Thesis (M.A.(Historical and Heritage Studies))--Universiteit van Pretoria, 1990. / Summary in Afrikaans and English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Political Science, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.(International Politics))-University of Pretoria, 2004. / Summaries in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 483-496).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-02-28Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:55:16Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 thomaz_lf_me_mar.pdf: 839496 bytes, checksum: f5b81c20753ed97a56693d21b5498cf0 (MD5) / A forma como os atores domésticos defendem seus interesses econômicos pode influenciar os rumos da política de comércio internacional. Sob tal perspectiva de análise, esta dissertação tem por objetivo demonstrar como os lobistas dos produtores de etanol influenciaram a definição da política agrícola e energética dos Estados Unidos na última década. Com base no modelo de dois níveis proposto por Robert Putnam, foram identificados os grupos ligados à cadeia produtiva do etanol, bem como mapeadas as estratégias adotadas por eles para fazer valer seus interesses tanto na arena eleitoral como nas arenas decisórias dos poderes Executivo e Legislativo. As evidências sugerem que o lobby do etanol utilizou seus recursos financeiros e canais de influência para pressionar os membros do Congresso dos EUA a aprovar leis que concedessem benefícios setoriais na forma de subsídio. Os produtores do etanol fizeram doações aos candidatos em defesa de uma agenda agrícola, aumentando as chances de elegê-los para que representassem seus interesses na Câmara dos Representantes e no Senado; contrataram lobistas e custearam atividades em prol da indústria agrícola nacional; emplacaram representantes em agências do governo; apresentaram a pauta de reivindicações durante os trabalhos dos comitês agrícolas da Câmara e do Senado; e fizeram contribuições para a campanha de reeleição dos congressistas às vésperas das votações dos projetos de lei. Essa estratégia do lobby do etanol se revelou eficiente, visto que no período estudado foram aprovadas peças legislativas que atenderam às suas reivindicações. Por outro lado, o sucesso dos produtores americanos de etanol em suas iniciativas produziu distorções no comércio internacional de produtos agrícolas, prejudicando países em desenvolvimento como o Brasil / The way in which domestic actors defend their economic interests can influence international trade. From this perspective of analysis, this Master’s thesis aims to demonstrate that ethanol lobbyists influenced the features of U.S. agricultural and energy policy in the last decade. The two-level model proposed by Robert D. Putnam allowed identifying the lobbying groups for the ethanol industry and the strategies by asserting their interests, especially in the electoral arena and in decision arenas in Executive and Legislative decision-making. Evidence suggests that the ethanol lobby has used its financial resources and channels of influence for pressuring Members of U.S. Congress to pass laws providing benefits in the form of sectorial subsidies. Ethanol producers donated money to candidates in defense of agricultural issues, increasing the chances of electing congressional representatives to represent their interests in the House and in the Senate. They engaged in lobbying and financed activities in agricultural defense. They had representatives in government agencies. They presented a list of demands during the work time of the agricultural committees. They contributed to Members of Congress’ reelection campaign on the eve of voting of the bills. This strategy of the ethanol lobby was effective because representatives and senators enacted pieces of legislation towards the parochial demand. On the other hand, the triumph of American producers of ethanol created distortions for international trade of agricultural products, harming developing countries like Brazil

In public education, it is not possible to present school programs that will satisfy all the external groups from society. When an outside interest group perceives a need that is lacking in the schools' curriculum, it may petition the ministry of education or the local school board to include its need into the curricula. Another method to influence or insert its point of view is for the interest group to produce its own curriculum for a school program. This study investigated the impact of one outside interest group as it attempts to modify students' attitudes through its school program, Salmonids in the Classroom. Werner's description of editorial criticism permitted examination with a political perspective, of the resource package, Salmonids in the Classroom. The methodology of this analysis permitted a view of the goals and values espoused and hidden in a school program and how those goals and values were modified as they are passed from the program sponsors through the developers to the teachers. To determine the effects of the Salmonids in the Classroom Program upon student attitudes toward the salmonid resource, a Likert-type instrument using a slide show was used. To understand children's beliefs and attitudes about the salmonid resource, student interviews were conducted with some students after they were exposed to the Salmonids in the Classroom Program. This study confirms that a special interest group can sponsor a school program and modify student attitudes to be more supportive of the interest group's programs and goals. This study may be useful not only to teachers to assist in clarifying their role with the special interest group's school program, but it may also be useful to special interest groups who may be planning ways to influence the public through the school system. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Bibliography: pages 316-351. / In both scholarly and popular literature on the South African business sector, a high premium is commonly placed on the role of business in promoting political reform. This study investigated the perceived extent of such influence on political and socio-political aspects of public policy in the period 1978 to 1989. Using the "elite" and "group" approaches in Political Science as a point of departure, the perceptions of government and business elites in this regard, in particular the perceptions of the Afrikaner business elite, were analysed. Data from the government elite was gathered by means of postal questionnaires, and the business elite's input was obtained via interviews. The government elite's attitude towards, and perceptions of, interest groups were examined in the light of the premise that the latter's influence is largely determined by their legitimacy in the eyes of the decision-makers. These attitudes were established by moving from an assessment of the government elite's general perception of interest groups, to more specific perceptions of, amongst others, the business sector's access to decision-makers, and their perceived influence. The second part of the study primarily focused on the perceptions of the Afrikaner business elite vis-a-vis the influence of the business community on various dimensions of public policy. It was found that the government elite's attitude towards the existence of interest groups was largely dependent on the latter's utility with regard to the implementation and maintenance of policy, via mainly "positive" and "constructive" research. Government perceptions confirmed that several elite groups exercised specific influence on various dimensions of public policy. The Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHI), for example, was found to have the greatest influence on economic policy formulation, whereas the Afrikaner Broederbond and the Dutch Reformed Church exercise more significant influence on socio- political policy than the AHI. Apart from these traditional Afrikaner elite-groups, the "insiders" were found to include those whose economic ideologies, amongst other variables, were reconcilable with those of government Due to the fact that the National Party was compelled to enlarge its power base in the early 1980s, certain English business organisations such as ASSOCOM and the FCI and the black political organization, lnkatha, have to some extent, been included as "insiders" despite divergent political convictions or cultural differences. Both the government elite and the business elite felt, however that the Afrikaner businessmen and their organizations still retained the decisive influence on aspects of economic and socio-political decision-making. With regard to political decision-making, that is the forms of state, government and authority, the business elite did not express a desire to have a role in this arena. The government elite, on the other hand, was prepared to grant the business sector a role in this regard, on the condition that business input exercised a reactive legitimising role to their policy, rather than initiating change.

This dissertation focused on citizen advocacy groups as an intervention strategy for affecting change in the policy process. The analysis is of a specific intervention in school desegregation policy by a citizen advocacy group. The purpose of this research was to identify the conditions under which a citizen advocacy group can intervene; the constraints to a successful intervention; and the attributes of a successful intervention. The case study was of the Community Coalition for School Integration, a citizen advocacy group which existed in Portland, Oregon between 1977 and 1980. A multi-method approach was used. It involved fifty interviews with members of the Coalition, school administration, school board and the media. In addition, historical and document analysis of secondary data and extensive literature review was done. The theoretical framework guiding this research was Iannaccone's dissatisfaction theory of governance, DIS/ID/STO/OS. DIS is evidence of community changed dissatisfaction reflected in voting behavior leading next to incumbent school board member defeat (ID) followed within two years by involuntary superintendent turnover (STO) and outside succession (OS). Rothman's (1968) models of community organization practice were used to analyze the intervention of the Coalition. The findings do confirm the DIS/ID/STO/OS theory of governance, but also suggest that community intervention is an intervening variable between the stage of dissatisfaction and incumbent defeat. The analysis of the intervention identifies six conditions necessary for community intervention: timeliness of the issue, financial resources, leadership, organizational support, staff, and media coverage. The major constraints were the lack of trust between the policy-making body and the citizen advocacy groups, and the political environment of the community. Attributes of successful intervention were: focused advocacy, multiple intervention strategies, and permanency of the organization. The impact of the citizen advocacy group's intervention is discussed, as are recommendations for future research.

No description available.

The objective of this paper is to explain differences in the economic performance of selected advanced capitalist countries between 1960 and 1980, such as rates of unemployment, level of inflation rates and economic growth rates, with the presence or absence of corporatist arrangements between major interest groups and the State, and with the strength of leftist parties in these nations. In reviewing the literature, I have found basically two approaches to corporatism: ( 1) a 'structural' approach, which emphasizes sociological characteristics of the actors, especially labor unions; and (2) a 'functional' approach, which stresses elements of policy formation and implementation. Using factor analysis, I will create a corporatism score for each country. According to Olson's 'Logic of Collective Action', nations with corporatist arrangements (large and centrally organized interest groups) should do better economically (in terms of growth rates) than nations without these arrangements. However, this application has been criticized, since economic growth would be a relatively automatic function of size and degree of organization of interest groups in a given nation, and would not leave any room for strategic considerations, which can be influenced by political parties. Therefore, I will perform a LISREL analysis for two competing models: (1) an 'additive' model, where I compare the independent effects of corporatist arrangements and leftist parties on strike activity, unemployment rates, inflation rates, and GDP growth rates; and (2) a 'multiplicative' or conditional model, where the effects of corporatism on economic performance depend on the strength of left parties, and vice versa. My findings do not strongly support the 'additive' model, whose policy implications for countries that wish to be more successful economically in terms of growth of GDP would be to pursue more corporatist strategies. With the notable exception of economic growth rates, on which the combined effects of corporatism and left parties have a strong, negative effect, the 'multiplicative' model is far more successful in explaining differences in economic performance among nations: I have found strong negative. indirect effects of this combined index on unemployment and inflation rates. An implication is that those countries with strong left parties and already existing corporatist arrangements could pursue strategies to extend corporatist arrangements with the hope of gain, while countries without strong left parties and corporatist arrangements might abstain from a policy of becoming more corporatist, since absence of strong labor-based parties might impede rather than promote economic growth. They might even try to reduce their extent of corporatism. / Master of Arts