Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T20:31:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Izolde Hilbemberg de Oliveira.pdf: 748643 bytes, checksum: 7a25a15850a7635372d50e5e73d2664f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-06-30 / This research aims at analyzing the trajectory, structure and functioning of the Municipal Council of Education of Ponta Grossa City – Paraná State – Brazil, as well as investigating the extent to which this Council has been a tool for democratization in educational decision-making. The theoretical framework is based on authors who discuss the concepts of democracy and representative democracy, as well as the concepts of State and civil society (Bobbio, Held, Chauí, Carnoy and Gramsci, among others). The fieldwork comprises the following strategies of data collection: documentary analysis (laws, internal rules of the Council, meeting reports, official documents approved by the Council); non-participatory observations of the Council’s meetings; an interview with the town councilor who proposed the creation of the Municipal Council of Education; and interviews with 16 other councilors. The main findings are as follows: (a) although the Council investigated can be considered as an important means for the participation of civil society in education management, this Council has been legitimizing education policies formulated by the Municipal Secretariat of Education, rather than acting as a source of new proposals and their implementation; and (b) the contributions of the Municipal Council of Education of Ponta Grossa to the democratization of educational decision-making have, so far, been weak – and less than might have been expected. These conclusions must be understood in context, involving a range of factors (mediations), such as: the period of the Council’s existence; the conservative features of local society; the few opportunities for effective democratic and participatory experiments; the power relations inside the Municipal Secretariat of Education; the lack of councilor training; and the features of the process of democratic construction in Brazilian society. / Este estudo tem por objetivo analisar os principais aspectos da criação, da estrutura, do funcionamento e das contribuições do Conselho Municipal de Educação de Ponta Grossa - PR, bem como investigar em que medida esse Conselho tem sido um instrumento de democratização das decisões educacionais. O referencial teórico é constituído por autores que fundamentam os conceitos de democracia, democracia representativa e as concepções de Estado e sociedade civil (Bobbio, Held, Chauí, Carnoy, Gramsci entre outros). A metodologia adotada foi a investigação qualitativa, constituída por um estudo de caso. A pesquisa de campo envolveu as seguintes estratégias de coleta de dados: análise documental (leis de criação e regimento interno do CME, decretos, atas, deliberações), observação não-participante de reuniões do CME, entrevista com o vereador que propôs a lei do Conselho e com 16 conselheiros. As principais conclusões são as seguintes: a) embora o CME investigado constitua-se em um importante espaço de participação da sociedade civil na gestão educacional do município, o mesmo tem assumido um papel mais legitimador das políticas educacionais emanadas da Secretaria Municipal de Educação do que propriamente propositivo e mobilizador; b) as contribuições do CME para a democratização efetiva das decisões educacionais, bem como para a democratização da educação, até o presente, foram frágeis e muito aquém do que poderia ser esperado. Buscou-se compreender tais conclusões a partir de um sistema de mediações (locais e outras mais amplas) o qual tem determinado/configurado a atuação do CME: o tempo de existência do CME, o conservadorismo político que caracteriza a sociedade ponta-grossense, a falta de oportunidades de vivência democrática e participativa, as relações de poder e autoridade no âmbito da Secretaria Municipal de Educação, a ausência de mecanismos de formação de conselheiros e as características do processo de construção democrática na sociedade brasileira.

<p>Provincial governors constituted an important part of the decentralization package unveiled in Zimbabwe in 1984 and 1985. The President appoints provincial governors among other duties, to coordinate development planning and implementation at the provincial level. This paper seeks to examine the appointment and role of a provincial governor and in that way establish the extent to which such appointment and role hinder or enhance representative and participatory democracy, accountability, devolution and empowerment, as ideals of decentralization. This contribution examines provincial governance in Zimbabwe as part of the local government system.</p>

<p>It has become popular for political scientists to discuss the transformation from government to governance and the networks’ greater influence on public policymaking. However, this debate lacks methodological, empirical and theoretical research about the relationship between governance networks and representative democracy. The main objective of this essay is to understand the relationship between governance networks and representative democracy through a case study of the governance network Leader Linné. The theoretical framework includes four analysis models about the relationship between governance networks and representative democracy that are analysed by five factors connected to representative democracy. Each model has a specific approach to the public policymaking in networks e. g. were the power lies, how the general interest is understood and the role of politicians. The essay is designed as a case study combined with interviews of participants from the network’s national, regional and local level. The result of the essay is that the relationship between the governance network and representative democracy is complemental, meaning that representative democracy makes the central decisions in society where secondary decisions are made through a combination of representative- and participate democracy introduced by Leader. In Leader Linné the general interest is formed at EU level and politicians have a managerial role.</p>

<p>Provincial governors constituted an important part of the decentralization package unveiled in Zimbabwe in 1984 and 1985. The President appoints provincial governors among other duties, to coordinate development planning and implementation at the provincial level. This paper seeks to examine the appointment and role of a provincial governor and in that way establish the extent to which such appointment and role hinder or enhance representative and participatory democracy, accountability, devolution and empowerment, as ideals of decentralization. This contribution examines provincial governance in Zimbabwe as part of the local government system.</p>

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Provincial governors constituted an important part of the decentralization package unveiled in Zimbabwe in 1984 and 1985. The President appoints provincial governors among other duties, to coordinate development planning and implementation at the provincial level. This paper seeks to examine the appointment and role of a provincial governor and in that way establish the extent to which such appointment and role hinder or enhance representative and participatory democracy, accountability, devolution and empowerment, as ideals of decentralization. This contribution examines provincial governance in Zimbabwe as part of the local government system. / South Africa

[pt] Este trabalho faz uma análise do sistema eleitoral brasileiro a partir de uma perspectiva de gênero e avalia os mecanismos-chave desse sistema para o entendimento do precário acesso das mulheres aos cargos de representação do Congresso Nacional. Ao expor como o sistema eleitoral brasileiro produz desigualdade de representação entre homens e mulheres, demonstra-se que a adoção do sistema proporcional de lista fechada, aliado a um dispositivo de ação afirmativa, é mais adequado para ampliar a participação das mulheres na Câmara dos Deputados. / [en] This study analyzes the Brazilian electoral system from a gender perspective and assesses key mechanisms of this system crucial for the understanding of the precarious women s access to positions of representation in the National Congress. By exposing how Brazilian electoral system produces unequal representation between men and women, it demonstrates that the adoption of closed-list proportional system, associated to an affirmative action is most appropriate mechanism to increase participation of women in the House of Representatives.

Esta tese examina a representação política em arenas extraparlamentares, que são fóruns de deliberação com impacto importante sobre as políticas públicas nas democracias contemporâneas. Para tanto, são analisadas as concepções dos representantes que atuam em nome da sociedade civil nos Conselhos Gestores de Políticas Públicas. Com base em diferentes perspectivas teóricas a respeito da representação, foram pesquisadas as seguintes dimensões empíricas: as regras de composição dos Conselhos, o processo de autorização dos conselheiros, a forma como os representantes tomam decisões e prestam contas das suas ações, o controle sobre suas atividades e a visão dos conselheiros a respeito da legitimidade das suas práticas de representação. O estudo constatou que a composição dos Conselhos, o processo de escolha dos conselheiros, a prestação de contas e o controle sobre as ações dos representantes são restritos aos ativistas de organizações civis que acompanham os Conselhos. Apesar dessa restrição, os representantes consideram que defendem interesses gerais e causas universais. Também foi averiguado que quando os conselheiros são ligados a organizações compromissadas com os espaços de discussão em contextos de alta mobilização popular, eles são mais próximos dos usuários dos serviços públicos e dos militantes da área. / This thesis examines the political representation in extra-parliamental arenas, which are deliberation fora with major impact over public policies in contemporary democracies. To achieve this, we analyze the conceptions of the representatives who act on behalf of the civil society in the Sectoral Policy Councils. Based upon the different theoretical perspectives of representation, the following empirical dimensions were researched: the rules of the Councils composition, the councilors authorization process, the way representatives make decisions and the way they are accountable for their actions, the control over their activities and the councilors visions with respect to the legitimacy of their representation practices. The study verified that the composition of the Councils, the process of choosing the councilors, they way representatives make decisions and the way they are accountable for their actions are restricted to activists from civil organizations that follow the Councils. Despite this restriction, the representatives consider they defend general interests and universal causes. It was also verified that when councilors are connected with organizations committed to discussion spaces in contexts of high popular mobilization, they are closer to public services beneficiaries and activists in the area.

La thèse compare l’Assemblée nationale et le Bundestag en ce qui concerne l’évolution dans le temps des pratiques des affaires européennes qu’ont les députés, et de leurs discours sur le rôle des parlements dans l’UE. Elle met en lumière une évolution paradoxale : A mesure que les députés se saisissent de l’Europe, les pratiques parlementaires nationales imprègnent de plus en plus leurs discours sur la démocratie parlementaire dans l’UE. L’analyse se fait à travers une « description dense » (« thick description») fondée sur des documents, de la littérature secondaire et des entretiens avec des acteurs parlementaires, en activité aujourd’hui ou dans le passé. Les débats parlementaires sont analysés à l’aide d’une méthode qualitative-quantitative qui compare les clivages des discours dans le temps. La thèse soutient l’argument selon lequel les néo-institutionnalismes, qui prévalent actuellement dans les études européennes, ne suffisent pas pour comprendre les processus d'institutionnalisation, qui ont lieu dans les parlements nationaux, parallèlement à l'évolution de la législation européenne. En intégrant des éléments de la « practice theory », du social-constructivisme de Peter Berger et Thomas Luckmann et de l’« ancien » institutionnalisme de Max Weber, on peut comprendre les observations comme le fruit d’un changement des « motifs d’action » discursive des acteurs. A mesure que leur expérience de l’UE s’accroit, les députés évaluent la démocratie européenne de moins en moins sur la base de réflexions a priori sur le futur de l’intégration européenne, mais en fonction des pratiques qu’ils expérimentent tous les jours. / The thesis compares EU practice and discourse on the role of parliaments in the EU across time, in the Assemblée nationale and the Bundestag. The thesis brings to light the presence of a European Integration Paradox: Members of Parliaments’ rising experience in EU participation has led to an increasing importance of domestic roles for MPs’ ‘word and deed’ in EU affairs. EU practice is analysed through ‘thick description,’ which is based on primary and secondary interview evidence with current and historical parliamentary actors as well as the study of documents and secondary literature. Assessments of discourse on the role of parliaments are conducted through a systematic deductive-inductive analysis of debates on selected EU treaty changes. This thesis argues that neo-institutionalisms currently prevalent in EU studies are inadequate for understanding the institutionalisation processes at work in national parliaments with increasing EU legislation. Integrating elements of practice theory, of the social-constructivists Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann and the ‘old’ institutionalism of Max Weber, the observations can be interpreted as change of ‘motives’ of discursive action of the actors. With rising experience of ‘doing EU’, Members of Parliament evaluate the role of parliaments in the EU less on the basis of a priori considerations but depending of their day-to-day parliamentary practice.

A few ruling individuals from party organizations overpowered Indonesia's post-authoritarian, representative democracy. The legislative process of the 2017 Election Act was the case study employed to examine this assumption. The underlying thinking was that there was a contest between “wealth power” (oligarchy) and “participation power” (democracy). The power of wealth controls the party and government institutions. Notwithstanding the presence of participation power, there was, however, no balance between wealth power and participation power, because the formal control of politics was in the hands of party oligarchs. The study purpose was to bridge the gap in knowledge by exploring how the party oligarchs maintained the policymaking, reputedly using cartelized strategies, to defend the status quo. By employing the oligarchy and cartelization theories, the central research question of this inquiry focused on how the party oligarchs, allegedly using cartel work-patterns, mastered the policy process in post-Suharto Indonesia. A qualitative case-study was used with in-depth interviews with 15 participants for data collection and the N-Vivo program for data analysis. Qualitative findings indicated that the party oligarchs engineered the legal process in parliament applying cartelized strategies to defend privileges they obtained from collusive interpenetration with the state. The implications for social change include informing members of parliament, other policymakers, and civil society groups of the cruciality of comprehending the modus operandi of oligarchic cartels. Understanding the “oligarchic cartelization” theoretical postulate is a fundamental step for party members to improve their performance in public offices. The results of this study can also be a useful reference for pro-democracy activists to defend the ontological essence of public participation in implementing representative democracy at an appropriate level.

(in English): Main goal of this diploma is to analyze the relationship between populism and representative democracy. The theoretical part of my work is researching populism as a vague concept and determining its minimal definition and esential constituents (I have declined the possibility that populism is only anti-essentialy formed attitude/phenomenon). In the analytical part I've studied the relationship between populism and representative democracy, and defined drawbacks of this uneasy coexistence. However I believe that representative democracy can't be successfully fulfiled without this phenomenon and I have also found not only positive moments of this relationship - I assume that populism is necessary supplement of representative democracy.