Essa dissertação analisa a atuação da classe política brasileira com relação à criação e implementação dos instrumentos de iniciativa legislativa popular no Brasil. O primeiro objeto de análise são as emendas populares no processo constituinte de 1986-1988 instrumento que permitia às entidades da sociedade civil apresentar emendas ao projeto de constituição que propunham mecanismos de participação popular direta extremamente efetivos: iniciativa popular de plebiscito, referendo, projetos de lei e de emendas à constituição. A constituição de 88 só aprovou a iniciativa popular e com restrições: somente para projetos de lei, e com requerimentos extremamente exigentes: 1% de assinaturas de eleitores (aproximadamente 1 milhão) em 5 estados diferentes. A explicação que essa dissertação busca fundamentar é que uma coalizão de centro, centro-direita e direita conseguiu barrar propostas mais progressistas de participação direta no legislativo. O objeto de estudo seguinte são os projetos de lei por iniciativa popular, foram apresentados somente 5 projetos desde a promulgação da carta de 1988 até hoje, 4 foram aprovados e se tornaram leis. Uma análise na tramitação desses projetos de lei mostra que, devido à estrutura verticalizada do legislativo e falhas na institucionalização do mecanismo de iniciativa popular de lei, houve necessidade do apoio ativo da coalizão majoritária do legislativo para os projetos serem aprovados. Por fim, o último objeto de análise são as sugestões legislativas da Comissão de Legislação Participativa da Câmara dos Deputados (CLP-CD). As sugestões legislativas têm exigências extremamente simples: registro da entidade civil e ata da reunião comprovando a apresentação da sugestão. A CLP-CD também abriu um leque de opções legislativas às entidades da sociedade civil e permitindo sugestões de lei, requerimentos, indicações, emenda à constituição, ao orçamento e criação de CPIs. No entanto, um estudo comparativo com outras comissões permanentes, mostra que a CLP-CD é pouco prestigiada pelos parlamentares. Dessa forma, a principal hipótese dessa dissertação é que os políticos assumem uma posição ambígua em relação aos instrumentos de participação direta no legislativo: por um lado, criam 10 mecanismos de iniciativa legislativa popular, mas, por outro, dificultam o uso efetivo e sua implementação e hesitam em compartilhar efetivamente a tarefa da representação de interesses com a sociedade civil. / The aim of this work is to provide an analysis about the actions of Brazilian politicians towards the creation and implementation of mechanisms of popular legislative initiative. The first subject of study are the popular amendments (emendas populares) mechanism that allowed civil society to present amendments during the Brazilian Constitution-making process in 1986-1988. These popular amendments proposed broader mechanisms of direct democracy: popular initiative for plebiscite, referendum, constitutional change and law proposal. In the end of the process, the Brazilian 1988 Constitution approved only the popular legislative initiative, with extremely high requirements: it could be used only for law proposals and it should have signatures of 1% of total eligible voters in 5 different states. The hypothesis that this work seeks to prove is that a parliamentary coalition among centrist, rightist and,center-rightist deputies achieved its objective of nullifying the proposals for stronger mechanisms of direct democracy. The second subject are the law proposals from popular initiative that have been presented by civil society since 1988 till now. Since the promulgation of the Brazilian constitution in 1988, civil society associations and entities presented only 5 popular law proposals, of which 4 were approved. An analysis of the process of discussion and voting of these bills shows us that, despite being presented by civil society, all those bills had to struggle to obtain the majority coalition in the parliament to be approved. This can be explained by the fact that the Brazilian legislative process is verticalized and that regulation of the popular initiative mechanisms is still incomplete. Finally, the legislative suggestions of the CLP-CD (Chamber of Deputies Committee for Participatory Legislation) are the last subject of study. To propose a legislative suggestion, civil society organizations and associations must meet some simple requirements: show its civil registry and also a draft proving that the legislative suggestion was discussed in one of its regular meetings. The legislative participatory committee also opened a wider range of legislative options for the civil society. Not only bill proposals can be presented at the committee but also proposals for motions requesting (requerimentos), indications 12 (indicações), constitutional amendments, budgetary amendments, and the creation of Parliamentary Inquiry Committees (Comissões Parlamentares de Inquérito). However, if we compare the inner dynamics of the CLP-CD with other Chambers permanent committees we see that the CLP-CD has little prestige between the Brazilian deputies. Therefore, the main hypothesis of this dissertation is that the Brazilian politicians have a rather ambiguous view towards the direct legislative mechanisms. In one side, they create popular legislative initiative mechanisms, but, on the other side, they create obstacles for civil society to effectively use those mechanisms and also hesitate to share the role of representing interests and demands with associations and organizations of the civil society.

Over the last thirty years, research on the immigration policy-making of liberal democratic states has been preoccupied with the puzzle of why migrant inflows have reached unprecedented levels in Western countries, despite popular calls for restrictionism. A common response of scholars to this puzzle is that whilst governments endeavour to reflect public preferences for restrictive immigration policy, they are prevented from doing so by norms and institutions that are characteristic of liberal democracies. These ‘liberal constraints’ include the national judiciary; international human rights norms; and supranational institutions, such as the European Union. But what of the national legislature? What is the role of this key liberal institution in shaping immigration law within Western democracies? On this question, the literature says remarkably little. This thesis endeavours to redress this apparent neglect. Its case study is the United Kingdom, which is viewed, on the basis of existing research, as a ‘most-likely’ case for having a weak legislature; and in which the executive branch of government has been shown to be relatively unconstrained by the judiciary in comparison with other European states. Does anything, then, act to constrain the immigration restrictionism of the British government? Informed by a novel theoretical framework, ‘interpretive political opportunity structures’, the investigation focuses upon the Parliamentary passage of a single policy: the Immigration Bill 2013-14. Its analysis is based on a detailed examination of the Bill and its legislative process; and on thirty-three interviews that I conducted with key immigration policy stakeholders, including two Government ministers, one from each of the Coalition parties; Government and Opposition MPs; members of the House of Lords; civil servants; legal professionals; and lobbyists. The findings reveal that the UK Parliament had an important liberalising impact upon the Bill, acting to constrain the restrictionist bent of the executive. If the UK is accepted as a case in which we are most likely to find the opposite of this, i.e., a legislature impotent against a dominant executive, then the orthodox view that the legislature is in general a marginal actor in shaping immigration law may have to be revised. Notably, the unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, appeared to constitute a stronger check on executive power than the elected lower chamber, the House of Commons. This is consonant with Peers’ understanding of their duty to legislate responsibly, rather than responsively (i.e., in line with popular opinion) like MPs in the Commons. Insulated from populist pressures, the Lords invites comparison with respect to its function and impact to the judiciaries of other Western nations, suggesting, perhaps, that in the British constitutional system, known for its pusillanimous judiciary, the Lords evidences an ‘adaptation’ to the marked power imbalance between the judicial and executive branches of the UK state.

This dissertation is comprised of three papers that analyze the relationship between political money, elite interests and policies. Individual papers in this work are connected through this overarching theme and the methodology that is used. Each paper employs statistical methods on large-scale datasets with an emphasis on network analysis. The first paper investigates the relationship between the strength of elite connections and the success of renewable energy and emission reduction policies. Based on an original dataset created from social media accounts of the ministers in 34 countries, this analysis uses a stochastic block model and modularity analysis to compare the strength of connections between different types of elites. The quantitative analysis is complemented by in-depth interviews conducted in seven European countries. The second paper explores the relationship between socio-political capital of state-level American politicians and their agenda holding power in legislation. Using a very extensive dataset on campaign contribution records and state-level bill proposals in the United States, this paper employs survival analysis to explore the aforementioned connection. The third paper is a quantitative description of the large datasets on federal- and state-level campaign contribution records and state-level bill proposals. Using visualization, network analysis, and clustering, the last part of the dissertation uncovers some of the connections between big political donors, parties, private sector, and legislation. The last paper in the dissertation also contains a typological identification section for donors and lawmakers. The goal of the dissertation is to expand the literature on elites, to explore what new stories can be told about political money in the United States, and to make use of large-scale datasets for more conclusive arguments in American politics and policy literature.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Absenteeism remains a challenge in government entities, especially if it is measured in monetary terms. Government loses a number of hours through employees who are officially or unofficially away from work. The high absenteeism is created by a number of factors, amongst which leave policy gaps and poor management systems can cited. Therefore this study expected to investigate the management of absenteeism in Limpopo Provincial Legislature. A qualitative research approach was used to collect data through semi-structured interviews. One of the major findings in the study is that there is a lack of communication between line-managers and human resources section. Departments still work in silos and hence some employees exploit their leave benefits. The study recommends that communication strategies in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature should be effectively implemented and policy gaps in relation to leave benefits should be reviewed.

<p>The present study is focused on the female parliamentary members as agents: those who forced their way through the power structures, those who were elected to political commissions of trust, and those who managed to pursue political issues in the maledominated environment. The overall aim of the study has been to investigate the roots of the female parliamentary members’ political actions and their ability to act strategically and purposfully in order to obtain power in the Swedish bicameral Riksdag. By depicting a collective biography of the female parliamentary members I have investigated how the individual female politicians advanced in their careers and explained the changes over time.</p><p>Four problem areas were investigated. The gender structure in the Riksdag was studied through mapping of the female parliamentary members’ backgrounds and career routes. The women’s political interests and work in the Riksdag were studied. In addition I investigated whether there was any cooperation among the female parliamentary members and whether on some occasions they cooperated in order to promote common female interests and also whether there were women in the Riksdag who worked and cooperated in order to level out the gender differences in society. Finally the female parliamentary members’ views of the parliamentary and party work were studied.</p><p>When the Riksdag was first opened to female members the structures isolated them. The men did not admit them into the work of the Riksdag on the same conditions. The women were restricted by the gender order of the Riksdag, but some agents could still modify the structural conditions. Some of the female agents broke their isolation by acting collectively. Their work on the female issues gave them legitimacy in time. They acquired channels in order to work for their interests. They widened their areas of interest and in time they managed to take part in the work of the committees and parliamentary groups. They were then rewarded with assignments. The male parliamentary members admitted the female parliamentary members into politics. They also started co-operating with the men to an increasingly high degree. At the end of the period of investigation the female parliamentary members became more and more integrated in the work of the Riksdag. The great usefulness of the female parliamentary members’ work did not manifest itself however until the 1970s, when they were very successful in their political endeavours and the female representation increased considerably.</p>

The present study is focused on the female parliamentary members as agents: those who forced their way through the power structures, those who were elected to political commissions of trust, and those who managed to pursue political issues in the maledominated environment. The overall aim of the study has been to investigate the roots of the female parliamentary members’ political actions and their ability to act strategically and purposfully in order to obtain power in the Swedish bicameral Riksdag. By depicting a collective biography of the female parliamentary members I have investigated how the individual female politicians advanced in their careers and explained the changes over time. Four problem areas were investigated. The gender structure in the Riksdag was studied through mapping of the female parliamentary members’ backgrounds and career routes. The women’s political interests and work in the Riksdag were studied. In addition I investigated whether there was any cooperation among the female parliamentary members and whether on some occasions they cooperated in order to promote common female interests and also whether there were women in the Riksdag who worked and cooperated in order to level out the gender differences in society. Finally the female parliamentary members’ views of the parliamentary and party work were studied. When the Riksdag was first opened to female members the structures isolated them. The men did not admit them into the work of the Riksdag on the same conditions. The women were restricted by the gender order of the Riksdag, but some agents could still modify the structural conditions. Some of the female agents broke their isolation by acting collectively. Their work on the female issues gave them legitimacy in time. They acquired channels in order to work for their interests. They widened their areas of interest and in time they managed to take part in the work of the committees and parliamentary groups. They were then rewarded with assignments. The male parliamentary members admitted the female parliamentary members into politics. They also started co-operating with the men to an increasingly high degree. At the end of the period of investigation the female parliamentary members became more and more integrated in the work of the Riksdag. The great usefulness of the female parliamentary members’ work did not manifest itself however until the 1970s, when they were very successful in their political endeavours and the female representation increased considerably.

The focus of this empirical paper is to outline and evaluate certain determinants of lever-aged buyouts (LBOs) in Europe. The paper begins by providing a detailed description of LBOs, with particular emphasis on the European markets. This allows for the development of the four determinants that are studied in greater detail, specifically interest rate, out-standing stock, anti-director rights, and creditor rights. The conclusions indicate that coun-tries with more outstanding stock have larger LBO markets since equity is more liquid in these countries. Further, the results suggest that long-run interest rate is negatively related to the size of the LBO market. The paper goes on to test whether anti-director rights and creditor rights, as developed by La Porta et al. (1998) are related to the size of the LBO markets, but no evidence is found to support this notion. It is thus concluded that deter-minants focused on financing the buyouts play the most significant role in European LBO transactions.

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<p>The focus of this empirical paper is to outline and evaluate certain determinants of lever-aged buyouts (LBOs) in Europe. The paper begins by providing a detailed description of LBOs, with particular emphasis on the European markets. This allows for the development of the four determinants that are studied in greater detail, specifically interest rate, out-standing stock, anti-director rights, and creditor rights. The conclusions indicate that coun-tries with more outstanding stock have larger LBO markets since equity is more liquid in these countries. Further, the results suggest that long-run interest rate is negatively related to the size of the LBO market. The paper goes on to test whether anti-director rights and creditor rights, as developed by La Porta et al. (1998) are related to the size of the LBO markets, but no evidence is found to support this notion. It is thus concluded that deter-minants focused on financing the buyouts play the most significant role in European LBO transactions.</p>

As systems of accountability and efficiency continue to permeate public education institutions it is important that research engage the various factors that embody how these systems come to be, whose knowledge gains access to informing their designs, and whose interests are served. Texas has long been recognized as a testing ground for such policy designs, although researchers’ points of departure on such systems have solely focused on the outcomes of these policies in practice. Research on the political construction and discourses that define the underlying goals of these systems continue to be ignored by researchers. Analyses of Texas-inspired federal policies have also predominantly taken an outcomes-based approach, or at most have had episodic engagements with political processes peering down from the balcony to observe the interaction of the obvious actors. To this end, this three-year ethnographic study conceptually and methodologically engages the various dimensions—such as race, class, history, interest, power, and agency—that embody the political lineage of Texas’ new system of Accountability and College Readiness across various contexts. This study further contributes to the dearth of literature that examines the role of research and university researchers in policy debates, and the limits and possibilities of politically engaged scholars in such processes. / text