Three independent studies drawing on the cases from different spaces and times comprise this research project, but they share a common theme: how do expansive reforms that open up paths to political participation take place? The first paper takes up the case of the motor voter reform, which allows people to register to vote at driver's license offices. The reform was widely legislated by U.S. states before the passage of the National Voter Registration Act in 1993. The paper investigates the factors that helped promote the reform at the state level by breaking down the reforms along two dimensions: the voter registration location and the implementation method. Motor voter legislation could either stand alone or be accompanied by agency-based registration (ABR), which includes registration at social service public agencies that primarily serve the poor. A reform could be implemented in an active or passive way. While ABR and active implementation had the potential to mobilize previously alienated socioeconomic groups, motor voter reform itself and passive implementation were expected to have a partisan-neutral and limited impact, respectively. Using data collected from the archived materials of the leading advocacy organization of the reform, Human SERVE, I test the following three general hypotheses statistically: 1) the Democratic Party is interested in mobilizing the poor, 2) electoral competition enhances mobilization efforts by parties, and 3) liberal political culture promotes inclusive electoral institutions. All three hypotheses find some support in the empirical analysis. The second paper focuses on a candidate selection method reform in contemporary Japan. Throughout the first decade of the twenty first century, the (then) opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) used kôbo, an open-recruitment candidate selection method, which was purported to open up the party nomination to non-traditional outsider aspirants. The DPJ's action presented a puzzle: searching for low-electability amateur candidates instead of traditional quality candidates seemed paradoxical for a party preparing to take over power. The paper reveals that using kôbo was a transitional strategy for a young party building itself under the mixed-member majoritarian system. I argue that recruiting "fresh faces" was not what really motivated the use of kôbo, by showing how kôbo increasingly produced insider candidates over time. The third paper investigates the development of direct primary in nineteenth century Pennsylvania. The historical origins of the U.S. primaries have mostly been discussed in terms of statewide legislations around the Progressive Era, which made the primaries mandatory for the two major parties. This paper focuses instead on the voluntary adoption phase that took place under the party by-laws, paying special attention to the case of Pennsylvania after 1842. I argue that the party elites of county organizations initiated the introduction of the primaries in order to prevent defection and to preserve party unity. As the vote share of a party increased, the party nomination became more valuable, and more people competed for nomination. More disgruntled nomination losers would run as independents, hurting the electoral prospects of a given party in the general election. For party leaders, whose overwhelming concern was the maintenance of party unity, the direct primary system offered a solution by presenting the primary winner as a focal candidate to the party voters. The primaries made it harder for losers to defect later, with the transparent features of their procedures. Thus, the stronger the party, the more likely it was to adopt the direct primary. The paper tests this hypothesis empirically with an original data set built from hundreds of archived local newspapers. To my knowledge, this is the first study on nineteenth century county-level party activities to use comprehensive data covering most counties from a single state. The findings have broader implications as to how party competition affects the choice of candidate selection methods, and the role which competition among elites plays in the democratization of the intraparty decision-making mechanism.

Chen Hon-fai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 256-261). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.iii / ABSTRACT --- p.iv / INTRODUCTION: PARSONIANISM IN CONTEXT / Chapter I. --- The Context: Parsons Revival and the Reading of Parsons --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- The Problem: Relationship between Parsons' Structural-Functionalism and Luhmann's Neo-Functionalism --- p.13 / Chapter III. --- "Interpretive Perspective: Theory, Methodology and Presupposition" --- p.31 / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- ANALYTICAL REALISM AND VOLUNTARISM: PARSONS´ة ACTION THEORY IN THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL ACTION / Chapter 1.1 --- Analytical Realism --- p.49 / Chapter 1.2 --- Action Frame of Reference --- p.62 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- EMERGENCE AND FUNCTIONALISM: PARSONS´ة SYSTEM THEORY IN THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL ACTION --- p.90 / INTERLUDE PARSONS̐ơ THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL ACTION / Chapter I. --- From Voluntarism to Structural-Functionalism --- p.116 / Chapter II. --- From Structural-Functionalism to Systems Functionalism --- p.131 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- SELF-REFERENCE AND FUNCTIONALISM: LUHMANN̐ơS SYSTEM THEORY IN SOCIAL SYSTEMS / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.147 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Methodological Principle of Self-Reference --- p.150 / Chapter 3.3 --- Double Contingency and the Formation of Self-Referential Social System --- p.165 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- SELF-REFERENCE AND ANTI-HUMANISM: LUHMANN'S ACTION THEORY IN SOCIAL SYSTEMS / Chapter 4.1 --- Self-Reference of Communication and its Attribution to Voluntaristic Action --- p.195 / Chapter 4.2 --- Interpenetration and Anti-Humanism --- p.218 / CONCLUSION: LUHMANNIANISM ON TRIAL --- p.239 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.256

Este estudo interdisciplinar se baseia na teoria dos sistemas desenvolvida pelo sociólogo alemão Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998). Analisa-se a literatura alemã por volta de 1800 dentro de uma concepção histórica que vê neste período o ponto culminante da transformação de uma sociedade estratificada em direção a uma ordem social moderna, estruturada por sistemas diferenciados como educação, economia, direito e literatura que realizam uma determinada função e se caracterizam por suas comunicações específicas. A poética da literatura romântica como fase constitutiva da literatura alemã moderna reflete este processo. Ela descreve sua autonomia, a diferenciação de um campo próprio, inicialmente através da negação de uma finalidade. Em seguida recorre ao gênio, o indivíduo excepcional, como garantia de uma arte livre de normas estéticas e coações sociais. Posteriormente abstrai destas justificativas externas ou individuais e formula tautologicamente seu campo para, no final, marcá-lo pela definição da qualidade de seus textos. Na semântica da época, formula-se esta qualidade no conceito da “ironia”, enquanto a teoria dos sistemas usa conceitos como observação de segunda ordem ou oscilação entre o atual e potencial. Paralelamente, o sistema da literatura diferenciado e autônomo torna-se um campo a ser observado por seu ambiente. A historia literária do século XIX o instrumentaliza por fins políticos, enquanto direitos autorais e o livro como mercadoria de possível lucro lhe atribui uma dinâmica acelerada. Encontra-se na figura do autor uma instância onde se cruzam as diversas observações de sistemas como direito, economia e ciências humanas.

The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) is seen as a landmark piece of constitutional legislation that brought about many legal and political changes in the United Kingdom's human rights architecture. Yet the HRA is vulnerable to repeal; successive governments have promised to repeal or otherwise alter the HRA. In this climate, the Supreme Court has instructed counsel to argue common law rights first, with the HRA there to supplement and fill the gap on the occasions where the common law does not go as far as the HRA. The logical conclusion of this is that the Supreme Court, or at least some Justices, think that the common law adequately protects rights to a level near, if not the same as, the HRA does; the results of arguing the common law will often be the same as those resulting from reliance on the HRA. The academic commentary regarding these judicial statements has been far from enthusiastic. The consensus is that common law rights do not go as far as the HRA in terms of their width, that the enforcement mechanisms lack rigour compared to s 3 HRA and the proportionality principle, and that they are vulnerable to legislative override. Therefore, a loss of the HRA would be a loss for the legal protection of rights. This thesis disputes the conclusion stated in the foregoing paragraph. It argues that one has to view the vectors against which one can measure the potency of common law rights through the lens of the rule of law. This principle, the controlling factor in the constitution, promises protection against arbitrary behaviour by state actors because it embodies the value of equality of concern. Once this is appreciated, an entirely new dimension of common law rights becomes apparent; the reach of rights, their rigour of protection, and their constitutional resilience are revealed to be much stronger than orthodoxy suggests.

No description available.

This thesis will consider two men who, when caught in moral dilemmas, cited a particular Biblical narrative in their attempt to receive forgiveness and acceptance from their audiences. Both men were significant religious figures within their respective denominations and both men received public scrutiny following their sinful actions.

The thesis documents the changes in Italian public opinion towards the Euro. Its aim is to assess the relevance of economic factors for the decline in Italian support for the common currency. The thesis begins by assessing the extent to which support for the Euro has declined in Italy. While there has been popular, media and political comment on this issue, the thesis investigates the changes in attitude through the use of survey material and concludes that there is compelling evidence that public support for the Euro has declined in Italy. The thesis adopts a utilitarian/rational choice approach in order to investigate the reasoning behind the Italian public's developing relationship with the single currency from 1998 to the present. Its central question is: How have economic factors impacted on the Italian public's support for the Euro? The analysis focuses on Italians' perceptions - not their actual knowledge - of national and individual level economic changes brought about by the single currency. The thesis investigates how such perceptions have impacted Italian popular support for the Euro over the period 1998-2007. The method employed in this thesis is primarily based around analysing quantitative data gathered from Standard and Flash Eurobarometers. Other sources considered are academic literature and newspaper articles. The analysis clearly suggests that Italians' optimism towards their national and personal economic situations have all decreased since the Euro was introduced, concurrently with their diminishing support for the Euro. This work suggests that the main reason for decreased support lies in Italian perceptions that the Euro has contributed to worsening economic situations at both the national and individual levels. In particular, Italians believe the Euro has spurred inflation and diminished their purchasing power, and accuse it of failing to promote economic growth and jobs. However, Eurobarometer data combined with newspaper articles indicate that it is the perceived economic consequences at the individual level - loss of purchasing power due to Euro-related price increases, and pessimism towards their household financial situation - that more strongly determine Italians' decreasing support for the Euro.

<p>Störande passagerare kan utgöra ett flygsäkerhetsproblem för flygbolag. Ett möjligt alternativ för flygbolagen att undvika sådana passagerare på sina flygningar är att upprätta svarta listor över dessa passagerare för att sedan hindra sådana att boka flygbiljett med flygbolaget. Detta är en form av behandling av personuppgifter, vilket regleras av bestämmelser i personuppgiftslagen (1998:204) som är ett resultat av ett EG-direktiv. Grunden för tillåten behandling av personuppgifter är att den enskilde har medgivit sitt samtycke till sådan behandling. Eftersom det rimligen kan antas att en passagerare inte kommer att samtycka till att han eller hon kan komma att registreras i en svart lista över störande passagerare, fokuserar uppsatsen på huruvida svartlistning är tillåten utan medgivit samtycke.</p><p>Kärnfrågan i analysen rör huruvida flygbolagens intresse av att trygga säkerheten väger tyngre än passagerarens skydd mot kränkning av sin personliga integritet. Analysen visar på att en intresseavvägning öppnar för möjligheten att upprätta svarta listor. En ytterligare möjlighet att svartlista störande passagerare som utreds är om flygbolagen kan upprätta svarta listor för att fullgöra ett avtal.</p>

Störande passagerare kan utgöra ett flygsäkerhetsproblem för flygbolag. Ett möjligt alternativ för flygbolagen att undvika sådana passagerare på sina flygningar är att upprätta svarta listor över dessa passagerare för att sedan hindra sådana att boka flygbiljett med flygbolaget. Detta är en form av behandling av personuppgifter, vilket regleras av bestämmelser i personuppgiftslagen (1998:204) som är ett resultat av ett EG-direktiv. Grunden för tillåten behandling av personuppgifter är att den enskilde har medgivit sitt samtycke till sådan behandling. Eftersom det rimligen kan antas att en passagerare inte kommer att samtycka till att han eller hon kan komma att registreras i en svart lista över störande passagerare, fokuserar uppsatsen på huruvida svartlistning är tillåten utan medgivit samtycke. Kärnfrågan i analysen rör huruvida flygbolagens intresse av att trygga säkerheten väger tyngre än passagerarens skydd mot kränkning av sin personliga integritet. Analysen visar på att en intresseavvägning öppnar för möjligheten att upprätta svarta listor. En ytterligare möjlighet att svartlista störande passagerare som utreds är om flygbolagen kan upprätta svarta listor för att fullgöra ett avtal.

Nous proposons un essai traitant du rôle de l'université d'aujourd'hui. Pour articuler notre étude, nous avons choisi de critiquer la thèse de Michel Freitag présentée dans Le naufrage de l'université. Selon cet auteur, le rôle fondamental de l'université serait d'orienter réflexivement la civilisation. Constatant l'effritement de sa capacité à élaborer une normativité civilisatrice, l'auteur déclare donc le naufrage de l'université en tant qu'institution. Cette étude critique la position de Freitag en fonction du modèle universitaire auquel il se rattache. Le rôle de l'université y est questionné. Doit-elle nécessairement contribuer au développement d'une transcendance normative pour remplir son rôle d'institution? Nous sommes d'avis que non. Pour bien défendre cette position, cet essai présente trois théories qui placent la finalité de l'université dans la subjectivité. À l'aide de la théorie de la postmodernité de Jean-François Lyotard, il est possible de comprendre que l'université d'aujourd'hui correspond aux vérités théoriques de la postmodernité. Au sens de cette théorie, l'université doit répondre aux exigences mouvantes de la subjectivité. Par la suite, à l'aide de la théorie de la démocratie de Jacques Rancière, nous avons pu démontrer que la nouvelle université d'aujourd'hui répondait aux conditions de la démocratie réelle au plus près de la vie. Au sens de cette théorie, l'université doit chercher à se définir en fonction des subjectivités qui la fréquentent pour être réellement démocratique. Finalement, nous avons présenté la théorie phénoménologique de Michel Henry qui soutient que l'essence de toute chose s'exprime dans sa manifestation. Au sens de cette théorie, l'université existerait seulement dans les relations subjectives qu'elle entretient avec les individus qui la fréquentent. En s'inscrivant contre l'idée d'un naufrage de l'université, nous soutenons donc la thèse selon laquelle la nouvelle université se définit maintenant en puisant dans la subjectivité. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Michel Freitag, Université, Modernité, Normativité, Postmodernité, Subjectivité.