The standard theoretical account of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) is one of principled non-state actors remaking world politics by upsetting conventional notions of power in the international system. Relying on persuasion and framing instead of disruption and protest, these global networks of activists, NGOs, scientists and technical experts transform states and their preferences by developing, promoting, and monitoring compliance with norms. At the core of this literature is an implicit assumption of fixity in the moral commitments of TANs that galvanizes collective identity, sustains transnational mobilization, and ultimately allows them to leverage actors much more powerful than themselves. By contrast, this dissertation develops a theory of “advocacy drift” based on a selection of transnational issue campaigns in the People’s Republic of China. It argues that in state-dominated contexts with highly developed institutions of social control, immovable national interests sometimes exert transformative effects on the principled goals of activist campaigns or see the TAN incorporated into the state itself. This finding not only suggests that authoritarian governments influence advocacy networks just as advocates can influence those governments, but that the preferences and identities of TANs are less static than previously thought, and may shift in response to exogenous environmental stimuli. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-08 21:05:30.662

The purpose of this dissertation is to resolve an apparent conflict between the services that tax preparers provide and the tax preparation services taxpayers seek. Some literature demonstrates that tax professionals equate client advocacy with taking aggressive tax positions and minimizing taxes. Other literature suggests taxpayers seek to increase accuracy and reduce the probability of tax audit when they hire a tax professional. This difference is an "expectation gap."The methodology employed to examine this issue is a survey of tax professionals at various levels of expertise. This survey asks tax preparers what they believe motivates their clients to seek professional tax preparation services. It also asks how aggressive a tax professional should be in minimizing clients' taxes. A similar survey sent to taxpayers who use the services of a tax preparer asked the same questions about taxpayers' primary motivation in seeking professional tax preparation services and then about how they believe their tax preparer would answer the questions about aggressive tax reporting.This dissertation extends the research in several ways. In previous studies, taxpayer motivation has been determined by using a simple checklist or an open-ended question. Instead of using these approaches, I developed a scale using methods that rigorously test for validity. In measuring client advocacy, I use a scale that has been recently developed and used in the literature. While previous research has shown the disparity between what tax professionals provide and what taxpayers want, no study has asked each group how they believe the other group will respond. This will provide a measure of the degree of understanding each group has of the other.This research show that there is an expectation gap between taxpayers and their tax preparers at all levels, and that this gap is statistically significant. However, the actual size of the gap is small; accuracy and client advocacy have the largest gaps. Additional findings are that timesavings is more important to taxpayers with children, that contact with the IRS is correlated with a lower desire to avoid it, and that lower tax knowledge is correlated with stronger desire for an accurate return.

No description available.

The Texas Statewide Youth Leadership Forum (TXYLF) provides self-advocacy training to high school youths with disabilities. TXYLF is an enhanced version of the Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) that is comprised of an initial five day training, a nine month support phase, regional YLFs, and the opportunity for participants to return to the five day training to serve as a mentor to their peers. This study’s purpose was to examine the TXYLF participants’ post-training outcomes and the relationships among advocacy involvement and adult outcomes. To achieve this purpose, former TXYLF participants were surveyed between one and six years after their participation in TXYLF. The correlational study analyzed descriptively the participants’ outcomes and inferentially, through logistic regression, the relationships among participants’ adult outcomes, self-advocacy involvement, and the various TXYLF participation components. The results demonstrated that TXYLF participants’ post-training postsecondary education attendance was higher than the national average for adults with disabilities. Participants with low incidence disabilities were involved in inclusive employment more often than the national average. A minority status increased the likelihood of involvement in secondary education advocacy, having a high incident disability increased the likelihood of post-training employment, and being under 21 years old increased the likelihood of living independently post-training, involvement in postsecondary education advocacy, and involvement in employment advocacy. Involvement in TXYLF for one full year, including involvement as a mentor, increased the likelihood of post-training employment; involvement in TXYLF’s nine month support phase and involvement as a mentor increased the likelihood of post-training postsecondary education attendance, postsecondary education advocacy, and employment advocacy. Attending a regional YLF further increased the likelihood of postsecondary education and postsecondary education advocacy. Furthermore, involvement in TXYLF as a mentor increased the likelihood of post-training employment, postsecondary education, and independent living. No significant relationships were observed for self-advocacy and adult-outcomes. Future research is needed that takes the findings of this study and establishes a causal relationship through a randomized group experimental design.

In a civil war, conflict management practitioners are concerned with bringing the conflict to an end and providing security for civilians. Similarly, human rights advocacy groups are also concerned with minimizing civilian harm. Given the similar intentions of these actors in civil war states, this dissertation explores under what circumstances conflict management practitioners and human rights advocacy groups collaborate. First, I compare to what extent mediation and peacekeeping cases differ with regards to showing signs of interaction; second, I compare how the level of interaction changes depending on whether peacekeeping missions are deployed by the United Nations or regional intergovernmental organizations. I find that human rights groups are more likely to interact with peacekeeping missions, especially when the missions are deployed by the United Nations. Moreover, I analyze to what extent the interaction between human rights groups and peacekeeping operations impacts how human rights groups carry out their advocacy efforts. The findings reveal that the way human rights groups use their advocacy efforts depend on whether the third parties providing peacekeeping operations respond to their requests.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2008. / Prepared for: School of Social Work . Bibliography: leaves 249 - 265. Available online via the internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009. / Prepared for: Dept. of Public Policy and Administration. Title from resource description page. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Texas State University--San Marcos, 2009. / Vita. Appendices: leaves 60-64. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-70). Also available on microfilm.

Thesis (D.C.P. / M. Sc.)--School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, 2007. / Title from title screen (viewed on February 3, 2009) Degree awarded 2007; thesis submitted 2006. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology/Master of Science to the School of Psychology, Faculty of Science. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

This study examines how LGBT activists and LGBT youth make meaning of a strategic advocacy campaign. By examining activist and advocacy efforts aimed at youth, this research brings to light how LGBT organizations use campaigns to articulate identity and, conversely, how LGBT youth articulate notions of identity. Through the lens of the It Gets Better Project, a nonprofit activist organization, this dissertation uses in-depth interviews with organizational members and chat-based interviews with LGBT youth to study the meanings participants brought to the campaign. Strategic communication has been instrumental in construction of LGBT as a cohesive collective identity and has played a vital role in the early stages of the gay rights movement. This research demonstrates how contemporary LGBT advocacy, through strategic communication, works to shape understandings of LGBT youth. Instead of focusing on the Internet as a democratic space that equalizes power differentials between an organization and its publics, this study shows that the construction of identity is the result of a dynamic process between producers and consumers in which power is localized and does not simply belong to an organization or its public. This research challenges the Internet as a democratic space and demonstrates that identity is a discursive struggle over meaning that is bound up in the intimate dance between producers and consumers of a campaign. In contrast to functionalist understandings of public relations that privileges the organization, this dissertation contends that a cultural-economic approach focuses on the processes of communication. A cultural-economic approach gives voice to the diverse audiences of a communication campaign and addresses the role communication plays as a discursive force that influences the construction of identities.