This thesis explores three different institutions that underwent proposed reforms during the President of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015): the intelligence sector, the judiciary, and the media. Though the stated purpose of these reforms was to make more democratic institutions that had suffered under the military junta, in reality they were generally unsuccessful. Furthermore these institutions would be further changed under her successor, Mauricio Macri, still with little improvement to democracy. When examining these changes in the context of hyper-presidentialism, it is apparent that the misuse of executive power is a serious impediment to meaningful institutional reform.

<p>The reform of the European Commission has been on the EU agenda for more than three decades. The attempts to introduce an overhaul of the Commission’s institutional structure has been motivated predominantly by the fact that the efficiency of the functioning of the European Commission has been in decline. Despite the striking need to restore the Commission's efficiency, which has become even more urgent in the last decade, the attempts to improve its modus operandi have been marked by many obstacles, difficulties and delays.</p><p>This thesis aims to analyze and explain why the process of reforming the European Commission has been so problematic. In order to achieve this goal, the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism has been utilized. More precisely, we mainly build on the work of Paul Pierson, whose concepts help us understand the reasons behind the failure of a number of reform plans regarding the Commission and clarify why the institutional structure of the European Commission is characterized by a high degree of stability.</p>

Under the influence of orientation towards European integration, Georgia has introduced a variety of new laws with the apparent aim to decentralize legislative and executive powers. This paper shows that the Georgian efforts of decentralization remain superficial, mainly because they are not backed by additional fiscal competences at the municipality level. Following an initial description of the pre-reform situation as of 2006 and based upon a detailed account of the structural changes since 2007, the author gives insight into the conflicts which arise from the lack of institutional congruency. Neither the extraordinary status of the capital Tbilisi nor the seeming autonomy of the Rebublic of Adjara are likely to sway the renegade territories of Abchasia and Ossetia towards a reintegration under Georgian centralized rule as it continues to exist today. Likewise, the success of the proposed and discussed fiscal equalization scheme depends on whether the President and his ruling party are willing to delegate powers to the subodinate jurisdictions.

This paper discusses the problems regarding the decentralisation of a formerly communist country. In Georgia, the first steps towards decentralisation failed, since the transition process led to a power vacuum that escalated in bloody conflicts and secessionist movements. The status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is still unclear and the intra-state tensions remain unsolved. This may be one of the reasons why the most recent attempts of decentralisation are rather hesitant. It is far from clear whether decentralisation in response to regional tensions would increase instability or political stability. We identify the limited autonomy at the local and regional levels as a major obstacle and challenge for the further reform process.

The reform of the European Commission has been on the EU agenda for more than three decades. The attempts to introduce an overhaul of the Commission’s institutional structure has been motivated predominantly by the fact that the efficiency of the functioning of the European Commission has been in decline. Despite the striking need to restore the Commission's efficiency, which has become even more urgent in the last decade, the attempts to improve its modus operandi have been marked by many obstacles, difficulties and delays. This thesis aims to analyze and explain why the process of reforming the European Commission has been so problematic. In order to achieve this goal, the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism has been utilized. More precisely, we mainly build on the work of Paul Pierson, whose concepts help us understand the reasons behind the failure of a number of reform plans regarding the Commission and clarify why the institutional structure of the European Commission is characterized by a high degree of stability.

This multimedia dissertation, situated in Rhetoric and Composition, Digital Media Studies, and Civic Engagement, articulates a sustainable, agile approach to “wicked problems.” These complex, definition-resistant, interlocking problems (such as racism or climate change) aren’t ultimately solvable; rather than wicked problems being “acted upon,” they can only be creatively and rigorously “responded to” by networks of committed individuals and institutions. This dissertation posits that a wicked problem necessitates a “wicked response”: a sustained, emergent, and fluid strategy that focuses on changing relationships – to people, to space, and to knowledge. In order, to make this argument, I present the case of Mart, a small, formerly prosperous town in East Texas that has been in decline over the last half of a century. Throughout this dissertation, I analyze the ongoing efforts of the Mart Community Project (MCP), a cohort of Mart residents, international artists, and students and instructors from a variety of departments at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the past two years, the MCP has engaged in over twenty-five discrete projects, all with the aim of helping the Mart Community reimagine itself in the face of its primary wicked problem: a lack of civic cohesion. In the first chapter I explore how language fails to define or describe a wicked problem, yet is still necessary in order to transform it. I illustrate this contradiction in part through the Chambless Field mural, a successful MCP community arts project that by “writing community” became a productive response. My second chapter examines service learning and demonstrates how university/community partnerships and “participatory engagement” can be part of a nuanced approach to a wicked problem. Using the work of UT students in design-oriented and civic engagement classes, I demonstrate in the third chapter how “mapping” can be both a savvy pedagogical tool and a key element in reinventing the relationships of people to space and to one another. This dissertation offers up these diverse strategies with the sincere hope that the particulars of the MCP’s wicked response might be productively generalized to aid others participating in similarly challenging civic engagement work on wicked problems.

<p>This thesis is an investigation into the causes behind the emergence, maintenance and defeat of dominant authoritarian party regimes (DPARs). The emergence of these regimes during certain critical junctures in a country's history is attributed to the ability of charismatic leaders to co-opt political elites using electoral instruments and incentives under the banner of a single party. The presence of institutional mechanisms that can smooth the leadership transition process, provide rewards for elites to remain in the dominant party and increase the costs of elite defections are important explanatory factors in DPAR maintenance. DPARs also employ different strategies to co-opt and divide the opposition in order to reassert their political dominance. Intra regime splits are a necessary but not sufficient condition to weaken a DPAR. Institutional reform which further weakens a DPAR and increases the probability of future elite splits is introduced when the opposition can play a veto card. The mutually reinforcing effects of elite splits and institutional reform explain the downfall of DPARs in Mexico, Taiwan, Senegal and Paraguay. The DPAR in Malaysia is at a critical juncture whereby an opposition veto which can possibly lead to institutional reform currently hangs in balance.</p> / Dissertation

Esta dissertação apresenta uma compreensão da reforma institucional do setor de segurança pública na China, com ênfase no período pós-1978, até o ano de 2014. O foco empírico da pesquisa recai especificamente sobre o modo de policiar, que compreende uma dimensão formal e outra informal. Evidências empíricas basearamse tanto em fontes bibliográficas, quanto em textos legais e documentos históricos traduzidos diretamente do idioma mandarim. O formato da pesquisa sociológica compreende uma elaboração teórico-metodológica de tipo compreensiva, amparada na abordagem histórica de investigação. Objetivando prover meios de conhecer a reforma por que passa o sistema de controle social na China contemporânea, foi necessário incorrer na apresentação do quadro de referência do controle social no passado, de 1949 a 1978. Não é possível pensar sobre a construção de mecanismos do direito na China à luz da concepção ocidental do direito. Por este motivo, antes da apresentação do objeto empírico, este trabalho realiza uma discussão em profundidade sobre a relevância que as particularidades históricas e culturais têm para a conformação do direito como fenômeno social. Este trabalho possibilitou evidenciar contornos no processo de transformação do controle social na China, que de 1949 a 1978 era fundado essencialmente em mecanismos informais e, a partir deste ano, passou a se caracterizar pelo desenvolvimento de instrumentos formais com contornos legais. / This paper embarks upon a sociological comprehensive analysis of the institutional reform on Chinese security sector, emphasizing the period from 1978 up to the present. The empirical dimension focuses on the phenomena of policing, which comprehends both a formal and an informal dimension. Research source materials were based on bibliographic references as well as legal and historical documents translated directly from simplified Chinese language by the author. These documents were made available online by the Chinese government. The investigation followed the method of Historical Sociology aimed at providing means for the reader to access legal institutional reform China has been through for more than three decades now. Had it not been through means of historical change, it wouldn’t have been possible to analyse institutional building in the Chinese security sector and judicial system. That change is interpreted after Chinese leadership perceptions on the importance to build law mechanisms. Therefore, prior to the presenting the findings on policing, this paper yields a previous discussion on how cultural and historical acquiescence might be important for comprehending legal developments in China. This article provides evidences the contours of the changes in Chinese social control. From 1949 until 1978, it had been characterized mainly by its informal mechanisms, and from 1978 onwards, on formal legal instruments, even though informal practices haven`t been discontinued throughout until the present time.

Esta dissertação apresenta uma compreensão da reforma institucional do setor de segurança pública na China, com ênfase no período pós-1978, até o ano de 2014. O foco empírico da pesquisa recai especificamente sobre o modo de policiar, que compreende uma dimensão formal e outra informal. Evidências empíricas basearamse tanto em fontes bibliográficas, quanto em textos legais e documentos históricos traduzidos diretamente do idioma mandarim. O formato da pesquisa sociológica compreende uma elaboração teórico-metodológica de tipo compreensiva, amparada na abordagem histórica de investigação. Objetivando prover meios de conhecer a reforma por que passa o sistema de controle social na China contemporânea, foi necessário incorrer na apresentação do quadro de referência do controle social no passado, de 1949 a 1978. Não é possível pensar sobre a construção de mecanismos do direito na China à luz da concepção ocidental do direito. Por este motivo, antes da apresentação do objeto empírico, este trabalho realiza uma discussão em profundidade sobre a relevância que as particularidades históricas e culturais têm para a conformação do direito como fenômeno social. Este trabalho possibilitou evidenciar contornos no processo de transformação do controle social na China, que de 1949 a 1978 era fundado essencialmente em mecanismos informais e, a partir deste ano, passou a se caracterizar pelo desenvolvimento de instrumentos formais com contornos legais. / This paper embarks upon a sociological comprehensive analysis of the institutional reform on Chinese security sector, emphasizing the period from 1978 up to the present. The empirical dimension focuses on the phenomena of policing, which comprehends both a formal and an informal dimension. Research source materials were based on bibliographic references as well as legal and historical documents translated directly from simplified Chinese language by the author. These documents were made available online by the Chinese government. The investigation followed the method of Historical Sociology aimed at providing means for the reader to access legal institutional reform China has been through for more than three decades now. Had it not been through means of historical change, it wouldn’t have been possible to analyse institutional building in the Chinese security sector and judicial system. That change is interpreted after Chinese leadership perceptions on the importance to build law mechanisms. Therefore, prior to the presenting the findings on policing, this paper yields a previous discussion on how cultural and historical acquiescence might be important for comprehending legal developments in China. This article provides evidences the contours of the changes in Chinese social control. From 1949 until 1978, it had been characterized mainly by its informal mechanisms, and from 1978 onwards, on formal legal instruments, even though informal practices haven`t been discontinued throughout until the present time.

Esta dissertação apresenta uma compreensão da reforma institucional do setor de segurança pública na China, com ênfase no período pós-1978, até o ano de 2014. O foco empírico da pesquisa recai especificamente sobre o modo de policiar, que compreende uma dimensão formal e outra informal. Evidências empíricas basearamse tanto em fontes bibliográficas, quanto em textos legais e documentos históricos traduzidos diretamente do idioma mandarim. O formato da pesquisa sociológica compreende uma elaboração teórico-metodológica de tipo compreensiva, amparada na abordagem histórica de investigação. Objetivando prover meios de conhecer a reforma por que passa o sistema de controle social na China contemporânea, foi necessário incorrer na apresentação do quadro de referência do controle social no passado, de 1949 a 1978. Não é possível pensar sobre a construção de mecanismos do direito na China à luz da concepção ocidental do direito. Por este motivo, antes da apresentação do objeto empírico, este trabalho realiza uma discussão em profundidade sobre a relevância que as particularidades históricas e culturais têm para a conformação do direito como fenômeno social. Este trabalho possibilitou evidenciar contornos no processo de transformação do controle social na China, que de 1949 a 1978 era fundado essencialmente em mecanismos informais e, a partir deste ano, passou a se caracterizar pelo desenvolvimento de instrumentos formais com contornos legais. / This paper embarks upon a sociological comprehensive analysis of the institutional reform on Chinese security sector, emphasizing the period from 1978 up to the present. The empirical dimension focuses on the phenomena of policing, which comprehends both a formal and an informal dimension. Research source materials were based on bibliographic references as well as legal and historical documents translated directly from simplified Chinese language by the author. These documents were made available online by the Chinese government. The investigation followed the method of Historical Sociology aimed at providing means for the reader to access legal institutional reform China has been through for more than three decades now. Had it not been through means of historical change, it wouldn’t have been possible to analyse institutional building in the Chinese security sector and judicial system. That change is interpreted after Chinese leadership perceptions on the importance to build law mechanisms. Therefore, prior to the presenting the findings on policing, this paper yields a previous discussion on how cultural and historical acquiescence might be important for comprehending legal developments in China. This article provides evidences the contours of the changes in Chinese social control. From 1949 until 1978, it had been characterized mainly by its informal mechanisms, and from 1978 onwards, on formal legal instruments, even though informal practices haven`t been discontinued throughout until the present time.