Master thesis is concerned about relationship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the European Union. Thesis is focused on development of historical relationship between the UK and the EU since the end of second world war, followed by establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951, over Brexit, until these days. It's written from the British point of view, specifically depending on the attitude of government of UK and British parliamentary political parties to European integration. British government, similarly to British political parties, has a main impact on British public opinion. Main goal of my thesis is to focus on attitude of these political subjects to European integration and find out how great was their influence on decision of British voters during Brexit. The referendum was held on Thursday 23 June 2016 and British electorate voted to leave the EU. Thesis is divided into two parts. The first part is concerned about historical development of attitude of British government to the European union and the second one is focused on relationship between British political parties and the EU. The first chapter is about historical attitude of political parties to the EU since establishment of ECSC until announcement of official date of...

Direct democracy was adopted by states to balance the influence and power of corporate interests. Although corporate money has always been a part of American democracy, dark money expenditures have increased significantly since the Citizens United v. FEC case. Corporate money in elections poses a problem because it inconsistent with the tenants of direct democracy. Little published literature addresses the influence of corporate money on direct democracy measures. Using Kingdon's multiple streams approach as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to investigate the perceived influence of corporate money on the 2018 ballot initiative and referendum measures in Arizona. The research question was focused on the perceptions of political professionals of the influence of corporate money on direct democracy. Data were collected through using a purposeful sampling that identified 10 political professionals. Semi-structured interviews with participants were supplemented with document review. Data were inductively coded, and then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure, producing 4 thematic elements. The key findings of this study indicated that access to the ballot, using an effective campaign strategy, running an effective paid media campaign, and the outcome all hinged on the money available to fund and support, or oppose, a measure. The implications for social change for the study include informing policy makers of the perceived influence of corporate money on direct democracy so they are equipped to implement policy aligned with the original goal of citizen participation in the state's constitution.

Master thesis "The First and Second Referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon in Ireland" is a comparative case study, which - using the concept of europeanization - analyses causes, which led to the opinion shift of Irish citizens on the Treaty of Lisbon between years 2008 and 2009. Whereas during the first poll in June 2008 Irish rejected the Treaty, 16 months later it was accepted by an expressive majority, when almost half a million people more voted for it. The thesis clarifies, which elements caused a totally different course and result, explores opinions of individual players such as political parties, government, trade unions, associations of interest or significant companies, observes course of the campaign before the referendum, summarizes and analyses outcomes and subsequent reactions both on national and Union level. From the discovered facts the thesis concludes, that behind the change of attitude of the Irish stood especially external effects. On one side pressure of the other member states of the Union and even the EU as a whole to finalize the process of institutional reform and also explicit refusal of repeating the scenario from 2005, when ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was terminated after disagreement of France and the Netherlands. On the other side acceptance...

The relation between the Catalan nationalist forces as well as the other sub-nationalisms and the Spanish Government has been a matter discussed throughout all the Spanish democracy. In recent years the challenge to the Spanish state set by the Catalan government when taking a unilateral approach on Independence has resulted in the imprisonment and exile of political leaders. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the events that occurred in Catalonia after the Catalan elections of 2015 and the unilateral approach on self-determination taken by the Catalan Autonomous Government with the promise of a binding referendum. The laws passed by the Catalan government which were rejected by the Constitutional Court, as the law itself denied the authority of the Constitutional Court and declared independence. This resulted in the application of the 155th article of the Spanish Constitution, suspending autonomous government, to enforce the Constitutional Court’s resolutions by the Spanish government. The essay will focus on the discourses given by politicians to criticize or justify these actions, analysed through theoretical and political normative perspectives.

What explains the outcomes of ballot initiative contests? What factors determine the passage or rejection of an initiative? This paper describes and evaluates three approaches to explaining ballot initiative contest outcomes. The first approach involves using the expenditures of Yes and No campaigns as the causal factor in explaining why passage or defeat is the respective outcome of a given contest. The second explanatory approach emphasizes the logic of collective action problems. The third approach incorporates the larger constellation of policymaking institutions in which each ballot initiative process exists. Specifically, in what ways is the process shaped by the larger system of partisan attachments that structures electoral politics? This paper contains a set of three analyses which speak to each of the three respective explanatory approaches to explaining initiative contest outcomes. The results provide evidence of the importance of a contest's early competitive dynamic in determining the amount of resources made available for a campaign to spend. Left unaccounted for, this strategic financing of initiatives distorts estimates of the effectiveness of spending. The second analysis, inspired by insights into collective action problems, finds the initiative arena to be a policymaking site where there is a competitive advantage for broadly diffused interests, especially when they challenge other broad interests. Moreover, broad-based Yes groups achieved relatively high passage rates with relatively low levels of campaigns expenditures. Finally, the third analysis provides evidence of a consistently high level of correlation between Yes voting and alignment with a particular party. The lowest levels of correlation were still fairly high from a measured social science perspective. In many instances, county-level party attachment mapped almost seamlessly over initiative decision making. This suggests that ballot initiatives politics do not operate outside party politics, as has been suggested in the past.

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This paper contributes to the discussion on the reference to ‘the people’ in contemporary politics. Illuminating the tension raised by representation, this corpus-assisted analysis investigates how Members of Parliament discursively construct the necessity to represent and involve the people while being at the same time the ones holding the floor. Close analysis of British, German, and French parliamentary debates on Europe reveals that parliamentary talk relies on a twofold dynamic: enacting the people’s voice and making parliamentary debates accessible. These patterns are represented in the speeches of all parliamentary groups. This shows that none of these discourse strategies are, per se, a prerogative of populist movements, thus shedding light on the necessity to think the articulation between populist style and populist ideology.

El caso de la devolución de los aportes hechos al FONAVI (Exp. No. 03283-2007- PA/TC) consistió un hito sin precedente en la historia electoral reciente del Perú (2010) pues involucró la aprobación de un proyecto de ley de iniciativa ciudadana a través del mecanismo del referéndum. Sin embargo, para llegar a dicho evento, los promotores de dicha iniciativa tuvieron que afrontar una controversia contra la autoridad electoral, el Jurado Nacional de Elecciones del Perú, a fin de determinar si su propuesta se encontraba acorde a la Constitución del país. Para ello, el TC tuvo que esclarecer la naturaleza de la contribución al FONAVI para determinar si este se trataba en verdad de un tributo o no a fin de establecer la procedencia de su devolución si tal concepto no era tributario. A pesar de la carencia de elementos que explícitamente permitan identificar a un tributo como tal, el TC tuvo que razonar en base a qué elementos son los que lo caracterizan y que tal razonamiento sea acorde con el orden constitucional. Para ello, en su sentencia expuso por qué la contribución al FONAVI no podría tener materia tributaria. En el presente trabajo se pretende realizar una exposición de tales elementos y su justificación para vincular una obligación pública como de naturaleza tributaria o no. Por ello, se expondrán los fundamentos del Derecho Constitucional Tributario y parámetro de interpretación del TC / Trabajo de investigación

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:21:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Lucia Prandi Gomes.pdf: 2807946 bytes, checksum: 373c49fac2651cd204d308b747fd2ea2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-10-30 / On October, the 23rd, 2005, took place in Brazil the Referendo do Desarmamento (Referendum for the Disarmament), when Brazilians voted in favor or against the following question: The fire weapons and ammunitions trade must be prohibit in Brazil? . Polls predicted the vote Yes would win. It lost. The answer No got 63.9% of the total votes. The trade of weapons and ammunitions goes legally on. Different social scientists have studied the Referendo and pointed reasons for the victory of No, which make a complex explanation: the different quality of the radio and TV adverstising of the two sides; the failing of the governmental politics for public security; the lost of credibility of politicians, political parties, particularly the PT, Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party), the federal government and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva himself; at last but not least, the weakening of the voters confidence on public institutions because of the crisis that proceeded the Referendo. From May to September, a big scandal called Escândalo do Mensalão (The Big Monthly Bribe Scandal) shook and startled Brazil, affecting negatively the images of President Lula, his government and his Party. The present work seeks to understand the Escândalo do Mensalão as a political background to the Referendum. To reach that aim, two of the most important Brazilian weakly magazines, Veja and Época, were submitted under a content analysis. Both had a similar critical position about the crises of Mensalação, but Veja was in favor of the vote No to the Disarmament, and Época in favor of Yes / Em 23 de outubro de 2005, no Referendo do Desarmamento, o Brasil votou a favor ou contra a seguinte questão: O comércio de armas de fogo e munição deve ser proibido no Brasil? . Em 27 de julho, pesquisas de opinião apontavam vitória do Sim com 80% das intenções de voto. Mas o Desarmamento acabou perdendo, com 63,9% de votos dados ao Não. Manteve-se no Brasil a venda legal de armas de fogo e munição. As razões apontadas por diferentes autores que vêm estudando a vitória do Não desenham um quadro complexo, que envolve a questão da qualidade desigual da propaganda eleitoral dos lados a favor e contra no horário gratuito em rádio e televisão, o fracasso da política governamental de segurança pública e a conseqüente falta de credibilidade nas instituições públicas, o sentimento de que a proibição proposta no Referendo significaria perda de direito à legítima defesa, além de fatores decorrentes de interesses econômicos de fabricantes e comerciantes de armas e munições, assim como a posição assumida pelas elites e o financiamento das campanhas. Durante os meses que precederam o Referendo, aconteceu o chamado Escândalo do Mensalão, promovendo a maior crise política envolvendo o presidente Lula, seu governo e seu partido, o PT. É objetivo do presente trabalho estudar essa crise como pano de fundo do Referendo, ou seja, como elemento hipoteticamente fundamental para se entender o fracasso de uma iniciativa em que a posição favorável dos três era uma das marcas importantes. Com os promotores em baixa, os resultados podem ter refletido mais um aspecto da descrença dos eleitores naquela conjuntura. Uma imagem muito negativa do governo e dos governantes esteve durante meses em exposição na mídia. Analisar o conteúdo que então se divulgava em periódicos de importância nacional pode permitir uma reconstrução do que aqui se chamará contexto político-midiático. Para traçar esse pano de fundo foram escolhidas as revistas Veja e Época, que foram centrais na crise e que, em relação ao Referendo, assumiram posições contrárias

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:56:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Lucia Prandi Gomes.pdf: 2807946 bytes, checksum: 373c49fac2651cd204d308b747fd2ea2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-10-30 / On October, the 23rd, 2005, took place in Brazil the Referendo do Desarmamento (Referendum for the Disarmament), when Brazilians voted in favor or against the following question: The fire weapons and ammunitions trade must be prohibit in Brazil? . Polls predicted the vote Yes would win. It lost. The answer No got 63.9% of the total votes. The trade of weapons and ammunitions goes legally on. Different social scientists have studied the Referendo and pointed reasons for the victory of No, which make a complex explanation: the different quality of the radio and TV adverstising of the two sides; the failing of the governmental politics for public security; the lost of credibility of politicians, political parties, particularly the PT, Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party), the federal government and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva himself; at last but not least, the weakening of the voters confidence on public institutions because of the crisis that proceeded the Referendo. From May to September, a big scandal called Escândalo do Mensalão (The Big Monthly Bribe Scandal) shook and startled Brazil, affecting negatively the images of President Lula, his government and his Party. The present work seeks to understand the Escândalo do Mensalão as a political background to the Referendum. To reach that aim, two of the most important Brazilian weakly magazines, Veja and Época, were submitted under a content analysis. Both had a similar critical position about the crises of Mensalação, but Veja was in favor of the vote No to the Disarmament, and Época in favor of Yes / Em 23 de outubro de 2005, no Referendo do Desarmamento, o Brasil votou a favor ou contra a seguinte questão: O comércio de armas de fogo e munição deve ser proibido no Brasil? . Em 27 de julho, pesquisas de opinião apontavam vitória do Sim com 80% das intenções de voto. Mas o Desarmamento acabou perdendo, com 63,9% de votos dados ao Não. Manteve-se no Brasil a venda legal de armas de fogo e munição. As razões apontadas por diferentes autores que vêm estudando a vitória do Não desenham um quadro complexo, que envolve a questão da qualidade desigual da propaganda eleitoral dos lados a favor e contra no horário gratuito em rádio e televisão, o fracasso da política governamental de segurança pública e a conseqüente falta de credibilidade nas instituições públicas, o sentimento de que a proibição proposta no Referendo significaria perda de direito à legítima defesa, além de fatores decorrentes de interesses econômicos de fabricantes e comerciantes de armas e munições, assim como a posição assumida pelas elites e o financiamento das campanhas. Durante os meses que precederam o Referendo, aconteceu o chamado Escândalo do Mensalão, promovendo a maior crise política envolvendo o presidente Lula, seu governo e seu partido, o PT. É objetivo do presente trabalho estudar essa crise como pano de fundo do Referendo, ou seja, como elemento hipoteticamente fundamental para se entender o fracasso de uma iniciativa em que a posição favorável dos três era uma das marcas importantes. Com os promotores em baixa, os resultados podem ter refletido mais um aspecto da descrença dos eleitores naquela conjuntura. Uma imagem muito negativa do governo e dos governantes esteve durante meses em exposição na mídia. Analisar o conteúdo que então se divulgava em periódicos de importância nacional pode permitir uma reconstrução do que aqui se chamará contexto político-midiático. Para traçar esse pano de fundo foram escolhidas as revistas Veja e Época, que foram centrais na crise e que, em relação ao Referendo, assumiram posições contrárias