This thesis studies the West Indian press from three perspectives. The fIrst examines newspapers as economic entities, and involves an analysis of capital, equipment, patterns of ownership, and workforce. This section concludes with an examination of the social and economic standing of colonial editors. The second approach concentrates on the political role of the press during a period of tension. The relationships between the press and the component parts of colonial society are discussed seperately. The complex relationship between whiteowned newspapers and the non-white sectors of the populace is considered. Much of this section is devoted to the free coloured press. The volatile relationship between newspapers of all political persuasions and the various branches of colonial Government is examined. The third facet of the thesis grows naturally from the previous two modes of analysis, and is more implicit than explicit. It acknowledges the dangers in crudely identifying editorial columns as public opinion, but suggests that events involving the press constitute a series of snapshots exposing details of colonial life largely absent from official correspondence. The conclusion of the thesis attempts to chart some aspects of the political culture of the colonies. It argues that participatory impulses, long present in white society, received a series of stimuli during the 1820's and 1830's which greatly increased colonial political activity. For the press this led to the development of politically-motivated free coloured newspapers and a defensive invigoration of planter newspapers. Thus, there was a broadening of colonial political culture, but in ways which reflected the different priorities of the white and free coloured groups. In slavebased societies these differences generated irreconcilable conflicts, many of whIch were both revealed and sharpened by the involvement of the press.

This study aims to bring clarity to a discussion of whether the Chinese relationship with Africa can be regarded as an act of Neo-colonialism or if it contains Neo-colonial elements. As China has increasingly engaged with the continent giving extensive amounts of foreign aid and loans as well as intensifying their trade relations, the question arises whether or not this can be connected to Neo-colonial dynamics. This study will use a newly constructed framework with the help of the Neo-colonial theory, different definitions by scholars will be used to create the framework, and the basis for this analysis. The research approach is a qualitative design and the research design is a case study with a focus on China's engagement in Africa. This study finds that there are Neo-colonial elements in the processes of engagement exercised by China on the African continent in some of the variables used in the constructed theoretical framework. Lastly, this study argues that African states must be increasingly cautious when exporting raw materials and in letting private Chinese companies invest and buy shares in important African domestic sectors.

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate how Sweden’s bilateral economic relationship with South Africa has evolved between the years 1985-2018, from a Swedish perspective. The study has four research questions. The first question focuses on how Swedish policies toward South Africa has evolved over time, which is followed by two questions on how these changes has impacted trade and non-trade economic activity between the countries. The last question binds the study together with a discussion of the balance of Swedish priorities between humanitarian goals and domestic self-interests during this period. The existing literature is mainly focused on the economic relationship leading up to the fall of apartheid in 1994, and there is not much written on the subject since then. This study aims to contribute to the field by connecting the apartheid-era literature to the development of the post-apartheid bilateral economic relationship.  The study is based on a cross analysis of complementary data sources and methods to capture the complexity of the bilateral economic relationship between the two countries. The main bulk of data is derived through semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Swedish government, the civil society, and researchers with experience of this bilateral relationship. This is complemented with a content analysis of Swedish policy documents and illustrative quantitative data. The thesis is built on an analytical framework based on Embeddedness theory and a conceptualisation of Economic- and Soft Power, which highlights the interconnectedness between social, political, and economic relationships.

A solidariedade social é princípio fundante do Estado e do Direito, elevada na disciplina constitucional a núcleo do ordenamento jurídico. Na fase atual de evolução da civilização, o Direito Social, a construção da solidariedade social implica a realização concreta das finalidades constitucionais de inclusão e justiça sociais, na perspectiva material e teleológica da democracia, por meio dos instrumentos tributários e financeiros necessários, com a participação do Estado e da sociedade no financiamento da consecução daquelas atividades-fim. Uma das expressões da solidariedade social do Direito Social na sociedade capitalista baseada na exploração do trabalho é a existência efetiva da Previdência Social, que proteja os trabalhadores de infortúnios. A proteção da universalidade dos trabalhadores em Regime Geral de filiação obrigatória realiza a aspiração de solidariedade social. A filiação obrigatória enseja segurança obrigatória, e independe do atendimento do caráter contributivo no caso concreto, tendo em vista a estrutura de normas constitucionais integradas protetivas do trabalhador, que não induzem a interpenetração das relações jurídicas previdenciária e tributária decorrentes do trabalho, que são autônomas, distintas e incomunicáveis, à exceção dos prazos de carência, quando exigidos, em certos casos. A interpretação conforme a solidariedade social, a partir da experiência da teoria hermenêutica, da estrutura constitucional dos regimes de previdência, evidencia a impropriedade flagrante com que o instituto vem sendo tratado na doutrina, nos tribunais e na atividade legislativa decorrente. Este trabalho propõe a reconstrução da interpretação do instituto, com a apresentação de sua construção histórica e dos desvios da experiência pós-constitucional, para dar contornos claros ao conteúdo jurídico conforme as aspirações democráticas do pacto social traduzido na Constituição da República. / Social solidarity is a founding principle of the State and of law. The historic building of the democratic state of law raised the constitutional discipline to the core of law. At the current stage of development of society, the social law, building social solidarity implies the concrete realization of the constitutional purposes of inclusion and social justice at material and teleological perspectives of democracy, through tax and financial instruments needed, with the participation of State and society in financing activities for the achievement of those goals. One of the expressions of social solidarity at Social Law is the actual existence of Social Security, which protects workers from misfortunes. The protection of the universality of workers at the General Board of compulsory membership performs the aspiration for social solidarity. The compulsory membership entails mandatory security, and independent of the contributory duty situation, given the structure of integrated protective constitutional requirements of the worker, who did not induce fluency of social security and tax legal relations arising from the fact itself of working, except in certain situations. The interpretation under social solidarity, at the experience of hermeneutical theory and the constitutional structure of pension schemes, demonstrates the blatant impropriety with which the institute is being addressed in the doctrine, the courts and the resulting legislative activity. This paper proposes the reconstruction of the interpretation of the institute, with the presentation of its historical construction and deviations from post- constitutional experience, to enlighten the legal content as the democratic aspirations of the social pact translated in the Constitution outlines.

A solidariedade social é princípio fundante do Estado e do Direito, elevada na disciplina constitucional a núcleo do ordenamento jurídico. Na fase atual de evolução da civilização, o Direito Social, a construção da solidariedade social implica a realização concreta das finalidades constitucionais de inclusão e justiça sociais, na perspectiva material e teleológica da democracia, por meio dos instrumentos tributários e financeiros necessários, com a participação do Estado e da sociedade no financiamento da consecução daquelas atividades-fim. Uma das expressões da solidariedade social do Direito Social na sociedade capitalista baseada na exploração do trabalho é a existência efetiva da Previdência Social, que proteja os trabalhadores de infortúnios. A proteção da universalidade dos trabalhadores em Regime Geral de filiação obrigatória realiza a aspiração de solidariedade social. A filiação obrigatória enseja segurança obrigatória, e independe do atendimento do caráter contributivo no caso concreto, tendo em vista a estrutura de normas constitucionais integradas protetivas do trabalhador, que não induzem a interpenetração das relações jurídicas previdenciária e tributária decorrentes do trabalho, que são autônomas, distintas e incomunicáveis, à exceção dos prazos de carência, quando exigidos, em certos casos. A interpretação conforme a solidariedade social, a partir da experiência da teoria hermenêutica, da estrutura constitucional dos regimes de previdência, evidencia a impropriedade flagrante com que o instituto vem sendo tratado na doutrina, nos tribunais e na atividade legislativa decorrente. Este trabalho propõe a reconstrução da interpretação do instituto, com a apresentação de sua construção histórica e dos desvios da experiência pós-constitucional, para dar contornos claros ao conteúdo jurídico conforme as aspirações democráticas do pacto social traduzido na Constituição da República. / Social solidarity is a founding principle of the State and of law. The historic building of the democratic state of law raised the constitutional discipline to the core of law. At the current stage of development of society, the social law, building social solidarity implies the concrete realization of the constitutional purposes of inclusion and social justice at material and teleological perspectives of democracy, through tax and financial instruments needed, with the participation of State and society in financing activities for the achievement of those goals. One of the expressions of social solidarity at Social Law is the actual existence of Social Security, which protects workers from misfortunes. The protection of the universality of workers at the General Board of compulsory membership performs the aspiration for social solidarity. The compulsory membership entails mandatory security, and independent of the contributory duty situation, given the structure of integrated protective constitutional requirements of the worker, who did not induce fluency of social security and tax legal relations arising from the fact itself of working, except in certain situations. The interpretation under social solidarity, at the experience of hermeneutical theory and the constitutional structure of pension schemes, demonstrates the blatant impropriety with which the institute is being addressed in the doctrine, the courts and the resulting legislative activity. This paper proposes the reconstruction of the interpretation of the institute, with the presentation of its historical construction and deviations from post- constitutional experience, to enlighten the legal content as the democratic aspirations of the social pact translated in the Constitution outlines.

During the past two decades, extensive research efforts have focused on the conventional wisdom that the economy has a direct influence on a party's destiny. This hypothesis rests on the implicit assumption that the linkages between macroeconomic variables such as inflation and unemployment and party support are direct and unmediated. As the present study indicates, however, objective economic measures only serve as a proxy for the invisible force that drives voters' party support. Once the relevant variables, namely, the perceptual factors of the electorate, are controlled for, variables that describe the state of the objective economy fail to exert their "magic" on political behavior.