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How do some political elites, in unstable democracies with communal divisions, use ethnic, religious, and tribal affiliations for a rhetoric of polarisation and/or reconciliation when running for office? This thesis applies a framing analysis to explore how political elites employ these affiliations in speech acts, mainly political rallies, to construct narratives of polarisation and reconciliation during election campaigns. The theoretical framework is constructed by previous research on “Big Men” politics and the rhetoric used by ex-combatants turned politicians within a context embossed with electoral violence and division. The thesis conducts a qualitative case study of the 2023 Nigerian election, where the frames used by the winner of the election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his main opponents, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, are investigated. While previous research suggests ambiguity in the rhetoric of political elites, the empirical findings reveal a surprising level of consistency in the candidates' framing. This study offers perspectives on Nigeria and similar multi-ethnic nations marked by communal divisions. It contributes to the comprehension of the intricacies of political communication in unstable democracies, where language has the power to either promote reconciliation or exacerbate polarisation.

[pt] Nesse artigo, eu estudo a relação de alocação de crédito e contribuições de camapanhas políticas. Para atingir tal objetivo, eu uso dados de emprestimo das opereções indiretas do banco nacional de desenvolvimento economômico e social (BNDES) no nível da firma entre 2003 e 2014. Explorando variação da mesma empresa contribuindo e não contribuindo para campanhas políticas e de tipos de bancos, eu testo se firmas que contribuíram para campanhas políticas no nível federal têm acesso preferencial a credito por meio de efeito fixo de firma-banco, firma-tempo e de banco-tempo. Eu encontro que empresas conectadas politicamente vêem sua probabilidade de receber um empréstimo de bancos federais aumentar. Por outro lado, elas têm uma probabilidade menor de receber de bancos privados. Resultados na margem intensiva indicam que empresas conectadas com políticos no nível federal recebem, em média, contratos de crédito maiores de bancos federais. Além disso, essas empresas tomam emprestado valores menores de bancos privados. Esse efeito é concentrado na linha de crédito usada para financiar máquinas e equipamentos. Efeitos heterogêneos de conexões com candidatos ganhadores e perdedores variam de acordo com o modelo econométrico. / [en] In this paper, I study the relationship between allocation of credit and political campaign contribution. In order to achieve this goal, I use loan data on indirect operations from Brazilian development bank (BNDES) at the firm level between 2003 and 2014. Exploring variation for the same firm contributing and not contributing to political campaign and for type of bank, I test if firms that contribute to political campaign at the federal level have preferential access to credit through firm-bank, firm-time and bank-time fixed effect. I find that politically connected firms increase their likelihood of receiving a loan from state-owned banks. On the other hand, they have a lower probability of receiving a loan from private banks. Results for intensive margin show that companies connected with politicians at the federal level receive, on average, greater credit from federal banks. In addition, these companies borrow lower amounts from private banks. This effect is concentrated on the credit line used to fund machine and equipment. Heterogeneous effects of connections with winning and losing candidates vary according to the econometric model I use.

In September of 1777, the British and American Armies were engaged in a series of battles known as the Philadelphia Campaign. Although neither the largest engagement of the campaign nor of the American Revolution, the Battle of Paoli gained notoriety due to the nature of the conflict. The British Army, led by General Charles Gray, conducted a midnight bayonet raid on General Anthony Wayne’s encamped Pennsylvanians. The brutality of the night resulted in the Battle becoming recognized as the Paoli Massacre. This dissertation provides an archaeological exploration of the Battle of Paoli through many lenses, contexts, and throughout time. First, the research illustrates the necessity for studying conflict sites in a more holistic manner. In this realm, archaeologists must consider not only the contexts of the battle, but also the cultural contexts that shaped how warfare occurred and was experienced. Therefore, archaeological fieldwork was performed on the Paoli Battlefield as well as at the home site of the 18th century property owner. This methodology provides the ability to relate the cultural landscape to the landscape of the battle. Additionally, this dissertation applies both historical and archaeological methods to examine and interpret the memory associated with the battle. The Battle of Paoli was short in duration, but the memory of the event and the commemorations associated with its remembrance spans over two-hundred forty years. Thus, this dissertation seeks to expand the understanding of conflict sites beyond a single event to include interpretations regarding broader cultural realties that predate the conflict, in addition to the remembrance practices that influence society well beyond the cessation of conflict. / Anthropology

This dissertation consists of three projects related to reputational effects in legislative elections. Building on the candidate emergence, repeat candidates and congressional donor literatures, these articles use novel datasets to further our understanding of repeat candidacy and the impact of interest group endorsements on candidate contributions. The first project examines the conditions under which losing state legislative candidates will appear on the successive general election ballot. Broadly speaking, I find a good deal of support for the notion that candidates respond rationally to changes in their political environment when determining whether to run again. The second project aims to measure the impact of repeat candidacy on state legislative election outcomes. Ultimately I find a reward/penalty structure through which losing candidates for lower chamber seats that perform well in their first election have a slight advantage over first-time candidates in their repeat elections. The final chapter of this dissertation examines the relationship between interest group endorsements and individual contributions for 2010 U.S. Senate candidates. The results of this chapter suggest that some interest group endorsements lead to increased campaign contributions, as compared to unendorsed candidates, but that others do not. This research points to a number of opportunities for future research as the relationship between endorsements and campaign resources is vastly understudied. / Political Science

This thesis focuses on the Huaihai Campaign (Nov. 6 1948 - Jan.10 1949) in the Chinese Civil War (1927-1936, 1949-1950). This war involved the Republic of China’s (ROC) Kuomintang Party (KMT) and the emerging Communist Party of China (CPC). Over the course of a few months and around one million combatants, the Communists pulled off a resounding victory dealing the final blow to the KMT which led to the CPC’s governance over mainland China. This case study of two key turning points in the Huaihai Campaign is analyzed using Sun Tzu’s five net assessments from The Art of War. Although the KMT appeared the much superior force on paper, they were dealt a decisive blow during the Huaihai Campaign. This thesis uses Sun Tzu’s five net assessments to explain the root cause of KMT decision failings. The KMT failures stemmed from ignorance of the most basic and vital military axioms of assessing advantages and disadvantages before going into battle.

This study aims to map the individual competence of graphic designers in the social context within the creation of book covers. The ambition of this study is thus to increase understanding of the use of graphic design in strategic processes such as book campaigns. To investigate this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six active graphic designers and the data were then analyzed in a qualitative content analysis with the help of sensemaking theory and campaign theory. The analysis resulted in the categories experiences as interpretive frameworks, the social process as practice shaping, the function of the book cover, understanding of the book's context and visual elements. The study's conclusion is that the designers adapt their work role according to other actors within the campaign and it is thus the social process that shapes the graphic designers' understanding of their mission. The graphic designers also express that their experiences are considered a resource that can contribute to a functional book cover, but it appears that they do not always get the opportunity to share this understanding. The need to understand the target audience and the book's context thus seems to be based on the order of responsibility that places the graphic designer in a role where the only official responsibility is to create visual communication based on the wishes of the publisher, the marketing department and the author. In line with earlier research, the results from this study show that intuition is used as a helping hand for the creative and free choices they face in this work process.

This study content analyzed candidate press releases and newspaper articles from the 2005 Virginia gubernatorial election in order to determine which issues, strategies, and audiences were most salient on candidate and media agendas during the campaign. Monthly cross-lagged correlations were used to measure agenda setting effects between the two major party candidates, among the four newspapers, and between candidates and newspapers. These correlations showed that the candidates maintained consistent issue agendas throughout the campaign but shifted their strategy and audience agendas frequently, while the newspapers generally maintained consistency for all three types of agenda. Many of the cross-lagged correlations indicated that the candidates shared reciprocal influence with the newspapers, but in some cases the candidates set the newspapers' issue agendas, while the newspapers set the candidates' audience agendas. The two candidates showed reciprocal influence between their agendas throughout much of the campaign, but Republican Jerry Kilgore set Democrat Tim Kaine's agenda during some months early in the campaign. The four newspapers studied showed a clear path of influence on issue agendas, with the Richmond Times-Dispatch influencing The Washington Post, which in turn influenced The Roanoke Times, followed by The Virginian-Pilot. Influence between the newspapers' audience and strategy agendas was mostly reciprocal. / Master of Arts

The 2006 Congressional elections included some of the closest elections in recent history. Party control was on the line in both houses of Congress. As a result, candidate message strategies were subject to intense scruntiny by media and voters alike since each election played a significant role in determining which party would control the Senate. This thesis employs a content analysis of ten candidate-controlled blogs from five 2006 U.S. Senate elections to evaluate candidate issues, incumbent and challenger strategies, and message tactics used by the candidate to reach a wide classification of voters. The entire population of posts from the ten candidate blogs (N = 474) was included in this analysis. The thesis assesses candidate blog strategies and candidate gender difference through the theoretical perspectives of the issue ownership framework, agenda setting, and incumbent and challenger strategies. Findings show little evidence of intercandidate agenda setting through blogs, general adherence to assumptions of the issue ownership framework, and offer foundations for future communication research focused on candidate blogs. Recommendations for future research include a more expansive study of all campaign blogs as well as an intermedia agenda setting study to measure systematically the influence of blogs on other media. / Master of Arts

LVU-kampanjen har blivit ett samhällsfenomen som engagerar många föräldrar och Sveriges socialtjänst. Kampanjen har spridits på sociala medier och påverkat människor både nationellt och internationellt. Kampanjen har resulterat i ryktesspridningar som uttrycker att socialsekreterare kidnappar muslimska barn utan lagstöd. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka föräldrars upplevelse av LVU-kampanjen, orsakerna till att deras barn blev tvångsomhändertagna samt socialtjänstens arbete. Vidare kommer vi att undersöka socialsekreterares upplevelse av LVU-kampanjen och om den påverkat deras dagliga arbete. Vi har valt att genomföra en kvalitativ studie där vi intervjuat nio respondenter, fyra socialsekreterare och fem föräldrar. Socialsekreterarna berättar om deras upplevelser angående kampanjen och hur den påverkat deras arbete. Socialsekreterarna uppger att de behöver informera klienter på ett tydligare sätt och att klienter har en ökad oro i och med kampanjen. Föräldrarna i studien anser att kampanjen belyser orättvisor när det kommer till LVU-lagstiftningen och att enskilda socialsekreterare arbetar rättsosäkert. De socialsekreterare och föräldrar som medverkar i studien anser att det finns en brist i kommunikationen och att förtroendet för socialtjänsten har minskat. / The LVU campaign has become a social phenomenon that engages many parents and Sweden's social services. The campaign has spread on social media and influenced people both nationally and internationally. The campaign has resulted in rumors spreading that social workers are kidnapping Muslim children without legal support. The purpose of this study is to investigate parents' perceptions of the LVU campaign, the reasons why their children were taken into care and the work of social services. Furthermore, we will examine social workers' perceptions of the LVU campaign and whether it has affected their daily work. We have chosen to conduct a qualitative study where we interviewed nine respondents, four social workers and five parents. The social workers talk about their experiences regarding the campaign and how it affected their work. They state that they need to inform clients in a clearer way and that clients have an increased concern with the campaign. The parents in the study believe that the campaign highlights injustices when it comes to the LVU legislation and that individual social workers do not work in a legally secured way. The social workers and parents who participate in the study believe that there is a lack of communication and that trust in social services has decreased.