Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / L. Susan Williams / This study is about two grassroots political organizations that formed prior to the 2012 presidential election in the United States, each concerned with the nation's economy, corporate favoritism, government involvement, and growing income inequality. The study outlines an historical account of a culture of control, and then analyzes actions of two contemporary protest organizations – The Tea Party, known as politically conservative; and Occupy Wall Street (OWS), characterized as liberal – as the national election unfolded. Each group sought to change the political landscape and influence the outcome of the presidential election, but with competing messages and very different approaches. Seeking change from the inside, The Tea Party emphasized limited government regulation of the market economy. OWS intended to crumble the system by outside resistance and demanded government attention to economic inequality. Field research and content analysis provide insight into behaviors, beliefs, and actions of each group, which, in turn, identify efforts to resist the status quo. Content analysis of print news provides evidence of state responses toward each group, while also offering insight into media framing and public influence. Finally, a survey of official responses from host communities reveals specific efforts to control protest organizations, ranging from acts of diplomacy to violent opposition. Findings demonstrate how roles of the Tea Party and OWS are not always in conflict, such as media often portray; for example, both groups contested corporate control. The Tea Party met token success, but stopped short of influencing top echelons. OWS brought attention to system inequities, but failed to maintain significant pressure; instead, participants were criminalized for acts of protest. Ironically, in the end, both groups' efforts reinforced the culture of control they sought to resist. Theoretically, a cultural criminology framework, integrating symbolic interaction and social control, demonstrates how structural constraints oppose grassroots political efforts.

The thesis focuses on the activism of youth political organizations in the Czech Republic. The aim of this work is to monitor their activities between 2013 and 2017 due to activism in general but also to political parties. A protest event analysis based on document analysis was created to monitor activities. The second type of research data was interviews with representatives of youth organizations. This type develops results from protest event analysis. Research has shown differences in attitude to activism between left-wing and right-wing organizations. The left-wing focused on protest more than right-wing organization and also often cooperated with non-profit organizations. While right-wing organizations are quite active, they prefer institutional channel and orderly decency before protest arena. Youth organizations have little to do with events before elections. Though they also support political parties or protest against them, they have realized most of the events because of their own agendas. Most organizations appreciate mutual cooperation in protests, with one exception when cooperation is rejected from both sides.

Las organizaciones políticas en el Perú se encuentran en un momento crítico. El 93% de los electores, según la Corporación Latinobarómetro (2018), ha perdido confianza en ellas. Su imagen y reputación están generalmente asociadas con la corrupción. Y no es para menos. Los cuatro partidos políticos más influyentes de los últimos quince años han sido catalogados como organizaciones criminales por el Ministerio Público y enfrentan denuncias por el delito de lavado de activos. Sin embargo, la percepción negativa que tienen los públicos sobre los partidos políticos es en realidad resultado de las crisis, entendidas como situaciones adversas que afectan negativamente su imagen y reputación y, en consecuencia, dañan su relación con sus militantes y la confianza de sus electores, restándoles legitimidad, poder y participación en los asuntos públicos del país. Actualmente, en una época donde las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación están cada vez mejor desarrolladas, las agrupaciones políticas son particularmente vulnerables a las crisis, pues existe muy poca información o teoría sobre cómo deben gestionarse en este tipo de organizaciones. En ese sentido, el autor del presente trabajo de investigación asumió el desafío de diseñar un modelo de gestión comunicacional de crisis para organizaciones políticas. Para lograrlo fue necesario, en primer lugar, analizar cuatro casos: Partido Aprista Peruano, Partido Nacionalista Peruano, Peruanos Por el Kambio y Fuerza Popular. Comprender la naturaleza de estas agrupaciones y los tipos de crisis que enfrentaron, fue fundamental para elaborar la propuesta final. / Political organizations in Peru are at a critical moment. 93% of voters, according to Latinobarómetro Corporation (2018), have lost confidence in them. Their image and reputation are generally associated with corruption. It is not for less. The four most influential political parties of the last fifteen years have been classified as criminal organizations by the Public Ministry and face complaints for the crime of money laundering. However, the negative perception that the public has about political parties is actually the result of crises, understood as adverse situations that negatively affect their image and reputation and, consequently, damage their relationship with their militants and the trust of their voters, subtracting legitimacy, power and participation in the public affairs of the country. Currently, at a time when information and communication technologies are increasingly well developed, political groups are particularly vulnerable to crises, as there is very little information or theory on how they should be managed in these types of organizations. Therefore, the author of this research took on the challenge of designing a crisis communication management model for Peruvian political organizations. To achieve this, it was necessary, first of all, to analyze four cases: Partido Aprista Peruano, Partido Nacionalista Peruano, Peruanos Por el Kambio and Fuerza Popular. Understanding the nature of these groupings, and the types of crises they faced, was critical in crafting the final proposal. / Trabajo de investigación

In Peru, the coca growers’ movement emerged as a response to the State stance against the proliferation of illicit cultivation of coca leaf. To defend this product, this social movement has appealed mainly to three kinds of actors: pressure groups, political parties and insurgent groups. This article points that, in the exercise of this intermediation, these three actors deploy contradictory discourses and practices, according to the political arenas in which the movement requires navigate to defend the cultivation of the coca leaf. / En Perú, el movimiento cocalero surgió como una respuesta a la postura del Estado en contra de la proliferación de cultivos ilícitos de hoja de coca. Para defender este producto, ha recurrido principalmentea tres tipos de organizaciones para la intermediación política: los grupos de presión a través del gremio cocalero, partidos políticos y los grupos insurgentes. Este artículo muestra que, en el ejercicio de esta intermediación, estos tres actores despliegan discursos y prácticas muchas veces contradictorias, forjando la estructura coyuntural y permeable del movimiento, de acuerdo con el ámbito político en el que el movimiento requiere desplazarse para defender el cultivo de la hoja de coca.

The presented diploma thesis focuses on the attitudes of selected youth political organizations in the Czech Republic towards the European Union and the process of European integration. It takes in account the fact that youth political organizations can be identified as agents of political socialization as well as it is possible to study them within the broader term of political participation (to study their influence on attitudes and opinions of their members). The analysis concerns selected eight Czech youth political organizations, Mladí sociální demokraté (the Young Social Democrats), Mladí konzervativci (the Young Conservatives), TOP tým, Mladé ANO, Mladí zelení (the Young Greens), Mladí lidovci, Mladí křesťanští demokraté (the Young Christian Democrats) and mSTAN. The theoretical basis for the analysis is Euroscepticism, specifically the typology of C. Flood and S. Usherwood is used. This typology, with six possible positions, is linked to six scenarios of possible development, based on the five scenarios presented by the European Commission in 2017 as part of the White Paper on the future of Europe and its further direction. Compatibility of both scales is tested. The necessary data collected via questionnaire survey. The thesis concludes that youth political organizations are relevant...

Cette thèse entreprend d’examiner les transformations du recrutement du personnel politique socialiste de la fin du XIXe siècle à 2012 en établissant le passage d’une logique sociale à une logique politique du renouvellement des élus et cadres partisans à partir des années 1990. Sur la base d’une enquête de terrain croisant plusieurs méthodes (entretiens, observations, archives et base de données prosopographiques), cette recherche montre, dans une première partie, les filières sociales de renouvellement du personnel politique socialiste de la fin du XIXe siècle jusqu’en 1990. En changeant de jeu d’échelle, la seconde partie révèle la dévaluation des ressources des groupes mobilisés en 1971 (enseignants laïcs et catholiques de gauche) à partir des années 1990. Enfin, la dernière partie s’attache à démontrer en quoi la réévaluation des ressources politiques et partisanes transforme le recrutement et renouvelle le capital politique des élus. / This PhD dissertation examines the transformations in the recruitment of the French Socialist Party’s (PS) political personnel from the late nineteenth century to 2012. It shows how social logics of recruitment have been replaced by political ones, with a significant renewal of the party’s elected representatives and executives in the 1990s. The research is based on extensive fieldwork combining quantitative and qualitative methods (interviews, participant observation, archival work and prosopography). The first part describes the social rationales at work in the renewal of the PS’s political personnel from the late nineteenth century to the 1990s. The second part examines in closer detail the devaluation of the mobilized groups’ resources during the 1990s. Finally, the third and last part demonstrates how the reevaluation of political and party resources has transformed the recruitment and changed the elected representatives’ political capital.