Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Glenn E. Robinson, Harold Trinkunas. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-72). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, Sept. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): Anne Marie Baylouny. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-86). Also available online.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains v, 140 p. Includes bibliographical references.

It is the purpose of this study to discover and define certain hindrances to the functioning of democracy in American society.

It is the intention of the author to arrive at a definition of democracy based upon governmental principles which are refutable by none, although further discussion in the light of this definition may not be accepted by all. In addition, it is the objective of the author to make a study of deviations from the Constitution, as shown by certain acts of the agents of government, as well as dangers to our democracy that exist due to certain attitudes and practices of the people.

Labor unions began creating new organizing strategies in the nineteen-eighties with the hope of increasing membership levels. This dissertation focuses on two such strategies: the "comprehensive campaign" utilized by the International Grocery Workers' Union (IGWU) and the "blitz" developed by the United States Clothing Workers' Union (USCWU). These strategies differ in one fundamental way; the amount of participation they elicit from the workforce being organized. I am interested in how different levels of participation influence workers' sentiments and actions regarding the union. The IGWU's "comprehensive campaign" is a top-down approach. Union officials collect unsavory information about the company in hopes of exchanging this information for union recognition. Workers' role in the campaign is reduced to signing union cards. The USCWU's "blitz" follows a grass-roots approach. With this strategy, union officials train workers to organize their fellow employees. An active worker contingency, then, helps to mobilize the workforce to vote union. Principles from participatory democracy suggest that when an authority structure incorporates participation, individuals feel more satisfied and committed to the organization. The act of participation also affects people behaviorally; participation teaches individuals how to be active. In order to analyze how the different campaign authority structures influenced workers, I interviewed two groups of employees; thirty of whom experienced the comprehensive campaign and twenty of whom participated in the blitz. Both organizing campaigns were successful and resulted in a union contract. I asked employees about their feelings towards the campaigns and their participation in the union after the campaigns ended. I found that workers from the "comprehensive campaign" perceived the union as a business and this conception of the union discouraged activism and left employees ultimately dissatisfied. Workers from the blitz, however, developed a "union as workers" framework. This framework motivated employees to be active after the organizing campaign and gave workers a sense of fulfillment. The findings from this study suggest that organizing strategies involve more than the ability of unions to increase the number of their rank-and-file. They are a crucial method in which workers learn to become active agents within the union.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-10-06Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:13:31Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 bonilha_et_me_fran.pdf: 646655 bytes, checksum: 16344c6182ff6e19554017e4437613e2 (MD5) / O norte-americano James Madison, Jr (1751-1836) ficou conhecido na história de seu país como o último dos Pais Fundadores da nação e também como o principal responsável pela elaboração e instauração da Constituição Norte-Americana de 1787. A presente pesquisa pretende discutir o ideário político deste agente social e o suposto peso que este teve durante os trabalhos de confecção e ratificação da Constituição de 1787. Tem-se como certo, a título de premissa, que algo da austeridade moral e do rigor metódico e intelectual deste mentor se reflete no documento. Para isso, procurar-se-á delinear uma articulação plausível entre o desenvolvimento da visão política deste agente histórico e o constructo institucional da Constituição de 1787. Para este intento, se buscará no 1º capítulo as referências contextuais e biográficas que influenciaram e delimitaram o pensamento e as ações de James Madison. O 2º capítulo tentará entrelaçar a visão de mundo e de natureza humana resultante de sua formação - e os contributos e subsídios teórico-constitucionais supostamente produzidos por ela - com a bibliografia específica e os embasamentos teóricos que esta indica como fundamentais para o caso em questão. O 3º capítulo tentará elucidar os principais momentos desta suposta contribuição política, efetuando a análise das fontes historiográficas da carreira legislativa de James Madison que culmina com a anexação da Bill of Rights de 1791 à Constituição de 1787. Não se pretende aqui caracterizar James Madison como um gênio político ou uma entidade desvinculada de sua realidade sócio-cultural, possuidora de dons de liderança, autoridade ou sapiência. Esta pesquisa tenderá, ao invés disso, a localizá-lo imerso... / The north american James Madison, Jr (1751-1836) was known in the history of its country as the last one of the Founding Fathers of the nation and also as main responsible for the elaboration and the instauration of the North American Constitution of 1787. The present research intends to argue the politician thinking of this social agent and the presumption weight that this had during the works of confection and ratification of the Constitution of 1787. It is had as certain, as a premise, that something of the moral austerity and it methodical and intellectual severity of this mentor reflects into the document. For this, it will be looked to delineate a reasonable joint between the development of the politic vision of this historical agent and the institucional frame of the Constitution of 1787. For this intention, the chapter one will search the contextual and biographical references that had influenced and delimited the thought and the actions of James Madison. The chapter two will try to interlace the vision of world and nature human being resultant of its formation - and the contributions and subsidies theoretician-constitutional supposedly produced by it - with the specific bibliography and the theoretical basements that this indicates as basic for the case in question. The chapter three will try to elucidate the main moments of this supposed politcs contribution, being effected the analysis of the historiographicals sources of the legislative career of James Madison who culminates with the annexation of the Bill of Rights of 1791 to the Constitution of 1787. It is not intended here to characterize James Madison like a genius politician or a disentailed entity of its sociocultural context, possessing gifts of leadership, authority or wisdom. This research will tend, on the contrary of this, to locate it immersed in a... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

The thesis proposes a theory for the development of substantive representation among social movement organisations (SMOs). Substantive representation (SR) is the extent to which political institutions advance the policy interests of their constituents, in particular the most disenfranchised. Despite their noble proclamations, institutions of representative democracy often fail to advance the interests of groups who have been ignored and absent at the proverbial table. The thesis establishes a causal process to explain the divergence in SR outcomes among informal SMOs, or all-volunteer groups that disavow formal hierarchy in favour of egalitarian modes of decision-making. It utilises a case study of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), an umbrella organisation dedicated to ending the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States and worldwide. It explains an anomalous story of SR attainment through the ACT UP Philadelphia chapter, compared to sister groups in New York City and Boston. The analysis draws from 92 semi-structured interviews, 13 months of participant observation, periodical review, and archival databases. ACT UP Philadelphia translated common SMO intentions of inclusivity into the uncommon rituals of practice. It forged a deliberate pipeline to invest not only in the presence but also the power of disenfranchised people with HIV, people too dark and poor to interest counterpart groups in other cities. Through an analytic retelling of ACT UP's history, the thesis argues that the fulfilment of SR depends on the ability of SMOs to appeal to member self-interest. Critically, SMOs can offer material incentives and nurture feelings of debt and obligation: causal steps to recruitment and sustainability of a heterogeneous membership. In building a crucial if contentious core of dissimilar people and partnerships, SMOs can unleash an oft-unrealised power for collective action and SR, by and for disenfranchised peoples who had thought change to be impossible.