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Tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) present a unique opportunity to study political behavior. In educational settings, role-playing games (RPGs) of all kinds have proven to be valuable educational tools, and even when played for fun, participating in role playing games has been shown to increase one's level of confidence. Knowing this, I designed an experiment to attempt to increase internal political efficacy through the use of a politically-themed TRPG. I took inspiration from the original TRPGs of the 1970s and 1980s which were used purely for entertainment purposes to create my own game in a traditional TRPG setting with current issues woven into the story of the game (also called a campaign), and utilized quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze participants' reactions to the campaign and levels of efficacy. In doing so, I seek to determine whether players will recognize real-world issues when presented in a science fiction or fantasy-themed campaign. Furthermore, given that TRPGs have the potential to shape players' understanding of how the world works and their place in it, will players be more motivated to act on said issues presented in-game, even if they do not consciously make the connection between the real-life issues presented in the science fiction/fantasy setting and those same issues in the real world?

As low-voter-turnout continues to be a concern for the political system in the U.S., the idea online voting platforms (OVPs), to reduce access and use barriers, has been debated. Lowlevel elections in several states across the country have experimented with OVPs through U.S.based internet voting organization, Everyone Counts. These experiments resulted in both the confirmation of perceived benefits and problems. Surveying 196 U.S. citizens through Survey Sampling International, this study garnered respondents' feelings toward several factors correlated with voter-turnout, and the likelihood of adopting OVPs. Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Technology Use Model to frame the analysis, the data were analyzed using ols regression. I predicted that citizens would perceive OVPs as an improvement to the current system, and consequently, voter-turnout would increase if OVPs were available, especially among younger citizens (ages 18-44). The analyses illustrated that OVPs would not have a large impact on voter-turnout, and for some would even discourage participation. Furthermore, it was older respondents (ages 44+) who had a stronger positive correlation between effort expectancy and feeling empowered. I conclude by suggesting that low-voter-turnout might be best combated through efforts to improve political efficacy, and that accessibility to poll booths only accounts some of the story. / Master of Science

本研究有感於近年來台灣社會政治活動的參與情況，與往年相較起來熱絡許多，從以往只能透過數年一度的選舉活動，來表現個人的政治參與；到目前有許多人能夠從網路發表自身意見，討論時事議題，進而與政府、官員們接觸，甚至透過大型的集會活動來表達個人的立場以及訴求，企圖影響，並改變當前政治環境。在眾多參與政治的過程當中，個人心理因素對於投入與否的影響效果十分重要。政治態度的種類繁多，筆者在本文以政治效能感的角度出發，探討民眾對於政治參與的動機。是否會因為個人能夠理解政治，同樣能夠感受到政府官員對於個人的關心與重視，進而擁有認為自身能夠影響政治的這項心理態度，使得個人願意力行不同種類的政治參與。 本研究運用2013年「台灣選舉與民主化調查研究」資料，探索政治效能感對於政治參與的影響效果。除了檢證過去理論中：政治效能感愈高，愈會參與政治活動之外，區分了政治效能感的內在與外在的不同面向，以及政治參與的不同種類，探討政治效能感對於不同種類的政治參與是否具備不同的影響效果。研究結果發現，內在政治效能感較容易影響純粹表達意見的政治參與，而外在政治效能感較容易影響企圖改變現況的政治參與，此一發現提供與以往不同的理論觀點，認為政治效能感對於是個人政治參與的影響，是一項重要心理因素。 / Over the past few years, political participations in Taiwan have been flourished. Indeed, a democratic society, like Taiwan, should allow people to have various ways to participate in politics beyond simply casting their votes, including demonstrating on the street to show what they stand for. By examining public opinion data in Taiwan, this study aims to explore the relationship between political efficacy and different types of political participations. Specifically, this study use the 2013 Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) data to examine the extent to which one’s political efficacy could influence his/her political participations. The conventional wisdom suggests that the higher the political efficacy, the more political activities one may participate in. Additionally, previous research also posits that the linkages between political efficacy and participation vary, depending on different components of political efficacy as well as various types of political participations. The empirical results of this analysis show that the respondents who have higher internal political efficacy are more likely to participate in “opinion-expression actions”. On the other hand, those who have higher external political efficacy are more likely to participate in “changing the status quo action”. In short, political efficacy should be regarded as an important psychological element that may influence different dimensions of political participations.

While much research has been conducted into the political behavior and attitudes of American military officers, little has been accomplished with respect to enlisted personnel. Most reports assume that the American military identify largely with the Republican Party and are mostly conservative in attitude. The most recent large-scale study, the TISS Survey on the Military in the Post Cold War Era conducted by Feaver and Kohn in 1998-1999, confirmed those assumptions among senior officers and is often quoted as representative of the entire military. However, the demographic characteristics of enlisted personnel predict different behavior. The enlisted ranks of the American military are over-represented by minorities who traditionally identify with the Democratic Party. The present study gathered data on enlisted personnel, by means of a survey, to determine whether that specialized population is significantly different in attitude and behavior from that of the officer corps and of the general American population. Enlisted personnel identify with the Republican Party in about the same proportion as do the general American population. However, only about half as many enlisted personnel identify with the Democratic Party as do civilians. Enlisted personnel are also about three times more likely to identify as Independents as do other Americans. Active-duty enlisted personnel demonstrate a 1.7 to 1 partisan (Republican to Democrat) ratio, similar to that found in the veteran enlisted sample (1.8 to 1) and the officer sample (1.6 to 1). The civilian sample shows a .95 to 1 partisan ratio. Thus, active-duty enlisted personnel who identify with a political party are about twice as likely to identify with the Republican Party as are civilians. However, active-duty enlisted personnel are nearly four times as likely as civilians to report being Independent, and are substantially less likely than civilians to identify with the Democratic Party. The Republican to Democrat ratio may well explain the commentary about and observations of a Republican dominated military. Despite the fact that the overall proportion of Republicans within the military is no greater than that found within the general population, that there are twice as many individuals who will state that they are Republicans as those who will state that they are Democrats can easily give the impression of a heavily Republican population. However, active-duty enlisted personnel remain strongly independent when compared to the civilian population. Of special note is a markedly higher political efficacy among military enlisted personnel than is found within the general American population. / text

Specialized literature associates attitudes considered important to guarantee democratic legitimacy, such as political participation willingness with citizens’ self-recognition of their potential to influence the public sphere. As well, it emphasizes that increasing formal years of study, particularly higher education, as influential on the development of such attitude, also known as internal  political effectiveness.I propose to analyze the educational mechanisms that could explain this relationship; questioning for the Peruvian context if accumulating years in higher education would be enough to understand it. Through multiple regression models, and using the data of a survey applied to Peruvian students from a private university, this article seeks to identify if having more semesters in university would be an influencing factor on higher levels of internal political efficacy or if the experience in a course aimed at challenging students about their citizenship would be more relevant. The results indicate, for the sample selected, that the latest would have a positive and significant effect on their self-recognition as subjects of power from a democratic perspective / unlike the number of accumulated academic semesters. / La literatura especializada asocia diversas actitudes consideradas importantes para garantizar la legitimidad democrática, como la disposición hacia la participación política con el reconocimiento de la ciudadanía sobre sus posibilidades de ejercer influencia en la esfera pública. A su vez, se destaca que, a mayor cantidad de años de estudios formales —particularmente de educación superior—, mayores los niveles de dicha actitud, conocida como eficacia política interna. Propongo ahondar en el análisis de los mecanismos educativos que podrían explicar dicha relación, cuestionando para el contexto peruano si es que acumular años de educación superior resulta suficiente para comprenderla. Partiendo del análisis de una encuesta aplicada a estudiantes de una universidad privada peruana, y aprovechando modelos de regresión múltiple, se analiza si es que más semestres de estudios en la educación universitaria influiría en el desarrollo de mayores niveles de eficacia política interna, o si la experiencia en un curso orientado a interpelar a los estudiantes sobre el ejercicio de su ciudadanía tendría mayor relevancia.Los resultados indican, para la muestra seleccionada, que lo segundo tendría un efecto positivo y significativo en su autorreconocimiento como sujetos de poder desde una perspectiva democrática, a diferencia de la influencia del número de semestres académicos acumulados.

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Access to basic water and sanitation services, the local public health goods, is a human right and a public health necessity. Provision of these services is typically devolved to Local Governments to ensure they correspond to the local needs. In rural India, such a correspondence is sub-optimal, with high local needs and poor provision by the Local Governments (Panchayats). The citizen participation in Panchayat's public deliberative meetings (Grama Sabha) is weak. The community context is characterised by social fragmentation and high socio-economic inequality. This research examined, whether and how better deliberative participation in Panchayat meetings was associated with better provision of these services by the Panchayats. The research used a three-staged systematic sampling method. Using correlational field survey design it gathered primary data from 99 panchayats in Karnataka State, and from 99 villages and 396 individuals within these Panchayats. Factor analytic and multivariate regression techniques were used to analyse the data in the statistical software, Stata® v.13. Results suggest, better Grama Sabha meetings (that were convened more frequently, attended by a higher number of people with better representativeness, where discussions approximate to the deliberative norms: reciprocal, pro-social and accountable; and decisions taken have a common good orientation) were associated with better provision of water and sanitation services by the Panchayat. Further analysis suggested two possible explanations for this association: First, the individuals who participated more frequently in deliberative meetings of the Panchayat and where discussions approximated to the deliberative norms; were associated with: • Better information on availability and accessibility to services; • Better external political efficacy, a perception of greater responsiveness of the Panchayat to their needs and their efforts to influence it; and hence engage evenly in discussions; • Better sense of community, a greater willingness to cooperate and coordinate, to find mutual needs and seek convergence when they are heterogeneous. Above findings suggest, in a participatory setting, these individuals can be associated with better capability to collectively engage; to articulate, communicate and identify the mostii common of their service needs and frame it as a collective demand, through policy objective, for provision by the Panchayats. Second, better Grama Sabha meetings were associated with better rule of law in policy administration at the Panchayat level. This suggests, rule-bound conversion of policy objectives into actual service outputs; a reflection of responsiveness and accountability of the bureaucratic action in achieving administrative commitment to the legislative goals. In conclusion, better deliberative participation can be associated with better capability of the individuals to engage in collective action. This can improve the correspondence between the needs and the provision; by strengthening individuals' collective demand for the services and by improving the responsiveness of the Panchayat in the supply of these services.

This master's thesis named The influence of communication channels on decision making of first-time voters shown on the elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic in 2017 focuses on the influence and use of the consumption of communication channels on the decision making of first-time voters. This thesis also portrays the phenomenon of contemporary opinion leaders, such as YouTubers, bloggers, and other Internet celebrities. The theoretical section of the thesis describes the organization of elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, defines the first-time voter in terms of psychological and sociological, discusses the impact of socialization within family, school, and media, presents the concept of political efficacy, and describes the electoral participation of adolescents. In addition, this thesis focuses on current trends in the consumption of communication channels by young people and opinion leaders. This section draws upon particular international studies and other relevant literature. The analytical section presents the methodology of the research, defines the research sample and its selection, and describes the results of the research. The established hypotheses are based on the results of international studies and for...

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