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This project explores the power dynamics within the Iranian political system, asking what accounts for the rise and fall of a president's power relative to the other dominant formal and informal institutions in Iran. Comparing perspectives that focus on charisma, ideology and political bargaining, I argue that the relative power of the president is contingent on a variety of institutional and behavioural factors which define his ability to bargain within an institutional structure of overlapping spheres of control. Within this study, I challenge the traditional emphasis on process as a point of departure for analyses, and stress the need for a change in orientation to effect or output. Finally, I argue that the extensive factionalism within Iranian politics defines the political system and is integral to the cost-benefit calculations of various actors within the institutional matrix of the state.

Šio tyrimo tikslas buvo aprašyti argumentavimo technikos ypatumus metiniuose Rusijos prezidento Vladimiro Putino ir Lietuvos prezidento Valdo Adamkaus kreipimųsi tekstuose nuo 2000 iki 2007 m. Tyrimo tikslui pasiekti buvo iškelti šie uždaviniai: a) remiantis tyrimo medžiaga nustatyti kognityvines argumentacijos struktūras, b) aprašyti argumentacinio diskurso elementų realizacijas (tezės pateikimo tekste būdus, argumentų, kuriais grindžiama tezė, turinį ir apimtį). Darbe naudoti šie tyrimo metodai: kognityvinė analizė − ideologinio teksto kūrėjo sąmonės struktūroms nustatyti; loginė ir retorinė analizė − įtikinimo loginiam ir neloginiam aspektams ištirti; lyginamasis metodas − gautiems rezultatams palyginti. Tyrimo naujumas argumentuojamas tuo, jog darbe iškelta problema nėra išsamiai nagrinėta: tai pasakytina ir apie tyrimo medžiagą (argumentacijos klausimams lietuvių politiniame diskurse iki šiol nebuvo skiriama pakankamai dėmesio), ir apie argumentacijos analizės metodus (vis dar nėra sukurta išsami politinio diskurso argumentacijos analizės metodika). Disertacijai ginti teikiami šie teiginiai: 1. Prezidento kreipimasis yra hibridinio tipo kalbėjimo aktas, kuriame dera aprašomojo, vertinamojo bei argumentacinio kalbėjimo aktų savybės. 2. Tezė prezidento kreipimesi neeksplikuojama; klausytojas turi ją suprasti loginės indukcijos būdu, apibendrindamas pavyzdžius, kurie atlieka argumentų vaidmenį. 3. Kognityvinių struktūrų realizacija yra prezidentų kreipimųsi argumentacijos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The goal of the present research was to describe the peculiarities of argumentation technique in Russian and Lithuanian Presidents’ (Vladimir Putin and Valdas Adamkus, respectively) annual speeches covering the period of 2000-2007. In attempt to achieve the goal of the research, the following objectives have been pursued: a) what cognitive structures operate in particular argumentation, b) how the elements of argumentative discourse are realized (i.e. the ways of introducing a thesis statement into the text; the content and volume of arguments supporting the thesis). The methods employed are cognitive analysis (to distinguish the speaker’s structures of the conscious in attempt to generate an ideological text), logical-rhetorical analysis (to imply logical and illogical ways of persuading) and contrastive method (to examine and compare the findings). The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the research question has not been analysed in depth so far, i.e. neither the research subject (the issue of argumentation in Lithuanian political discourse has not received much attention yet), nor working out the methods of argumentation analysis (effective methods of argumentation analysis in political discourse have not been fully developed so far) were much of linguists interest. The claims of the dissertation: 1. Presidential annual speeches seem to be a hybrid type of a speech act which incorporates the qualities of descriptive, evaluative and argumentative speech acts. 2... [to full text]

The main thesis of this study is that Islam played a role in the history of the Tunisian nationalist movement on two levels. It was considered as a fundamental component in defining the specificity of the Tunisian nation, source of legitimacy of the Tunisian nationalist movement both before and after independence. Moreover, as a fundamental component of the Tunisian "personality", it influenced the mode of communication used by nationalist leaders to mobilize the masses. / The biographical approach served to focus the issue through the prism of Habib Bourguiba's life. It revealed that even this most secular of Arab leaders could not shed the Arab-Islamic heritage of Tunisia precisely because Islam, as a fundamental component of the Tunisian "personality" and as the language of the masses, held the key to political legitimacy.

As society changes, so must higher education. Therefore, colleges and universities and the presidents leading them must adapt to survive in today’s highly competitive marketplace. What must an institution do to stay abreast of the changes? Once the necessary changes are identified, what processes are used by a president of a college or university to go about deliberately creating change on campus? By understanding how to create planned change, leaders within higher education will be able to better ensure that their institutions remain relevant in today’s rapidly changing environment. For many colleges and universities, their ultimate survival may depend on their ability to change. This study examines the transformation of one college. In doing so, it identifies and describes organizational change strategies utilized by its president to influence those changes. This qualitative, single-case study of Georgetown College was executed solely by the researcher. The process of data collection consisted of interviews, observation, and document analysis. The data was then analyzed to identify major emerging themes as well as strategies, processes, and practices that resulted in organizational change at Georgetown College.

This dissertation fills a gap in the historiography of southern higher education by focusing on five university presidents and their role in the desegregation of a non-elite flagship university in the Upper South. While historian Melissa Keane has studied the presidential role at elite private southern universities during the initial phase of the desegregation process, no study has yet examined desegregation from the president’s office at a southern land-grant university. Building upon historian Peter Wallenstein’s thesis that desegregation is not a single event in an institution’s history but rather an ongoing process, I argue that it was also process that clearly involved the university presidents. Though much has been written about desegregation in Kentucky generally and the University of Kentucky specifically, and the pioneering African American students who desegregated UK, almost no scholarship has focused on the specific role of the UK presidents in the ongoing desegregation process. In much of the existing literature, the presidents are portrayed as spectators, they occupy a backseat, or they sit on the sidelines as the action unfolds. Often their story ends with the initial desegregation of UK’s graduate and undergraduate programs. Passive observers they were not, however. Herman Lee Donovan, Frank Graves Dickey, John Wieland. Oswald, Albert Dennis Kirwan, and Otis Arnold Singletary implemented policies that impacted the course of desegregation at the University of Kentucky.

The present study was designed to investigate possible situational determinants of anxiety (state and trait) as a function of either a stress provoking situation or a non-stress provoking situation. Also under investigation were possible differences that would emerge on measures of anxiety between subjects labeled as having an internal or external locus of control. Time was a third variable under consideration. This factor was manipulated as a repeated measures variable as a function of whether anxiety scores would increase or decrease when measured at two different points in time. A state measure of anxiety, a trait measure of anxiety, an internal-external locus of control scale and a questionnaire were administered to forty-five undergraduates. An analysis of variance for a 2X2X2 factorial design with repeated measures was used to analyze the data. A significant main effect was found for the factor Time on the dependent measure of trait anxiety. A correlational analysis was also performed.The significant effect of Time on trait measurements of anxiety suggest that this variable may fluctuate more frequently than previously considered by other researchers or that the state/trait dichotomy of anxiety may not be a discriminant variable and that, therefore, only one anxiety component exists. Another viable hypothesis in regards to the state measure of anxiety, is that the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) is not as sensitive to day-to-day fluctuations of anxiety as reported in previous research (Zuckerman, 1974).

This thesis examines Senator John McCain’s concession address from the 2008 United States Presidential election campaign. McCain’s concession speech was significant because of his come-from-behind victory in the Republican primary, the favorable critical responses to his speech, and his response to the historic nature of a person of color winning the presidential election. This study is also significant because it contributes to the small body of literature that examines concession addresses. This study examined how well McCain’s concession speech demonstrated the qualities associated with the genre, if McCain’s concession functioned as a model speech, and whether McCain’s concession might signal an evolution of the genre. The method used to critique McCain’s concession was generic application, using a combined framework of Chesebro and Hamsher’s (1974) and Ritter and Howell’s (1974) characteristics of the concession genre. This method entailed applying the characteristics of the concession genre to McCain’s speech to determine if the artifact constitutes a strong example of the genre. The study found that McCain’s speech demonstrated qualities associated with the genre of concession speeches well, functioning as a model because he utilized rhetorical techniques that were uniquely successful for him, and that scholars and practitioners of should be flexible in their application of the genre constraints associated with concession speeches. / Department of Communication Studies

This study investigated Time's reporters' portrayals of Jesse Jackson throughout his 1988 campaign. Chapter one introduced the study and provided an extensive literature review of. Ernest Bormann's Fantasy Theme Analysis and its uses. Chapter Two presented a biographical profile of Jackson and served as a prelude to the discussion of Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign. Chapter Three included the actual analysis and interpretation of the study. The following themes were discovered in the five 'time periods that emerged from the investigation: the underdog, the free from scrutiny, the preacher, the leader of black people, the poet, and the loser of the nomination themes. Chapter Four summarized this study and provided implications and suggestions for future research. / Department of Speech Communication

This thesis explored the role of the six wealthy Russian businessmen, the oligarchs, in 1996 reelection of President Boris Yeltsin. This research was qualitative and descriptive. The goal was to collect the information from various sources and summarize it, demonstrating how the interference of the oligarchs reflected on the process of the election, as well as on the careers of their own.The research concluded that the oligarchs' role was, first of all, in the organization and financing a highly effective election campaign team; consolidating the business elite and big capital around Yeltsin, using the media that they controlled as a tool of pro-Yeltsin propaganda; and influencing some key decision taken by Yeltsin. The result was Yeltsin's victory, and the increase of the oligarchs' wealth and political power.This ability of the oligarchs to manipulate politics completely cemented the interrelation between business and politics in Russia, which contributed to Russia's reputation as a country of corruption and lawlessness. / Department of Political Science