This dissertation uses Critical Discourse Analysis to study debates among elite members and affiliates of the Democratic Party from 1988-2008 on class issues and their relevance to the party's environmental agenda. This research builds off of several related historical and theoretical accounts (both primary and secondary) of new social and economic divisions between college-educated and non-college educated workers that have shaped American politics since the 1970s. I focus on how Democratic interest in environmentalism changed as a 'professional-managerial-class' or 'new class' supplanted unionized, industrial workers as the primary social base of the Democratic party. I trace how related people and groups associated with the party understood the relevance of these different classes to consolidating enduring electoral power, and how these informed specific arguments for what ideological views or policy proposals the party should publicly embrace. Furthermore, I identify 'green' narratives related to environmental protection, as an emerging thematic framework that some Democrats felt could help them build a coalition based primarily around support from educated, white-collar workers. I contend that the ideological character of the party's environmental rhetoric, as articulated in this debate, has been influenced mostly by attempts to tailor the party's agenda to the perceived sensibilities of the college-educated, rather than the older working-class base. My analysis proposes three overarching core concepts most often ascribed to the professional class and its members' ideological disposition. I use the discursive method described above to explore their relationship to the framing of the climate issue and its connection to broader ideological values. These are (A) Meritocracy (B) Technocratic Rationality, and (C) Individualism. I argue these professional-oriented climate narratives can be understood as adapting the conceptual reasoning of an older liberal tradition to the structural conditions of the post-70s, globalized economy. Specifically, that the frequent emphasis on these three concepts implicit to the PMC-centric discourse is consistent with a liberal view of freedom as 'non-interference', and a related hostility to democratic interventions into the market. This ideological analysis is significant to the dissertation's focus on framings of climate change because an account this conceptual logic reveals the potential limits of the Democrats' efforts to create majoritarian, political support for environmental protection. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation provides an analysis of debates among elite members and affiliates of the Democratic Party from 1988-2008 on class issues and their relevance to the party's environmental agenda. This investigation is informed by existing accounts of the social and economic divisions between college-educated and non-college educated workers that have shaped American politics since the 1970s. I focus on how Democratic interest in environmentalism developed as a 'professional-managerial-class' or 'new class' supplanted unionized, industrial workers as the primary social base of the Democratic party. I trace how related people and groups associated with the party understood the relevance of these different classes to winning future elections, and how these informed specific arguments for what ideological views or policy proposals the party should publicly embrace. Furthermore, I identify 'green' narratives related to environmental protection, as an emerging thematic framework that some Democrats felt could help them build a coalition based primarily around support from educated, white-collar workers. There are two narratives about class and its relevance to the party that recur frequently in these sources. The first advocates for a coalition made up primarily by the working-class, conceived of as wage-earning, high-school educated voters working in domestically bound, blue collar industries. The second argues the party should build a coalition made up of a professional-managerial class—referred to as the "symbolic analysts", "the rising learning class", "ideapolis dwellers", or "wired workers"— conceived of as affluent, well-educated professionals working in globally integrated sectors of a high-tech "new economy". Each of these views are based on identifying specific ideological sensibilities with the respective classes, which then justify arguments for particular framings of the party's identity and policy agenda. I contend that the ideological character of the party's public philosophy, as articulated in this debate, has been influenced mostly by attempts to tailor the party's agenda (or rhetoric) to the perceived sensibilities of the college-educated, rather than the older working-class base. I show that this was motivated by a belief that a coalition built around votes from the PMC would serve as a more reliable electoral base in a political environment where it was difficult to build support through redistributive, New Deal-style policies as the party had done since the 1930s. Some members perceived the professionals' investment in a post-material "New Politics" or "progressive centrism" as an alternative. The college-educated, they argued, could be motivated to support the Democrats on cultural grounds, allowing the party to embrace more free-market policies. In addition, several figures, including Chuck Schumer, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore argued that environmentalism could or should serve as the foundation of this progressive centrist version of the party, because of green issues' supposed compatibility with a 'pro-business', market-based agenda.

Cette thèse de doctorat se propose d’éclairer les parcours personnels et collectifs de la quarantaine de membres fondateurs du Parti social-démocrate en RDA (SDP puis SPD), au-delà de sa création le 7 octobre 1989, afin de retracer leurs efforts de structuration mais aussi d’élaboration d’un programme social-démocrate proprement est-allemand, tout ce travail partisan qui dépasse la charge révolutionnaire à l’encontre du régime socialiste quarantenaire du SED. Après la chute du Mur, ce parti résolument est-allemand doit s’ouvrir à la question allemande et se confronter au Parti social-démocrate d’Allemagne ouest-allemand qui l’aide tout autant qu’il tente de le récupérer, notamment lorsque le parti est-allemand accède au gouvernement de la RDA en mars 1990. Alors que les deux gouvernements de Berlin et de Bonn préparent l’unification selon la volonté majoritaire, les sociaux-démocrates est-allemands, patriotes, s’affairent à empêcher que leur identité et leur pays ne soient happés par la RFA au niveau national ou par le parti frère de Bonn au niveau partisan. Au-delà de la politique effectivement menée, ce travail s’intéresse donc aux aspirations véhiculées par le parti est-allemand durant son l’année d’existence autonome jusqu’à sa fusion avec le SPD de RFA, le 26 septembre 1990, quelques jours avant la Réunification nationale. / This dissertation analyses the personal and collective background and development of the approximately 40 founding members of the Social democratic Party in the GDR (SDP, then SPD) from October 7th 1989 until the fusion of both German Social democratic parties on September 26th 1990, 8 days before the national Reunification. Beyond the revolutionary act against the East German regime and the SED, this thesis tries to retace the structural and programmatic development of the party and insists on the East-German basis of its ideology. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the SDP has to position itself vis-à-vis the national question and its relations to the West German SPD. The latter helps its new partner but tries to dominate the East German party, especially after it has become part of the East German government after the free national elections on March 18th 1990. Although the majority of the East German population hopes for a prompt reunification as it is promised by the conservative parties in Bonn and Berlin, the SPD tries to avoid a complete rendition of East-German identity and succeeds in maintaining some of its aspects beyond the German Reunification. Nevertheless, the East German social democrats fight for the ratification of the three Treaties by the West German SPD part of which seems reluctant. Throughout their political actions, the East German social democrats seek to maintain their identity which they consider no less valuable than the one that is impersonated by the Federal Republic and the West German SPD. This dissertation tries not only to depict the social democratic policies but to analyze the evolution of objectives within the year of its autonomous existence.

Why is black partisan identification so one-sidedly Democratic forty years past the Civil Rights movement? A black/non-black political dichotomy manifests itself through one-sided African-American partisanship. Racial consciousness and Republican hostility is the basis of the black/non-black political dichotomy, which manifests through African-American partisanship. Racial consciousness forced blacks to take a unique and somewhat jaundiced approach to politics and Republican hostility to black inclusion in the political process in the 1960s followed by antagonism toward public policy contribute to overwhelming black Democratic partisanship. Results shown in this dissertation demonstrate that variables representing economic issues, socioeconomic status and religiosity fail to explain partisan identification to the extent that Hostility-Consciousness explains party identification.

"It is the purpose of this study is to examine these characteristics of the delegates from Texas to the 1964 Democratic and Republican national nominating conventions, as well as to compare and contrast their characteristics. It is a basic assumption of this study that the characteristics of national convention delegates are important in the determination of the character of the convention as an institution."-- leaf 2.

The topic of this diplomma work is how Czechoslovakian social democratic party was described during preelection period in 1946 in newspapers Rude pravo and Svobodne noviny. The text aims to introduce the topic of the way how Czechoslovakian social democratic party (ČSD) is reflected in contemporary press: Svobodne noviny and Rude pravo. The Constituent Assembly ellections at 26. May 1946 were for a long time period the Last elections, which could have been called democratic. The communist party got 40,17% of votes and entered the government for the first time in history. This issue has not been satisfactorily elaborated yet. The thesis is divided into two main parts, the first one being theoretical and the second analytic. First, I describe the general situation in the post-WWII Czechoslovakia and the position of the Social Democracy. In the second part, I provide a characteristic of the analyzed newspapers and discuss the articles in order to verify the hypothesis.

The dissertation deals with immigration policy of the United States toward illegal immigration from Mexico during the presidency of George W. Bush. It aims to answer the question whether the policy had at all changed when compared to the previous administrations, and whether the terrorist attacks from 9/11 had any effect on the issue. The paper also discusses reasons why comprehensive immigration reform has not been accepted yet. In order to answer those questions, the thesis analyzes American perception of immigrants and characterizes interests of pressure groups and political parties in immigration.

What happens to social democracy when the working class declines? The aim of this study is to examine ideological changes in The Swedish Social Democratic Party, in particular the party’s ideological changes regarding liberty. The material consists of 300 government bills equally divided over the parliamentary sessions of 1974, 1990/91 and 2005/06, in all of which The Social Democratic Party held office. Using the theoretical framework Two Concepts of Liberty, I found that an increasingly amount of bills draws on the idea of negative freedom. However, the result also shows that bills that draws on negative freedom subsequently decreases in favour of bills that draws on positive freedom, suggesting that the ideological changes regarding liberty in The Swedish Social Democracy Party are nonlinear rather than moving straightforward.

This thesis aims to map what arguments are used by the two biggest parties in Swedish politics, The Social Democratic Party and the Moderate Party, when discussing European politics in the European Affairs Committee (EAC) of the Swedish parliament. In order to realise this, frames used by the party representatives in the committee have been analysed. With the typology of Helbling et. al. (2010), a categorisation of four frames is applied, where each frame corresponds with a side of the left-right or the GAL-TAN-dimension. The study is structured by a number of hypotheses constructed based on findings of previous research, comparing both between the parties and changes over time. The results are assessed in relative terms, meaning that the study focuses on the parties’ relative use of frames rather than the absolute. All hypotheses find full or partial support, confirming expectations of previous research made on other European countries. However, some surprising results are found, highlighting new potential research questions for future studies.

Willy Brandt, chancelier de la RFA de 1969 à 1974, a, certes, marqué l’histoire de l’Allemagne d’après-guerre par son Ostpolitik, la politique de détente entre l’Est et l’Ouest et de normalisation des relations entre la République fédérale d’Allemagne (RFA) et le bloc soviétique. Mais, sa carrière politique a connu de nombreuses expériences et des engagements très divers sur le plan international. Willy Brandt, l’Européen convaincu de l’ancrage de la RFA à l’Ouest, est aussi le protagoniste de l’ouverture à l’Est et l’avocat du développement dans le tiers-monde. / Willy Brandt, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), from 1969 to 1974, has certainly marked Germany’s history post-war period by his Ostpolitik, the Détente’s policy between East and West and the policy of relations’ normalization between the FRG and the Soviet bloc. But his political career has had many experiences and a variety of commitments at international level. Willy Brandt, as an European, who believes in the FRG’s integration into the West, is also the protagonist of the opening to the East and the advocate of the Third World’s development.

“The Proletarian Prometheus: Socialism, Ethnicity, and Revolution at the Lakehead, 1900-1935” is an analysis of the various socialist organizations operating at the Canadian Lakehead (comprised of the twin cities of Port Arthur and Fort William, Ontario, now the present-day City of Thunder Bay, and their vicinity) during the first 35 years of the twentieth century. It contends that the circumstances and actions of Lakehead labour, especially those related to ideology, ethnicity, and personality, worked simultaneously to empower and to fetter workers in their struggles against the shackles of capitalism. The twentieth-century Lakehead never lacked for a population of enthusiastic, energetic and talented left-wingers. Yet, throughout this period the movement never truly solidified and took hold. Socialist organizations, organizers and organs came and went, leaving behind them an enduring legacy, yet paradoxically the sum of their efforts was cumulatively less than the immense sacrifices and energies they had poured into them. Between 1900 and 1935, the region's working-class politics was shaped by the interaction of ideas drawn from the much larger North Atlantic socialist world with the particularities of Lakehead society and culture. International frameworks of analysis and activism were of necessity reshaped and revised in a local context in which ethnic divisions complicated and even undermined the class identities upon which so many radical dreams and ambitions rested. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2007-12-14 20:26:40.652