This essay examines nationalist party views on abortion. The abortion policies of the Sweden Democrats, the United Kingdom Independence Party, and Sinn Féin are studied through descriptive actor-centred idea analysis. Utilising theories on nationalism and abortion policy, the party policies on abortion are scrutinised in terms of which conception of abortion they subscribe to, and how actors and objects in relation to abortion are perceived. Subsequently these views are compared, showing a great overlap in terms of how abortion as a public issue is conceived, and how the objects and actors involved are perceived. All parties in the study subscribe to a moral conception of abortion to some extent, and the aborting woman and the foetus become the main focal points. In other regards party policies on abortion vary greatly.

This thesis explores the influence of the Australian Labor Party's (ALP's) national factions on Party policy. The specific emphasis is on policy development during Labor's 1996-2004 period in opposition. Through a total of 88 interviews, predominantly with members of Caucus including Kim Beazley, Simon Crean and Mark Latham, this thesis has been able to examine not only the formal policy development processes but, significantly, also the informal processes within the Party. The thesis begins with an overview of the national factions' organisation and operations in relation to policy development in both the organisational and parliamentary wings. It concentrates on exploring how the informal processes of the faction system dominate the formal Party structures, and demonstrates how the factional elite control these decision-making forums. The thesis then concentrates on analysing in-depth the factional influences on policies developed within the Immigration, Trade and Family and Community Services portfolios. These case studies were selected because they provoked debate, to varying degrees, in the Party. An understanding of how consensus was reached among the diverse perspectives, particularly between the factions, within the Party is critical to exploring the relationship between the national factions and policy development. The case studies cover a range of policy development modes, and therefore provide ample opportunity to explore factional dynamics in relation to policy formulation under different circumstances throughout the 1996-2004 period. This thesis utilises Arend Lijphart's theory of the Politics of Accommodation, which was originally developed to explain inter-party negotiations within the Dutch coalition government during the twentieth century. This theory is relevant to the study of the ALP's modern factions because, similar to the Dutch political system, the faction system operates on the power-sharing principle of proportional representation (PR). By applying Lijphart's theoretical framework, this thesis provides a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the ALP's factional dynamics in relation to policy. It gives an in-depth analysis of the elite control of the faction system in the domain of policy development. It demonstrates that faction leaders resolve contentious policy issues by negotiating in a 'spirit of accommodation' and when the factions adopt a policy position, the unwritten rules of the 'factional game' are applied to ensure the national factions reach a consensus on Party policy. Given that the national factions compete for power and sometimes pursue a different set of policy objectives, this 'spirit of accommodation' appears to be paradoxical; this palliative application of factional power is arguably in contrast to the general perception of faction politics. Through the presentation and analysis of original primary data this thesis makes a valuable contribution to the study of the ALP and factions in general, significantly advancing existing knowledge.

Political scientists have sought to unify under a single theoretical umbrella the explanations for the patterns of public opinion in the electorate and the patterns of party policy. Yet, these models have not taken account of potential differences between left-wingers and right-wingers in the ways that policy preferences are bundled together across multiple dimensions of political disagreement. The dissertation examines the origins and structure of political opinions on three dimensions of left/right disagreement: wealth redistribution, social morality, and immigration. The overall argument is that the content and structure of opinions are fundamentally intertwined. As a result, left/right disagreement is multidimensional and asymmetrical. Left-wingers and right-wingers derive from different sources, and structure in different ways, their opinions about policy. These asymmetries appear in the patterns of public opinion, the preferences of party activists, and in the positioning of political parties.

Political scientists have sought to unify under a single theoretical umbrella the explanations for the patterns of public opinion in the electorate and the patterns of party policy. Yet, these models have not taken account of potential differences between left-wingers and right-wingers in the ways that policy preferences are bundled together across multiple dimensions of political disagreement. The dissertation examines the origins and structure of political opinions on three dimensions of left/right disagreement: wealth redistribution, social morality, and immigration. The overall argument is that the content and structure of opinions are fundamentally intertwined. As a result, left/right disagreement is multidimensional and asymmetrical. Left-wingers and right-wingers derive from different sources, and structure in different ways, their opinions about policy. These asymmetries appear in the patterns of public opinion, the preferences of party activists, and in the positioning of political parties.

In the Swedish general elections of 2010, the party the Sweden Democrats for the first time entered the parliament. In an election otherwise characterised by competition between two explicit political blocs, the Sweden Democrats profiled itself as a party free from ideological blinders, ready to represent the will of the people. Commonly referred to as a populist party, there is considerable disagreement about where in the Swedish political space the party actually belongs. At the same time, there exist within political science a multitude of methodological approaches aimed at answering such questions. By combining election manifesto content analysis and survey-based approaches, the study of this paper presents cross-validated estimates of where in Swedish political space the Sweden Democrats belong. The study also evaluates strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches to the estimation of policy positions in the specific context of the Sweden Democrats. The party is found to be economically centrist but highly authoritarian, making it an outlier along both a "traditional" and a Swedish left-right continuum. Some methodological difficulties that may be particularly important to consider when analyzing parties such as the Sweden Democrats, e.g. bias, dimensional salience and linguistic volatility, are suggested.

The researcher used the integration of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The respondents were drawn from three district, one regional, one academic and two private hospitals. Data was collected by means of questionnaires. The open-ended questions in the questionnaire allowed the respondents to respond in their own words (“etic” description). This enhanced the organisation and reduction of the relevant data for analysis as well as the validity and trustworthiness of the study. The study revealed that even though most of the South African government health policies were very advanced and among the best in the world, some crucial policies appeared to have encountered problems with implementation, from conflicting ideologies and opinions from hospital management, different unions, professional associations, the provincial government, the South African Nursing Council (SANC) and patients. Too many groups appeared to have discussed nurses‟ issues with government and made decisions for nurses, leaving nurses disillusioned. The majority of the respondents attributed this to poor representation at government level. Furthermore, some decisions, resolutions and strategies agreed upon between the unions and bargaining councils appeared to have worked against nurses, further dividing RNs and failing to accomplish the intended purpose. Although most of the respondents had hoped that the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) for nurses would address chronic low salaries for all nurses in the PHS, it favoured certain specialty qualifications (which were based on the description of post-basic courses in R212 and R48, which were not clearly delineated). In addition, RNs were not informed about the meaning and implications of the OSD prior to implementation. The study thus found an information gap between government and RNs at the production level, which appeared not to be with the government and the nurses, but in between. Most importantly, nurses seemed to be represented more by unions to government and bargaining councils, as opposed to nurses, while most of the respondents did not favour the division of nurses between professional associations and unions. Decisions in the PHS appeared to have been dominated by leaders who had no experience with pragmatic issues of health care services (HCS), particularly at the operational level, and the dynamics of the nursing profession. The study therefore concluded that, if the right people (nurses, doctors and systems) were put in place, and nurses were represented by nurses at government level, bargaining councils and parliament, discontent among RNs in the PHS could be reduced significantly. Existing strategies were found to deal with the symptoms and not the root cause of discontent among RNs in the PHS. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

The researcher used the integration of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The respondents were drawn from three district, one regional, one academic and two private hospitals. Data was collected by means of questionnaires. The open-ended questions in the questionnaire allowed the respondents to respond in their own words (“etic” description). This enhanced the organisation and reduction of the relevant data for analysis as well as the validity and trustworthiness of the study. The study revealed that even though most of the South African government health policies were very advanced and among the best in the world, some crucial policies appeared to have encountered problems with implementation, from conflicting ideologies and opinions from hospital management, different unions, professional associations, the provincial government, the South African Nursing Council (SANC) and patients. Too many groups appeared to have discussed nurses‟ issues with government and made decisions for nurses, leaving nurses disillusioned. The majority of the respondents attributed this to poor representation at government level. Furthermore, some decisions, resolutions and strategies agreed upon between the unions and bargaining councils appeared to have worked against nurses, further dividing RNs and failing to accomplish the intended purpose. Although most of the respondents had hoped that the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) for nurses would address chronic low salaries for all nurses in the PHS, it favoured certain specialty qualifications (which were based on the description of post-basic courses in R212 and R48, which were not clearly delineated). In addition, RNs were not informed about the meaning and implications of the OSD prior to implementation. The study thus found an information gap between government and RNs at the production level, which appeared not to be with the government and the nurses, but in between. Most importantly, nurses seemed to be represented more by unions to government and bargaining councils, as opposed to nurses, while most of the respondents did not favour the division of nurses between professional associations and unions. Decisions in the PHS appeared to have been dominated by leaders who had no experience with pragmatic issues of health care services (HCS), particularly at the operational level, and the dynamics of the nursing profession. The study therefore concluded that, if the right people (nurses, doctors and systems) were put in place, and nurses were represented by nurses at government level, bargaining councils and parliament, discontent among RNs in the PHS could be reduced significantly. Existing strategies were found to deal with the symptoms and not the root cause of discontent among RNs in the PHS. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Die Forschungsarbeit „Ich sehe nur, wie sich die Menschen plagen“: Gesundheitsvorstellungen, -risiken und -verhalten von Berufspolitikern – Eine empirische Analyse befasst sich aus medizinsoziologischer Perspektive mit potentiellen Gesundheitsvorstellungen, -risiken sowie gesundheitsförderlichen bzw. -riskanten Verhaltensweisen deutscher Berufspolitiker. Der Einfluss gesundheitsrelevanter persönlicher Erfahrungen auf gesundheitspolitische Entscheidungen auf Bundesebene stellt einen ergänzenden Fokus dar. Grundlage der Forschungsarbeit ist die subjektiv zunehmende krankheits- und krisenbedingte (medial vermittelte) Belastung der Mandatsträger in der Öffentlichkeit. Die Arbeit stützt sich u.a. auf die Modelle der Salutogenese nach Antonovsky, der Gratifikationskrise nach Siegrist, auf das Anforderungs-Kontroll-Modell nach Karasek sowie die kognitiv-transaktionale Stresstheorie nach Lazarus. Weitere Basis ist das biopsychosoziale Krankheitsmodell. Das empirische Vorgehen der qualitativ angelegten Studie wurde an die Grounded Theory angelehnt. Eine teilnehmende Beobachtung, die Durchführung und Auswertung von 21 Interviews samt sich anschließender Typenbildung wurde angestrebt und vollzogen. Das Interviewsample setzte sich aus Berufspolitikern aller in der 17. Wahlperiode des deutschen Bundestages vertretenen Parteien (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Bündnis 90/die Grünen, Die Linke) zusammen. In der Ergebnisdarstellung werden besonderer Wert auf die individuellen Gesundheitsvorstellungen der einzelnen Politiker gelegt, zudem gesundheitsförderliche Verhaltensweisen eruiert. So scheint Gesundheit durch persönliche Prioritätensetzung und zurückliegende Erfahrungen geprägt. Es können hierzu 14 Themenbereiche und drei zentrale Phänomene ermittelt werden. Krankheitsbilder und Krisenerfahrungen des Interviewsamples werden samt ihrer Einbettung in den sozialen Kontext dargestellt. So werden offensichtliche und allgemeingehaltene Krankheitsbilder durch die Mandatsträger oft am eigenen Beispiel geschildert, lebensbedrohliche im Gegenzug fast ausnahmslos an Kollegen illustriert. Deutlich werden krisen- und krankheitsbedingte Auswirkungen auf politische Akzente. Es können sechs klar voneinander abgrenzbare Typen der Berufspolitiker bezüglich ihres Gesundheitsverhaltens im beruflichen Alltag eruiert werden (Extrempole: Das Opfer vs. Der Abgesicherte). Weiterhin werden besondere Risikofaktoren des arbeitsreichen Mandats illustriert, im Gegenzug Optimierungsmöglichkeiten aufgezeigt. Es zeigt sich ein berufsbedingtes Ungleichgewicht zwischen Risiko- und Schutzfaktoren zulasten der Ressourcen. Hier sind Ansätze zur (Verhaltens-/Verhältnis)Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung zu finden. Der Link zwischen Gesundheitspolitik im Allgemeinen sowie Gesundheitsverhalten im Speziellen wird geschaffen. Abschließend erfolgt eine Kategorisierung der zentralen Themen der Studie. Hierbei werden der Grounded Theory und dem offenen, axialen und selektiven Kodieren folgend Kategorien, Subkategorien sowie eine Kernkategorie ermittelt. Es zeigt sich eine Schwerpunktverlagerung bezüglich In- und Output der Leitfadenthemen (Stigmatisierbarkeit, Tabuisierung). Abschließend werden weiterführende Forschungsperspektiven aufgezeigt.