This study examined the process of gender policy reform. It sought to explain how and when gender policy reform has taken place in Venezuela across time. The study entailed observations of gender policy reform during specific periods of Punto Fijo democracy (1958-1998) characterized by democratic consolidation and deconsolidation, and during the transition towards a new type of hybrid democracy, the Chávez era (1999-2007). The policies considered were the ones addressing women’s equality at home and at work, reproductive rights, women’s economic rights, and political participation. The analysis showed that the likelihood of gender policy reform depends on the combination of certain institutional configurations that provide women access to the decision-making process of the state, but most importantly to women’s groups’ capacity to organize a broad coalition of women from civil society and from within the state apparatus behind to push for a reform by using frames based on international agreed norms that legitimized their struggle. In addition, the analysis reveals the negative influence of religious groups with decision-making power on the process of gender policy reform.

This dissertation analyses the coup d’état and the instrument of government of 1809 as an interpretative framing process. By close examination primarily of official sources it focuses on how political actors utilized the components of the existing political culture in order to legitimise their actions. The results show that the regime transition of 1809 was a contingent process. Actors competed to define concepts such as “citizen”, “patriotism” and “public opinion” in order to legitimise different political claims. This process served to strengthen the role played by the concept of public opinion as a source of authority in the language of politics. The dissertation also addresses how the regime transition of 1809 relates to the historical epoch known as the Age of Revolution. Experiences from the French Revolution in particular were crucial to the debate on the prospects for constitutional change in Sweden. The study shows that the constitutional committee took a reformist stance based on the concepts of civic virtue and enlightenment, thereby rejecting demands for an enhanced national representation. Instead they argued for gradual constitutional change and believed that the constitution should serve as an instrument to educate the public in the virtues of citizenship. Grounded in the so-called "cultural turn" taken by studies of politics in recent decades, the analysis has borrowed from studies of social movements the concepts of interpretative framing. In analyzing differences and oppositions between various interpretative frames, concepts from discourse analysis has been used, particularly those that emphasize discourse contingency. Extra-discursive conditions in the process of interpretation have been analyzed by means of the concept of possibility structures. This has chiefly involved taking into consideration the degree of repression and actors' differing access to what Bourdieu has termed "institutional authority".

Les réactions de catalyse hétérogène impliquant un gaz et un liquide sont mises en oeuvre dans des réacteurs à lit fixes. Ces réacteurs peuvent être assimilés à un milieu poreux. La nature complexe de ce milieu rend la compréhension des interactions entre phases difficile, et nécessite une étude exhaustive à l’échelle globale et locale afin d’identifier les paramètres clés de l’hydrodynamique, des transferts de chaleur et de matière. Nous avons donc développé une cellule miniaturisée bidimensionnelle transparente, qui permet l’observation directe des écoulements avec une très bonne résolution spatiale et temporelle. En faisant varier le débit total et le rapport des débits gaz/liquide, nous avons mis en évidence l’apparition des régimes ruisselant et pulsé, observés par ailleurs dans des systèmes tridimensionnels. Grâce à une méthode d’analyse d’image, nous sommes capables de quantifier et cartographier la saturation liquide locale apparente et la morphologie des phases. L’analyse des variances a permis d’étudier les transitions de régimes pour différentes propriétés de la phase liquide. Cette approche a permis de comparer avec la littérature, mais aussi de s’intéresser aux mécanismes de génération et propagation des instabilités lors des transitions. Il a été mis en évidence que l’apparition des instabilités responsables de la déstabilisation du régime ruisselant intervient pour un nombre deWeber liquide fixé, indiquant que le régime pulsé apparait suite à la déstabilisation des interfaces gaz /liquides par les forces inertielles. Enfin, une étude préliminaire des transferts thermiques dans la cellule a été réalisée. La cellule est utilisée pour réaliser la réaction exothermique d’hydrogénation de l’alpha-methylstyrène. Un modèle simple de transferts thermique a été utilisé pour caractériser l’augmentation de température dans la cellule. Bien que cette approche ne permette pas des mesures quantitatives, elle ouvre à la perspective de suivi de transferts thermiques par caméra infra-rouge. / Heterogeneously catalyzed reactions involving a gas and a liquid phase are frequently achieved in fixed bed reactors. These reactors can be described as a porous medium. The complex nature of this medium makes the understanding of the interplay between phases difficult, and requires a thorough study at the global andlocal scale to identify the key parameters of hydrodynamics, mass and heat transfers. Therefore, we have developed a miniaturized two-dimensional system that is transparent to allow the direct observation of the flow with very high spatial and temporal resolution. While varying the total flow rate and the gas/liquid flow rate ratio, we observe the appearance of the trickle and the pulse flow regime, which can be observed in threedimensional beds. Thanks to some image analysis techniques, we are able to quantify and to map the local apparent liquid saturation and the morphology of the phases. Variances analysis allowed the study of the transition for different liquid properties. This approach allowed the comparison with the existing state of art, but also the study of the onset and propagation mechanisms of the instabilities during the transition. We report that the onset of instabilities responsible for the destabilization of the trickle flow regime occurs at a fixed Weber number. This indicates that the pulsed regime is due to the destabilization of the gas/liquid interface by inertial forces. Finally, a preliminary study of thermal transfers in the device was realized. The device was used to perform the exothermic hydrogenation of alpha-methylstyrene. A simple model is used to characterize the temperature increase in the device. Although this approach does not allow quantitative measurements, it opens up the perspective of monitoring thermal transfers with an infra-red camera.

The diploma thesis deals with the regime change in the context of the Arab Spring 2011 with focus on Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. The aim of the thesis is to determine factors causing different progress towards political reforms in each country. Theoretical framework is provided by characteristics of undemocratic regimes, transitions to democracy and democracy itself. Each country is introduced from the historical point of view with focus on the 20th century, especially current methods of the governance. Several conclusions are made based on analytical -- synthetical method of reviewing historical, political and socioeconomical factors determining the domestic situation in compared countries and explaining their influence on different transition progress towards the new political system.

Diploma thesis "Transition to Democracy in Czechoslovakia in 1989 from a Transition Theory Perspective" is an analysis of the Czechoslovak transition to democracy in the year 1989. The author analyses the character of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and the further development of the country after the year 1989 dealing with some of the more general politological aspects such as the strategies of the participants, analyses of the most important agents and factors of the change, etc. Therefore, various politological theories are introduced in the theoretical part (theory of non-democratic regimes, theory of transition, used theories by Juan J. Linz, Carl J. Friedrich, Alfred Stepan, Samuel Huntington and of other relevant authors). The theories are later applied to the Czechoslovak communist regime and to its transition to democracy. The diploma thesis focuses on the application of the theories of transition on Czechoslovakia with regards to the number of transitions. The work aims at explaining that more transitions took place in Czechoslovakia - not only the political one, but also the economic and nationalist, the latter leading to the Czechoslovakian split. Therefore, the last part of the diploma thesis deals with the development of the Czech-Slovak relationship; the link between the...

本論文乃有關我國（台灣地區）於解嚴後至民國八十三年底止，憲政改革與政體轉型兩者之發展及相互影響之研究。 　　首章為緒論，係說明研究動機、研究目的；相關的文獻；研究範圍、研究途徑等。第二章為相關理論的建構與概念分析，包括憲法、憲政及憲法變遷的理論；政體轉型的概念意涵作界定與分析；威權政體及其政經發等。第三章分析憲政改革的背景因素，主要分從四個面向加以探討一、解除戒嚴及其作用；二、民進黨對憲改所進行的抗爭與主張；三、國民黨威權統治的弱化及其憲改規劃；四、三月學運與國是會議加速憲政改革。第四章為對憲政改革與三次修憲加以評析。第五章探討憲政改革對民主化的影響。第六章結論，除總結全文的重點，交待研究缺失及限制以外，並對我國未來憲政體制之定位提出建議。

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