Existing theories of party organisation, and political communication and marketing, address the issue of party evolution and electoral behaviour from opposing and largely one-dimensional angles. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a more integrated perspective to party campaigning that goes beyond the traditional approaches of party behaviour and present the relationship between intra-party organisation and campaign evolution in a new light. The party evolution approach is an alternative conceptual framework of party campaigning, which integrates the classic approaches of party organisation with the modern accounts of political communication and marketing while taking into consideration the institutional and ideological constraints of political parties. The main aim is to bridge the worlds of marketing and politics by offering a distinct perspective that integrates elements of a party’s innate political identity and readdressing the notion of party communications professionalisation within the wider context of party evolution process. To this end, the employment of consumer marketing techniques and approaches in party campaigning is not considered a means to the end of electoral success but an integrated element of the party’s evolving identity. The intention is that the Party Evolution Framework be used as a tool for comparative analysis. The holistic and integrated scope of the framework is likely to qualify its application to a cross-section of democracies, regardless of their party and electoral systems, campaign regulations, and historical, socio-economic and political landscape. To this end, the present thesis illustrates the use of the party evolution framework in two largely contrasting contexts; British and Greek politics.

This dissertation is a cross-national investigation of the relationship between cultural heterogeneity and regimes' respect for basic human rights. The quantitative human rights literature has not yet addressed the question of whether high levels of cultural diversity are beneficial or harmful. My research addresses this gap. I address the debate between those who argue that diversity is negatively related to basic human rights protection and those who argue it is likely to improve respect for these rights. Ultimately, I propose that regimes in diverse countries will be less likely to provide an adequate level of subsistence (otherwise known as basic human needs) and security rights (also known as integrity of the person rights) to their citizens than regimes in more homogeneous countries. Using a data set of 106 non-OECD countries for the years 1983 and 1993, I employ bivariate, linear multivariate regression, and causal modeling techniques to test whether higher levels of ethnolinguistic and religious diversity are associated with less regime respect for subsistence and security rights. The analysis reveals that higher levels of cultural diversity do appear to lead to lower respect for subsistence rights. However, counter to the hypothesized relationship, high levels of diversity appear to be compatible with high levels of respect for security rights.

The 2016 election cycle has shown a dramatic radicalization of the right, featuring elements such as out-group demonization, law and order rhetoric, and populist strategies that have not been so prevalent in the US since the rise of Nixon’s Silent Majority in the 1970s. The UK has experienced a similar ideological shift, though its emergence has perhaps not been so notoriously outspoken. All the same, the fervent anti-statist and anti-elitist narrative employed by the Leave Campaign is starkly similar to language historically associated with the populist rhetoric of the Far Right. Drawing on analyses of economic, socio-cultural, and geopolitical trends that have changed the status quo of each of these countries in the post-crisis era, I attempt to elucidate potential factors that have made Far Right narratives of fear, paranoia, and insecurity particularly salient.

Over the next few decades, urban populations in Pakistan and India are projected to increase by 350 million. Considered to be a critical driver of economic modernization and sociopolitical progress, urbanization can catalyze numerous benefits. However, the extent to which it proves beneficial is contingent on the manner in which national and sub-national leaders respond to the multitude of challenges associated with urban spatial expansion and population growth. This thesis outlines key policy priorities for Indian and Pakistani leaders and puts forth recommendations that aim to optimize urban expansion for greater prosperity and livability. It employs a comprehensive set of methodologies to examine the true extent and characteristics of urbanization in India and Pakistan. On the basis of existing and projected dynamics of urbanization and identification of key factors that currently impede the leveraging of urbanization, it offers a range of policy proposals that aim to leverage urban growth through optimizing urban planning processes and governance, urban mobility and the spatial distribution of urban populations.

March 11, 2011 Earthquake in Japan and 2005 Hurricane Katrina both caused significant destruction and were both viewed as examples of government failures in natural disaster management. One year after the disasters, both countries enacted several policy reforms in response to their failures. However, while in the U.S, the central government's emergency power was strengthened, the DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan)'s government carried out reforms to strengthen the local governments. On the other hand, the other prominent political party in Japan, the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), argued for more centralized power. How did these parties take different lessons from the natural disasters? This paper will first analyze the factors that led to government failures in the disaster relief period, and then evaluate the most influential factors that led to the policy reforms. Eventually, we would be able to figure out the exact factors that led the U.S, the DPJ and the LDP to their conclusions.

Political participation is paramount to the well being of a democracy. Concerns over low turnout rates across the world have prompted a growing body of research on the potential for political institutions to foster electoral participation. Amongst those institutions, compulsory voting is found to have the largest and most robust impact on maximizing participation rates. Under this system, eligible citizens are required by law to go to the polls on election day, and are subject to penalties if they fail to do so. Beyond its positive impact on turnout, we know far less about what other aspects of the democratic process are influenced by compulsory voting. The main goal of this dissertation is to inform the debate on how and when the effects of compulsory voting extend beyond voter turnout. Specifically, I draw on numerous sources of survey data across the world to investigate the impact of compulsory voting (herein CV) on three distinct political aspects: citizen attitudes towards voting, political engagement, and elite campaigning. The first step in understanding the broader effects of CV is to examine whether it influences citizens’ perceptions of the democratic act of voting. In chapter two, I develop a detailed theoretical framework that highlights whether compulsory voting increases citizens’ feelings of civic duty, or generates resentment amongst eligible voters. I also argue that the impact of CV on attitudes could be neutral—by devaluing the act of voting and making individuals indifferent towards the democratic process. Using a hierarchical modeling technique and survey data from Latin America, I show that voters living under CV are no more likely to report either increased feelings of civic duty or higher rates of resentment, compared to their counterparts under voluntary voting. Instead, individuals who are required to turn out by law are slightly more likely to feel indifferent towards electoral participation. Then, chapter three takes advantage of the recent abolition of compulsory voting in Chile to evaluate whether CV laws promote political engagement beyond election day. An empirical analysis of public opinion surveys over a 10-year period pre and post reform shows that rates of political engagement—specifically, watching and reading political news and discussing politics with family—are significantly higher under compulsory than under voluntary voting, and this is especially the case for those with lower levels of education. These findings suggest that when presented with the task of turning out at the polls, citizens seem to incur the extra costs necessary to make an informed decision. Finally, in chapter four I investigate whether mandatory voting laws alter the way political parties decide to engage in outreach during political campaigns. Using a comprehensive dataset of post-election surveys of over 40,000 individuals in 27 different countries, I find that political elites do adjust to their institutional context—when voting is mandatory, parties invest in campaign outreach at similar levels (not less) than when voting is voluntary, and that this outreach is much less skewed towards individuals of higher socioeconomic status compared to when voting is voluntary. I also show evidence that parties under CV are more likely to engage in persuasion rather than mobilization via party outreach. Taken together, this dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of how maximizing electoral participation through a legal requirement to vote shapes individual and elite behavior, contributing to our understanding of the implications of political institutions for the quality of representative democracy worldwide.

Embora a filiação partidária seja um tema clássico da agenda de ciência política, segue essa sendo relativamente pouco estudada. Igualmente, as ferramentas teórico-analíticas presentes na literatura estão muito centradas no contexto europeu, associadas geralmente ao contexto histórico da chamada crise de representação política. Propomos uma forma alternativa de se compreender a filiação: o ciclo da filiação partidária. Definimos a filiação como sendo composta de três elementos interdependentes: o recrutamento partidário, a ação partidária e o desligamento partidário. Em um primeiro momento, voltamo-nos à literatura internacional, buscando entender seus avanços a partir da óptica de nosso conceito de ciclo da filiação. Em seguida, analisamos cada etapa do ciclo a partir do contexto brasileiro. Utilizamos para tal a base pública de dados de filiação do TSE. Em linhas gerais, podemos concluir que cada etapa do ciclo de filiação possui forte relação com o ciclo eleitoral brasileiro. Além disso, temos indícios de que políticos profissionais e membros-base comportam-se de maneira distinta dentro dos partidos. Por fim, que as mudanças institucionais realizadas ao longo do período democrático têm impacto profundo na organização partidária de maneira geral. / Although party membership is a classic theme in political science, it still is a relatively understudied subject. Moreover, theoretical-analytical tools present in the literature are too much focused on the European context, while at the same time being associated with the historical context of the so-called crisis of political representation. We propose an alternative way of understanding party membership: the cycle of party membership. We define party membership as being composed of three interdependent elements: party recruitment, party participation, and party departure. At first, we turn to the international literature, trying to understand its advances from the perspective of our concept of membership cycle. Next, we analyze each stage of the cycle from the Brazilian context, using the public database of party membership provided by the TSE. In general terms, we can conclude that each stage of the party membership cycle in Brazil has a strong relationship with the electoral cycle. Furthermore, we have indications that professional politicians and base members behave differently within parties. Finally, institutional changes throughout the Brazilian democratic period seems to have a profound impact on party organization in general.

Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta um estudo comparativo de socialização política de jovens em escolas pública e privadas de Porto Alegre/RS. Utiliza-se o conceito de competência cívica, entendido como sistema complexo de desempenho psicossocial, com o objetivo de comparar o acúmulo de recursos políticos afetivos e cognitivos desenvolvidos nos dois modelos de escola, que podem ser mobilizados para o engajamento político. A hipótese central é, no processo de socialização política, dada a grande diferença de qualidade da educação, as escolas públicas e privadas reproduzem as desigualdades sociais e econômicas no âmbito da formação da competência cívica dos jovens, o que impacta na sua capacidade de participar politicamente. Para isso, utiliza-se dados de pesquisa survey realizada no âmbito do Núcleo de Pesquisa sobre América Latina da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul em 2015. O trabalho identifica que o sistema público de ensino básico não forma cidadãos capacitados para participar politicamente. Pelo contrário, a desigualdade de recurso entre os grupos é significativa em todas as dimensões avaliadas. Enquanto, os jovens de ensino privado se apresentam mais próximos de um ideal assertivo de cidadania, os jovens de ensino público reproduzem as características de uma cultura política híbrida, demonstrando mais apatia, ineficácia e descrença, e menos informação e habilidades cívicas. / This master’s level dissertation presents a comparative study of political socialization of youths in public and private schools of Porto Alegre/RS. Based on the concept of civic competence, understood as a complex system of psychosocial performance, the work aims to compare the reserves of affective and cognitive political resources developed in both types of school, which may be mobilized for political engagement. The hypothesis is that, in the process of political socialization, given the difference of quality of education, public schools propagates socioeconomic inequality in the ambit of the formation of civic competence in young people, which impacts in their capacity to participate politically. For this goal, survey data is employed, which was develop by the Research Center on Latin America (NUPESAL) of the University of Rio Grande do Sul in 2015. The work identifies that the public basic system of education does not form capable citizens to participate politically. On the contrary, resource inequality is significant in all evaluated dimensions. While students in private school are closer to an assertive ideal of citizenship, those in public schools reproduce the characteristics of a hybrid political culture, presenting more apathy, inefficacy and disbelief, and less civic information and abilities.

This study examines the rise of populism in Hungary and Poland through the Fidesz and Law and Justice (PiS) parties. As a relatively new terminology, the study begins by dissecting the various definitions of populism to establish a universal set of criteria to define the ideology. The majority of experts suggest that populist leaders campaign using a rhetoric of “us versus them” that encourages the population to feel that its general will is not being accurately represented. This strategy is particularly effective in Eastern European nations whose USSR roots makes them skeptical of globalization and paranoid of any loss of sovereignty. The study outlines three major underlying themes that led to the rise of populist parties in Poland and Hungary. First, the neoliberal reforms enacted during a post-communism shock therapy era created a level of poverty and wealth disparity that made citizens eager to return to the leftist economic platforms of Fidesz and PiS. Second, the newness of Poland and Hungary’s political system and continued communist elite system led to a level of corruption in the new government that left citizens with a growing distrust towards more traditional parties. Finally, both PiS and Fidesz capitalized off of the European migration crisis to stoke socially conservative fears and rally nativism. This study finds that these populist parties are successful due to their ability to capitalize off of the frustrations and fears of the common citizen who feels forgotten in a globalized society.

Providing energy security and diversifying the energy production in India align with the country’s rising power ambitions and policy goals to industrialize. Renewable energy provides a useful tool for the state to meet these policy goals without producing more air pollution and additional environmental degradation. The Central Government has international ambitions of with becoming a rising responsible power; these aspirations have created new resources, incentives, and policy ideas for the subnational states in India. The purpose of this thesis is to map out the motivations, interests, and incentives of subnational elites in devising policies to promote renewable energy development in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. I develop an analytical framework based on four variables: 1) state-level party politics, 2) financial space/ indebtedness of state distribution companies, 3) institutional knowledge in state-level nodal renewable energy agencies, and 4) state-level linkages with the private sector to examine different modes of vertical alignment that subnational actors employ to develop renewable energy policies. I find that environmental concerns weren’t the primary driver of renewable energy development; instead, environmental benefits were an unintended outcome of private sector actors and state elites coordinating with the Central Government to address the pressing needs of ensuring reliable energy for industry leaders. In particular, Kerala demonstrates that even when active environmental movements and popular support exists for renewable energy, unless there are active private sector linkages, renewable energy development will remain slow. These findings may be very helpful for central government officials in India and state-level bureaucrats trying to devise climate change mitigation policies on the subnational level. Moreover, international climate change negotiators could use these findings to engage with India more to accelerate renewable energy development to slow anthropogenic climate change.