks at three recent empirical cases where AI technology was used extensively. The results show that there in fact are reasons to worry. AI as an instrument can be used to covertly affect the public debate, to depress voter turnout, to polarize the population, and to hinder understanding of political issues.
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Smith, Shay E. "Limitations on the Media and its Effects on the Political Process." Kent State University Liberal Studies Essays / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuls1341191773.
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Shen, Fei. "An economic theory of political communication effects how the economy conditions political learning /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc%5Fnum=osu1243880056.
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Dray, James Daniel. "Voter turnout in Sub-Saharan Africa." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2010. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b4889265-1bae-45cc-b12a-4fa92d441800.
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This thesis addresses the question of who votes in Africa and why. It uses three sets of quantitative data at three different levels to test its claims: an original compilation of national level institutional and socioeconomic indicators for over 700 elections from independence until 2006 compiled by the author; the Afrobarometer survey of almost 50 000 voters in 17 multiparty African regimes; and the first ever purpose-built survey aimed at testing rational choice turnout models in an African case study, which was designed, administered and analysed by the author in 2005 in Durban, South Africa. It uses a mixture of statistical methods to test comprehensively the determinants of voting in pooled and multilevel, logistic and linear, individual and national level models. It finds that the central claims of the rational choice model do not generally apply in African elections. Both the closeness of the election and the costs of participation are not found to be central to the voting calculus of African voters. Instead those citizens who face the highest barriers to participation in the West: the rural, poor and minimally educated, are the citizens who vote most in Africa. The thesis argues that this is because turnout in Africa is mobilised turnout and these are the groups of people targeted by mobilising agents. It further finds that three central institutions of African politics; ethnicity, clientelism and regime type further structure patterns of mobilisation in ways that have been entirely neglected in studies of turnout until now. Finally, it confirms that voting is habitual and that voters are socialised by formative experiences in their youth, especially the nature of the regime that they grow up in and how democratic they think the country is.
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Nikodýmová, Anna. "Lokální politika a její specifika: případová studie Prahy 16 – Radotína." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2015. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-201664.
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Although a local policy is a necessary issue for a functioning of a democratic political system, it usually does not stand in the center of common interests. This paper deals with its functioning in Prague 16 where the Civic Democratic Party has won the municipal elections since 1994. The aim of this paper is to find the main factors which led to its winning in the municipal elections in 2014. The main text is divided into three chapters. The first theoretical one concerns with a theory of democracy, civil society and elite theory. The second one describes a creation of a local policy in Prague 16 - namely results of municipal elections since 1994, a way in which local political institutions have been created as well as political parties run for the last municipal elections in 2014. The third chapter deals with an analysis of election results and interviews made with local representatives and councilors.
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Foos, Florian. "Bringing the party back in : mobilization and persuasion in constituency election campaigns." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6a9e144a-33c5-444c-90f2-cd04f909dc16.
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In this thesis, I report the results from the first randomized field experiments conducted in collaboration with party-affiliated candidates and campaigns in the United Kingdom. The papers presented as part of this thesis test both the limits and possibilities of campaign influence, in a partisan political environment. During election campaigns parties provide signals to voters, voluntarily or involuntarily imposing a structure, and thereby constraints, on individuals’ electoral decisions. By integrating insights about heuristic and social decision-making into the experimental campaign literature, I formulate testable hypotheses about the direct and indirect effects of party cues on campaign mobilization and persuasion. The first paper, The Heuristic Function of Party Affiliation in Voter Mobilization Campaigns, addresses how the provision of party cues, used during campaign phone calls, affects turnout among party supporters, opponents and unattached voters. The second paper on Household Partisan Composition and Voter Mobilization, explores the spillover effects from the previous experiment, testing whether campaign-induced mobilization between household members is conditioned by the partisan composition of a household, and the partisan intensity of a campaign message. Paper three investigates if candidates who are Reaching Across The Partisan Divide can win over supporters of rival parties. In the fourth paper, I test if Impersonal, But Noticeable methods of voter contact, such as door hangers and text messages, affect the turnout decisions of partisans and unattached voters. The final paper, The National Effects of Subnational Representation, highlights the importance of local party organization for the outcomes of national elections. The results of this thesis show the electoral consequences of direct and indirect interactions between campaigns and voters of different partisanship, and point to strategies that allow constituency campaigns to successfully navigate challenging partisan environments.
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Blížkovský, Radek. "Analýza koaličního chování stran na krajské úrovni." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2013. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-192715.
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Need to form a coalition accompanies most of legislative bodies in multi-party systems without directly-elected executive, including party system in the Czech Republic. This thesis analyses coalition building processes and coalitions formed after regional elections in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. Main goal is to identify what factors, trends and party behaviour patterns affects coalitions bargaining and final form of a coalition. Secondary goal is to evaluate the stability and continuity of these factors and trends. In order to achieve these goals, diachronic and synchronous comparative analyses was used together with quantitative method of voting power measurement. Text is divided into four chapters. First chapter is devoted to discussion about American and European approach to the study of theory of coalitions. Two points of view of motivation of political parties to compete in the elections are presented: Office and Policy seeking. Second part of this chapter is focused on multi-level governance with emphasis on specifics of the coalition formation process and relationships between parliamentary and regional systems. Second chapter presents method of voting power indices. In the third chapter regional political system of Czech Republic, its organs, powers and voting system are described. Final chapter contains the analysis of coalitions and coalition bargaining. Chapter is divided into two parts; one focused on coalition formation in particular regions and second analyzes continuous and long-term factors and trends.
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Pasqualini, Diógenes José. "Mídia, cognição e poder: uma leitura corpomídia da lei Cidade Limpa." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2011. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/4275.
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Previous issue date: 2011-02-02<br>The current mayor of Sao Paulo, Gilberto Kassab, was elected deputy mayor in José Serra's government in 2004. When Serra left office to become Governor of the State of São Paulo, he assumed command of the administrative municipality. He gained notoriety by presenting a controversial proposal, which became a law in São Paulo, law n. 14.233 of 2006. It became known as "Clean City Law", and determines the use of the urban landscape in the county. Upon gaining a place and providing guidelines for the media, the "Clean City Project," he gained prominence in the media, and political force, and as a politician with a modest political career, (he had been a city councilman and deputy), he went on to be elected mayor of the largest city in Latin America. He won the elections in 2008 by defeating the two candidates who were considered, up until that time, more "experienced" in politics: former Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin and the former mayor of São Paulo, Marta Suplicy. The hypothesis argued here is that this Law gave rise to the political marketing strategy used in the election of Gilberto Kassab for the post of Mayor of Sao Paulo. The proposed "clean the city" of its visible pollution became a powerful metaphor. The cleaning concept embodied the ideal city to live in, free of problems, more humane, safe, an orderly city, free of its ills. To investigate the effect of this Law and its effect on voters the metaphorical theory Corpomídia will be used (Katz & Greiner), which expands the understanding of the relationship between the body, through its mediation and how the massification of a proposal for cleaning captured people around an idea<br>O atual prefeito de São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab, foi eleito vice-prefeito na chapa de José Serra, em 2004. Quando Serra deixou o cargo, para ser governador do Estado de São Paulo, Kassab assumiu o comando administrativo do município. Ganhou notoriedade ao apresentar uma proposta polêmica, que dispõe sobre os usos da paisagem urbana no município, que foi transformada na Lei n. 14.223 de 2006 e que tornou-se conhecida como Lei Cidade Limpa . Antes de virar Lei, ainda enquanto Projeto Cidade Limpa , conseguiu pautar os meios de comunicação, fazendo com que Gilberto Kassab ganhasse destaque na mídia, força política e, de um político de carreira modesta (tinha sido vereador e deputado), conseguisse ser eleito prefeito da maior cidade da América Latina. Kassab venceu as eleições em 2008 ao derrotar dois candidatos considerados, até então, mais experientes na esfera política: o ex-governador de São Paulo Geraldo Alckmin e a ex-prefeita da capital paulista Marta Suplicy. A hipótese aqui defendida é a de que a estratégia de marketing político responsável por sua eleição foi construída a partir dessa Lei. A proposta de limpar a cidade da sua poluição visual transformou-se em uma metáfora poderosa. O conceito de limpeza corporificou a cidade ideal para se viver, livre de todos os problemas, mais humana, segura, uma cidade em ordem, limpa de seus males. Para investigar a ação dessa Lei e sua ação metafórica sobre os eleitores será empregada a Teoria Corpomídia (Katz & Greiner), que amplia o entendimento da relação entre corpo e a sua mediação com o meio e como a massificação de uma proposta de limpeza capturou as pessoas em torno de uma ideia
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MENEZES, Eduardo Silveira de. "A possibilidade de inserção e aplicabilidade da análise de discurso na formação jornalística: uma revisão teórica com vistas à análise da cobertura das eleições presidenciais de 2014 no Brasil." Universidade Catolica de Pelotas, 2017. http://tede.ucpel.edu.br:8080/jspui/handle/tede/688.
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Previous issue date: 2017-11-27<br>Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES#<br>#2075167498588264571#<br>#600<br>The Phd thesis, presented here, analyzes the coverage of the 2014 presidential elections in
Brazil, dealing with issues related to the application and applicability of the analysis of
pecheuxtiana discourse in the field of journalistic training. We consider the discursive
functioning of Brazilian journalism, in its different forms of materialization, we can identify
significant contributions of DA to the practice of professional practice. When we make such
an analysis, in communication groups registered in antagonistic discursive formations (FDI /
Grupo Folha and FDCI / Rede Brasil Atual), it is identified according to the report. In order
to better organize this research, we have chosen to divide it into four chapters. In the first
one, we present the analytical corpus and define the methodology employed, emphasizing
that the analysis of the selected material occurs in the course of all the work. The second
chapter is dedicated to a (re) reading of the main theories of journalism under the bias of DA.
This theoretical path allows us to understand the proximity - and, above all, distancing -
between the currents of thought in vogue, today, in the process of training Brazilian
journalists. From there, we discuss the pertinence of the inclusion of the discursive theory
that we are proposing in the process of training the professional of the area. With the third
chapter, we began to demonstrate the heterogeneous nature of journalistic texts, advancing in
the interpretive gestures necessary to think about the journalist's role, redefining concepts
and demonstrating, through different discursive materialities, how the production of
meanings in the Brazilian journalism. Therefore, we consider the interrelationship of digital,
printed, radio and television media, considering that the current context of news production
and circulation occurs through the production conditions of Computer-mediated
Communication (CMC). Therefore, although cyber journalism is not the focus of this study,
some of its characteristics are redistricted, from the point of view of DA, allowing us to
develop the concept of cyber journalistic event. The fourth - and last - chapter of this thesis
takes a look at all the research. Thus, we move two fundamental concepts for the theory of
journalism: editor (spokesperson) and sources (subject sources). As a conclusion effect, we
present a possible way to continue the proposal of contribution of the analysis of the
pecheuxtian discourse to the journalistic formation, considering the different - and always
changeable - materialities that constitute this professional activity.<br>A tese de doutorado, aqui apresentada, analisa a cobertura das eleições presidenciais de
2014, no Brasil, tratando de questões ligadas à inserção e aplicabilidade da análise de
discurso pecheuxtiana no âmbito da formação jornalística. Considerando o funcionamento
discursivo do jornalismo brasileiro, nas suas diferentes formas de materialização, podemos
identificar contribuições significativas da AD para o exercício da referida prática
profissional. Ao realizarmos tal análise, em grupos de comunicação inscritos em FD’s
antagônicas (FDI/Grupo Folha e FDCI/Rede Brasil Atual), identificamos gestos de
interpretação importantes para se repensar o fazer jornalístico. Com vistas a melhor
organização desta pesquisa, optamos por dividi-la em quatro capítulos. No primeiro,
apresentamos o corpus analítico e definimos a metodologia empregada, ressaltando que a
análise do material selecionado se dá no transcorrer de todo o trabalho. O segundo capítulo
dedica-se a uma (re)leitura das principais teorias do jornalismo sob o viés da AD. Tal
percurso teórico nos permite compreender as proximidades – e, sobretudo, os
distanciamentos – entre as correntes de pensamento em voga, hoje, no processo de formação
dos jornalistas brasileiros. A partir daí, discorrermos sobre a pertinência da inclusão da teoria
discursiva que estamos propondo no processo de formação do profissional da área. Com o
terceiro capítulo, passamos a demonstrar a natureza heterogênea dos textos jornalísticos,
avançando nos gestos de interpretação necessários para se pensar a atuação do sujeito
jornalista, redefinindo conceitos e demonstrando, por meio de diferentes materialidades
discursivas, como se dá a produção de sentidos no jornalismo brasileiro. Consideramos, para
tanto, a inter-relação das mídias digital, impressa, radiofônica e televisa, tendo em vista que
o atual contexto da produção e circulação de notícias se dá por meio das condições de
produção próprias da Comunicação Mediada pelo Computador (CMC). Sendo assim, embora
o ciberjornalismo não seja o foco deste estudo, algumas de suas características são
rediscutidas, sob a ótica da AD, permitindo-nos desenvolver o conceito de acontecimento
ciberjornalístico. O quarto – e último – capítulo desta tese faz um apanhado de toda a
pesquisa. Realizamos, assim, o deslocamento de dois conceitos fundamentais para a teoria do
jornalismo: editor (porta-voz) e fontes (sujeitos fonte). Como efeito de conclusão,
apresentamos um caminho possível para dar continuidade à proposta de contribuição da
análise de discurso pecheuxtiana para a formação jornalística, considerando as diferentes – e
sempre mutáveis – materialidades constitutivas desta atividade profissional.
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Alvar, Blomgren. "”By the iron hand of oppression" : The performance of the parliamentary election contest in Nottingham and Middlesex 1802-1803." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Historiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-143964.
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The aim of this thesis is to investigate how politics was done at the level of the parliamentary constituencies at the time of the treaty of Amiens 1802-1803. This is achieved through two case studies of the elections in Middlesex and Nottingham, which are investigated as social practices. This thesis argues that understandings of masculinity and national identity, as well as questions about the nature of the constitution and citizen rights were central to participants in the extraparliamentary political process. Collective emotions were also highly important in the process of mobilising political support, and this thesis emphasises that participation in these elections was a collective effort; men and women from all levels of society were significant political actors. Moreover, this thesis demonstrates the importance of competences such as knowledge about the organisation of crowds and political violence in the performance of the election.
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Lewis, Mitzi. "A Hierarchical Regression Analysis of the Relationship Between Blog Reading, Online Political Activity, and Voting During the 2008 Presidential Campaign." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2010. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc33182/.
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The advent of the Internet has increased access to information and impacted many aspects of life, including politics. The present study utilized Pew Internet & American Life survey data from the November 2008 presidential election time period to investigate the degree to which political blog reading predicted online political discussion, online political participation, whether or not a person voted, and voting choice, over and above the predication that could be explained by demographic measures of age, education level, gender, income, marital status, race/ethnicity, and region. Ordinary least squares hierarchical regression revealed that political blog reading was positively and statistically significantly related to online political discussion and online political participation. Hierarchical logistic regression analysis indicated that the odds of a political blog reader voting were 1.98 the odds of a nonreader voting, but vote choice was not predicted by reading political blogs. These results are interpreted within the uses and gratifications framework and the understanding that blogs add an interpersonal communication aspect to a mass medium. As more people use blogs and the nature of the blog-reading audience shifts, continuing to track and describe the blog audience with valid measures will be important for researchers and practitioners alike. Subsequent potential effects of political blog reading on engagement, discussion, and participation will be important to understand as these effects could impact the political landscape of this country and, therefore, the world.
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Tay, Geniesa. "Embracing LOLitics: Popular Culture, Online Political Humor, and Play." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Media and Communication, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/7091.
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The Internet, and Web 2.0 tools can empower audiences to actively participate in media creation. This allows the production of large quantities of content, both amateur and professional. Online memes, which are extensions of usually citizen-created viral content, are a recent and popular example of this. This thesis examines the participation of ordinary individuals in political culture online through humor creation. It focuses on citizen-made political humor memes as an example of engaged citizen discourse. The memes comprise of photographs of political figures altered either by captions or image editing software, and can be compared to more traditional mediums such as political cartoons, and 'green screens' used in filmmaking. Popular culture is often used as a 'common language' to communicate meanings in these texts. This thesis thus examines the relationship between political and popular culture. It also discusses the value of 'affinity spaces', which actively encourage users to participate in creating and sharing the humorous political texts. Some examples of the political humor memes include: the subversion of Vladimir Putin's power by poking fun at his masculine characteristics through acts similar to fanfiction, celebrating Barack Obama’s love of Star Wars, comparing a candid photograph of John McCain to fictional nonhuman creatures such as zombies using photomanipulation, and the wide variety of immediate responses to Osama bin Laden's death. This thesis argues that much of the idiosyncratic nature of the political humor memes comes from a motivation that lies in non-serious play, though they can potentially offer legitimate political criticism through the myths 'poached' from popular culture.
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Natielse, Kouléga Julien. "Le Burkina Faso depuis 1991 : entre stabilite politique et illusionnisme démocratique." Phd thesis, Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux IV, 2013. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00957659.
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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.
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Eguia, Jon X. "A theory of elections and voting blocs." Thesis, 2007. https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/1199/1/thesis050407.pdf.
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I study how a group of agents with incomplete information about their conflicting preferences make a collective decision by means of voting.
I present a model of representative democracy with citizen candidates in which the set of agents who runs for office is endogenously determined. I show that if the electorate is large enough and agents are not able to perfectly anticipate the electoral outcome, elections are always contested and an equilibrium with two candidates exists.
In the last two chapters of this dissertation, I introduce a model of voting bloc formation in which groups of agents choose to coalesce to vote together in an assembly. Looking first at one coalition, then at two coalitions, and finally at an arbitrary number of coalitions emerging in a fully endogenous model of voting bloc formation, I analyze the incentives to join a voting bloc, the stability of different voting blocs and how the incentives and stable outcomes change with the size of the blocs, the internal voting rule that each bloc uses and the heterogeneity in the preferences of the agents. This model provides a new explanation of the formation of political parties in legislatures.
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Moon, Woojin. "Resource constrained electoral competition theory, tests, and applications /." 2002. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/52210914.html.
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Vandenbroek, Lance Matthew. "Principled abstention : a theory of emotions and nonvoting in U.S. presidential elections." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2012-08-6092.
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More than a half-century of behavioral political science has shaped the dominant view of American nonvoters in terms of their engagement and resource deficits. While nonvoters on average are indeed less educated, poorer, younger and less politically engaged, other scholarship suggests that many of them actively abstain due to disaffection with the political system. My dissertation aims to reconcile these disparate explanations for nonvoting, and to better understand those nonvoters whose resources and political attention should suffice to vote. Drawing upon recent work in psychology, I advance a theory that disgust with politics causes many to abstain, irrespective of resources. These disgusted individuals feel the political system has violated deeply held interpersonal and moral norms, and believe participation will be ineffective to mitigate its affronts. As a result, these individuals withdraw from politics both in terms of voting and gathering additional information. I label this behavior “principled abstention.” To test my hypotheses, I employ observational data, including original question batteries on the 2008 and 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Studies, and a series of laboratory and nationally representative experiments.<br>text
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譚寅寅. "Empowerment Theory and Voting Behavior:The 2001 County Magistrate/City Mayoral and Legislative Yuan Elections in Taiwan." Thesis, 2003. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/72517913742078748938.
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碩士<br>國立中正大學<br>政治學研究所<br>92<br>This work aims at examining the contextual effects of “political empowerment” upon voting behavior in Taiwan. Different from the regional classifications developed in preceding literature (e.g., vote percentage of party or candidate, administrative boundary, degree of modernization, or divided and unified government), this research employs and modifies “empowerment theory” of the (ethnic/racial) minority politics to account for the shifting electoral fortunes of the Kuomingtang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). We take advantage of the 2001 Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study (TEDS 2001) survey data and examine whether different empowerment areas exert significant impacts on voting behavior in the 2001 elections to the Legislative Yuan and county magistrates and city mayors. The methodology adopted in this study involves two steps. The first approach is the use of cross-tabulation analyses, and the second method employs the multinominal logit model in order to evaluate the simultaneous effects of independent variables on the dependent variable. As hypothesized, the results indicate that the contextual effects of “political empowerment” still emerge as statistically significant for accounting voting choices even as party identifications and other explaining variables are taken into account. The findings demonstrate that constituents in high-DDP-empowerment areas─as indicated by control of the mayor’s/magistrate’s office─tend to vote for DPP candidates than those living in low-DDP-empowerment areas, and vice versa. In the conclusion, we review the major findings and limitations of this study and compare the research approaches of “empowerment theory” and “political geography.”
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Huang, Pai-Wei, and 黃百薇. "The Theory and Practice of Farmers’ Association Elections: A Case Study of Kolin City Farmers’ Association." Thesis, 2014. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/05956918465877642060.
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Park, Sung Bok. "Modern spatial theory and ideological dimensions of political conflicts the Korean presidential election of 1987 /." 1989. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/22537358.html.
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Pascanean, Ludmila. "Migration and Economic Voting Outcomes: Theory and Empirics from Moldova." Master's thesis, 2015. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-350881.
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The focus of the present research is to explore several dimensions and their interconnections: migration, election results and implemented policies. It will analyse how emigration is affecting the elections results and voting patterns, of both, migrants and non-migrants, thus influencing the undertaken policies and institution development in the home country. This thesis is based on evidence from Republic of Moldova, an Eastern European country with a Soviet Union heritage. The study covers the years 1998-2010 using data for 6 election results in Moldova and data about emigration during the corresponding years. The key assumption, confirmed in this thesis is that with increase of number of emigrants to the West countries, especially countries of European Union, the percentage of votes offered to Communist Party decreases, while there is a positive connection between the number of emigrants to eastern countries, namely Russia, and the number of votes given to Communist Party. Therefore, the migrants have different voting patterns from non-migrants, which with time are passed to their families and connections in the home country, using the spillover effect and hence being able to change the political and economic institutions in the home country. Data is modelled using OLS and GMM. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Jarvis, Mark D. "Modernizing public service accountability: theory and practice." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1828/8001.
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The manner in which public servants are held to account and the purposes of accountability at the bureaucratic level is a relatively unexplored field. This dissertation is comprised of three separate studies investigating hierarchical accountability, the accounting officer system in Canada, and accountability among public servants. Together, they address critical questions: i) how can existing theory on accountability be reconciled with hierarchy and the delegation of authority; ii) the principles and practices of the accounting officer system; and iii) internal public service accountability mechanisms. This dissertation explores whether we can develop — and implement — a systematic approach to empirically investigating how accountability is practiced, as a means of advancing our theoretical and practical understanding of accountability. The three studies draw on evidence collected over a four-year period, including interviews with public servants conducted in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands. Some of the key theoretical perspectives evaluated include an adapted version of Aucoin and Heintzman’s (2000) framework on accountability and performance management and, Bovens, Schillemans and ’t Hart’s (2008) practices and purposes of accountability framework. The conclusions of the dissertation are threefold: first, that while overall the normative purposes of accountability as described in the frameworks (democratic control, assurance, learning and results) are, to a substantial degree, observed in practice, there are nonetheless some serious deficiencies in our understanding of the purposes of accountability; second, there is considerable variation in practices from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and, within each specific jurisdiction, specific practices are shaped to a considerable degree by the institutionalized context in which these practices are carried out; and third, an empirical approach to studying accountability practices offers a promising way to address the lack of empirical knowledge, and a way to bolster both our theoretical and practical understanding of actual accountability practices.<br>Graduate<br>0617<br>0615
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Mueller, Paul D. "Shaving with Ockham's razor complexity and individual political behavior /." 2005. http://etd.nd.edu.lib-proxy.nd.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-04122005-150439/.
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Lee, So Young. "Information heterogeneity and voter uncertainty in spatial voting: the U.S. presidential elections, 1992-2004." Thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/3803.
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This dissertation addresses voters' information heterogeneity and its effect on spatial voting. While most spatial voting models simply assume that voter uncertainty about candidate preferences is homogeneous across voters despite Downs' early use of uncertainty scale to classify the electorate, information studies have discovered that well and poorly informed citizens have sizeable and consistent differences in issue conceptualization, perception, political opinion and behavior. Built upon the spatial theory's early insights on uncertainty and the findings of information literature, this dissertation claims that information effects should be incorporated into the spatial voting model. By this incorporation, I seek to unify the different scholarly traditions of the spatial theory of voting and the study of political information. I hypothesize that uncertainty is not homogeneous, but varies with the level of information, which are approximated by political activism as well as information on candidate policy positions. To test this hypothesis, I employ heteroskedastic probit models that specify heterogeneity of voter uncertainty in probabilistic models of spatial voting. The models are applied to the U.S. presidential elections in 1992-2004. The empirical results of the analysis strongly support the expectation. They reveal that voter uncertainty is heterogeneous as a result of uneven distributions of information and political activism even when various voting cues are available. This dissertation also discovers that this heterogeneity in voter uncertainty has a significant effect on electoral outcomes. It finds that the more uncertain a voter is about the candidates, the more likely he or she is to vote for the incumbent or a better-known candidate. This clearly reflects voters' risk-averse attitudes that reward the candidate with greater certainty, all other things held constant. Heterogeneity in voter uncertainty and its electoral consequences, therefore, have important implications for candidates' strategies. The findings suggest that the voter heterogeneity leads candidates' equilibrium strategies and campaign tactics to be inconsistent with those that spatial analysts have normally proposed.<br>text
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Roeder, Oliver Kelly. "Essays on political competition." 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/21970.
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The three branches of American government---judicial, legislative, and executive---serve important governmental roles, and present their own interesting political questions. We answer three here. First, what are the differences between judges and politicians, and how does this inform the formers' selection? Second, how do senators behave to satisfy their political preferences and the electorate's? Third, what is the optimal strategy for a candidate in the Electoral College? American states select judges in various ways. In Chapter 1, we analyze "merit selection." Typically, a nonpartisan commission culls applicants for judgeships, and an appointee is selected by the governor. Then, periodically, this judge undergoes a retention election: an up-or-down vote by the state's electorate. We contribute a microeconomic model to analyze these elections. We compare this institution, in welfare terms, to others used to appoint and retain judges. Finally, we analyze a recent and ongoing phenomenon: these elections are transforming from historically rubber stamp formalities into contested, politicized contests. The politicization of issues brought before courts increases the likelihood of judges being ousted. In Chapter 2, we explore the behavior of legislators in the U.S. Senate, and of the voters who elect them. We examine shifts in incumbent senators' espoused political positions over time, as the reelection campaign approaches. We introduce novel game theoretic models of incumbent-challenger interaction. We find, through empirical analysis of senators' roll call votes, that senators moderate their positions over time, as potential reelection approaches. Moreover, this moderation accelerates. This is explained by the behavior of voters: the moderation is mirrored by the attention paid by voters. Also, the identity of an incumbent's challenger plays an important role in the amount of moderation exhibited by the incumbent. In Chapter 3, we consider a highly adaptable game theoretic model of competition in the Electoral College. It takes the form of a repeated game. Candidates make allocation decisions to persuade voters. Candidates get utility from winning office, and disutility from expending resources. We characterize optimal campaign strategy, and present comparative statics. We show, inter alia, that a candidate with an inherent advantage may prefer a longer campaign.<br>text
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Mach, Petr. "Volby do Evropského parlamentu v letech 2004 a 2009 v ČR a jejich vliv na stranický systém." Master's thesis, 2011. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-297017.
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This diploma thesis comparatively analyses elections to the European Parliament held in 2004 and 2009 in the Czech Republic. It focuses on the main features of these elections with the aim of finding their main similarities and differences. For this purpose the framework of the classic "second order elections" concept is used which was introduced by Karlheinz Reif and Hermann Schmitt. The introductory part summarizes the main aspects of the "second order elections" concept. What follows is the examination of development of the electoral system for the elections to the European parliament. Crucial features of the electoral system used in the Czech Republic are explored in detail. The main part of the thesis concentrates on the analysis of elections to the European Parliament held in the Czech Republic in 2004 and 2009. These elections are put into context of domestic political situation. Additionally, party lists and election manifestos are examined, as well as the most important facets of election campaigns of relevant political parties. Necessary attention is also paid to the analysis of election results and to their implications for the political and party system. Finally, in the closing chapter both elections are compared using the "second order elections" concept.
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Msiza, Nkosinathi. "Editorial politricks : a content analysis of selected newspapers' coverage of the ANC, DA and EFF during the 2016 local government elections in South Africa." Diss., 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/24733.
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Global research shows that media owners tend to influence the editorial direction of their newspapers. Such influence generally tends to be in line with the media owner’s economic and / or political interests. Naturally, this is a challenge because media is regarded as the fourth estate and is supposed to be an objective yet effective channel for the citizenry to make informed decisions about their world. The study seeks to find out if the owners of four daily newspapers in South Africa, based on their political proximity; may have influenced their newspapers to be biased in favour or against any of the three biggest political parties contesting the 2016 Local Government Elections. This study is an exploratory and descriptive content analysis based on an Agenda Setting theoretic framework – supported by framing analysis and game framing. Findings reveal the correlation between the media owner’s interests and the biased reporting within their respective newspaper. This suggests that although media may not be directly or explicitly forced to adopt a specific ideology, it can be argued that political relations with media owners can influence editorial decisions. Therefore, it can be inferred that media owners of The New Age, The Citizen and The Star influenced editorial content of their newspapers during the 2016 local government elections. Given the findings of this study and the elections scheduled for 2019 in South Africa, it is important for more political communication studies to be conducted in order to establish guidelines for unbiased news reporting across all media – including newspapers. Alternatively, to compel media owners to declare their bias towards and against specific political parties in each news content, upfront. Particularly important during election period, is the need for each media (including newspapers) to have an independent editor – potentially one from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to ensure that each piece of content produced is validated as bias or impartial.<br>Communication Science<br>M.A. (Communication Science)