The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was a response to the controversial presidential election of 2000. In accordance with HAVA requirements for federal elections, states were mandated to replace punch card voting systems and mechanical lever voting machines with more up-to-date systems that use current technology. As replacements, states selected optical scan (OS) and direct record electronic (DRE) voting systems. Computer scientists questioned the security of OS and DRE voting systems, and politicians questioned their accuracy. Thus, the goals of this research were to analyze the accuracy of election outcomes generated by electronic voting (e-voting) systems and to document whether e-voting machines were trustworthy (i.e., accurately recorded the voters' intent) and secure (i.e., votes were not altered). To achieve these goals, the author developed an embedded case study and incorporated ethnographic and quantitative techniques. The author observed election officials in two Missouri jurisdictions perform pre-election, Election Day, and post-election tasks. Specifically, the author observed election officials in Cape Girardeau County perform pre-election tasks, such as logic and accuracy (L&A) testing. In the state of Missouri, pre-election L&A testing involved loading the ballot and was considered finished when the e-voting system was ready for voters. The author identified pre-election adversarial strategies and then used a six-step risk analysis process to identify the most important risks. After following the steps, the author identified 11 e-voting components as high-level security risks. Additionally, the author observed election officials in St. Louis County, Missouri conduct the 2010 midterm election and post-election activities, which included the manual tabulation of ballots. Election Day culminated with unofficial outcomes generated from the e-voting systems, while the post-election activities yielded official outcomes. To analyze the accuracy of e-voting systems, the author computed confidence intervals for the differences between unofficial and official 2010 midterm election outcomes from statewide races in St. Louis County. Based on these confidence intervals, the author concluded that the e-voting systems used in the state of Missouri were between 99.768% and 99.774% accurate.

La question initiale de cette étude est comment ont communiqué les candidats à l'élection présidentielle colombienne de 2014, à travers Twitter, et qui impose les agendas médiatiques et politiques? Cette question a été basée sur la construction de l’objectif de connaître l'utilisation que les candidats à l’élection présidentielle colombienne de 2014, ont fait de la plate-forme de communication Twitter. De là, trois objectifs spécifiques ont été fixés: 1) Connaître l’utilisation que les candidats à l'élection présidentielle de 2014 ont fait de Twitter; 2) Clarifier les questions sur lesquelles ont parlé et 3) Établir qui a imposé les agendas politiques et médiatiques. Et nous sommes partis de l’hypothèse que les candidats à l'élection présidentielle de 2014 (premier et deuxième tours) communiquent de manière unidirectionnelle à travers Twitter et que les agendas continuent à être construits par le gouvernement, les leaders d'opinion et les médias avec peu ou pas de participation des citoyens. Ce travail a été réalisé selon une méthodologie qualitative de la recherche sociale, dont le genre de recherche est appliqué avec une portée descriptive-interprétative mesurée par la cyber-ethnographie. À la fin de la recherche, l’hypothèse initiale a été confirmée et cela montre que les citoyens ont échoué à être entendus par les gouvernements, par les leaders d’opinion et par les médias à travers les réseaux sociaux. En fait, ce sont ces trois derniers qui imposent toujours leurs agendas. / The trigger question of this Thesis is: how did the Colombian presidential candidates in 2014th, communicate through Twitter, and who did imposed an agenda on it? In order to answer that, it was assumed as a starting point, the necessity to find out how the Colombian presidential candidates in 2014th, used the communication platform Twitter. From that on, there were defined three main objectives: 1) To determinate the kind of relationships that the candidates built up; 2) To make explicit the subjects which they talked about and 3) To established who did imposed the informative agenda. The assumption that the Colombian presidential candidates in 2014th (first and second round), communicate themselves on a unidirectional way through the communication platform Twitter, and the agendas remain been established by the government, the public opinion makers and the media with little or none citizens participation; it´s been taken as a starting point. Through a methodology within the qualitative paradigm from the social investigation, which type of investigation is applied with a descriptive-interpretative coverage, using as a method the Cyber-ethnography? At the end of the research Project, the initial assumption was uphold and it is clear how the citizens hadn´t been heard by the government, the public opinion makers and the media though the social networks. As a matter of fact, these three last ones are the ones that remain imposing the agendas.

Thesis (LL.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the LL.M. programme." Includes bibliographical references (l. [69]-75). Also available in print.

<p><em>Aim</em>: Over the years, marketing has become a more and more important tool in politics in general. In order to campaign successfully – and become the President-elect - in the U.S. Presidential Election, marketing is indispensable. This lead to enormous amounts of money spent on marketing. The aim of this research is to contribute to existing knowledge in the field of political marketing through the analysis of how marketing is done throughout a political campaign. The 2008 U.S. Presidential Primary Elections, together with a few key candidates have served as the empirical example of this investigation. Four research questions have been asked; what marketing strategies are of decisive outcome in the primary season of the 2008 political campaigning, how is political marketing differentiated depending on the candidate and the demographics of the voter, and finally where does the money come from to fund this gigantic political industry.</p><p><em>Method</em>: The exploratory method and case study as well as the qualitative research method have been used in this work. Internet has been an important tool in the search for, and collection of data. Sources used have been scientific articles, other relevant literature, home pages, online newspapers, TV, etc. The questions have been researched in detail and several main conclusions have been drawn from a marketing perspective. Correlations with theory have also been made.</p><p><em>Result & Conclusion</em>: In the primary season, the product the candidates have been selling is <em>change</em>. The Obama campaign successfully coined and later implemented this product into a grassroots movement that involved bottom-up branding of the candidate. This large base allowed for a different marketing strategy that implemented earlier and better organization in the caucus voting primary states resulting in an untouchable lead for the Obama campaign. The successful utilization of the Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube led to enormous support, not least among the important group of young (first time) voters. It also served as the main base for funding throughout both the primary and the presidential season, effectively outspending the Clinton, and later, the McCain campaigns. This study has shown that there are differences in marketing when it comes to different presidential candidates even within the same party. Marketing activities and efforts also look different for different marketing groups.</p><p><em>Suggestions for future research</em>: This study was limited to the primary season; it would have been interesting to include the whole U.S. Presidential campaigning process from start to finish. In future research projects, it would also be interesting to see comparisons between political marketing in the U.S. and political marketing elsewhere, in Europe for example.</p><p><em>Contribution of the thesis</em>: This study contributes to increased knowledge when it comes to understanding the role of social media, grassroots movement, and bottom-up branding as a political marketing strategy. It also contributes to increased knowledge about political marketing in general. Furthermore, it shows the importance of marketing - and money - in American politics. Political parties as well as individual candidates may also find the results of this research useful for future campaigning.</p>

Abstract According to the Company Act, to convene a regular shareholder¡¦s meeting, a majority of the shareholders who represent more than 50% of the total number of the company¡¦s outstanding shares shall be present. It is also regulated that a shareholder may stipulate the scope of authority in the proxy issued by the company and appoint a proxy to attend the shareholder¡¦s meeting on his behalf. Due to the dispersion trend of ownership structure of domestic listed companies, where some mid/large-size companies with long histories have, in average, less than 20% of shareholding of board of directors, it seems reasonable for companies to rely on proxy solicitation in order to convene a shareholder¡¦s meeting, have all proposals resolved, and elect board members. The operation of a business entity and its corporate governance are closely tied to the effectiveness of its top management. However, domestic listed companies in general are unable to separate the ownership and management, and therefore those who obtain the management become the management team of a company. As a result of relatively low shareholding held by major shareholders of domestic listed companies, lower cost of proxy solicitation than buying shares from the market, and less care about proxy rights from individual investors, major shareholders in listed companies intend to win more seats in the board via proxy solicitation in order to obtain management. For the above reasons, proxy solicitation becomes an important tool in determing management of listed companies, their operation and corporate governance. Proxy makes it possible to obtain the management of a corporate with relatively low shareholdings, resulting in asymmetry in cost and management obtained, and this might pose risks on company¡¦s corporate governance. However, on the other hand, proxy assists convening a shareholder¡¦s meeting, and therefore become an indispensable tool in defending the management of a corporate with honesty and integrity. With all the advantages and disadvantages, proxy is of great importance for individual corporate and overall operation of economy. The research conducts a case study on C Company with references on other listed companies to explore the impacts of proxy on management and operation of a company and its corporate governance. Pros and cons for proxy solicitation are summarized while solutions are proposed. The result of the research shows that listed companies demonstrate deep reliance on proxy. Whether or not a listed company conducts business with honesty and good faith, its major shareholder is likely to exploit the advantages to obtain unsymmetrical positions in the board in contrasts with its low shareholding. However, the performance of corporate governance afterward depends on the integrity and conscience of the management team, and actually has no direct link to proxy solicitation. Also, with the ¡§winning betting¡¨ nature to achieve management leverage, proxy solicitation could be a possible factor for corporate mis-governance. To avoid the unfairness caused by proxy solicitation and enhance corporate governance, competent authorities must consider revising the Company Act and related laws instead of revising regulations governing proxy solicitation alone. Suggestions in this research include the following: (1) To abrogate rules in the Company Act providing that ¡§to convene a regular shareholder¡¦s meeting, a majority of the shareholders who represent more than 50% of the total number of the company¡¦s outstanding shares shall be present¡¨. (2) The number of shares present via proxy solicitation, voting right and election right shall be discounted. (3) To promote electronic voting, split of voting rights of institutional shareholders, and adoption of nomination system for the director election. (4) To change the election method of independent directors, where the new method elects the independent director based on the number of voting individual shareholders, rather than the cumulative voting shares. The suggestions are proposed to provide a reference for competent authorities. Key words: proxy, corporate governance, board election, management, electronic voting, board election nomination system

ABSTRACT The definition of economic voting by Lewis-Beck indicates constituency can cast a ballot for the benefit of the ruling party while they definitely confirm economic performance by past; vice versa. The study also expresses Western democratic countries periodically hold the Election of Central Administration Leading Cadre and the Legislative Election; furthermore, it shows in response to economic voting during constituency go into deciding by ballot at the meantime. Seeing that documents of the research in Taiwan of voting behavior among constituency much focus on national identification, political party and candidate characteristics; the other way round, less focus on economic performance or economic governance ability. It is unworthy truth for Taiwan Economy to be no longer wonderingly splendid manifestation. Therefore, this study longs for by way of observing materials and data in poll centers behind the President Election in 1996, 2000 as well as the Legislative Election in 1998, 2001. Consequently, it searches out whether economic voting manifestation for Taiwan constituency; it awaits to comprehend if the Economy is one of main variable while voting by constituency in Taiwan? Moreover, it attempts to observing constituency to be part of which social background characteristics. On the basis of the above-mentioned analysis, this study comes at something: I. Economic evaluation is indeed an influential factor; due to unique historical culture background, the crucial point in voting still inferiors to identification of political party and unity-independence position. Nevertheless, candidates among latterly national elections propose unexceptionable policy to lure constituency; newspapers and mass media describe prosperity fluctuation by a wide margin. The effect of economic issues is more and more significant in future election. It may observe continually. II. The study detects low-education-level constituency easily possess economic voting behavior than high-education-level constituency, but it is not fit in with foreign relevant economic voting theory - it is worthy of probing into variations between Taiwan and foreign countries. Over and above, owning-occupation constituency easily possesses economic voting behavior than non-owning-occupation constituency. It hopes adding the gender and age factors in future research. Key Words: Economic Evaluation, Voting Behavior, the Legislative Election, the President Election, Multinomial Logit Model

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in München, 1990. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. [4-31] (2nd group)).

No description available.

Aim: Over the years, marketing has become a more and more important tool in politics in general. In order to campaign successfully – and become the President-elect - in the U.S. Presidential Election, marketing is indispensable. This lead to enormous amounts of money spent on marketing. The aim of this research is to contribute to existing knowledge in the field of political marketing through the analysis of how marketing is done throughout a political campaign. The 2008 U.S. Presidential Primary Elections, together with a few key candidates have served as the empirical example of this investigation. Four research questions have been asked; what marketing strategies are of decisive outcome in the primary season of the 2008 political campaigning, how is political marketing differentiated depending on the candidate and the demographics of the voter, and finally where does the money come from to fund this gigantic political industry. Method: The exploratory method and case study as well as the qualitative research method have been used in this work. Internet has been an important tool in the search for, and collection of data. Sources used have been scientific articles, other relevant literature, home pages, online newspapers, TV, etc. The questions have been researched in detail and several main conclusions have been drawn from a marketing perspective. Correlations with theory have also been made. Result &amp; Conclusion: In the primary season, the product the candidates have been selling is change. The Obama campaign successfully coined and later implemented this product into a grassroots movement that involved bottom-up branding of the candidate. This large base allowed for a different marketing strategy that implemented earlier and better organization in the caucus voting primary states resulting in an untouchable lead for the Obama campaign. The successful utilization of the Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube led to enormous support, not least among the important group of young (first time) voters. It also served as the main base for funding throughout both the primary and the presidential season, effectively outspending the Clinton, and later, the McCain campaigns. This study has shown that there are differences in marketing when it comes to different presidential candidates even within the same party. Marketing activities and efforts also look different for different marketing groups. Suggestions for future research: This study was limited to the primary season; it would have been interesting to include the whole U.S. Presidential campaigning process from start to finish. In future research projects, it would also be interesting to see comparisons between political marketing in the U.S. and political marketing elsewhere, in Europe for example. Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to increased knowledge when it comes to understanding the role of social media, grassroots movement, and bottom-up branding as a political marketing strategy. It also contributes to increased knowledge about political marketing in general. Furthermore, it shows the importance of marketing - and money - in American politics. Political parties as well as individual candidates may also find the results of this research useful for future campaigning.

The purpose of this research was to articulate the process and principles of relay succession in the senior pastorate within the Church of God (COG). The research was accomplished through three phases and four case studies. The first phase--define and design--sought to review the precedent literature and begin the development of a case study protocol with embedded interviews. The interview was subject to review by an expert panel and approved by the chairperson of the dissertation committee. The second phase--prepare, collect, and analyze--included completing the case study protocol, collecting data at each individual case study site, writing individual case study reports and analyzing the data. In the final stage, analyze and present findings, the researcher sought to complete a cross-case analysis and present the findings according to the research purpose in order to answer the four research questions.