To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Political societies.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Political societies'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Political societies.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Ferreyra, Ricardo Diego. "Political transition and institutionalization of party politics in Venezuela." FIU Digital Commons, 2000. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3314.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the processes of consolidation and decomposition of the Venezuelan party system and their relation to democratic stability. Both processes are analyzed through a theoretical framework based on four conditions for institutionalization and three conditions for decomposition of a party system.
Preliminary findings reveal that the Venezuelan party system became institutionalized as of 1969 but began to unravel during the 1980s. This particular order, whose legitimacy rested on the distribution of rents, solidified an arrangement that collapsed when confronted with a deteriorating economic environment combined with growing popular disenchantment stemming from its institutional inability to represent and respond to shifting demands. The thesis also concludes that current political developments do not respond to a process of institutionalization of a new party system but to the development of an inchoate system.
2
Hafidh, Hasan. "From diwaniyyat to youth societies : informal political spaces and contentious politics in Bahrain and Kuwait." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/19820/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis investigates the relationship between regime and everyday dynamics of sectarianism, comparing the two Arab Gulf countries of Kuwait and Bahrain. Both case studies are viewed through the central theme of an “informal civil society” and its subsequent impact on sectarian politics in both countries. In Bahrain, the state has forwarded a sectarian narrative of the post-2011 conflict while at the grassroots level, concerted efforts have been made to bridge relations between Sunni and Shia Muslims. In Kuwait, meanwhile, there are indications of a reverse trajectory coming to fruition; while the regime denies a sectarian image of the state, posing as a neutral arbitrator between various political blocs, at the communal level, people across the political and social spectrum are defining themselves through the lens of sectarian identities that have become increasingly salient across several platforms. What is discernable in both countries is the complex and dynamic nature of sectarianism at work, where it is at one and the same time amplified and negated.
3
Wiedemann, Andreas Bernhard. "Indebted societies : modern labor markets, social policy, and everyday borrowing." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118220.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Political Science, 2018.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (pages 260-280).<br>Debt has become an essential part of families' daily lives in many countries. This dissertation examines under what circumstances credit markets replace the role of welfare states to address social risks and promote social mobility in advanced democracies. It sheds light on the socio-economic and political consequences of growing debt levels. I offer a theory that explains variation in household debt across and within countries by demonstrating that credit fills gaps between households' financial needs and demand for social services on the one hand and welfare states' supply of social services on the other-a gap I refer to as social policy shortfall. The transformation of stable Fordist economies into flexible knowledge economies led to increasingly fragmented employment patterns and life-course trajectories. Welfare states, however, have often not kept up with these disruptions and leave households with larger financial burdens. Households increasingly go into debt to address the financial consequences of social risk such as unemployment or sickness as well as to seize social opportunity by investing in childcare and family, education, and housing. Cross-nationally, two factors explain the variation in household debt: the size and type of social policy shortfall determine individuals' financial needs. But whether credit emerges as a private alternative to welfare states is contingent upon the structure of a country's credit regime, which shapes how easily individuals can borrow money. Drawing on full-population administrative records from Denmark and micro-level panel data from the U.S. and Germany, I show that the permissive credit regimes of the U.S. and Denmark grant households easy access to credit, but the distribution of debt across households differs because welfare states in both countries protect and support households differently. In Germany, the restrictive credit regime results in less borrowing even in light of social policy reforms. The findings have implications for how scholars and policymakers think about the role of financial markets and household debt in a world of changing labor markets and welfare states. It shows how credit markets and welfare states appear to fulfill similar functions but follow different underlying logics, each with its own socio-economic and distributional consequences that shape and amplify insecurity and inequality.<br>by Andreas Bernhard Wiedemann.<br>Ph. D.
4
Durazzi, Niccolo. "The political economy of high skills : higher education in knowledge societies." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2018. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3818/.
Full textAbstract:
A successful transition into the knowledge economy is said to depend upon higher level skills, creating unprecedented pressure on university systems - as they expand across countries - to provide knowledge-based labour markets with the skills needed. But what are the political economy dynamics underlying national patterns of high skill formation? This thesis argues that existing theoretical approaches are not well-suited to answer the question: ideational and structuralist frameworks downplay persistent national differences, while institutionalist accounts assume that national differences rest upon the very lack of higher education expansion in some countries, downplaying the crossnational trend of higher education expansion. The thesis proposes a framework that accounts for distinct national trajectories of high skill formation within the convergent trend of higher education expansion. In particular, two crucial variables are identified to theorise the relationship between higher education systems and knowledge-based labour markets: (i) the predominant type of knowledge economy in a given country; and (ii) the degree of inter-university competition across different higher education systems. It is argued that the former explains what type of higher level skills will be sought by employers and cultivated by governments, while the latter helps understanding of why some higher education systems are more open at the outset to satisfy labour market demands compared to others, determining whether institutional change in a given higher education system is likely to be encompassing or marginal. Cross-national descriptive statistics and systematic process analysis across a set of diverse country case studies (Britain, Germany and South Korea) are used to test the theory. By highlighting the agency of universities, governments and businesses and by linking higher education policy with knowledge-based growth strategies, this thesis provides a theoretical and empirical contribution on processes of institutional change in higher education and on broader trajectories of institutional change across advanced capitalist countries.
5
Walker, Carmen Victoria. "A study of Black female political participation in Atlanta, Georgia." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 1998. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/1107.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis will examine historical and contemporary forms of black women's political participation in America. This research will also examine a 1997 survey of black women's political participation in Atlanta, Georgia to argue that contemporary black women's activism has encompassed both electoral and non-electoral activism and is not atypical. Most of the existing research on women, however, posits black women's activism to be an anomaly. However, black women have participated in both traditional and nontraditional forms of political activity. It is argued that black women's level and style of political activism has been influenced by race, gender, and economic factors.
6
Malik, Sarah. "Reading between the lines: race, culture, and bounded identity in multicultural societies." Thesis, McGill University, 2011. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=97127.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis demonstrates the colonizing impact of multiculturalism on in-between subjects. In-between subjects are defined as individuals whose identities form at the interstices of two or more cultures. Using evidence from the narratives of The Namesake, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, and Londonstani, this research describes a set of structurally embedded cultural concepts – rooting, marking, deference, and communication. These concepts contribute to the scripting of the essentialized identity roles that limit the recognition, inclusion, and participation of in-between subjects. Further, these conditions impose a double-bind on in-between subjects; in performing essentialized identities, in-between subjects deny their own free participation and expression, but to not perform an essentialized identity would mean sure exclusion and marginalization. The evidence points to a possible solution, however, in the form of safe spaces and relationships where difference is unscripted and alterity fills the space between Self and Other.<br>Ce travail démontre les effets colonisant de la multiculturalisme sur les "in-betweens." Les in-betweens sont des individus ayant une identité constituer au croisement de deux ou plusieurs cultures. Avec des données prises des récits de The Namesake, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, et Londonstani, ce recherche décrit des concepts enfoncés dans la structure sociale – le racinement, la marque, la différence, et la communication. Ces concepts contribuent à la création des personnages hyper-culturelles, dont l'effectualisation limite la reconnaissance, l'inclusion, et la participation des in-betweens. En effectuant ces personnages, les in-betweens perdre leurs voix et leurs droits de participer. Par contre, s'ils n'effectuent pas ces personnages, les in-betweens seront exclus et marginalisés. Les espaces et les relations ou il ne faut pas distinguer entre soi et l'autre pour comprendre la différence offrent une solution; c'est là ou les in-betweens peuvent trouver le soutien communautaire qu'il faut pour assurer la participation.
7
Tidrick, Charlee Figueroa Robert. "Deliberative democracy, divided societies, and the case of Appalachia." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-11007.
Full text
8
Utting, Peter. "The political economy of economic and food policy reform in Third World socialist countries." Thesis, University of Essex, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.235626.
Full text
9
Cyr, Jennifer Marie. "The political party system and democratic crisis in Bolivia." FIU Digital Commons, 2005. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2703.
Full textAbstract:
Using Kenneth Roberts’ (2002) party-society linkages framework, this study examined the reasons for the decline of the political party system in Bolivia after 2000. The political party system that emerged in 1985 was connected to society primarily through clientelist-based linkages. The economic and political model adopted after the transition to democracy severely debilitated the party system’s capacity to forge linkages with society beyond clientelism.
Using interviews, survey data, and primary and secondary documents, the study demonstrated that prolonged economic recession and social change revealed the weaknesses of the linkages connecting the political party system with Bolivian society. It concluded that the party system in Bolivia went into decline because it could not adapt to the country’s changing social landscape after 2000. The highly limited nature of clientelist-based linkages in Bolivia suggests that they were ill-suited to withstand economic recession and social crisis.
10
Tidrick, Charlee. "Deliberative Democracy, Divided Societies, and the Case of Appalachia." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc11007/.
Full textAbstract:
Theories of deliberative democracy, which emphasize open-mindedness and cooperative dialogue, confront serious challenges in deeply divided political populations constituted by polarized citizens unwilling to work together on issues they collectively face. The case of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia makes this clear. In my thesis, I argue that such empirical challenges are serious, yet do not compromise the normative desirability of deliberative democracy because communicative mechanisms can help transform adversarial perspectives into workable, deliberative ones. To realize this potential in divided societies, mechanisms must focus on healing and reconciliation, a point under-theorized by deliberativists who do not take seriously enough the feminist critique of public-private dualisms that illuminates political dimensions of such embodied processes. Ultimately, only a distinctly two-stage process of public deliberation in divided populations, beginning with mechanisms for healing and trust building, will give rise to the self-transformation necessary for second-stage deliberation aimed at collectively binding decisions.
11
Marei, Fouad Mohamed Gehad Moham. "Consociational democracy and peripheral capitalism in late-modernising societies : a political economy of Lebanon." Thesis, Durham University, 2012. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3472/.
Full textAbstract:
Following the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri in 2005, Lebanon witnessed vigorous debate over the nature of its political system raising the question of whether it is based on consociation between confessions or consensus and balance of power between political factions. Lebanon has traditionally alternated between several extremes: from ‘the happy phenomenon’, a liberal example of self-perpetuating prosperity and ‘the only Arab democracy’ to a haven for warlords and the scene for recurring political impasses and violence. Underpinning these extremes, however, is the national myth that Lebanon is the ‘Switzerland of the East’. Whether this refers to its mountainous geography, freewheeling capitalism, salience of the tertiary sector or the politico-cultural cantonisation of the country is the subject matter of this research. This study explores political economy and political culture in Lebanon by locating the confessional subcultures within the theoretical framework of ‘hybrid modernities’. The research presented in this study, hence, aims to make sense of the perennial cycles of conflict and political impasses which have scarred modern Lebanese history. This is done by critically examining the intersections between consociationalism as a political superstructure, peripheral capitalism as a political economy and confessionalism as a political paradigm. The theory of ‘hybrid modernities’ is utilised in an attempt to redefine ‘modernity’ as an inclusionary and dynamic process whereby multiple socio-cultural projects are continually constructed and reconstructed through negotiation and conflict, hence, producing a hybrid order. Conflict is, therefore, interpreted as a mechanism of redistribution and negotiation between multiple subnational centres as opposed to a modality of state-society relations. Accordingly, the vulnerabilities of modernity and the unintelligibility of its constellations are mitigated not through bureaucratic universalism and the logics of the market, but through asymmetric relations of power between zu‘ama (patrons) and their ’atbā‘ (clients). The pervasiveness of political patronage, therefore, is not a relic of pre-modernity but a ‘modern’ and adaptive response to the disarticulations of Lebanese capitalism. Patron-client dyads capitalise on and reinforce social relations within vertical segments, hence, modernising and instrumentalising ‘the confession’. Social change, therefore, emanates from the subnational periphery (the confession) and targets the subnational and, eventually, the national centre. In responding to the aims and objectives of this study, ethnographic research was conducted to explore the intersections between the disarticulations of late developmentalism in Lebanon and the social construction of ‘imagined communities’. Focusing on the triangulation of consociationalism, peripheral capitalism and confessionalism as the political modus operandi in Lebanon and the Shi‘a as a subnational ‘imagined community’, this research explores the intersections between political economy and political culture in the production of multiple hybrid modernities within the multicentred Lebanese system. This is achieved by examining the political economy dynamics of the social construction of ‘the Shi‘a’ as well as the ontological worldviews and modus vivendi which underpin its socio-cultural project. In this context, Hezbollah is conceptualised as the ‘cohesive core’ of a social movement which articulates its own authenticated modernity and produces social change through a dynamic and bidirectional process facilitated by the party’s monolithic non-state welfare sector, civil society, media and the ulema.
12
Semwayo, Fadzai. "Rape as a weapon of war and newly emerging societies in the democratic republic of the Congo." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 2016. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/3902.
Full text
13
Spehr, Scott Lawrence 1948. "Value orientation as a contributing factor in protest potential in Western societies: The postmaterialism thesis reconsidered." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282484.
Full textAbstract:
The theory of postmaterialism contains the proposition that basic values are changing in advanced industrial societies. Furthermore, the theory contains the propositions that individuals in these societies can be classified according to clusters of value orientations and that political behavior can be predicted according to these orientations. Among other things, this theory has been put forward as a powerful explanatory model for unconventional political action in advanced industrial societies. This study utilizes survey material from Germany to construct a model that explores the effect of value orientation on unconventional political action. The study then goes on to investigate the links between value orientation and other leading theories of unconventional political action. Until now, nothing has been attempted in the way of investigating empirically the specific factors put forward as causal agents regarding postmaterialists' hypothesized propensity to participate in unconventional political action. Likewise, little work has been done in the way of investigating the relationship, if any, between postmaterialism and important other theories of such behavior. This project then has as its central foci the testing of the primary hypotheses regarding the basis for value orientation and unconventional political action, and whether postmaterialists' hypothesized propensity to participate in such activities may be the result of an underlying relationship between value orientation and factors that make up much of the conceptual landscape of other leading theories of unconventional political action. The results indicate that value orientation does have a weak direct effect on unconventional political acts, but that integrating value orientation and other theories results in more powerful explanatory models of such activity, and serve to more fully explain the manner in which value orientation affects political behavior.
14
Sonnemaker, Tyler. "Objectivity and the Role of Journalism in Democratic Societies." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1057.
Full textAbstract:
In this essay, I argue that the institution of journalism plays a vital role in informing citizens of a deliberative democratic society, and that to effectively fulfill this role, journalists must report the news objectively. I first examine the historical evolution of objectivity as it pertains to journalism. Then, I elaborate on some of the philosophical concepts that provide the foundation for objectivity. Next, I introduce John Rawls’ idea of public reason, which provides an improved understanding of the role of journalism within a democratic society. I claim from this that journalism must re-envision its role as guardian of the public political forum. Finally, I bring these various discussions together by drawing in the requirements that Stephen Ward lays out in his theory of pragmatic objectivity, and argue that these are necessary to help journalism legitimize its authority to safeguard this forum. In doing so, journalism can ensure both that citizens are objectively informed and that the public forum offers them a sphere in which they can effectively participate in the governance of their democracy.
15
Wand, Itay. "States and societies in the digital arena : ICT, state capacity, and political change in Asia." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43234.
Full textAbstract:
How does adoption of information communication technology (ICT) alter the balance of power between state and society in Asia? There is no question that these tools – the Internet, mobile phones, and social media – are transforming the political communications landscape across the region. Since political science views power as zero-sum, a central question is how its distribution is altered between digitally-strengthened states and digitally-empowered societal actors. On the one hand, societal actors are empowered through increased information access and dissemination, as well as decreased costs of mobilization and organization. At the same time, the state's digital capacity is greatly enhanced through increased information collection, monitoring, and control. This study hypothesizes that adoption of ICT in Asian states empowers societal actors over time enhancing non-electoral democratic processes subject to regime legitimacy and the digital state capacity governments build and apply. It first develops a theory for how ICT empowers both societal actors and states before testing this across Asian states through a quantitative analysis. The results suggest that Asian state policy determines whether and how ICT empowers societal actors and net political change. It then develops this policy concept through the lens of digital state capacity - how states control and manage digital information. Finally it conducts a qualitative analysis for China on the interaction of ICT adoption, regime legitimacy, and digital state capacity policy to determine net political change. The results demonstrate that while ICT adoption has strengthened the Chinese state through digital state capacity this has come at the loss of state control over a range of political issues. For these issues, the net result in China has been empowered-societal actors and enhanced transparency and accountability.
16
Nguyen, My Land Do. "Understanding the political integration outcomes of enfranchised and high socioeconomic status immigrants in host societies." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668720.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this dissertation is to systematically investigate the theoretical perspective that political power derives from socioeconomic power—a fundamental tenet of both sociological theories of assimilation and political science theories of participation. Each chapter of this dissertation studies this assumption within the context of the acquisition of socio-racial status, the acquisition of nationality, and the acquisition of assets. This thesis analyses the roles played by political capital obtained from the origin country, social capital built within the communities, and institutional-political context of the host country. This dissertation finds that socioeconomic inclusion does not automatically lead to political inclusion but that much of this process can be facilitated by public policies.<br>L’objectiu d’aquesta tesi és investigar sistemàticament la perspectiva teòrica que el poder polític deriva del poder socioeconòmic, un principi fonamental tant de les teories sociològiques de l’assimilació com de les teories de la ciència política. Cada capítol d'aquesta tesi estudia aquest supòsit en el context de l'adquisició d'estatus socio-racial, l'adquisició de la nacionalitat i l'adquisició de béns. Aquesta tesi analitza els rols jugats pel capital polític obtingut del país d'origen, el capital social construït dins de les comunitats i el context institucional-polític del país amfitrió. Aquesta tesi troba que la inclusió socioeconòmica no condueix automàticament a la inclusió política, però que gran part d’aquest procés pot ser facilitat per les polítiques públiques.
17
Yakinthou, Christalla. "Between Scylla and Charybdis : Cyprus and the problem of engineering political settlements for divided societies." University of Western Australia. School of Social and Cultural Studies, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0113.
Full textAbstract:
Conflict in deeply divided societies often has a profound impact both on the societies in which the conflict is located, and on the surrounding states and societies. Constitutional engineers working in such societies are inevitably attracted to power-sharing as a means of stabilising inter-group relations. Consociational democracy is a form of power-sharing democracy which is particularly attractive for a divided society, because its demands on the society are relatively few. It aims to separate the communities in the conflict as much as possible, while emphasising elite co-operation in the formal institutions of government. A difficulty with consociational democracy, however, is that the elite co-operation it requires to function is also required for the system to be adopted, yet will not necessarily be present. Cyprus is an excellent example of the difficulty of gaining agreement on a consociational regime for a divided society. In 1963, the consociational Republic of Cyprus collapsed as a result of mistrust between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. In 2004, a consociational system of government was designed for Cyprus by a team of UN experts under the direction of then-Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. The system of government was rejected in April 2004 at a referendum, and, consequently, was not adopted. This thesis examines why Cyprus has thus far been unable to adopt a political settlement. Failure is as hard to explain as success. Success may have many fathers and failure none, but there are as many possible causes of a failure as of a success. There is also the difficulty of the counter-factual: what facts would need to be different to produce success where experience is only of failure. The thesis systematically examines possible causes of failure, including the idea of consociational democracy itself, the particular consociational designs proposed for Cyprus, and the influence of historical aspirations and experiences. Particular attention is paid to the idea that there may be key factors which must be present before a consociational solution can be adopted. The factors, selected for this case study for their apparent relevance to Cyprus, are elite co-operation, segmental isolation, a balance of power between the disputant groups, and the ability of the international community to offer incentives for compromise. It is argued that these factors, especially elite relations and the complex web of causes which determine these, are central to an explanation of the Cyprus experience.
18
Fattah, Khaled. "Contextual determinants of political modernization in tribal Middle Eastern societies : the case of unified Yemen." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1984.
Full textAbstract:
By all conventional measurements of modernization and development, from communication and education to bureaucracy and urbanization, Arab societies have been undergoing an impressive transformation. There is, however, a wide gap in the Arab Middle East between such a transformation and the political consequences of modernization. In other words, the Arab Middle East exhibits a sharp contrast between its societal and political progress. In the case of Yemen, such a gap looks different from the one that exists in the rest of the region. In addition to being a country with the weakest and most limited bureaucracy in the Arab world, Yemen has, also, the lowest level of urbanization and education in the region. According to United Nations Human Development Report for the year 2004, 73.7 % of Yemen’s population are living in rural areas, and the country has a combined gross enrolment rate for primary, secondary and tertiary schools of 43%. In 2008, Yemen was rated near the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI) by the UNDP; as number 153rd out of the 177 countries with HDI data, and it ranked as number 82 out of 108 countries in the Human Poverty Index. The United Nations Human Development Report 2006, for instance, indicates that the percentage of Yemeni population who live below National Poverty Line is 41.8%. Yet, Yemen is more democratic than most countries in the Arab Middle East. In light of this paradox, the following central question guides this research: which contextual factors are central in explaining the unique process of political modernization in tribal Yemen?
19
Garces, Abigail. "Mexican political caricature : the crises of the early 1900s and 1990s." FIU Digital Commons, 2001. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3600.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this study was to compare the political, economic and social problematic of Mexico in the early 1900s and the 1990s, using political caricatures as primary sources of information.
To fully understand the Porfiriato regime during the early 1900s, images from the Mexican newspapers El Diablito Rojo, El Hijo del Ahuizote and El Paladin were selected and analyzed, while Carlos Salinas’ government of the early 1990s was studied through the caricatures found in La Jornada.
The political caricatures demonstrated that similar conflicts existed during the early 1900s and the 1990s, such as the abuse of an authoritarian government, corrupt elections, an evident polarization between a small elite and the masses, the exploitation of the agricultural sectors, and a strive for the modernization of the country.
20
Aulsebrook, Stephanie Jane. "Political strategies and metal vessels in Mycenaean societies : deconstructing prestige objects through an analysis of value." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.608169.
Full text
21
Urselmans, Linda. "Agent-based modelling of complex systems in political science : social norms and tolerance in immigrant societies." Thesis, University of Essex, 2018. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/22040/.
Full textAbstract:
Migration is a political issue that has received more attention in recent years. Many questions remain as to how Western societies can successfully absorb migrants- economic arguments have largely been in favour of migration, but the social impact of diversity in previously homogeneous societies has been subject to ongoing debates in social science. Migrant societies are complex social systems with many interacting moving parts. How do rapid migration-changes in society affect the hosts? How do norms of tolerance towards minorities hold up when intergroup con icts emerge? Can segregating behaviour of different population groups be reduced by encouraging different settlement locations for new migrants? The questions address both the physical aspect of migrants entering an already populated space, and the social dimension in which the hosts are adapting their attitudes. I develop a Schelling model using Agent-based modelling to address these questions. I introduce the concept of external migration into an existing society and test how, by varying the kind of migration, introducing diversity affects local tolerance. In the second chapter, I show that large-scale migration results in short-term shocks to the populace, but that these effects are heavily dependent on the population density and how large the native majority is. In Chapter 3 I implement a version of the `contact hypothesis' which stipulates that contact with out-group members increases tolerance and I show that the adaptability increases the importance of native majorities further. In the fourth chapter, I move on to the social norms of tolerance, introducing an ABM in which agents can deceive others by signalling false information about their true attitudes. I show that the emergent pattern of these behaviours can lead to a false consensus effect in which the perceived majority public opinion is unstable. The thesis is able to generate societies that bear many similarities with the Western countries of today and can suggest explanations for the mechanisms that lead to changes in public opinion more negative towards migration, as well as reasons for growing separation of different population groups.
22
Rage, Anne-Britt. "Achieving sustainable peace in post conflict societies : an evaluation of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/5302.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.<br>Bibliography<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflict
societies using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commission
is investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate the
relationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesis
analyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether there
are any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC through
its Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely
“to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past” (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8,
paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of the
South African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim of
achieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is further
analysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitional
justice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal with
the issue of sustainable peace.
This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contribute
to a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is argued
that this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the Final
Report mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding and
macro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC’s
theoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- and
macro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the South
African case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truth
finding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towards
sustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung’s positive peace and
Lederach’s structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achieve
sustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theoryThis thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflict
societies using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commission
is investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate the
relationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesis
analyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether there
are any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC through
its Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely
“to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past” (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8,
paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of the
South African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim of
achieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is further
analysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitional
justice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal with
the issue of sustainable peace.
This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contribute
to a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is argued
that this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the Final
Report mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding and
macro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC’s
theoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- and
macro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the South
African case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truth
finding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towards
sustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung’s positive peace and
Lederach’s structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achieve
sustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theoryThis thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflict
societies using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commission
is investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate the
relationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesis
analyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether there
are any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC through
its Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely
“to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past” (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8,
paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of the
South African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim of
achieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is further
analysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitional
justice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal with
the issue of sustainable peace.
This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contribute
to a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is argued
that this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the Final
Report mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding and
macro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC’s
theoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- and
macro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the South
African case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truth
finding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towards
sustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung’s positive peace and
Lederach’s structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achieve
sustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theory contributes to an individualisation of the truth finding process and does not
sufficiently support the macro-truths. Finally, by deconstructing the term never
again it is shown that this approach should not be used in the TRCs or in the wider
field of transitional justice
v<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek of volhoubare vrede in postkonfliksamelewings met
behulp van die oorgangsgeregtigheidsbenadering bereik kan word. Meer bepaald
word die soeklig gewerp op die waarheidskommissie as meganisme van
oorgangsgeregtigheid. Die Suid-Afrikaanse Waarheids-en-Versoeningskommissie
(WVK) dien as gevallestudie om die verwantskap tussen volhoubare vrede en
oorgangsgeregtigheid te bestudeer. Die tesis probeer vasstel of die WVK sy
mandaat uitgevoer het, en of die Kommissie se finale verslag enige bepaalde
omskrywings, gevolgtrekkings of aanbevelings bevat “om te verseker dat die
verlede hom nie herhaal nie” (paragraaf 14, hoofstuk 8, volume 5 van die WVKverslag).
Dít vind plaas deur middel van ! tekstuele ontleding van die finale WVKverslag
wat die inherente swakpunte van dié dokument in sy strewe na volhoubare
vrede krities en dekonstruktief benader. Die verslag word voorts ontleed deur die
kwessie van volhoubare vrede te verbind met die gebied van oorgangsgeregtigheid
sowel as ontwikkelingstudies oor hoe toekomstige WVK’s die
kwessie van volhoubare vrede kan hanteer.
Die tesis kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die Suid-Afrikaanse WVK nie ! bydrae
gelewer het tot ! sinvolle ontleding van presies hoe om ! herhaling van die
verlede te voorkom nie. Daar word aangevoer dat dít te wyte is aan die gebrek
aan ! samehangende teoretiese raamwerk, aangesien die finale verslag twee
verskillende waarheidsoekende meganismes vermeng – die mikrowaarheidsoeke
en die makrowaarheidsoeke – en ook van die geregverdigde-oorlog-teorie gebruik
maak. Deur die tekstuele ontleding van die teoretiese raamwerk van die WVKverslag
word dit duidelik dat ! mikro- en makrowaarheidsoeke moeilik in een
verslag te kombineer is, en dat, in die Suid-Afrikaanse geval, die mikrowaarheidsoeke
voorkeur geniet. Tog sou die makrowaarheidsoeke ! grondiger
ontleding bied vir die suksesvolle verwesenliking van volhoubare vrede, wat in
hierdie tesis as Galtung se ‘positiewe vrede’ en Lederach se ‘strukturele vrede’
5
verstaan word. Trouens, die makrowaarheidsoeke is ! voorvereiste om
volhoubare vrede te bereik. ! Tradisionele lesing van die geregverdigde-oorlogteorie
dra ook by tot ! individualisering van die waarheidsoekende proses, en bied
nie voldoende ondersteuning vir die makrowaarhede nie. Laastens word daar deur
die dekonstruksie van die uitdrukking nooit weer nie getoon dat hierdie benadering
nie in WVK’s of op die groter gebied van oorgangsgeregtigheid tuishoort nie.
23
Singh, Alaka. "The Political Economy in India: Interest Groups and Development (1947-1990)." W&M ScholarWorks, 1992. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539625751.
Full text
24
Jameel, Hemn Namiq. "A case study of political corruption in conflict-affected societies (the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 2003-13)." Thesis, University of Leicester, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/39926.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis presents the analysis of a case study on political corruption in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The focus is on the democratic transition between 2003 and 2013 addressing three zones. The first area is associated with the ways the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) carries out public recruitment processes and allocates exceptional pensions. The second is about the ways in which media outlets are financed, and how this affects the position of the press in the fight against corruption. The final case is related to how political parties finance their activities, and how this process is linked to political corruption. The objectives of this study are to identify the traits and extent of political corruption, to determine potential reasons for the growing opportunities for it, and to provide possible recommendations to minimise corruption incentives. The central argument of this thesis is that the two dominant ruling parties benefited from their positions, managed to abuse government positions and to appropriate public wealth to serve their own ends in a critical transitional period. This analysis essentially relies on primary data gathered from face-to-face interviews conducted with relevant elites and from official documents. The findings of this analysis suggest that the KRG has applied informal procedures to exclusively recruit members of the ruling parties to its institutions, offering them public positions and allocating them exceptional pensions. It is also argued here that both parties have established a substantial number of partisan and semi-partisan press networks, funded by the KRG, to deliver their political sentiments and attack their opponents. This thesis further asserts that the ruling parties abused two core sources of party funding, namely public subsidies and private financial resources, to strengthen their domination and challenge any political party that sought to unseat them. These conditions have laid the grounds for the emergence of different forms of political corruption, including party patronage, clientelism and state capture, which have together created a vicious circle. Faced with these findings, this thesis finally proposes some policy recommendations to strengthen public institutions and reduce opportunities for political corruption.
25
Simunjak, Maja. "The (de)personalisation of mediated political communication in communist and post-communist societies : the case of Croatia." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2014. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/51482/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis focuses on the personalisation of mediated political communication and contributes to the personalisation scholarship by adding to it a non-Western perspective. Specifically, that from the communist and post-communist societies, by using Croatia, the latest member of the European Union, and its communist predecessor Yugoslavia, as a case study. The thesis starts from the premise that the political communication is more personalized, i.e. focused on individual political actors and their personae, in communist and post-communist societies, than in Western ones with which personalisation scholarship dominantly deals with. It is also hypothesized that it may have graver consequences than in the West. For example, it may weaken political institutions, sustain authoritarianism, lead to manipulation and deceit of public etc. Accordingly, main research question asked in this thesis is: What are the similarities and differences in the ways in which the personalisation of mediated political communication develops over time in a communist non-democratic system, a post-communist new democracy, and an established Western democracy? The question is answered through a longitudinal content analysis of Yugoslav/Croatian daily newspapers and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. The empirical analyses revealed that the personalized political communication indeed develops in a different way, and is connected to different conditions, in the transitional society, than is the case in established Western democracies. The most important finding of this study is that the mediated political communication was, unlike in Western democracies, de-personalized over time. The theoretical discussion of the possible causes and effects of personalisation in communist and post-communist societies contributes to the development of personalisation theory, and the empirical study provides original evidence of how and why mediated political communication was personalized in non-Western contexts. Furthermore, two new theories are formed that may help explain the personalisation trends in transitional societies. These are continuation theory and democratization theory.
26
Ozoeze, Victor Anthony. "Ethnicity and Politics of Exclusion in Nigeria : Employing Rawls'Theory of Justice in Plural Societies." Thesis, Linköping University, Centre for Applied Ethics, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-2913.
Full textAbstract:
<p>With an estimated 250 ethnic groups, Nigeria, no doubt, has been grappling with the problem of pluralism of ethnic nationalities. It is not news in Nigeria that extreme ethnic consciousness of its citizens has led to the victimization of one ethnic group by another. This victimization has come in the form of exclusions in the distribution of both wealth and power in the country.</p><p>Amidst all the exclusions, the unity of the country has been ironically regarded as sacrosanct, and should not be negotiated. It is often said that fate brought all the ethnic nationalities in order to form one great country. I subscribe to this belief that fate brought us together for the above purpose, especially now that several countries around the world are merging in one way or the other to form a formidable force to reckon with both politically and economically. Hence, “(ethnic integration) is the integration of capabilities. It develops the capabilities of the workforce… it offers opportunities for better synergy of skills”. However, it would be ethically unhealthy for the unity of the country not to be compromised under the present dispensation, which has been compromising in turn the basic moral principle of social justice. There cannot be any moral basis for the continued existence of a country like Nigeria, which as it were, has thrown equality of all citizens to the dogs.</p><p>Should the country remain united, it must do so by imbibing the culture of regarding all citizens, as well as, all ethnic nationalities as equal, and none should have more privileges than the others. Therefore, how can a plural society like Nigeria remain united as one indivisible country?</p><p>Rawls has offered some solutions to the problem of stability engendered by the pluralism of ethnic groups in Nigeria. His idea of ‘overlapping consensus of reasonable comprehensive doctrines’ in his Political Liberalism is capable of bringing back the country to the state of stability. There will be stability, if all forms of exclusion seize to exist in the Nigerian polity.</p>
27
M, Sjöberg Fredrik. "Competitive Elections in Authoritarian States : Weak States, Strong Elites, and Fractional Societies in Central Asia and Beyond." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-156150.
Full textAbstract:
Why do some authoritarian states have competitive elections? This study shows that whenever there is a balance of power between candidates, competitiveness will ensue. Electoral fraud is often widespread in autocratic states, but if no single candidate or party is in a position to monopolize electoral support the result will be competitive. The contribution here is to analyze the relative strength of all the actors involved in a parliamentary election and to show that electoral returns reflect the district level balance of power, even in autocracies. Three main sources of candidate-level electoral power are identified: state, market, and society. State affiliated candidates in authoritarian states perform well due to favorable treatment by state institutions. Market actors perform well due to financial resources. These actors arise when market reforms create a class of entrepreneurs that defend their interests by running for public office, often challenging state sanctioned candidates. The strength of candidates using social cleavages, here mainly ‘clan’ and ethnic, is found to be exaggerated in the literature. The study also confirms that competitiveness did not result from an active civil society. Competitive elections matter because they can severely destabilize the regime, as was the case in Kyrgyzstan in 2005. However, electoral competitiveness that is the result of an intra-elite balance of power should not be confused with democracy. This form of self-interested competitiveness where clientelism is pervasive and accountability mechanisms are weak is an affront to the democratic ideal. For those of us who advocate democracy and genuine political participation competitive authoritarian regimes can be used as an informative cautionary tale. Power matters, and especially so in authoritarian states. Understanding the logic behind competitive authoritarianism helps us revise strategies for lasting democratic reforms.
28
Mikuš, Marek. "What reform? : civil societies, state transformation and social antagonism in 'European Serbia'." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2013. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/788/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines a set of intentional transformations of the government of society and individuals in the globalising (‘Europeanising’) and neoliberalising Serbia in 2010–11. It asks two closely related kinds of question about these ‘reforms’ – first, what reform is really there, of what depth, and second, whose reform is it, in and against whose interests? This inquiry strives to identify some of the dominant transformational tendencies and resistances to these, and to relate these governmental projects and their actual achievements to the conflicted interests and identities in Serbian society that undergoes profound restructuring in the context of a prolonged economic decline and political crisis. Based on ethnographic engagements with various kinds of nongovernmental organisations, social movements and public institutions, the reforms are traced at the interface of the ‘state’ and ‘civil society’ so as to examine how their mutual relations are being reimagined and boundaries redrawn. Civil society is conceptualised, building on anthropological and Gramscian approaches, as a set of ideas and practices that continually reconstitute and mediate the relationships of ‘state,’ ‘society’ and ‘economy,’ and which reproduce as well as challenge domination by consent – cultural and ideological hegemony. While a particular liberal understanding of civil society has become hegemonic in Serbia, in social reality there is a plurality of ‘civil societies’ – scenes of associational practice that articulate diverse visions of a legitimate social order and perceive each other as antagonists rather than parts of a single harmonious civil society. The discourses and practices of three such scenes – liberal, nationalist and post-Yugoslav – and their relationships to the perspectives and interests of various social groups are examined in order to identify some of the key moments of social antagonism about reform in contemporary Serbia.
29
Isenhour, Cindy. "BUILDING SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES: EXPLORING SUSTAINABILITY POLICY AND PRACTICE IN THE AGE OF HIGH CONSUMPTION." UKnowledge, 2010. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_diss/1.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation is an attempt to examine how humans in wealthy, post-industrial urban contexts understand sustainability and respond to their concerns given their sphere of influence. I focus specifically on sustainable consumption policy and practice in Sweden, where concerns for sustainability and consumer-based responses are strong. This case raises interesting questions about the relative strength of sustainability movements in different cultural and geo-political contexts as well as the specific factors that have motivated the movement toward sustainable living in Sweden.
The data presented here supports the need for multigenic theories of sustainable consumerism. Rather than relying on dominant theories of reflexive modernization, there is a need for locally and historically grounded analyses. The Swedish case illustrates that the relative strength of sustainable living is linked not only to high levels of awareness about social, economic and ecological threats to sustainability, but also to a strong and historically rooted emphasis on equality in Sweden. In this context, sustainable living is often driven by concerns for global equity and justice. The research therefore affirms the findings of those like Hobson (2002) and Berglund and Matti (2005) who argue that concerns for social justice often have more resonance with citizen-consumers - driving more progressive lifestyle changes than personal self-interest.
Yet despite the power of moral appeals, this research also suggests that the devolution of responsibility for sustainability - to citizens in their roles as consumers on the free market – has failed to produce significant change. While many attribute this failure to “Gidden’s Paradox” or the assumption that people will not change their lifestyles until they see and feel risks personally, the data presented here illustrates that even those most committed to sustainable living confront structural barriers that they do not have the power to overcome. The paradox is not that people can’t understand or act upon threats to sustainability from afar; but rather that it is extremely difficult to live more sustainably without strong social support, market regulation and political leadership. Sustainability policy must work to confront the illusion of choice by breaking down structural barriers, particularly for people who do not have the luxury of choosing alternatives.
30
McQuerry, Elizabeth 1964. "Central American women's organizations: Two case studies of political participation." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/291498.
Full textAbstract:
Guatemala's Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM) and the Asociacion de Mujeres Nicaraguenses Luisa Amanda Espinoza (AMNLAE) in Nicaragua exemplify the resurgence of social movements arising from the turmoil in Central America. They are female collective agents pursuing the self-defined interests of their membership. Via humanitarian activism, the GAM struggles to locate the desaparecidos, while AMNLAE exercises institutional activism as a means to incorporate women and promote gender-specific interests. Women in both groups became active to protect "practical gender interests" and, as a result, women's level of consciousness is growing but the acquisition of a gender awareness does not necessarily follow political conscientization. The growing level of political participation and consciousness provides the women with training to become active and efficacious participants in the dynamics of their country.
31
Thomas, Jeffrey Scott. "The Political Imaginings of Slave Conspirators: Atlantic Contexts of the 1710 Slave Conspiracy in Martinique." W&M ScholarWorks, 2011. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539626661.
Full text
32
Murtagh, Cera Eleanor. "Fighting for the centre : civic political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Northern Ireland in comparative perspective." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/25834.
Full textAbstract:
In deeply divided societies political parties that attempt to reach across that divide, by definition, form the exception. Indeed, in post-settlement contexts where institutions have been designed to accommodate communal identities, non-ethnic parties are broadly cast in the literature as marginal actors. Nevertheless, in a number of segmented societies, civic parties and movements have emerged and seized space in the political system. This thesis probes the puzzle of these actors’ existence and endurance in power-sharing frameworks by comparatively analysing the experiences of civic parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Northern Ireland. It explores the constraints and opportunities these parties encounter in such settings and how they navigate those structures. This thesis seeks to advance understanding of this critical topic, contributing comparative findings on which broader theoretical work can build. Standing at the juncture of the theories of consociational democracy and civic mobilisation in divided societies, this research examines this problem comparatively in the selected cases. Taking a qualitative, interpretive approach it draws primarily on evidence from elite interviews, as well as a limited number of focus groups with voters and analysis of party documents. This thesis has found that civic parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Northern Ireland, in varying ways, meet with severe barriers in the formal and informal structures of their consociational settings, but that they also find critical openings therein. These opportunities, however, can incentivise non-ethnic actors to assume roles and pursue strategies that conflict with their longer term goals and challenge their legitimacy as civic parties. In fighting for survival on the centre ground in divided polities, civic parties are faced with strategic dilemmas that they must carefully negotiate. These findings demonstrate the centrality of institutions for the type of politics and political actors that ensue following peace settlement and bear potential implications for institutional design and party strategy in such contexts.
33
Tahir, Sabri. "Humanitarian Interventions in Complex Societies : A comparative study of Kosovo, Libya and Somalia Interventions." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-321419.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines and compares the humanitarian interventions in Kosovo, Libya and Somalia. The purpose of this study is to examine if the presence of strong tribal structures within a nation can increase the risk of terrorist activities, and subsequently contribute to a failed state following a humanitarian intervention. By applying a theory on tribes and critical terrorism studies, this thesis argues that policymakers might underestimate the significance of tribal structure within a state, before intervening. With Mills method of concomitant variation, this thesis has examined and compared the leadership, interventions, radical presence, and tribal structures of Kosovo, Libya and Somalia. This thesis has also examined if interventions can increase radicalism. The result from the analysis shows us that the presence of strong tribal structures can increase the terrorist activities and subsequently contribute to a failed state. Humanitarian intervention can further lengthen the weak state apparatus if the external actors neglect of the local structures of a state.
34
Miller, Sara Ann. "Ethnic Conflict, Electoral Systems, and Power Sharing in Divided Societies." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2006. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/political_science_theses/7.
Full textAbstract:
This paper investigates the relationship between ethnic conflict, electoral systems, and power sharing in ethnically divided societies. The cases of Guyana, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago are considered. Electoral systems are denoted based on presidential versus parliamentary system, and on proportional representation versus majoritarian/plurality. The paper concludes that, while electoral systems are important, other factors like the power distribution between ethnic groups, and ensuring a non-zero-sum game may be as important.
35
Jaliwala, Rubaica [Verfasser]. "Political Education in Plural Societies: Using the Anti-Bias Approach to Challenge Oppression in Bombay and Berlin / Rubaica Jaliwala." Kassel : Universitätsbibliothek Kassel, 2012. http://d-nb.info/1029754578/34.
Full text
36
Zeeuw, Jeroen. "Political party development in post-war societies : the institutionalization of parties and party systems in El Salvador and Cambodia." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2009. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/2133/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis argues that civil war has a significant, lasting impact on the formation, development and institutionalization of parties and party systems. Through in-depth examination of the cases of El Salvador and Cambodia it shows that dominant party systems and uneven institutionalization of individual political parties prevalent in post-war societies can to a not insignificant extent be attributed to war-related factors such as war-time origins of parties, the way in which war ended, the nature of the peace agreement, and post-war design of electoral, media and other public institutions. Its focus on party and party system institutionalization is rooted in the Western-oriented party politics literature, which suggests that the nature of electoral competition, the impact of societal cleavages and the workings of formal political institutions are primary explanatory factors. By contrast, this thesis argues that in non-Western developing countries affected by civil war, war-related factors and post-war security, socio-economic and political conditions are equally if not more important for understanding post-war party development. Through a structured focused comparison of party and party system institutionalization in El Salvador and Cambodia based on extensive interviews and field research, the thesis demonstrates that the war-time origins of the main Salvadoran and Cambodian parties have left a deep imprint on their organizational structures and leadership style, just as war-time political exclusion set the tone for unbalanced party competition after the war. Although El Salvador’s party system is more institutionalized than Cambodia’s and there are many other differences, there are also clear cross-national patterns of unequal individual party institutionalization and ruling party dominance that are a product of the war. Given that institutionalized parties and a competitive party system are important ingredients for a healthy democracy these findings are important for understanding the challenges and prospects of democratization in these and other post-war countries.
37
Wu, Hsin-Che. "Evaluating the role of Confucian tradition in the prospects and limits of political change in four East Asian societies." Thesis, Durham University, 2013. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6931/.
Full textAbstract:
Confucian society is one of the major cultural and social systems of East Asia. There have been long-standing scholarly debates about whether Confucian societies can produce or maintain a democratic regime; and in more recent years discussion of why there are several Confucian societies that can democratise yet some of them cannot. In order to contribute to these debates, this thesis conducts an analysis of China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea to explore and explain the following issues by comparative strategy: why have some Confucian societies democratised yet some of them have not? What is the role of traditional legacies from the pre-democratic dynasties and how does this political culture shape contemporary Confucian societies and their capacity to produce and sustain democratic politics? What is the role of economic and social modernisation in contemporary Confucian societies in the development of democracy? What role is played by ruling parties and leader’s attitudes and choices when they face claims for democracy from society? How do these three factors - legacies, modernisation and ruler’s choices - shape successful and unsuccessful cases of democratic change in East Asia? Evaluating these factors by comparative qualitative and quantitative strategy, this thesis concludes: the ruling parties and leaders strategies for democracy are quite different between successful and unsuccessful cases. In China and Singapore, the leadership can unite and deploy a pseudo-democracy to respond to democratic claims of society; yet in Taiwan and South Korea, non-democratic leaderships could not sustain their rule, and they even chose to cooperate with opponents for survival. Secondly, the traditional legacies that emerged from the pre-democratic imperial system are the elements to hinder development of democracy rather than Confucianism itself. In China and Singapore, these legacies are selectively chosen by leaders to serve their official ideologies, yet in Taiwan and South Korea, rulers could not sustain their ability to manipulate these legacies. Modernisation in China and Singapore is controlled officially so it serves and consolidates non-democratic rule; but in Taiwan and Singapore, the modernisation process was not totally controlled by non-democratic rulers and instead promoted democratisation in these societies. Comparing these factors, the attitude and unity of rulers seems the influential factor for this debate. If non-democratic rulers can remain united in their strategy, traditional legacies for serving non-democratic rule will be strengthened, and the effects of modernisation for democracy will continue to be limited. However, because the younger generation demonstrates positive attitudes to democratic values and against traditional legacies, this situation could still change in the long run.
38
Vazquez-Rodríguez, Ana-Maria. "Conflicted societies in motion: A study of individual and collective responses to drug-related violence in Mexico." Thesis, Boston College, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:108053.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis advisor: Margaret Lombe<br>Thesis advisor: Alfonso Hernandez<br>Drug-related violence in Mexico has grown into a profound social problem, aggravating existing insecurity, vulnerability, and citizen’s wellbeing. In critical scenarios of this kind, the virtues of social engagement for enhanced wellbeing, improved security and true democracy appear futile. This research examines how resources and incentives for mobilization operate. Specifically, social capital and political culture are studied as mechanisms that may affect those relationships. This research draws upon theories of Collective Action and Social Capital Theory. Also used are studies on the influence of emotions and perceptions on citizen’s collective mobilization. This approach contributes by accounting for informal participation and their various political loadings in conflict environments. To achieve the objective, Regression Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling were conducted. The study uses secondary data collected in 2011 (N = 7,416) using a probabilistic sample design representative of seven Mexican states selected by their levels of violence. Two subsamples were constructed to examine the varying effects of social and political resources on mobilization across regions (north and south). Results show the emotional component associated with citizen’s mobilization for collective action. The findings also exhibit social capital and political culture as key indicators of people’s decision to organize for social change. Finally, intriguing results related to the “negative form” of social capital were observed. To be precise, social capital appears to be insufficient to explain citizens' motives to mobilize with others for social change. Implications for policy and scholarship are presented. Specifically, initiatives regarding the importance of the effects of the weakened democratic environment, social lack of trust, government unresponsiveness and impunity, and self-directed processes of justice at the community level are highlighted<br>Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018<br>Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work<br>Discipline: Social Work
39
Wickstrom, Stefanie D. "The political ecology of development and indigenous resistance in Panama and the United States : a comparative study of the Ngöbe, Kuna, Zuni and Skokomish societies /." view abstract or download file of text, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p3018402.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001.<br>Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 356-380). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p3018402.
40
Hernandez, Mauricio. "An assessment of health as an indicator of socio-political sustainability in the earliest state-level societies of East Asia." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709088.
Full text
41
Alfadhel, Khalifa Ali. "Conceptual problems following the application of the democracy norm in international law to the political societies of the Arab World." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2015. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/9704/.
Full textAbstract:
The Arab World witnessed a series of popular uprisings in early 2011, which led to dramatic events in the region, and were known collectively as the Arab Spring. The events that followed did not show a promising transition to democratic governance after decades of authoritarian rule. This is due to many conceptual problems, deeply rooted in international law, democratic theory and the rhetoric of Islamist political intolerance that dominated the political scene in the region. This thesis will present how the extant international law democracy norm is predominantly procedural in its nature, focused on the conduct of free and fair elections on a periodic basis, with an incomplete conceptualization of the citizen and his/her role in the formation of a democratic society. The example of the Arab Spring demonstrates that this understating is insufficient, where it lacks the substantive requirements for its sustainable success and the necessary theoretical and institutional measures to prevent political intolerance. This thesis will therefore analyze the foundational texts of democratic theory in both of their traditional and contemporary accounts, highlighting the fact that they point to a conceptual requirement to limit democratic rights of political participation to reasonable citizens. This requirement of reasonableness requires citizens to have the willingness to cooperate with each other in a system of cooperation over generations beyond the philosophical limitations of any comprehensive doctrine or ideology. The idea of the reasonable citizen would thus exclude the participation of intolerant Islamist actors in the context of the Arab World. This practical consequence needs therefore a ‘Religious Contract’ that extends the social contract theory (in both of its traditional and contemporary descriptions) to formulate an agreement to engage in democratic politics by reasonable citizens who are willing to listen to each other in order to create a democratic society. Where such agreement based on the previous theoretical foundation cannot be achieved, certain actors, including the intolerant Islamist actors would be excluded from the democratic process.
42
Miller, Derek Robert. "Breaking the Mold: Sugar Ceramics and the Political Economy of 18th Century St Eustatius." W&M ScholarWorks, 2008. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539626553.
Full text
43
O'Callaghan, Elizabeth A. "Social Transformation in Divided Societies: Willingness to Integrate Post-Power Sharing Agreement: The Northern Ireland Case." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2010. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/political_science_theses/37.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the factors which impact societal willingness to integrate in a post conflict, post power sharing agreement environment. Utilizing the Northern Ireland case, this study analyzes variance in willingness to integrate between Protestant and Catholic groups. Analysis of the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey data illustrates the shifting relationship between political trust and ingroup/outgroup frustrations on levels of willingness to integrate since the Good Friday Agreement. Statistical analyses indicate confirmation of ingroup attachment and elite political trust hypotheses, and reduced impact of outgroup benefit perceptions on willingness to integrate since the Good Friday Agreement.
44
Guha, Papia. "Regional Cooperation in South Asia." W&M ScholarWorks, 1991. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539625686.
Full text
45
Garcia, Lemos Alejandro. "A Tale of Two Campaigns: Political Crises and Electoral Strategies in Colombia During the Elections of Presidents Cesar Gaviria in 1990 and Ernesto Samper in 1994." FIU Digital Commons, 2002. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3840.
Full textAbstract:
This study holds that recurring political crises prior to Colombian elections broadly shape electoral strategies. Through reviewing the history of Colombia, political crises emerge as a salient characteristic that precedes most elections and affects electoral strategies. To measure the impact of political crisis on electoral strategies, two Colombian presidential campaigns were analyzed: that of César Gaviria in 1990 and of Ernesto Samper in 1994. The examination of descriptive data, from both case studies and interviews with key political consultants, were used to identify how political crises have resulted in the modifications of the campaigns.
The findings showed that the electoral strategies for the two cases were adapted or modified due to the extreme conditions resulting from crises, such as the assassination of three presidential candidates before the 1990 election. The study concludes that crises led to the modification of electoral strategies in three specific areas: preparation of the campaigns, organization of the strategies, and in campaign themes and advertising images.
46
Garg, Shantanu. "Foundations of a Political Identity: An Inquiry into Indian Swaraj (Self-Rule)." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2014. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/891.
Full textAbstract:
India is celebrated as the largest democracy in the world but is it truly democratic? Is it the nation-state that its founder’s envisioned it to be? Has it addressed it ancient issue of social diversity?
This paper seeks to assess the present problem faced by the Indian Democracy; problems based on India’s inherent social diversity. Furthermore the paper seeks to recommend a solution based on Amartya Sen’s Open Impartiality approach that will allow the country to reassess its democratic platform. The paper also aims at providing a starting point to execute Sen’s approach by exploring the vision of two of India’s independence leaders: Mohandas Karamchandra Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.
47
Sahovic, Dzenan. "Socio-cultural viability of international intervention in war-torn societies : a case study of Bosnia Herzegovina." Doctoral thesis, Umeå University, Political Science, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-1001.
Full textAbstract:
<p>This dissertation explores the ‘socio-cultural dilemma’ facing international peacebuilders in war-torn societies through a case study of the post-conflict process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is done with the help of a typological approach of the grid-group Cultural Theory framework, which defines four social solidarities – or ideal type cultures – of individualism, egalitarianism, fatalism and hierarchy. A central argument in the thesis is that international intervention is culturally individualistic and/or egalitarian, thus socio-culturally unviable in war-torn societies, which are usually dominated by hierarchical and fatalist social solidarities.</p><p>This underlying socio-cultural conflict is used to trace the Bosnian post-war process, where the relationship between the managing international institution – the Office of the High Representative of the International Community – and the local nationalist elites repeatedly changed in response to the failure of international policies to produce the desired result, namely broad socio-cultural change in the local politics and society. Four different periods in the process are identified: 1) ’economic conditionality’, 2) ‘Bonn Powers’, 3) ‘the concept of ownership’ and 4) ‘Euro-Atlantic integration’. Each period is defined by different culturally biased policies, supported by corresponding social relations and strategic behaviours.</p><p>The individualistic and egalitarian biased approaches usually resulted in failures, as they were not viable in the local socio-cultural context. After adapting to the local context, new viable approaches produced results in specific policy areas, but at the cost of unwanted side-effects in the form of reinforcement of dominant social solidarities. The result was therefore contrary to the broad goal of the process, which was to transform the local political culture.</p><p>In other words, the defining and re-defining of the OHR’s role in the Bosnian process was a consequence of the dilemma of having to make an unsatisfactory choice: either to adapt to the way the political game is played in the Bosnian socio-cultural context in order to achieve effectiveness in the policy process, or to stay true to the peacebuilders’ own cultural biases and attempt to change the local socio-cultural accordingly. In essence, it is argued, this is the socio-cultural viability dilemma that is inherent in international peacebuilding.</p><p>In unveiling of the socio-cultural viability dilemma, the dissertation explores central problems in the Bosnian post-conflict process. It provides a credible explanation to a number of hitherto unexplained difficulties and paradoxes experienced in Bosnia. It concludes that the international intervention in this particular case was neither a success story nor a failure per se, but one which failed to properly address the dilemma of socio-cultural viability. The key conclusions regarding peacebuilding in general are that there should be a greater under¬¬standing of socio-cultural issues in peacebuilding in order to better manage the socio-cultural viability dilemma. Practically, this means that international peacebuilders need to adapt to local context and strive towards the goal of local ownership of the process. The aim should be to make the intervention as viable as possible, as quickly as possible, to boldly implement policies that promote changes in the local socio-cultural context, and to withdraw only after the necessary conditions for local ownership are in place.</p>
48
Kennedy, Jonathan. "The political economy of conflict between indigenous communities and dominant societies : adivasis, Maoist insurgents and the state in the central Indian tribal belt." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245191.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis aims to understand the political sociology of Maoist insurgency in India using a combination of disaggregated statistics and qualitative data. The vast majority of insurgent leaders are from dominant or upper caste, middle class backgrounds. Their participation in the insurgency can be understood in terms of ideology and short-term processes of mobilization. The Maoist insurgents provide a unified organizational structure for two separate sections of society. On the one hand, are untouchable or dalit landless laborers who suffer economic exploitation at the hands of higher caste landowners. On the hand are tribal or adivasi landowning cultivators whose relative autonomy has come under increasing pressure over the past two centuries as the state has established control over natural resources in their area. Their support for the insurgents does not just manifest itself from exploited untouchables’ and oppressed tribals’ positions in the social structure as structural theories would assume. Rather, the insurgents provide them with collective incentives in order to encourage their support. The actors at the macro and micro levels have very different reasons for participating in the insurgency. The insurgent leaders aim to capture state power through a Protracted People’s War, while the objectives of supporters at the micro-level tend to be more concerned with local and short-term issues. The insurgency should be conceptualised as a state building enterprise in which the interests of supporters at all levels are served by seizing local political power and the building of a base area. The thesis demonstrates that the insurgency is expanding most rapidly in the central Indian tribal belt. I use a case study to show that not all tribal communities support the insurgents. Some oppose them, either because their interests have been harmed by the presence of the insurgents, or as a result of a variety of endogenous mechanisms. This indicates that insurgency is a more dynamic and complex process than structural and rational actor theories allow for. The thesis finishes by placing the subject of indigenous communities and insurgency in the global context. It demonstrates that, while so-called indigenous communities listed by the Minorities at Risk project amount to 4.8% of the world’s population, they were involved in 43% of the intra-state conflict years listed by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program Armed Conflict Dataset between 1946 and 2010.
49
Bowen, Lauren R. "Free to Hate Freedom and the survival of liberalized states confronting theemergence of political Islam; effective state solutions to the rise of Islamic politicalviolence in democratic societies." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1440889210.
Full text
50
Nahmias, David. "Free Trade and Free Societies: The Effects of CAFTA on Democratic Institutions in Central America." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2010. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/229.
Full textAbstract:
During the debate over the ratification of the United States-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Bush Administration argued that implementation of a free trade agreement would help strengthen the nascent democracies in Central America. As a bilateral agreement, CAFTA would not only foment greater trade liberalization by expanding market access and eliminating trade barriers, but also help transform the entire commercial frameworks in Central America and promote economic development. These implications are not just economic – in particular, its provisions on intellectual property and investment rights, government procurement and labor standards affect the political institutions underpinning democracy and rule of law. This thesis assesses the role in which CAFTA has affected democratic institutions in Central America. It employs a methodology known as the Democratic Audit to evaluate consequences to four dimensions of democracy - the electoral processes, open and accountable institutions, civil and political liberties, and civil society. It demonstrates the value of using the Democratic Audit to assess a trade agreement’s political effects with an application to Mexico after NAFTA. Then this work considers the case studies of El Salvador and Costa Rica, the most salient examples of democratic institutional change after CAFTA, by drawing on original research especially into the electoral politics and civil society development in these countries. Ultimately, the thesis argues that the most significant institutional effects of CAFTA have been its role as a political issue, rather than its content, in galvanizing popular opinion and reinvigorating electoral politics and civil society - ironically, not the consequences that the Administration originally had in mind. The research demonstrates that, even if some conclusions cannot be drawn due to the recency of CAFTA, the framework it has employed will be an invaluable tool for assessing future trade agreements.