In the area of mass communications and media sociology, connections between theoretical claims and empirical evidence have often been tenuous. Using American national Election Study data gathered by the Center for Political Studies, this dissertation tests a series of hypotheses about the political impact of the mass media. The work profiles the news audience, and examines the public's reliance upon television and newspapers as sources of political information. Next, evidence is brought to bear upon the set of pessimistic assumptions that television news personnel hold about the tastes and capacities of the news audience. Finally, a crucial test is developed in order to evaluate five competing and contradictory hypotheses, all attempting to explain the relationships between the consumption of political materials through the mass media, political interest, and political participation. Of the previously untested claims assessed in the thesis, few were supported by the evidence gathered in research.

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The statement of the problem for this creative thesis project was: How to construct photomontages that expressed the photographer's personal concerns regarding the human condition and the environmental status of the earth. Secondary components of this problem were the use of color within the work and how to reproduce this color. The goal of this project was: To stimulate individual awareness resulting in a reevaluation of one's own position and responsibilities towards humanity and the environmental status of the earth.A description of the significance of this problem is given along with supportive research. This project provided the photographer with an opportunity to use an artistic process to express environmental concerns that grew out of the photographer's environmental studies.Methods used to solve this problem included the collection of visual elements from readily available pre-printed material such as magazines and books. By combining these elements together in a new context a collage or montage was created. After the montage image was complete it was photographed on color slide film. These color slides were then placed in a projector system connected to a color laser copier. Each slide was projected on to the bed of the copier and scanned. This scanner communicated the image's digital signal to a color laser printer which produced a color laser print.Finally, each photomontage color print was window matted on white 100% acid free rag mat board and placed in a white frame for exhibition. An exhibition was held in the Ball State University Theatre Lounge/Gallery. Included in the appendices of this thesis is a copy of the exhibition flyer, artist statement and press release.A description of each individual piece is provided within_ this thesis. Addressed in this section are the formal properties of each photomontage. Techniques used in the construction of each photomontage are outlined. The expressive elements are identified arid their functions explored as they apply to the montage image. It is within this section that the photographer's opinions and feelings are expressed.The last section of this thesis is the evaluation and conclusion. In the photographer's opinion this project was a success because the photomontages express the personal concerns of the photographer. Also, these photomontages did stimulate awareness and reevaluation in the audience as reported by members of the audience to the photographer. / Department of Art

The purpose of this thesis is to compare the paternalistic implications of two opposing political theories: neutrality and perfectionism. Neutrality holds that the state must not appeal to conceptions of the good as the justification for its decisions. Perfectionism rejects this constraint. Applied to paternalism, perfectionism makes it permissible for the state to appeal to a conception of the good when it acts paternalistically, that is, interferes with a person for his own good. Neutrality requires that paternalism must instead be guided by considerations that are in some sense neutral between various conceptions of the good. Perfectionism supports forcing people into worthwhile conceptions of the good. It provides motivation for a wider range of paternalistic policies than neutrality does. A number of perfectionist strategies for resisting this conclusion are examined. The first is to appeal to the value of autonomy as a component of well-being. Paternalism, some perfectionists argue, undermines the value of living an autonomous life. I try to show how various arguments for the value of autonomy, even if accepted, fail to rule out a wide range of paternalistic policies. A second strategy is to appeal to the endorsement constraint. According to this, a person's well-being cannot be advanced by forcing her into activities that she does not endorse as valuable. I argue that the endorsement constraint is not plausible in its strong form, and that whilst a weaker form is plausible, it allows a wide range of paternalism. A number of other strategies, such as appealing to the value of activity, claiming that many worthwhile activities require people to approach them with the right intentions for those activities to be for their own good, and that paternalism undermines trust in the government are examined and criticised. These difficulties do not mean that perfectionism should be rejected. But they do support setting aside conceptions of the good when the state acts paternalistically, whilst not necessarily ruling out perfectionism in non-paternalistic state action. This conclusion is strengthened in two ways. First, by taking Rawlsian contractualism as a method of elucidating neutrality, it is shown that neutrality supports a plausible principle of paternalism. Second, a number of recent attempts to set out necessary conditions for justified paternalism, such as that liberty must be balanced against wellbeing, that the consent of the patemalised is needed, and that the conduct must be nonvoluntary, are examined. The arguments for these conditions all suggest that neutrality is a necessary condition for justified paternalism. The conclusion of the thesis is two-fold. A conclusion about the neutralityperfectionist debate is that neutrality is required for paternalistic state action whilst perfectionism may be acceptable in the non-paternalistic sphere. A conclusion about state paternalism is that it is justified only if guided by neutral considerations.

The broad aim of this research is to further our understanding of the incorporation of nature into socio-political processes of transition within countries at war. The concomitant capitalist production of nature and construction of political power is examined through the case of forest exploitation in Cambodia. The thesis draws on political ecology, sociological theories of power, and political economic theories of commodity chains to explain the apparent failure of both the Cambodian government and the international community to employ logging revenues as a positive factor for 'peace and reconstruction'. The main period of study extends from 1987 to 1998, during which Cambodia's protracted civil war ended. Timber represented over that period close to half of Cambodia's export earnings. However, this revenue largely escaped official taxation and reportedly fuelled the conflict, broadened wealth disparities, and deepened an environmental crisis. Rather than fully subscribing to this 'politics of plunder' story-line, this thesis examines the complexities of forestry practices, and flows of logging revenue, and analyses their relationship with the construction of political power throughout the process of transition. This construction of political power is interpreted through a neopatrimonial model in which social actors' politico-economic strategies both influence, and are influenced by the transition process. In Cambodia during the period of study, these strategies reinforced a 'shadow state' politics, through which the political elite, in part responding to the demands of international markets and the political challenge of the UN-sponsored peace process, consolidated its power by reorganising productive networks outside formal governance. In turn, domestic and international actors through both discursive and material practices resisted these strategies. The case of logging in Cambodia is thus interpreted as a contested process of transforming nature and incorporating space into 'productive networks', as part of a broader political economy of power.

The coming into force of "free trade agreements" across the Western Hemisphere since the late 1980s has been a historic change that is still in the process of development. This essay seeks to explain this development. To do so, it investigates examples of the historical development of social relations in the hemisphere. The political will to carry out such a plan can be found in each country in the social base that sees benefit in the course. While this political will exists, everywhere the process has been a contested one, both domestically and internationally. This policy will continue to find support especially from large capital interests and their representatives who will continue to find their opposition in a wide variety of labour and social movements and socialist tendencies. The balance determines the type of contract struck.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 251-265). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / 267 leaves, bound 29 cm

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1968. / Bibliography: leaves [121]-124. / x, 139 l tables

This thesis examined the role of supranational organisations (SOs) in the governance of tourism in a North-South context. Focusing on the issue area of development cooperation, this thesis investigated the question of how and why SOs got involved in tourism in developing countries, and more specifically, in small island developing states. Such involvement may occur either directly through aid funded projects or indirectly through international trade regimes that impact on tourism in the aid recipient countries. The thesis adopted a case study approach focussing on the European Union�s (EU�s) involvement in the governance of tourism in South Pacific island states. Grounded in a history of colonialism, the EU has been involved in the �development� of the South Pacific for more than three decades, which allowed to track changes in development philosophy over time. Focusing on the concept of power, the case was assessed in a multi-scalar manner, analysing the EU�s involvement from the global down to the local level. Never before has an entire multilevel polity been assessed in one coherent case study, incorporating actors situated at all levels and ranging from supranational organisations to national governments, businesses, communities, and individuals. The methods employed in this thesis included interviews, participant observation, document analysis (policy documents and newspapers), and subsequently critical discourse analysis. The latter served to highlight the so-called �third face of power� (Lukes 1974), which is closely related to the concept of ideological hegemony. Interviews were conducted in Fiji and Samoa with officials of the South Pacific Delegations of the EU, officials of tourism authorities, NGOs, tourism operators and community members. Elite interviews in Brussels were conducted with officials of the European Commission and the European Parliament. Under all scales and �faces� of power the EU was found to be the dominant actor, while the issue of self-interest appeared to play a key role. At a macro-level, the EU clearly dominated in most overt decision-making situations during negotiations on aid and trade agreements. As concerned the inclusion of tourism in the agreements, the relative importance of the sector was clearly dependent on the European Commission�s prevailing attitude on �tourism and development� at any point in time. At a meso- and micro-level, the EU�s influence was less obvious yet nonetheless existent, for example through funding rules and the use of European consultants. Indirect influence also occurred at the national level. In particular the substitution of a preferential trade regime with a free trade agreement (the Economic Partnership Agreements), which is currently being negotiated between the EU and the Pacific Islands, is likely to have a significant impact on the economic importance of tourism, as well as public policy in the South Pacific. In a mini case study of Samoa, it was found that the resulting changes in tourism policy would have a significant impact �on the ground�, in particular with regard to rates of local ownership and control. Overall, power relations were found to be highly unequal and self-determination and empowerment have largely not been achieved. However, more research is needed to examine the ability to generalise the findings to other geographic regions or other types of SOs. The key contribution of this thesis in the theoretical realm constitutes its bridging of agency and structure within multi-level governance, which may be conceived as a �third way� to either dependency theory-influenced studies (global/structure) or community approaches (local/agency).

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