This thesis deals with leadership and political allegiance in three Yemeni communities in Israel. The general question which is raised is this: what are the main factors which affect the form and functioning of leadership in these three immigrant, ethnic communities? The answer which is elaborated in the body of this thesis is as follows : there are two main sets of influences which are interrelated in different ways in each one of the three cases. The first set of influences derives from the internal structure of the community and from the structure of its relations with the wider society; the second set derives from conceptions of leadership, authority and allegiance, which have been moulded by the past. The first community, Shaarayim - now a Yemeni quarter of a town - is examined in detail with respect to its internal structure, organization and composition, its relations with other sections of the local community and the wider society, and its history; the functioning of leadership and allegiance is analysed against this background. The other two communities - Rosh iia'Ayin, a Yemeni township, and Zellafon, a cooperative village - which are of more recent origin than the first community, are considered in lesser detail, simply as suggestive cases for comparison. The social life of the Jews in Yemen 3 is discussed in order to throw light on the forces which have fashioned their conception of leadership and authority. Comparison of the three communities as they are at present, and analysis of the past, show the nature of the connexic, n between the two sets of factors, and demonstrates the extent to which, and the manner in which, circumstances can encourage or inhibit the persistence of traditional conceptions which influence conduct.

The present thesis re-assesses the utility of the theory of consociational democracy as a prescriptive conflict-regulation mechanism for plural societies, by re-examining the significance of the so-called causative/positive relationship between consociationalism and democratic stability. This re-assessment is based on a twin-fold examination of the internal constructs and logic of consociational theory, their political/economic procedural aspects and their societal manifestations. This examination is undertaken in two complex historical contexts, pre-war and post-war Lebanon. Mainly, the internal weaknesses of the theory have to do with its inherently flawed assumptions and the imprecise definitions of its main components, which make it problematic to analytically and empirically establish a causative link between consociationalism and democratic stability. Thus, to undertake a meaningful discussion of the ability of consociationalism to deliver on the promise of democratic stability, the thesis elaborates on the definitions of the main components and concepts of consociational theory (as they relate to the Lebanese context). It also examines their relations to democratic theory. Equally, starting with the observations that many countries of the world adopt consociational practices and mechanisms of rule and that consociational theory continues to receive significant scholarly attention, the continuous development and elaboration of the consociational model appear to be a way of alleviating the weaknesses of the theory and expanding its prescriptive power. Hence, particular emphasis is placed on an original elaboration of the definition, concept and representative scope of the grand coalition for two major reasons. First, this is so in the light of the centrality of the notion of elites and their role in consociational democracies (consociationalism being an actor-centered model). Second, this is the case in the light of the fact that executive decision-making power effectively lies within the ruling grand coalition. Based on the complex societal stage on which the thesis unfolds, (i. e., the Lebanese context), the findings of the thesis reveal that the consociational model of democracy is at times unable in very many ways to operate as the consociational theory of democracy suggests. Most importantly for the purposes of the present dissertation, the Lebanese experiments with consociationalism reveal that the model is unable at times to prevent the outbreak of communal conflict involving violence. Furthermore, it does not seem to work properly without a heavy dose of internal mediation and external arbitration. Additionally, it prevents the Lebanese state and social systems from reaching the political maturity necessary for stability. In other words, the Lebanese consociational structure of governance appears to work effectively at ensuring relative stability only if it is continuously assisted by additional mechanisms of conflict-regulation (those of mediation and arbitration). Indeed, the Lebanese consociational model functions relatively well when it borrows from the above-mentioned mechanisms provided by the literature on conflict regulation in plural societies. As such, consociationalism's so-called ability to deliver, alone, on the promise of democratic stability for Lebanon's plural society is seriously questioned.

The women's suffrage petition presented to the House of Commons in June 1866 is credited with being the first move in the British campaign. Yet although given a pivotal position in the women's movement, it and its organisation have received scant attention. This thesis examines the origins of this petition, which was organised by members of the Kensington Society (1865-1868). It investigates the members of this society, and those 1,499 women who signed the petition. This thesis looks in detail at these women both statistically and, in so far as it is ever possible, in terms of the 'experience' of the individuals involved. The thesis uses information from census, directories, etc. as well as biographical resources, in a variety of ways, ranging from 'life histories' of sample rank and file individuals, to statistical data covering several hundred women, and including charts which explore the activities of individual women over time, and case studies of groups of up to fifly women. Following the Introductory chapter, Chapter Two presents the context for change within which the Kensington Society and the petition came into being. Chapter Three introduces some rank and file women, and looks at the role of older women. Chapter Four considers the Kensington Society, and the part its members played in collecting the signatures for the petition in 1866 and looks at the age, marital status, class and geographical distribution of both Kensington Society members and those women who signed this petition. Chapter Five explores shared experience, and Chapter Six shared commitment Chapter Seven considers the implications of this investigation for the history of the early campaigns for women's suffrage in Britain.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional alliance grouping the six oil- and gas-rich Arabian states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, was founded in 1981 with the purported aim of "effect[ing] coordination, integration and inter-connection between Member States in all fields in order to achieve unity between them" (GCC Charter: Article 4). Most political observers, nevertheless, insist that this alliance was born out of a common concern among these rich but sparsely populated and militarily vulnerable states for their security and political stability within a politically volatile region, and the need for a regional alliance with sufficient capability to safeguard their interests, sovereignty and political stability. This study was undertaken with a set of interacting aims in mind; besides the subsidiary aim of examining the structure and operation of the GCC from the perspective of competing theoretical approaches to federalism with a view to exploring their viability vis-à-vis the case of integration which the GCC represents, this study primarily aims at evaluating the GCC, as well as the political and social basis of cooperation, among its member states in the light of attitudes and perceptions within Gulf society. With regard to the former concern, the aim is to consider how useful theories of federalism are in understanding and interpreting the GCC. With regard to the latter concern, the study aims, to explore Gulf social perception of the factors underlying the emergence of the GCC, its institutions, objectives, policies and problems confronting it with a view to determining the extent and nature of both the attitudinal similarities, and discrepancies existing between different social Gulf groups as well as identifying the complex network of historical, socio-cultural and institutional affinities operating across state boundaries within the GCC. To explore perceptions of the policies and aspects of cooperation which the GCC considers central to its efforts to bring about greater unity among its member states, two surveys were undertaken among two contrasting groups: one based on a sample of top-ranking officials at the GCC Secretariat General and another based on the sample of students at Kuwait and Qatar universities.

The 2010 General Election and subsequent coalition government brought groundbreaking changes to the conduct of UK politics, challenging recent British political history’s encapsulation within the dominant paradigm of the majoritarian ‘Westminster model’, and raising the prospect of further indecisive elections, not least evident in the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming 2015 General Election. These developments have also encouraged a rereading of past British minority governments, previously relegated to a status of either inherent weakness or aberration. Seminal works in the study of minority governments (Kaare Strom, 1990, 2006) have tended to concentrate on international experience, and even more recent studies by the Constitution Unit in London which have sought to act as a guide to current political parties (‘Making Minority Government Work’ (2010)) have not considered past British administrations in any great depth. This thesis provides a historico-political study of the two main parties’ strategic response to minority government during the Callaghan Administration of 1976-1979. The twin conclusions of this work are that both the Labour Government and Conservative Opposition showed greater consideration of strategies for dealing with minority government than has previously been appreciated by scholars, and that their actions are indicative of a distinct British tradition of minority government hitherto relatively unrecognised. The first two chapters establish the study’s theoretical framework, chronological context of the Callaghan Government, and strategy-making process within the main parties. Chapters 3-4 take in the alternative courses of action during Government formation and the changing approaches to managing legislative defeats, while Chapters 5-6 examine formal and informal interparty cooperation. Chapters 7-8 consider strategies of electoral timing, as well as planning by both parties for future minority or coalition governments, while the remaining two chapters revisit the confidence vote that brought down the Government, and place Callaghan’s Administration within a wider reconceptualising of British minority government history.

The underlying theme of this dissertation is to focus on analysing complex and incremental change by applying the concept of regime change. Only when we undertake an analysis, which focuses on changes within a specific political-economic setting, will we be able to assess the extent and dynamic of political-economic change that occurred over a specific period of time. Regime as applied in this dissertation refers to a middle level of cohesion in the political economy of a nation state. It therefore differs from its common usage in linking a regime to a specific government or the state; as such this thesis also contributes towards generating additional awareness in distinguishing between the state, the government and a regime. It is further argued that the concept of regime change is both specific and flexible enough to cover a diverse range of case studies. To test the application of the theoretical framework two distinctive case studies, China and Japan, were selected. The concept or regime change also informs our understanding of the complexity and particularity of specific cases and the processes of complex change they experienced, like in the cases of China and Japan.

Civil wars in which conflict parties claim a regime lead to crisis at both domestic and international levels. Such claims for new regime have been a part of the democratization process throughout history. Thus, for both domestic and international participants in civil conflicts, bargaining is often a central issue. While conflict parties face pressure to cease civil war, salient issues at stake sometimes make parties less inclined to settle. Even if parties reach an agreement, in many cases, this is only a part of the long process of ending war. The outcome might also create incompatible situations for different parties, in some cases, causing another conflict. In other cases, such an outcome simultaneously solves other parties' incompatible situations. This dissertation investigates how and when politically incompatible situations in civil wars are resolved through the process of war termination. It re-examines the arguments used for international relations and civil conflict terminations with a particular focus on the subject of bargaining over political institutions, and the changing phases of termination process. Those theories are tested by using various potential outcomes as measures of conflict terminations in civil wars over government.

This thesis seeks to provide a comprehensive account of the nature and degree of change in British television news coverage of General Elections. By creating and utilising an in-depth content analysis coding frame, the analysis measures news quantitative and qualitative data across 270 bulletins, approximately 148hrs, of news content across the seven elections from 1979 to 2005. In doing so, it fills two gaps in the existing literature. First, it provides the first dedicated and consistent longitudinal analysis of British election news. Given the acknowledged importance of television news in the modern political process, it is important to develop an understanding of how campaign news content has changed, both as a source of information for the public at moments of democratic renewal, and also in terms of the normative role of journalism in British politics. Second, it develops a toolkit by which political news content can be accurately and reliably measured. Most of the existing empirical research into British television election news content has employed inadequate or non-replicable measures, leaving a fragmentary body of data from which longitudinal conclusions cannot be drawn with confidence. By adapting and applying a series of measures based on other longitudinal media content studies, the thesis sets out a means by which future studies of news content can be guided. The thesis thus generates new data on four aspects of election news content. First, it casts serious doubt on the "tabloidisation" thesis, demonstrating that news in British terrestrial news bulletins has retained both an overwhelmingly serious news agenda, and a substantial commitment to election news coverage. Not only have levels of campaign coverage remained steady, but campaign coverage has been given a consistently prominent place in news bulletins, indicating a lasting commitment to a more „sacerdotal‟ approach to campaign coverage on both BBC and ITV, despite increasing competition in the television environment. Second, an analysis of the balance of substantive policy content and strategic campaign coverage shows that journalists on British television news have adopted aspects of an increasingly adversarial approach to covering campaigns, and have tended to view their role ever more as interpreters of political messages and campaign actions. Third, the research shows comprehensive evidence of a dramatic shrinking of political soundbites over the period of study, and a replacement of disappearing politician speech by journalists who feature more and speak progressively more often over the period of study. Finally, in order to determine the effect of technological changes in television news reporting, the thesis compares campaign and non-campaign news output, determining that, while some aspects of change in election news can be ascribed to technological changes, the rise of the journalist as the most prominent speaker in campaign news items cannot.

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Russian people living in Scotland – and the UK more broadly – are exposed to a political climate where Russian domestic and foreign policy is the subject of intense media scrutiny and, often, criticism. This thesis explores the intersection between UK and Scottish media discourse on Russia and Russian people, Scottish public attitudes towards Russia and Russian people, and the everyday lives of Russian migrants living in Scotland. The thesis is based upon data gathered from a critical discourse analysis of 1200 Scottish and UK newspaper articles, two surveys carried out with approximately 400 Scottish and 100 Russian respondents, and interviews conducted with 24 Scottish and 21 Russian participants. The thesis argues that Russia is ‘othered’ in UK and Scottish media discourse, frequently associated with negative characteristics such as aggression and dishonesty. Through such discursive strategies, Russia is portrayed as fundamentally different from the UK, Europe and the West. While identifying some positive media engagement with Russian culture and travel, I highlight the way in which such coverage often relies upon exoticised and orientalised tropes. My findings show that there is limited press engagement with Russian people, other than President Vladimir Putin. I demonstrate that Putin has become intrinsic to contemporary imaginings of Russia, often represented as ‘Russia personified’. Ultimately, I suggest that the way in which Russian and Russian people are represented in media discourse reflects contemporary and historical power dynamics between the UK and Russia. The thesis explores how these findings intersect with Scottish participants’ attitudes towards Russia and Russian people, analysing the way in which interviewees articulated and differentiated Russian, Scottish or British, and Western identities. Throughout my discussion of both popular and media perspectives, I stress the ongoing significance of the Soviet legacy upon perceptions of contemporary Russia. I suggest that there is a complex relationship between media discourse on Russia and popular attitudes towards the country, arguing that, while Scottish participants often challenged the ideas about Russia put forward in the press, they nevertheless reproduced dominant discourses. The thesis explores this process of challenging, but nonetheless internalising, dominant media narratives. Finally, I examine how media and popular representations of Russia affect the lived experiences of Russian migrants in Scotland. I suggest that representations of Russia can have a stigmatising effect, creating ontological and social insecurities for Russian people. I suggest that such vulnerabilities often result from day-to-day encounters in seemingly banal settings, such as on public transport or in the pub. However, I emphasise the complexity of the way in which Russian participants responded to public attitudes, exploring times when they felt stereotyped, cases when interviewees were misrecognised as Polish migrants and, finally, drawing attention to positive experiences. Finally, I stress the ways in which close and trusting relationships, as well as managing media consumption, can play a key role in coping with and mitigating everyday experiences of vulnerability. The thesis makes several original contributions to knowledge. I build upon a small, but growing, body of work on the representation of Russia in contemporary media discourse. My focus on the UK and Scottish media environment, as well as the use of critical discourse analysis to critique media sources, differentiates the thesis from existing work within the field. Further, I add a contemporary perspective to existing literature on British representations of Russia, most of which has focused on receptiveness to Russian culture, particularly during the Tsarist and early Soviet periods. My use of empirical – rather than archival or secondary – data further distinguishes the thesis, with this research offering the first detailed and critical account of British popular perceptions of Russia. More broadly, I offer a bottom-up perspective into the ways in which Western (and Eastern) identities are represented and utilised on an everyday basis. The emphasis upon the stigmatising effect of media and popular attitudes towards Russia upon Russian migrants living in Scotland is also distinctive, as well as my exploration of the social and ontological vulnerabilities such stigmatising experiences can create.