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This dissertation examines ways in which differences in states' political activity laws affect the political attitudes and reported behavior of senior state government employees. Of particular concern is whether a stringent little Hatch Act engenders any "chilling effects" that may lead these workers to shy away from permissible political activities. The study included officials employed in Pennsylvania, which has a restrictive political activity statute, and New Jersey, which has generally permissive laws. Mail questionnaires were sent to 962 officials, 512 from Pennsylvania and 450 from New Jersey. Responses were received from 582 employees, yielding a 61.91% response rate. Compared to New Jersey officials, those from Pennsylvania were less knowledgeable about their state's political activity laws. The Pennsylvania employees also reported being less politically active and less satisfied with their activity, and were more likely to indicate that they would increase their level of political activity if state prohibitions were eliminated. However, compared to their New Jersey counterparts, these officials were no less inclined to engage in permissible political activities. This finding casts doubt on the notion that a highly restrictive statutory climate spawns chilling effects. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (Ph.D. (Political Studies))--University of the Witwatersrand, Graduate School for Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016 / This study comparatively interrogates the representative parliamentary politics of women political elites in the subSaharan African states of posttransition Rwanda and South Africa. It analyses the relationship between women political elites and gender equality outcomes through the theoretical framework of the presupposed positive relationship that is said to exist between high levels of women’s descriptive representation and women’s substantive representation. It specifically explores this relationship through the lens of legislative outcomes passed in each state. In South Africa, this legislation takes the form of the 1998 Recognition of Customary Marriages Act and in Rwanda, the 2008 Genderbased Violence Act. This study locates the outcomes of women’s parliamentary politics in these states to the different articulation of elite patriarchal bargains negotiated by women political elites within the opportunities and constraints of parliamentary institutional contexts and the political parties represented in these regimes. I show that the higher the degree to which a ruling political party needs to privilege and emphasise women’s interests in the reproduction of political power and legitimisation of its own authority, the more favourable the terms of the elite patriarchal bargains that women political elites tacitly negotiate within political parties will be for pursuing gender equality legislative outcomes in patriarchal institutional contexts. I illustrate how political institutions located in the state never present conclusive gains or losses for women and gender equality but are contextually ambiguous and contradictory in the ways that they foster representation and locate gendered political accountability. / WS2016

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences