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Corridor coalitions have been described by some as a model for the development of public-private partnerships to help finance and manage corridor wide traffic flow programs and construction projects (Vega & Penn, 2008). Others have suggested corridor coalitions could also be effective tools for the development of strategic growth planning in mega regions and possibly as part of a national infrastructure and economic growth strategy (Todorovich, 2009). Through a case study of the Interstate 81 Corridor Coalition, this dissertation describes the coalition’s characteristics, analyzes its evolutionary development and explores governance participation possibilities. This study based on data from a mixed methods research approach provides a framework for assessing conceptual characteristics, a responsiveness continuum for understanding contextual dynamics and a governance model of components for evaluating collaborations. The evidence suggests some planning, funding and coordination difficulties associated with the absence of governance entities with corridor wide authority are being addressed by various national transportation institutions and associations. Corridor coalitions that exhibit developmental characteristics such as competency, sustainability, diversity and commitments consistent with relevant public agencies may be appropriate for roles in governance. Likewise, the responsiveness of corridor coalitions to governance related contextual developments may be a primary determinant of their possible role in governance. This I-81 case study provides evidence of an evolving coalition, where the descriptive characteristics contribute to a type of responsiveness to corridor concerns that could lead to governance participation. / Ph. D.

Contemporary labour immigration into the UK has been underpinned by two structural positions: the uneven development within the capitalist system and an intensification of competition driving towards flexibility and precarity. Immigrant workers are overwhelmingly concentrated in secondary sectors of the labour market with low pay, long working hours and poor health and safety and closely associated with non-standard work and informal economy where unions are often not available. How these immigrant workers in highly exploitative industries respond to work-related exploitations poses a great challenge to traditional trade unionism. While community unionism has received increasing attention from researchers and practitioners, an institution-centric approach is dominated in the scholarship which tends to overemphasize the role of institutional entity, such as trade unions and NGOs, in shaping collective agency and consider it as the centrality to immigrant workers activism. In contrast to such union-centred research, this study adopts a social movement perspective to explore whether and how community organizing approach can empower immigrant workers and enhance union organizing when globalization compromises its validity. By conducting the multi-method (interviews, surveys, participant observations and videos) ethnographic studies in an immigrant domestic worker self-help group-Justice for Domestic Workers in London over a year and a post EU-enlargement Polish association and local Polish neighbourhood in South Somerset over five months, the research shows that gendered and cultural space rather than traditional industrial entities could offer a political context in which immigrant workers start recognising structural class exploitations and develop an agency and activism for changes. This suggests that the collective mobilizations of immigrant workers in informal and individualised sectors may require creative leaps of sociological imagination in nurturing such communities of coping, wherever they may be occurring - in social clubs, cafés or churches. Community, however, is not a naturally harmonious and unified group setting. The internal divisions and competitions within immigrant communities pose limits to how far ethnic cohesion can serve as a basis for collective mobilization of immigrant workers. The research points to the potential tensions between immigrant community organizations and trade unions to compete for membership and social influence in the coalition building. There is a risk that the institutional goals of immigrant community organizations, in terms of securing funding and expanding its organizational influence, may take precedence over substantive goals of support provision. The research also suggests that academics and practitioners need to rethink the criteria that define the success of worker organising. To win union recognition and achieve collective bargaining agreements in the workplace is a rare case in community organizing of immigrant workers. A distinction should be made between capacity-building from the perspective of workers and organizations involved in community organizing of immigrant workers. There might be a contradiction between organizational developments and grassroots empowerment. Instead of merely focusing on political outcomes as the existing research indicates, more attention should paid to outcomes in social and cultural arenas and how gains in one arena facilitate or hinder gains in another.

abstract: This project seeks to explore how organizations work toward refugee and immigrant integration through forming different types of coalitions and strategic networks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify when coalitions emerge between refugee organizations and immigrant rights groups in order to examine their development, from how the coalitions broadly conceive of refugee and immigrant rights, to how they organize resources and information sharing, service provision, policy advocacy, and policy implementation. The project is guided by the question: What explains the formation of coalitions that advocate for both immigrant rights and refugee rights? Through examining the formation and development of these coalitions, this thesis engages at the intersections of immigration federalism, refugee studies and human rights scholarship to reveal deeper complexities in the politics of immigrant integration. The project sharpens these three scholarly intersections by three multi-level jurisdictions – California and Arizona in the United States and Athens in Greece – and by employing comparative analysis to unpack how national governments and federalism dynamics shape coalition building around immigrant integration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Justice and Human Rights 2019

<p dir="ltr">New technologies are often developed to address pressing social problems such as climate change and world hunger, and social movements are often strong backers of these technological solutions. Yet political conflict can occur when those threatened by the new technology seek government action to block or delay its adoption. I analyze forces behind the development of such technologies and factors affecting the outcomes of ensuing political conflicts through an in-depth study of alternative or “alt-proteins,” plant-based and cell-cultured alternatives to traditional meat and dairy products. Developed to address the environmental and animal welfare problems of animal agriculture, alt-proteins have generated political conflict as livestock and dairy interests have sought regulations to limit producers’ ability to market alt-proteins as substitutes for meat and dairy products. </p><p dir="ltr">My research uncovers a network of organizations founded by animal welfare interest groups and activists that provide direct and coordinated support for alt-protein technology development and industry growth. Besides government lobbying, activities include founding and financing start-ups, supporting basic research, and providing various business supports to the industry. Early successes by some alt-protein companies have led dairy and livestock farmers to lobby the U.S. and state governments for protectionist labeling policies. While one might expect other businesses involved in the production and distribution of meat and dairy products to join in these efforts, I found this was often not the case. To explain this finding, I propose that the formation of a strong coalition to seek government support in opposing a new technology depends not only on businesses’ reliance on the old technology, but also on the cost to the businesses of diversifying into the new technology and on the speed with which the new technology is displacing the old. My research also shows how a social movement’s embrace of technological solutions to problems may fundamentally alter its strategies and coalition partners in both political and market spheres. In their quest to attract investment capital, organizations founded by animal welfare groups worked with large food companies to invest in alt-proteins but alienated some in other social movements. The latter fear that expensive technologies will further control of the food system by large corporations, illustrating the potential divisiveness of technological solutions to problems. I assess the effects of coalition building on outcomes of policy conflicts over alt-proteins and consider the applicability of this case to other situations.</p>

As frequently as it occurs before elections that politicians give a united image of their potential coalition, previous studies have manly focused on explaining why coalitions of parties come to existence in the first place. However, previous scholars have not studied whether the demonstration of unity within a political bloc before an election affects the voters. The purpose of this study is to examine this aspect of politics through the following hypotheses:  H0: The demonstration of unity within a bloc before an election has no influence on how voters vote. H1: The demonstration of unity within a bloc before an election increases voters' willingness to vote for the most united bloc. The hypotheses were examined through quasi-experimental design and the study was conducted on university students. The result indicates that the demonstration of unity in a political bloc before an election has no significant effect on voting behavior, thus confirming the H0. However, further studies are suggested before confirming the result.

Student Number : 0420292V - MA research report - School of International Relations - Faculty of Humanities / The transformation of the political economy after the Cold War, and particularly the introduction of the knowledge economy and the successful liberation of a group of developing countries, has made a considerable impact on the trading patterns in the global economy. It has also revolutionised the processes of manufacturing, production and consumption. These economic changes have had significant consequences for the countries of the developing world, making the possibility of coalition-building between the countries of the Southern core more feasible, and in this way bringing about fundamental alterations in the political economy of the international system. However, the economic co-operation that takes place in the South is uneven and advances the interests of semi-peripheral states such as India, South Africa and Brazil, giving rise to new patterns of collaboration.

This master\'s thesis examines the effects of Brazil\'s economic and political rise on the nation\'s ability to have shaped global order through soft balancing during the presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the consequent impact on Brazil\'s relations with the United States. In order to contextualize the effects of Brazil\'s soft balancing on international institutions and Brazilian-American relations, this text first reviews the relevant theoretical and empirical literature on the liberal peace (and, conversely, trade-based conflicts), the democratic peace, and the nature and evolution of global governance. In the context of both the liberal peace and global governance, the literature implies the potential either for Brazilian-American cooperation to have grown or for heightened conflict to have arisen from the countries\' opposing interests and quests for influence in the transformation to a multipolar world. Meanwhile, the literature posits the potential for shared values to have promoted bilateral harmony but also points to shortcomings in Brazil\'s democratic consolidation that may have undermined the relevance of democracy as a catalyst for Brazilian-American relations during Lula\'s presidency. The empirical analysis in this text, after briefly examining Brazil\'s past quest for power vis-á-vis the United States and Lula\'s limited expansion of Brazil\'s hard (military) power, focuses on Lula\'s use of soft power as a tool to balance American influence in South America and around the world. Lula pursued a classic middle-power soft-balancing strategy by building regional and global coalitions and leveraging international institutions. Although Lula\'s efforts at coalition-building had somewhat limited effects, Brazil\'s soft-balancing strategy nevertheless succeeded in making Brazil\'s positions more consequential to global governance and American policy. Lula\'s incremental progress in checking American influence and solidifying Brazil\'s status as a middle power generally led to friction between Brazil and the United States, although the two countries were able to maintain constructive relations in areas of shared values and interests. / Esta dissertação de mestrado analisa os efeitos da ascensão econômica e política do Brasil sobre a capacidade do país em haver moldado a ordem global via soft balancing durante a presidência de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, bem como o consequente impacto dessa ascensão sobre as relações do Brasil com os Estados Unidos. A fim de contextualizar os efeitos do soft balancing brasileiro em instituições internacionais e nas relações brasileiro-americanas, este texto realiza, primeiramente, uma revisão da literatura teórica e empírica pertinente relativa a paz liberal (e, inversamente, conflitos relacionados ao comércio), a paz democrática e a natureza e evolução da governança global. No contexto tanto da paz liberal quanto da governança global, a literatura sugere o potencial ou de aumento da cooperação entre Brasil-Estados Unidos ou de intensificação do conflito decorrente de interesses divergentes dos países e da busca por influência na transformação para um mundo multipolar. Paralelamente, a literatura indica o potencial de que valores compartilhados tenham promovido harmonia bilateral, mas aponta ainda para as limitações da consolidação democrática do Brasil, cujos efeitos podem ter enfraquecido a importância da democracia como um catalisador das relações brasileiro-americanas durante a presidência de Lula. A parte empírica deste texto, após uma breve análise da história de busca brasileira por poder vis-à-vis aos Estados Unidos e da limitada expansão do hard power (poder militar) brasileiro, foca-se no uso que Lula fez do soft power como forma de contra-balancear a influência americana na América do Sul e ao redor do mundo. Lula adotou uma estratégia clássica de soft balancing de potências intermediárias por meio da construção de coalizões regionais e globais, além da influência em instituições internacionais. Apesar dos limitados resultados dos esforços de Lula em formar coalizões, a estratégia brasileira de soft balancing foi, no entanto, bem sucedida em tornar a posição brasileira mais relevante para a governança global e a política americana. Apesar dos dois países terem sido capazes de manter relações construtivas em áreas de interesse e valores comuns, o progresso crescente de Lula em limitar a influência americana e solidificar a posição brasileira de potência intermediária levou, de maneira geral, a atritos entre Brasil e Estados Unidos.

This master\'s thesis examines the effects of Brazil\'s economic and political rise on the nation\'s ability to have shaped global order through soft balancing during the presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the consequent impact on Brazil\'s relations with the United States. In order to contextualize the effects of Brazil\'s soft balancing on international institutions and Brazilian-American relations, this text first reviews the relevant theoretical and empirical literature on the liberal peace (and, conversely, trade-based conflicts), the democratic peace, and the nature and evolution of global governance. In the context of both the liberal peace and global governance, the literature implies the potential either for Brazilian-American cooperation to have grown or for heightened conflict to have arisen from the countries\' opposing interests and quests for influence in the transformation to a multipolar world. Meanwhile, the literature posits the potential for shared values to have promoted bilateral harmony but also points to shortcomings in Brazil\'s democratic consolidation that may have undermined the relevance of democracy as a catalyst for Brazilian-American relations during Lula\'s presidency. The empirical analysis in this text, after briefly examining Brazil\'s past quest for power vis-á-vis the United States and Lula\'s limited expansion of Brazil\'s hard (military) power, focuses on Lula\'s use of soft power as a tool to balance American influence in South America and around the world. Lula pursued a classic middle-power soft-balancing strategy by building regional and global coalitions and leveraging international institutions. Although Lula\'s efforts at coalition-building had somewhat limited effects, Brazil\'s soft-balancing strategy nevertheless succeeded in making Brazil\'s positions more consequential to global governance and American policy. Lula\'s incremental progress in checking American influence and solidifying Brazil\'s status as a middle power generally led to friction between Brazil and the United States, although the two countries were able to maintain constructive relations in areas of shared values and interests. / Esta dissertação de mestrado analisa os efeitos da ascensão econômica e política do Brasil sobre a capacidade do país em haver moldado a ordem global via soft balancing durante a presidência de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, bem como o consequente impacto dessa ascensão sobre as relações do Brasil com os Estados Unidos. A fim de contextualizar os efeitos do soft balancing brasileiro em instituições internacionais e nas relações brasileiro-americanas, este texto realiza, primeiramente, uma revisão da literatura teórica e empírica pertinente relativa a paz liberal (e, inversamente, conflitos relacionados ao comércio), a paz democrática e a natureza e evolução da governança global. No contexto tanto da paz liberal quanto da governança global, a literatura sugere o potencial ou de aumento da cooperação entre Brasil-Estados Unidos ou de intensificação do conflito decorrente de interesses divergentes dos países e da busca por influência na transformação para um mundo multipolar. Paralelamente, a literatura indica o potencial de que valores compartilhados tenham promovido harmonia bilateral, mas aponta ainda para as limitações da consolidação democrática do Brasil, cujos efeitos podem ter enfraquecido a importância da democracia como um catalisador das relações brasileiro-americanas durante a presidência de Lula. A parte empírica deste texto, após uma breve análise da história de busca brasileira por poder vis-à-vis aos Estados Unidos e da limitada expansão do hard power (poder militar) brasileiro, foca-se no uso que Lula fez do soft power como forma de contra-balancear a influência americana na América do Sul e ao redor do mundo. Lula adotou uma estratégia clássica de soft balancing de potências intermediárias por meio da construção de coalizões regionais e globais, além da influência em instituições internacionais. Apesar dos limitados resultados dos esforços de Lula em formar coalizões, a estratégia brasileira de soft balancing foi, no entanto, bem sucedida em tornar a posição brasileira mais relevante para a governança global e a política americana. Apesar dos dois países terem sido capazes de manter relações construtivas em áreas de interesse e valores comuns, o progresso crescente de Lula em limitar a influência americana e solidificar a posição brasileira de potência intermediária levou, de maneira geral, a atritos entre Brasil e Estados Unidos.

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