The following dissertation discusses the role of norms and norm entrepreneurs in the foreign policy-making of the Czech Republic, Poland and Bratislava after the downfall of communism. In at attempt to unpack the mechanics and appliance of “soft power” in foreign policy practice in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe, it identifies conditions and analyzes processes via which norms come to play the role of intermediary variable in the articulation and enactment of national interest. Capitalizing on the agency-oriented strand of norm diffusion theory in international relations and discursive institutionalism scholarship in comparative politics, the dissertation argues that normative frameworks advocated by value-bound networks of so-called norm entrepreneurs can play a regulative function in foreign policy-making by setting boundaries for discourse and sustaining logics of appropriateness that constrain the pool of available foreign policy choices at critical junctures. In the first part, “the mission and conversion” (1989-1999), the dissertation focuses on the early stages of norm emergence and habituation in the three states in the 1990s, asserting that ideational influence incurred by American “missionaries” on Czech, Polish and Slovak “converts” to democracy via a range of socialization processes related to NATO enlargement and Western democracy promotion efforts in the region gave rise to norm entrepreneur groups bound by a shared commitment to a normative framework dubbed “dissident geopolitics”. In part two, “the zeal”, the dissertation concentrates on the later stages of norm internalisation, demonstrated by norm enforcement in foreign policy. Using case studies of Czech, Polish and Slovak foreign policy during the Iraq War (2002-2003), the Orange Revolution in Ukraine (2004-2005) and the Russia Reset (2009-2011), the dissertation shows how sustained advocacy by norm entrepreneurs with or without structural power, who skillfully use framing to push their normative agendas in discursive competition with other norm entrepreneurs, factors “dissident geopolitics” in the decision-making process that produces activist and value-laden foreign policy outcomes that might not have been expected of “weak” states. Ultimately, the dissertation argues that dominant norms and norm entrepreneur networks can thrive in transition settings when they are less disputed, but they tend to lose coherence and unity, respectively, as the foreign policy landscape diversifies upon completion of democratic consolidation.

The problem is to develop a sound pattern of teacher education that will produce teachers capable of functioning adequately in modern public schools of a democracy.

The thesis examines the political dynamics behind the contemporary trend towards pension privatization in Europe. Its aim is to develop a theoretical model that can explain not only why governments have increasingly replaced their public pay-as-you-go systems with private fully-funded schemes, but also why there is considerable diversity both in the extent and in the content of pension privatization. Private pension funds can indeed be governed by a variety of institutional arrangements and can have very different types of links with the financial system. They do not necessarily contribute to a financialization of the economy. The thesis takes issue with the idea that pension privatization would be primarily the result of a new pensions orthodoxy promoted by international organizations such as the World Bank or of an electoral strategy that consists in attracting the votes of the middle class. I argue that the driving force behind the more or less dramatic rise of funded pensions in Europe is a series of lobbying campaigns launched by the financial industry, and their varying influence. Financial firms have a vested interest in the development of a market in private pensions, which should profit them as an industry. However, pension reform is an issue that matters to voters and can therefore prove dangerous for party politicians. Moreover, it involves complex changes that directly affect key material interests of employers and workers. In this context, the success of financial firms’ campaign for pension privatization depends on their capacity to forge alliances with a variety of actors. This in turn contributes to limit the influence financiers can exert. The argument is tested using a comparative historical analysis of pension debates in the United Kingdom, France and Poland since the beginning of the 1980s.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ROSILAINE r.pdf: 228018 bytes, checksum: 498880a3a5c91fe8884e02c481242510 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-31 / This dissertation includes the analysis of correlations between novel participative budget and social policies, from the case study of the municipality of Santa Maria-RS, identifying what are the implications of participatory practice on the allocation of budgetary resources and implementation of health policies, housing, education and welfare in the period 1997 to 2008. Initially, the study provides a theoretical ownership, producing significant reflections, especially on the categories democracy, participatory budgeting, social policies and budget. In this scope, it is a pluralistic dialogue between analytical aspects, interpret seeking to establish relations and draw conclusions for speeches. Thus, research in this dissertation guides prepared in the hermeneutic-dialectic method, supporting the method is methodologically called "case study" approach and covers the interaction between the qualitative and quantitative inputs. In the process of research, data collection took place through the reunion of contemporary primary documents related to the budgeting process and practice of participatory budgeting that occurred in the municipality. In the design of participatory practice, focuses on the analysis of the evolution of decision making, with attention to the institutions of participation involving the criteria and methodology for the distribution of budget resources, and also the data of the investments involved and the implementation of the demands from participation of each cycle. For the budget analysis is used to design laws, the laws and the Annual Balance Sheet Management in order to relate the changes in allocation and implementation of social policies with the kinds of institutional practices adopted in the process of drafting the budget. Absolutely spot, focuses on the production of an inventory of the correlations in the experiment of the municipality of Santa Maria, trying to establish a critical-analytical assessment of the results of this process with a view to construction of references, both for public management and for future studies involving other localities in a regional or national / Esta dissertação comporta a inédita análise das correlações entre orçamento participativo e políticas sociais, a partir do estudo de caso do município de Santa Maria-RS, identificando quais são as repercussões da prática participativa sobre a alocação dos recursos orçamentários e a execução das políticas de saúde, habitação, educação e assistência social no período de 1997 a 2008. Inicialmente, o estudo propicia a apropriação teórica, produzindo significativas reflexões, especialmente sobre as categorias democracia, orçamento participativo, políticas sociais e orçamento público. Neste escopo, estabelece-se um plural diálogo entre algumas vertentes analíticas, buscando interpretar, estabelecer relações e extrair conclusões dos discursos proferidos. Deste modo, a pesquisa disposta nesta dissertação orienta-se no método hermenêutico-dialético, amparando-se metodologicamente na modalidade denominada estudo de caso e na abordagem que compreende a interação entre os aportes qualitativos e quantitativos. No processo de pesquisa, a coleta dos dados se realizou por meio da reunião de documentos contemporâneos primários relacionados ao processo orçamentário e à prática do orçamento participativo ocorridos no município. No delineamento da prática participativa, centra-se na análise da evolução do processo decisório, com atenção às instituições de participação que envolvem os critérios e metodologia para a distribuição dos recursos orçamentários e, também, os dados dos investimentos empenhados e da execução das demandas oriundas de cada ciclo participativo. Para a análise orçamentária utilizam-se os Projetos de Leis, as Leis Anuais e os Balanços de Gestão, a fim de relacionar as variações da alocação e execução das políticas sociais com os tipos de práticas institucionais adotadas no processo decisório de elaboração do orçamento público. De maneira pontual, centra-se na produção de um inventário das correlações na experiência do município de Santa Maria, buscando instituir um balanço crítico-analítico dos resultados desse processo, com vistas à construção de referências, tanto para a gestão pública como para futuros estudos envolvendo outras localidades em nível regional ou nacional

This thesis examines why party systems of some developing countries become deeper and more quickly stabilised than others. Drawing on the scholarship of party system institutionalisation in third wave democracies, the thesis argues that the field can be strengthened by looking to three factors that the current literature has taken for granted: the role of cleavages, the function of personalistic politics, and the requirement of legitimacy to assess party systems. This thesis addresses these issues and in so doing provides a novel view of how, when and why party systems in newer democracies from Latin America, Europe and Asia consolidate over time. The research considers three case studies from three regions of the world, following the most similar approach method of comparison. One country per world region has been chosen for study in detail: Chile (Latin America), Estonia (Central and Eastern Europe) and South Korea (East and Southeast Asia). They all have party systems which have become more stable over time, but they exhibit different trajectories and speeds of consolidation. The thesis uses a variety of methods. In order to infer the causes of different processes of institutionalisation from party systems’ own participants, more than 120 elite interviews were conducted in the three countries over 13 months. To evaluate the overall legitimacy of the stabilisation process, this works presents the results of almost 500 face-to-face interviews with randomly selected individuals from the population. Quantitative analyses based on secondary public opinion surveys are used to test implications and observations, and offer potential generalisations. The findings suggests: 1) Where the ideological cleavage (left-right) is a strong determinant of party support the party system is more stable, and the stronger the ideological cleavage becomes over time, the more consolidated the party system is. Here, an ideological trauma can be at the core of the limitations of the left-right scope development. 2) Party systems with personalistic leaders can consolidate, contrary to the received wisdom, if charismatic figures build their parties around programmatic lines. And 3) legitimacy should not be regarded as a dimension for the Theory of Party System Institutionalisation, because it does not contribute in any way, positive or negative, to the stability of party systems. The thesis concludes that theories of party system institutionalisation should be reconsidered with respect to cleavages, personalism and legitimacy. In so doing, the growing literature on party system institutionalisation can benefit from a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities of party systems in new democracies from different regions of the world.

This study started with the awareness of the problem of government influence on the press in democracies in the 21st century. In other words, to ensure that the press can freely and faithfully fulfil its role as a ‘watchdog’ for power as originally sought by the 21st-century democracies, it is necessary to face up to how and in what way the governments have exerted their influence on the press. Accordingly, the study aimed to identify what and how governments in the 21st-century democracies exerted on the press, how the media environment responded to it, and what perceptions journalists have of their government’s influence. To this end, as objects of the study, the researcher took two countries of the East and the West, South Korea and Germany, that are externally recognized as countries with freedom of the press due to their fairly developed democratic systems and that have different forms of government. Also, as a qualitative research method, case study and in-depth interviews were carried out sequentially.

No description available.

No / This book examines how political communication and the mass media have played a central role in the consolidation of emerging democracies around the world. Covering a broad range of political and cultural contexts, including Eastern and Southern Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa, this new volume investigates the problems and conflicts arising in the process of establishing an independent media and competitive politics in post-autocratic societies. Considering the changing dynamic in the relationship between political actors, the media and their audience, the authors of this volume address the following issues: Changing journalistic role perceptions and journalistic quality The reasons and consequences of persisting instrumentalization of the media by political actors The role of the media in election campaigns The way in which the citizens interpret political messages and the extent to which the media influence political attitudes and electoral behaviour The role of the Internet in building a democratic public sphere.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Botswana and Mauritius have been operating as stable, multi-party democracies since their independence, in 1966 and 1968 respectively. It is unclear, however, which country is the most consolidated democracy. Therefore, this study compares Botswana and Mauritius, using specific criteria as developed by writers such as Huntington (1991), Linz and Stepan (1996), Przeworski (1996) and Schedler (1998 and 2001) to determine which country is the most consolidated democracy. The criteria used to determine the most consolidated democracy, can broadly be subdivided as follows. Firstly, institutions impacting on democratic consolidation, and the presence of these institutions in Botswana and Mauritius will be studied, such as the rule of law; whether the respective countries are characterised by a system of Presidentialism or Parliamentarianism; the electoral system used; whether elections are competitive, free and fair, and whether these elections resulted in a peaceful change in political power; the presence of a usable state bureaucracy; and lastly, the rankings by Freedom House will be used to determine to what extent citizen political and civil rights are protected and guaranteed. Secondly, the socio-economic factors impacting on the erosion or deepening of democratic consolidation will be studied, with the focus on trends since independence. These factors include the existence of an economic society; per capita income; economic growth and inflation; as well as inequality reduction within the respective countries. Lastly, the social conditions influencing democratic consolidation will also be studied, such as ethnic homogeneity or heterogeneity; the prevalence and size of the middle class as influenced by urbanization and adult literacy; and lastly, the prevalence and role of civil society. Botswana and Mauritius were compared using the above criteria. This study comes to the conclusion that Mauritius is the most consolidated democracy. The following findings support the conclusion that Mauritius is the most consolidated democracy. Mauritius is a rechtsstaat, whilst Botswana is not. In Mauritius, there is a distinction between the position of Head of State and Head of Government, in contrast to the extensive power given to the President in Botswana. There is no single dominant party in Mauritius, whilst the political sphere in Botswana is characterised by the dominance of the BDP since independence. The FPTP electoral system in Mauritius is supplemented by the BLS, in an effort to ensure sufficient representation to minority groups in the National Assembly, whilst Botswana only uses the FPTP electoral system. Elections in Mauritius are considered to be competitive, free and fair, whilst the fairness of Botswana’s elections, given the electoral system, have been questioned. Mauritius also passes Huntington’s Two Turnover test, as there have been three changes in political power, whilst the BDP in Botswana have won every election since independence. Mauritius’ position on the HDI is much better than the position of Botswana, and the consociational compromises agreed upon in Mauritius resulted in a social environment which assists democratic consolidation. Lastly, Mauritius is also characterised by a lively civil society, whilst civil society in Botswana is considered to be a-political and weak.

This thesis provides an institutional explanation for the peaceful solution of the conflict between the Moldovan state and its small Gagauz minority in the period from 1988 to 1995. The central argument is that different institutional arrangements during this time had a direct effect on the Moldovan state’s capacity to bring about autonomy for the Gagauz. I show how Gagauz leaders, conditioned by the territorial-based structures of the Soviet Union, mobilized a political movement to push for the creation of an autonomous republic, and how this preference for autonomy remained the consistent demand of the Gagauz throughout the early years of post-communist transition. This finding supports the contention that Gagauz preferences cannot be used to explain the rich variation in political outcomes during this period. I assert that the critical changes were essentially institutional: new electoral laws; revised parliamentary rules and procedures; and a complete rewriting of Moldova’s constitution. These innovations were crucial in enabling the inclusive-minded majority in the Moldovan parliament to overcome the power of nationalist veto players by increasing the majority’s control of the legislative agenda. The importance of these institutional factors is examined by careful analysis of the different stages of the Moldovan parliament’s accommodation of the Gagauz: from separatism and stalemate to compromise. Furthermore, I reassert the central role of institutional arrangements by discounting the external influence of Turkey as a patron state on the successful negotiations between Moldova and the Gagauz. Using previously unresearched archival material, unstructured interviews with many of the key actors, and local media reporting, this thesis challenges existing accounts of the Gagauz conflict in Moldova. These accounts assert that either the Gagauz reaction to titular nationalism or the shifting preferences of strategic-thinking elites was the key causal factor of the political outcomes observed during this period. In contrast, this thesis shows that institutional design played a decisive role in the resolution of this conflict. The findings of this research offer useful lessons for other ethnically-divided states with mobilized minorities.