Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

The problem of political systems wholly or in part contained within other political systems has not often been treated in the literature of political science. When the matter has arisen, it is characteristically been handled by a "closed system" and "sub-collectivity" model. That is, the larger polity has often been assumed to be composed of a number of closed collectivities. This model assumes that citizens will know more about, participate more vigorously in, and feel more strongly about, political systems which are physically "closer" to them. But, in North America, Britain, and France, citizens vote at a much lower level in local elections than in national elections. Survey data from the Vancouver area indicate that secondary school students, at least, know much less about their community political systems than about regional, national, and "supra-national" systems. Fragmentary data from the United States and France tend to support these conclusions. The local community polity has, however, some interesting -infrastructural features. One of these is that its system of political communications is much inadequate to keeping its members informed about the local system; its stimuli are greatly outnumbered by political stimuli transmitted by "extra-systemic" "over-arching" media, and this is undoubtedly one of the major reasons for a low level of local political cognition. Another feature is that citizens involved in local organizations and structures explicitly of the local system often show a greater interest in local political activity; these structures form the "residuals" or "skeleton" of a shrunken polity. A final feature, suggested by some data and much speculation, is that the local system is a "low-affect" system. Finally a model is constructed which is believed to be a better representation of the observed reality than the traditional models discussed in an earlier chapter. This model is that of the "partial political system". A partial system is defined as one which does not contain within itself all the political life-experiences of the member units. The several propositions upon which this model is based have a number of ramifications for the structure and process of local politics. The theory of the partial political system has several implications for other branches of political science: (1) comparative politics; (2) normative democratic theory; (3) international relations theory. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This study deals with possible relationships between the political information levels of nation states and their behavior in the international political system. The purpose of the study is purely exploratory. Drawing upon the literature of domestic political participation studies and the systems framework of David Easton, the author investigates the relevance and implications of the hypothesis, the availability and reliability of data sources, and the substantive relationship between information and behavior. The author suggests that a basic modification of the Easton model— the addition of a membership environment— makes the framework applicable to the analysis of international politics, and shows political information to be a salient variable, previously over looked in systemic analyses of international relations. Attention is devoted to the utility of news index and news summary sources for behavioral data. Using correlational techniques, the investigator finds that the advantages of availability and economy of these sources are somewhat offset by the existence of biases; no conclusions can be drawn, the author suggests, until a more systematic assessment of these sources is undertaken. Using a randomization test for matched pairs of twenty nation states, the study indicates a probable relationship between the extent of information channels and the systemic orientation of states' international behavior. The information channels utilized in the research design are diplomatic exchanges and memberships in inter-governmental organizations. The substantive findings are then related to the behavioral data source question, and to the further research ability of the problem. The author concludes that the results of the pilot study are sufficiently interesting to warrant fuller investigation of both the hypothesis and the source bias problem. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1970. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-178). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--University of Michigan. / Bibliography: p. 188-193.