Women’s political representation is often investigated through cross-national comparisons. Such studies generally focus on women’s political representation at the national level, assuming that countries are homogenous units. However, structural and cultural differences are many times just as large within countries as they are between them. Modernization theory suggests that women’s political representation will increase with development, something that a number of previous studies on primarily Western countries find support for. In order to see if this theory is applicable also on a developing country like Brazil, this quantitative study compares the aggregated share of locally elected women (dependent variable) in 136 Brazilian regions in the 2012 municipal elections with levels of log GDP per capita, population density and female labor force participation (independent variables). In contrast to previous studies on Western countries, the results of this study find no support for the ideas of modernization theory. With moderate correlation, this study actually indicates that higher values of GDP per capita and female labor force participation have negative effects on women’s political representation at the local level in the compared Brazilian regions. Population density was not found to have any substantial effect on women’s political representation.

<p>The purpose of this study is to map out and to analyze the spatial variation of female representation at the national level in established democracies. The aim is also to explain the variation in the female representation. The main questions that the paper tries to answer are:</p><p>1.How does women representation in established democratic parliaments vary?</p><p>2.Why does women representation in established democratic parliaments vary?</p><p>This study is a comparative and statistic study, i.e. a study that includes a bigger number of countries and where quantitative analysis methods are used in order to achieve comparative analyses. This study is both a descriptive and an explanatory study. The statistical method that is used in this study is mainly bivariat analysis and multivariat regression.</p><p>The results show that the variation in female representation in the established democracies is quite considerable. Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Netherlands feature high female representation at the national level during the period 1995-2005. The result also implies that the proportion of women in parliament increases during the current period. The result also shows that political institutions, socio-economic -and cultural factors, are important and necessary in order to explain the variation in female representation. The overall standards that can be discerned of the statistical analyses is that the proportion of women in parliament is higher in countries with a proportional electoral system, high number of parliament members, high socio-economic development (high HDI, GDI and GNP per capita) contemporary as the country introduced female suffrage in an early stage and have a more positive attitude toward female leadership.</p>

Cette recherche doctorale propose de discuter le concept de représentation politique afin de pouvoir le mobiliser dans l’examen empirique de la dynamique d’institutionnalisation du féminisme au Chili. La thèse défendue est que les organisations féministes institutionnalisées « font » de la représentation politique bien qu’elles n’appartiennent pas à l’espace politique formel défini par les élections et qu’elles ne sont pas impliquées dans une relation d’autorisation et de reddition des comptes avec les personnes qu’elles entendent représenter. Il s’agira donc de combler l’approche conventionnelle de la représentation politique, ancrée dans l’histoire du gouvernement démocratique libéral, et qui ne permet pas de rendre compte d’un pan de la représentation politique : celle qui ne s’articule pas autour des élections et qui est le fait d’acteurs évoluant en dehors de l’espace politique formel. L’étude du cas chilien, selon une démarche de sociologie historique du politique, permettra de tester cette hypothèse.

<p>Abstract</p><p>The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the Swedish political parties have been discussing gender politics since 1970 to nowadays, in order to see which problems and solutions that have been suggested by the parties to increase the representation of women and the equality between the sexes. The theoretical framework is constructed by theories of women´s representation, gender politics and women’s interest.</p><p>To describe how the discussions about gender politics have been between the different parties, the methodological foundation consists of an ideology critical textual analysis of the political programs from the Swedish parties.</p><p>The analysis confirms that the discussions about gender politics and the political representation of women increase over time. The most important issue of equality is the lack of women´s rights and possibilities in the labor market as a consequence of women´s responsibility of home and childcare. The analysis also shows that parties which discuss women as a category and the underrepresentation of women also point out the importance to increase equality between men and women.</p>

This thesis studies women politicians’ journey along the path from candidates to elected representatives in party list proportional representation (PR list) systems. While past literature provides sufficient evidence that more women are elected in proportional electoral systems than in majority / plurality systems, there is limited research explaining the differences in women’s representation across varying types of PR list systems. This thesis aims to fill that gap, by focusing primarily on the election of women across preferential (open and ordered list systems) and non-preferential (closed list systems) PR list voting systems. Moreover, unlike the vast majority of previous research, which has relied on aggregate level data only, this research investigates the election of women at the individual candidate level. Such an approach allows the present thesis to consider, next to traditional aggregate level predictors, how party gatekeepers and the news media may either support or hinder women in progressing from candidates to elected representatives. Since the focus is set on the 2009 European Parliament elections, this thesis investigates the process of electing women cross-nationally. The results show that female candidates have a higher likelihood of being elected in non-preferential closed list voting systems than in preferential ordered list voting systems. The results suggest that this is the case because, first, party gatekeepers in ordered list systems place women in less viable electoral list positions than party gatekeepers in closed list systems; second, media cover female candidates less in ordered list systems compared to closed list systems; and finally, female candidates in ordered list systems fail to make up their less competitive starting position with preference votes because preference votes in ordered list systems do not significantly alter the initial party list rankings.

Many scholarly and policy evaluations of governance in Uganda have blamed limited commitment to democracy in the country squarely on the shoulders of state leaders. This dissertation considers a broader range of explanations and raises questions about the limited understanding of democracy expressed in the prevailing literature. It does so by considering historical contexts, international and global structures, and the relationship between local political cultures and the contested concept of democracy. Claims about democracy and good governance, it suggests, are used to justify very narrow procedural prescriptions for the domestic state on the basis of a systematic neglect of Uganda’s specific political history and the structural contexts in which the Ugandan state can act. More specifically, this dissertation engages with one of the key controversies in the literature on the politics of development, that concerning the degree to which accounts of democracy favoured by the most powerful states should guide attempts to create democratic institutions elsewhere. It argues that at least some of the factors that are often used to explain the failure of democracy in Uganda can be better explained in terms of two dynamics that have been downplayed in the relevant literature: competition between different understandings of how democracy should be understood in principle; and the international conditions under which attempts to impose one specific account of democracy - multiparty representation – have marginalized other possibilities. These dynamics have undermined processes that arguably attempt to construct forms of democracy that respond to very specific socio-cultural conditions. Fundamental disputes about how democracy should be understood are already familiar from the history of democracy in Western societies, where struggles to impose some forms of democracy over others have defined much of the character of modern politics. The importance of the international or global dimension of democratic politics has received less attention, even in relation to Western societies, but is especially significant in relation to Africa’s political history and its position in the world. After reviewing the history of struggles over forms of governance in Uganda, this dissertation explores a series of unique open-ended interviews carried out in 2009 with important political actors in Uganda. On this basis, it argues for the ongoing centrality both of the always contested character of democracy and of attempts to impose particular accounts of democracy through internationalised and globalised structures. An appreciation of both dynamics, especially in the historical context that has been downplayed in much of the literature, offers a better scholarly ground on which to evaluate contemporary politics in Uganda than the choice between multiparty systems and dictatorship that remains influential in discussions of the Ugandan case. Such an appreciation is in keeping with important recent attempts to think about the possibilities of democracy in Uganda in postcolonial terms and to resist the forms of neocolonial politics that are examined here as a ‘politics of dispensation.’ / Graduate / 0615 / 0616 / sabina@uvic.ca

Many scholarly and policy evaluations of governance in Uganda have blamed limited commitment to democracy in the country squarely on the shoulders of state leaders. This dissertation considers a broader range of explanations and raises questions about the limited understanding of democracy expressed in the prevailing literature. It does so by considering historical contexts, international and global structures, and the relationship between local political cultures and the contested concept of democracy. Claims about democracy and good governance, it suggests, are used to justify very narrow procedural prescriptions for the domestic state on the basis of a systematic neglect of Uganda’s specific political history and the structural contexts in which the Ugandan state can act. More specifically, this dissertation engages with one of the key controversies in the literature on the politics of development, that concerning the degree to which accounts of democracy favoured by the most powerful states should guide attempts to create democratic institutions elsewhere. It argues that at least some of the factors that are often used to explain the failure of democracy in Uganda can be better explained in terms of two dynamics that have been downplayed in the relevant literature: competition between different understandings of how democracy should be understood in principle; and the international conditions under which attempts to impose one specific account of democracy - multiparty representation – have marginalized other possibilities. These dynamics have undermined processes that arguably attempt to construct forms of democracy that respond to very specific socio-cultural conditions. Fundamental disputes about how democracy should be understood are already familiar from the history of democracy in Western societies, where struggles to impose some forms of democracy over others have defined much of the character of modern politics. The importance of the international or global dimension of democratic politics has received less attention, even in relation to Western societies, but is especially significant in relation to Africa’s political history and its position in the world. After reviewing the history of struggles over forms of governance in Uganda, this dissertation explores a series of unique open-ended interviews carried out in 2009 with important political actors in Uganda. On this basis, it argues for the ongoing centrality both of the always contested character of democracy and of attempts to impose particular accounts of democracy through internationalised and globalised structures. An appreciation of both dynamics, especially in the historical context that has been downplayed in much of the literature, offers a better scholarly ground on which to evaluate contemporary politics in Uganda than the choice between multiparty systems and dictatorship that remains influential in discussions of the Ugandan case. Such an appreciation is in keeping with important recent attempts to think about the possibilities of democracy in Uganda in postcolonial terms and to resist the forms of neocolonial politics that are examined here as a ‘politics of dispensation.’ / Graduate / 0615 / 0616 / sabina@uvic.ca

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / A dissertação lança seu olhar para o clássico tema da representação política e o relaciona à bastante publicizada participação evangélica na política partidária nacional. Ao analisar o quadro traçado pela literatura, bem como os mais recentes acontecimentos da cena política brasileira, a pesquisa identifica na dinâmica existente entre um grupo específico de políticos evangélicos e seus eleitores uma forma particular de representação: a descritiva. Embora já estudada por diversos autores, sugere-se que na relação acima a representação descritiva tenha se transformado de maneira relevante; essas transformações e suas possíveis consequências são os outros pontos também explorados. Seria a capacidade de o eleitor identificar-se com o representante, baseado em sua fé, transformador em alguma medida da sua relação com o mesmo, da sua visão do Congresso enquanto instituição ou de sua percepção do governo representativo? Acaso os representantes que mobilizam a fé evangélica de forma prioritária compreendem, por conta desse pertencimento religioso, seu papel de representante de forma diferente? A pesquisa investiga, portanto, uma possibilidade específica de enquadramento desse conceito de representação descritiva quando o grupo representado é religioso, e, mais especificamente, evangélico. / This thesis looks at the classic subject of the political representation and relates it to the overly publicized evangelical participation in the domestic politics. Analyzing what was pictured by authors within the field, as well as the most recent facts in Brazilian political scene, this research identifies in the existing dynamic between a specific group of evangelical politics and theirs constituents a very particular form of representation: the descriptive one. Although already studied by other authors, it is argued that in the dynamic above, the descriptive representation have been consistently transformed; these transformations and their possible consequences are also explored. Does a constituents ability to identify, based on religious beliefs, with her representative at Brazilian National Congress affect somehow her perception of that representative, of the Brazilian Congress itself as an institution, and of the representative government? Do the representatives that mobilize support on the grounds of a shared faith understand differently, because of that, their role as representatives? This thesis investigates, therefore, a specific framing of that classic topic of the descriptive representation, when the groups being represented are religious, and, more specifically, evangelical.

Nos últimos anos, o tema da representação política no contexto brasileiro adquiriu maior relevância na pauta nacional a partir das manifestações de rua que eclodiram por todo o Brasil em junho de 2013. A presente dissertação tem os objetivos de analisar o dever dos partidos de assegurar a autenticidade do sistema representativo sob a perspectiva intrapartidária e de verificar o significado da expressão “igualdade de oportunidades” no direito eleitoral e partidário brasileiro e sua aplicação. A metodologia adotada consiste em pesquisa qualitativa, por meio do método lógicodedutivo de abordagem. A coleta dos documentos e bibliografias foi realizada por meio de pesquisa em livros, periódicos, jurisprudências e artigos armazenados em arquivos públicos, bibliotecas e sites eletrônicos na Internet. O estudo mostra-se relevante em face da perda de confiança nos partidos políticos para a melhoria da democracia representativa brasileira, bem como a intervenção do Supremo Tribunal Federal na legislação eleitoral em nome de um chamado equilíbrio da igualdade política. Nesse contexto, resta à ciência investigar as causas da falha dos partidos políticos no cumprimento do dever de assegurar a autenticidade do sistema representativo e verificar o que se entende pela expressão “igualdade política”. O trabalho foi dividido em quatro capítulos. O primeiro capítulo tem a função de delimitar o horizonte de compreensão a respeito de conceitos e questões fundamentais ao tema. O segundo capítulo tem o escopo de analisar o dever dos partidos de assegurar o sistema representativo sob a perspectiva do princípio da democracia intrapartidária. O terceiro capítulo se ocupa em verificar o significado da expressão “igualdade de oportunidades” no direito eleitoral e partidário brasileiro e sua aplicação. O quarto capítulo trata da análise do conteúdo da última reforma eleitoral realizada em 2015, bem como a PEC do Senado Federal nº 36/2016. / In recent years, the theme of political representation in the Brazilian context has become more relevant in the national agenda, based on the street demonstrations that broke out across Brazil in June 2013. The present dissertation aims to analyze the parties' duty to ensure Authenticity of the representative system from an intraparty perspective and to verify the meaning of the term "equal opportunities" in Brazilian electoral and party law and its application. The Methodology consists of qualitative research, through the logical-deductive method of approach. The collection of documents and bibliographies was conducted through research in books, journals, case law and articles stored in public archives, libraries and electronic websites. The study is relevant in the face of the loss of confidence in political parties to improve representative Brazilian democracy, as well as the intervention of the Federal Supreme Court in electoral legislation in the name of a socalled balance of political equality. In this context, it remains for science to investigate the causes of the failure of political parties to fulfill the duty of ensuring the authenticity of the representative system and to verify what is meant by the term "political equality". The work was divided into four chapters. The first chapter has the function of delimiting the horizon of understanding about concepts and questions fundamental to the theme. The second chapter has the scope of analyzing the duty of the parties to secure the representative system from the perspective of intraparty democracy principle. The third chapter is concerned with verifying the meaning of the term "equal opportunities" in Brazilian electoral and party law and its application. The fourth chapter deals with the analysis of the content of the last electoral reform carried out in 2015, as well as PEC from the Federal Senate nº 36/2016.

O presente trabalho pretende estudar o instituto do voto direto no direito político constitucional brasileiro. A dimensão dos direitos políticos no Brasil nem sempre esteve relacionada à crescente participação política no processo eleitoral. Essa importância decorre do próprio processo histórico, da extensão desses direitos e do modo como ocorreu essa movimentação. O poder conferido à autoridade, para agir em nome de alguém em uma democracia representativa, se dá através de eleições, isto é, o mecanismo eleitoral é compreendido como meio de ratificar uma ação. Nesse diapasão, tal meio de renovação ocorre em períodos determinados, tendo aprovação limitada a esse ínterim. Assim, por intermédio de eleições o escolhido através do voto popular poderá agir em nome dos eleitores e sua representação será legitimada. Daí a imperiosidade de compreender a extensão da história do voto no Brasil, seu contexto histórico e social, pois através dela buscaremos entender o aperfeiçoamento da representação política e a amplificação da acepção da democracia. / The present work intends to study the institute of direct voting in Brazilian constitutional political law. The dimension of non-Brazil's political rights is not always related to growing political participation in the electoral process. This important is a process of distributing historical documents, an extension of rights and the way in which this movement occurred. The power conferred on the authority to act on behalf of someone in a representative democracy is through elections, that is, the electoral mechanism is understood as a means of ratifying an action. In this tuning fork, such a means of renewal in case of non-compliance. Thus, through elections the one chosen through popular vote, acting on behalf of the voters and their representation will be legitimized. Hence the imperiousness of an extension of the history of voting in Brazil, its historical and social context, through which we will seek to understand the improvement of political representation and the amplification of the acceptance of democracy.