The institutional legitimacy and impact of the Supreme Court, like all political institutions, ultimately depend on public support. However, unlike other political institutions, the Court does not draw that support directly from the democratic process. Scholars in the United States have examined this problem by analyzing the relationship between public perceptions of judicial institutions and their legitimacy, emphasizing the importance of myth in sustaining support for courts in the absence of democratic accountability. This thesis extends American research to the Canadian case, by examining the role of the media as a significant source of popular perceptions of the Canadian Supreme Court. The objective of this thesis is to provide a preliminary assessment of this role by analyzing newspaper coverage of three of the Court's important and high-profile decisions: The Morgentaler, Thibaudeau and Symes cases. The thesis contends that the media, at times through oversimplifications and mischaracterization of issues, help to perpetuate a positive myth of the Court. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, this thesis shows that the public appears to base its support on this myth, which is built upon incomplete and oversimplified information. This distorted image of the Court helps to strengthen its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Geschichtswissenschaftliche Fakultät--Universität Tübingen, 1995. / Bibliogr. p. 303-331. Index.

This investigation sought to identify linkages between the Texas Supreme Court and public opinion through 1) a matching of written decisions with scientifically conducted public opinion polls; 2) direct mention of public opinion and its synonyms in Texas justices' decisions; 3) comparison of these mentions over time; and 4) comparison of 10 personal attributes of justices with matched decisions. The study moved the unit of analysis from the U.S. Supreme Court to the state court level by using classification schemes and attribute models previously applied to the U.S. Supreme Court. It determined that linkages exist between the Texas Supreme Court's written decisions and public opinion from 1978 to July 1994.

No description available.

Ip Po Na. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-72). / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

This thesis introduces a new model to the field of social dynamics in which each node in a network moves to the mass center of the opinions in its neighborhood weighted by the changing certainty each node has in its own opinion. An upper bound of O(n) is proved for the number of timesteps until this model reaches a stable state. A second model is also analyzed in which nodes move to the mass center of the opinions of the nodes in their neighborhood unweighted by the certainty those nodes have in their opinions. This second model is shown to have a O(d) time complexity, where d is the diameter of the network, on a tree and is compared with a very similar model presented in 2013 by Frischknecht, Keller, and Wattenhofer who found a lower bound on some networks of Ω(3). 2 / Graduate

In this study, I focus on the changing gender relationships between women and men and on women’s political rights in Kuwaiti society in particular. Specifically, I measure Kuwaiti citizens’ attitudes toward Kuwaiti women in political roles after Kuwaiti women gained their political rights, especially after May 16, 2005. Gender relationships continue to change, and in order to understand these changes it is important to examine the current cultural context in which they are occurring. This context includes political change, cultural development, the impact of the media and economic systems, as well as changing laws, religions, socialization, and globalization. All of these factors influence gender relations in Kuwaiti society. This study focuses specifically on the way that political ideology and perceptions about gender roles impact attitudes toward political efficacy for women in Kuwait. This study focuses on Kuwaiti citizens’ attitudes and perceptions about women’s political rights and changing gender relationships in Kuwaiti society. The study uses survey data based on a random sampling of students at Kuwait University, along with the snowball technique for the general population, taken from Kuwaiti employees in public businesses. The data measure the attitudes of both of these populations towards Kuwaiti women’s political rights. / Department of Sociology

This investigation is concerned with perceived detrimental aspects of land use and the desirability of extending government participation in land use goals. Interviews with 179 persons were conducted. The data reveal a possible direct relationship between social class and the acceptance of land use and economic controls. The project endorses the following proposals: Local regulations should require housing developers to provide the streets and utilities and to dedicate land for parks and schools. Taxation should be used as a regulatory tool for the attainment of public policy objectives. A federal commission is needed to encourage comprehensive land management programs. It is also suggested that future land management questionnaires should use random samples and ask questions about specific land use problems.

No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Paris V, 1978. / Bibliography: p. 699.