<p> This dissertation provides an explanation for the workings of clientelism and some preliminary insights on the conditions under which it can recede. </p><p> First, I provide evidence from Nigeria on the &ldquo;loyal-voter anomaly&rdquo; (Stokes et al. 2013, 66): I show that political parties tend to target clientelistic transfers to partisans, whose votes should already be secure, rather than to swing voters, whose votes are up for grabs. Second, I develop a theory of <i>strategic safe-betting</i> to explain the disproportionate targeting of partisans. This theory puts the emphasis on risk mitigation, an aspect of clientelistic relations that existing explanations tend to overlook. I argue that clientelistic transfers are risky and expensive endeavors, and that loyal voters represent a safer bet for political parties: their voting behavior is indeed easier to influence, predict or, in a best-case scenario, monitor. This is due to their close ties to the operatives of the party machine, as well as their deeper embeddedness in <i>networks of control</i> through which parties exert influence and gather information on voters before and during elections. Third, I provide preliminary insights on the demise of clientelism. I show that macro developments&mdash;in particular urbanization and economic development&mdash;that increase the weight of swing voters make clientelistic transfers riskier and provide incentives for parties to develop programmatic promises during elections. </p><p> The dissertation builds on original quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence from the most populous sub-Saharan African country, Nigeria. It draws on observational and experimental survey data to provide a quantitative analysis of the determinants and workings of clientelism at the individual level. It also builds on selected archival documents and in-depth key informant interviews to develop a qualitative narrative of the historical roots of clientelistic partisan pacts in Nigeria and the mechanisms that sustain and break them in contemporary politics.</p><p>

<p> South Africa has a ruling dominant party, the African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power since apartheid ended in 1994. In national elections, the ANC has consistently received an overwhelming majority of the vote, even though the majority of South Africa's citizens have benefitted little from the ANC's policies. This dissertation investigates why so many South African voters continue to vote for the ANC despite little, if any, measurable improvement in their quality of life since the ANC came to power. In so doing, it examines the literature on dominant parties, voter behavior and what motivates it, the incentives created by various electoral systems, and ethnic patronage politics. It also draws on empirical research into these phenomena in both South Africa and an illustrative comparative case study, Malaysia. Ultimately, I argue that both the theoretical framework and the empirical evidence point toward ethnic patronage as the driving explanation of electoral outcomes in South Africa; they also suggest there is little prospect for significant change in the foreseeable future.</p>

<p> Citizens&rsquo; increased access to the internet is transforming political landscapes across the globe. The implications for civil society, culture, religion, governmental legitimacy and accountability are vast. In nations where one does not typically expect &ldquo;modern&rdquo; or egalitarian ideals to be prevalent among highly religious and conservative populations, those with motivations to unite around socially and culturally taboo causes are no longer forced to silently acquiesce and accept the status quo. The internet has proven to be an invaluable tool for those aiming to engage in social activism, as it allows citizens in highly oppressive authoritarian regimes to covertly mobilize and coordinate online protest events (such as hashtag campaigns, proclamations via social media, signing of petitions, and even DDoS attacks) without the fear of repression.</p><p> What catalyzes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) equality movements in authoritarian regimes, specifically with respect to the Middle East and North African region? This thesis argues that gay rights movements are more likely to emerge in politically repressive, more conservative states when new political opportunities&mdash;namely access to the internet for purposes of political organization&mdash;become available. This master&rsquo;s thesis identifies why LGBTQ movements emerged in Morocco and Algeria, but not in Tunisia until after it underwent democratization. These states will be analyzed in order to gauge the strength of their LGBTQ rights movements and, most importantly, to identify which variables most cogently explain their existence altogether.</p>

<p>This thesis addresses the role of geopolitical interests in the voting record of the UNSC (UNSC) in authorizing action, specifically humanitarian intervention, in the cases of genocide in Rwanda and Sudan. The classic theories of international relations, realism and liberalism, are applied to determine which theory has higher explanatory power in determining the level of involvement and humanitarian intervention by the UNSC in these specific cases. Realist assumptions would expect that the possible economic or strategic interests of states within the Council would influence the level of involvement or humanitarian intervention authorized. In contrast, liberalist notions would expect that the level of conflict severity or duration would determine the level of involvement or humanitarian intervention authorized. This thesis finds that the economic and strategic interests of the members of the UNSC can serve as a better indicator in determining the level of intervention authorized in these cases. Thus, realist theory holds higher explanatory power of the UNSC reactions to the cases of Rwanda and Sudan. </p>

<p> There are studies that have touched on the question of whether sanctions are effective or not. Some argue that sanctions are effective in achieving their goals, while others argue that they are ineffective. Some adopt the opinion that sanctions are effective with other foreign policy tools in specific conditions conducted with them. But there are not many who write about the adverse effects of sanctions on the target country's internal politics after their failure to achieve their goals as a separate subject. </p><p> This study highlights the counterproductivity of sanctions imposed on the authoritarian regimes that aim to pressure them into changing their policies or bring them down. The paper goes beyond the ineffectiveness of sanctions to argue that sanctions that target the authoritarian regimes help to strengthen the position of the authoritarian leaders instead of bringing political change. That happens in two different ways: If the sanctions are smart they either provoke the masses or unite them, which in turn shifts the public opinion in favor of the target regime or the target regime led by its charismatic leader will manipulate and exaggerate their effects for the purposes of furthering his power. If sanctions are comprehensive, however, they cause economic crisis and devastation of socioeconomic structures that hit the whole society and ensure the regime's continuity by limiting the capacity of the public to organize. In both situations the imposition of the sanctions would strengthen the sanctioned authoritarian regime. In this study, Libya and Eritrea were selected to examine the hypothesis on smart sanctions on the authoritarian regime while Iraq was chosen to examine the hypothesis on comprehensive sanctions.</p>

<p> How do social media contribute to groups engaged in contentious politics within a domestic environment? While many have examined the influence of social media on the Arab revolutions of 2010-2011 from an international perspective, there are fewer studies examining the impact of social media within a national environment after these events. Through interviews with a group of 40 Tunisians, many of them active in contentious politics from 2010-2013, this research identifies what sources initially informed the group members of a movement as well as the sources that ultimately pushed them to become active. While information gleaned via social media certainly played a role in the decisions of many interviewees to join the movements examined in this research - unsurprising, given the high rates of internet use within the group - social media were often cited as less trustworthy than other sources and were more likely to inform the respondents of a movement's existence than to push them to act. While these findings are not unexpected, they do require that future efforts examining the role of social media in contentious politics within a country's borders differentiate how different types of sources are viewed by potential supporters and how they might contribute to mobilization in different ways. </p>

<p> This dissertation explores the structure of political attitudes on the political parties&rsquo;, as well as mass public levels in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. I present the dimensionality, nature and structuration of political ideologies in these countries. In doing so, I describe the determinants, constituents, and components constructing parties&rsquo; and citizens&rsquo; political maps that are constantly competing for electoral, as well as actual, relevance within all societal domains. This work provides the first systematic empirical analysis of party systems in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. It explores three basic characteristics of the party system in each case: the number of relevant parties, level of ideological polarization and the degree of parties&rsquo; institutionalization. </p><p> The dissertation begins with analyzing political parties&rsquo; policy positions obtained from a content analysis of their manifestos. The content analysis measure parties&rsquo; political preferences on thirty political issues distributed on seven policy domains: foreign relations, democracy, economy, religion, culture, welfare and social groups while party politics literature in the Arab World is increasingly attempting to identify the most relevant political conflicts in the region, the empirical investigation of parties&rsquo; policy preferences in the region is non-existent. I provide evidence that political parties&rsquo; attitudes structure, political ideology, is organized on two dimensions: an economic, as well as a cultural one. The extent to which the economy should be regulated and whether Islam should play an active role in organizing politics and society constitute the main conflicts constructing the attitudes structure of Arab political parties in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. </p><p> Next, I analyze the attitudes structures of mass publics in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco to compare these to their political parties&rsquo; counterparts. Using the Sixth Wave of the World Values Survey, 2010&ndash;2014, the dissertation concludes that mass publics&rsquo; attitudes structures in these four Arab nations are differ from their parties&rsquo; equivalents&rsquo;. Ordinary citizens in the Arab World seem to structure their attitudes according to four dimensions: Welfare, Religion, Economy and Culture. Despite the extensive literature arguing that political elites and actors, mainly political parties, influence the structure of attitudes on the mass level, this dissertation presents evidence that contradicts such an assessment. This result indicates that elite political preferences may prove irrelevant in shaping mass publics political ideologies in certain contexts such as the Arab World. It also corroborates the assumption suggesting that political parties compete on a different ideological space than citizens. The attitudes structure on the mass level is shown to be more complex than that on the parties&rsquo; level. </p><p> Finally, I present an in-depth analysis of Algerian, Egyptian, and Jordanian and Moroccan party systems. The evidence indicates that party systems&rsquo; number of relevant actors, level of ideological polarization and the degree of institutionalization differ across countries. Morocco reflects the most stable system with few stable parties, medium level of ideological polarization and parties&rsquo; with strong organizations and deep roots in society. On the other hand, Jordan exhibits the weakest party system with a single relevant mass party, absent ideological polarization and weak parties. Algeria and Egypt withered similar political histories producing party systems with a strong state backed party and few strong opposition actors, high ideological polarization between Islamists and liberals and few highly institutionalized parties.</p><p>