Four encounter groups were run using 41 undergraduates at Utah State University to measure the effects of leadership style, member vii socio-political subculture, and member personality on the quantity and quality of group interaction, and on member satisfaction. Using Kerlinger's Social Attitudes Scale, the subjects were divided into subgroupings of "conservatives" and "liberals." One conservative group and one liberal group were each conducted by a leader acting in a non-directive style, while one conservative and one liberal group were run by a leader acting in a directive style. The California Psychological Inventory was administered to the subjects to gain information on the personality traits of the individuals, and a questionnaire was used to measure member satisfaction. Each group met for six sessions, and the groups were rated for interaction using the Hill Interaction Matrix. Using an analysis of covariance, the results showed that the group led by the non-directive leader resulted in more interaction, and that this interaction was of a ''member-centered" work type. A statistical relationship was also found between the personality of group members and: 1) quantity and quality of interaction, 2) member satisfaction, and 3) the socio-political subculture of the members. An interaction effect between leadership style and socio-political subculture of the subjects was found to affect member satisfaction. Conservatives preferred a directive leader, while liberals preferred a non-directive leader. Finally, a trend was found suggesting a difference in group interaction due to the socio-political subculture of an individual. Implications for other types of groups, and for therapy and counseling, were discussed.

Cerebral palsy is a condition primarily defined by damage to the developing brain primarily resulting in a physical impairment, although the affected individual may present with concomitant impairments. The number of children presenting with cerebral palsy appears to be increasing, and while the medical effects of this disability have been well documented in the literature, a paucity of knowledge exists on the parental experience of caring for a child with cerebral palsy, particularly in rural South Africa. This dissertation will report on a study conducted in Tonga, a rural area of South Africa, which assessed caregivers’ experiences of caring for a child with cerebral palsy. Qualitative methods, including participant observation and narrative interviews were used and the SiSwati narratives of 27 participants were transcribed and analysed using theoretical coding. A number of recurrent themes emerged including the impact of gender on caregiving, the influence of traditional beliefs and practices and the experience of western medicine. However, the pervasive nature of poverty served to influence all aspects of caring for a child with cerebral palsy. These themes are discussed in relation to current healthcare policies, the influence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the concept of ‘ubuntu’ and socio-political aspects of healthcare. The findings highlight the value of using cultural narratives and participant observation as a means of exposing aspects related to the experience of disability that cannot be portrayed using quantitative methods. It emphasizes the nature of disempowerment amongst marginalized communities and draws attention to the need for both multisectoral and community involvement to bring about transformation.

This thesis explores the ideological foundations of three jihadist organizations, Hizbullah, al-Qaeda, and Islamic State (IS). All three are categorized as international terrorist organizations but their goals differ. Hizbullah seeks to alter the government within Lebanon, al-Qaeda seeks to eliminate Western influences in Muslim inhabited territories, and IS seeks to create a caliphate within a large portion of the Middle East. The similarities and differences of these three organizations will be illuminated through this examination. The primary focus of the examination focuses on their religious teachings and discourse, as this is a critical aspect of their ideologies. Through this examination, the differences in discourse coinciding with the differing goals of each organization is presented. The discourse of each organization facilitates their goals, recruitment of fighters, and explanation of their actions. Self/other identification is a commonality of all three ideologies but the identification of the other is different according to each organizations goals. This thesis will highlight this aspect and allow for further discussion of the three organizations in future research. The conclusion will allow for discussion as to who gains and maintains power and whether religion is a base or merely a tool for this power. / Master of Arts / This thesis examines the ideological foundations of three jihadist organizations. The jihadist organizations examined are Hizbullah, al-Qaeda, and ISIS. The ideological foundations are examined by identifying the influences and leaders of the organizations and their contributions to their organizations. The purpose of this examination is to provide the reader with a base understanding of three organizations ideological foundations. This thesis will discuss the varying use of self/other identification by each of the organizations and how it is altered to fit the goals of each group. Understanding how the goals and self/other discourse are related will allow for better understanding of how recruitment is conducted and how each group continues to exist while being battled by more advanced technology and trained militaries.

This thesis scrutinises how regular mathematics teachers are expected to deal with empowerment in mathematics classroom practice. Inspired by a socio-political perspective, the aim of the study is to problematise how to empower mathematics students in inclusive classroom practice, as implicitly understood in a nationwide professional development programme, i.e., the Boost for Mathematics, in Sweden. The aim is addressed by the following research question: What types of empowering ideas are conveyed in the Boost for Mathematics? The data of the study were collected from supporting materials for teachers, published within the Boost for Mathematics. Data processing consists of two steps. Step 1 is a thematic analysis of how to promote student empowerment as discerned in the data of the study. In a nutshell, Step 1 clarifies that the data give prominence to ways of empowering students from a cognitive point-of-view while social difference is disregarded. Step 2 undertakes a critical approach and discusses an alternative way of treating empowerment; this alternative way is restricted to the design of participatory activities in inclusive classroom practice.

This thesis reflects on how to develop an African leadership that can contribute to the effective transformation of the African continent. After analysing the concept of leadership and categorising it for better understanding, the mission of the church as a developer of leaders par excellence has been examined and its potentials and limits assessed. Then, the thesis studied the specific extent of poor African leadership and its dire socio-political consequences in a sub-Saharan African country; so, the context of DR Congo was analysed. After that the contribution of the notion of African Renaissance to the whole debate of leadership development in Africa was assessed and the social, economic and political climate of the continent analysed. The poor and deficient African leadership has been identified as the main cause of rampant conflicts and wars, a slow economic development and lack of transformation in the continent. Given that church leadership seemed so poor and inefficient, the thesis has recommended that the African church needed primarily to transform its own leadership to be able to effectively develop transformational political leadership. The analysis of African institutions already involved in the development of an African leadership for socio-political transformation has shown that Christianising African leadership and socio-political institutions alone was not enough. So, the thesis has proposed a comprehensive socio-political discipleship for the transformation of both individuals and their communities. In a nutshell, the discipleship includes a socio-political intercession1, a four-dimensional discipleship, a socio-political psychotherapy and a church involvement project for socio-political transformation. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology, with specialisation in Urban Ministry)

This thesis reflects on how to develop an African leadership that can contribute to the effective transformation of the African continent. After analysing the concept of leadership and categorising it for better understanding, the mission of the church as a developer of leaders par excellence has been examined and its potentials and limits assessed. Then, the thesis studied the specific extent of poor African leadership and its dire socio-political consequences in a sub-Saharan African country; so, the context of DR Congo was analysed. After that the contribution of the notion of African Renaissance to the whole debate of leadership development in Africa was assessed and the social, economic and political climate of the continent analysed. The poor and deficient African leadership has been identified as the main cause of rampant conflicts and wars, a slow economic development and lack of transformation in the continent. Given that church leadership seemed so poor and inefficient, the thesis has recommended that the African church needed primarily to transform its own leadership to be able to effectively develop transformational political leadership. The analysis of African institutions already involved in the development of an African leadership for socio-political transformation has shown that Christianising African leadership and socio-political institutions alone was not enough. So, the thesis has proposed a comprehensive socio-political discipleship for the transformation of both individuals and their communities. In a nutshell, the discipleship includes a socio-political intercession1, a four-dimensional discipleship, a socio-political psychotherapy and a church involvement project for socio-political transformation. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology, with specialisation in Urban Ministry)

In this thesis, focused attention is given to the idea of task solvers as active participants in mathematical practices. The theoretical assumptions of the study, reported in this thesis, are inspired by socio-political concerns. The aim of the study is to investigate the underlying view of participation in mathematical practices, as understood in a nationwide teacher professional development programme, the Boost for Mathematics, in Sweden. To be more precise, the study is arranged to problematise ways of encouraging students as active participants. This aim is approached by means of the following research questions: (1) What messages do mathematical tasks in the Boost for Mathematics send about people as participants in mathematical practices? and (2) What is the role of multiple representations in these messages? An empirical study is reported. The data of the study, i.e., three collections of problems, are drawn from the Boost for Mathematics. Data processing is conducted by using a modified version of a pre-existing data processing framework, focusing on mathematical practices as socio-political practices. The empirical study uncovers an implicit view of task solvers in mathematical practices and especially a detachment between students, as potential task solvers, and the social contexts where mathematical ideas and concepts are embedded. This implicit view is challenged from the assumption that it is motivating for a student to conceive him/herself as someone who is ‘qualified’ to take part in mathematical practices.

Данная работа посвящена особенностям адаптации англоязычных заимствований общественно-политического дискурса в русском и испанском языках. Теоретическая часть исследования включает в себя определение терминологической базы и особенностей перевода общественно-политических текстов; выявление функций англоязычных заимствований в общественно-политическом дискурсе и формулировку основных способов адаптации англоязычных заимствований общественно-политического дискурса к нормам принимающего языка. В методологической части исследования представлен анализ существующих публикаций и научно-исследовательских работ, посвященных англоязычным заимствованиям, а также определены методы и методологические принципы настоящего исследования. Практическая часть посвящена отбору и интерпретации материала исследования, анализу способов и моделей адаптации англоязычных заимствований общественно-политического дискурса в русском и испанском языках на сформированном материале исследования, а также сравнительному анализу выявленных способов и моделей. В Заключении представлены основные выводы данной исследовательской работы. Результаты исследования могут быть использованы для анализа англоязычных заимствований в других языках-реципиентах и для анализа заимствований из других языков, а также для адаптации новой лексики, заимствованной из английского языка, к нормам русского и испанского языков. / This study is dedicated to English-language borrowings of socio-political discourse in Russian and Spanish and features of their adaptation to the receiving languages. The theoretical part of the study includes the definition of the study terminology and the description of the translation of socio-political texts and its main features; the identification of the functions of English-language borrowings in socio-political discourse and the elaboration on the main ways of English-language borrowing adaptation to the norms of the receiving languages. The methodological part of the study represents an analysis of the existing scientific publications and research papers on English-language borrowings, as well as the methods and methodological principles of the current study. The practical part is devoted to the selection and interpretation of the study material, the analysis of methods and models of English-language borrowing adaptation to the norms of Russian and Spanish languages based on the study material, as well as a comparative analysis of the identified methods and models of English-language borrowing adaptation. The main takeaways of this study are presented in the conclusion. The results of this study can be used to analyze English-language borrowings in other recipient languages and to analyze borrowings from other languages, as well as to adapt new vocabulary borrowed from English to the norms of Russian and Spanish languages.

As the Russian government enacted the Great Reforms of the 1850s and 1860s, Siberian students in St. Petersburg at the time came to the realization that urban, judicial, and land reforms had to take place in Siberia in order for the region to develop. Starting with meetings of the Siberian Circle in the capital, regionalists strove to elevate Siberia’s socio-political position within the Russian Empire. Regionalists believed that the Russian government envisioned Siberia exclusively as a place of exile and hard labor, as a territory for natural resources, and as a region unworthy of any real development. The chief theorists of regionalism, Grigorii Nikolaevich Potanin and Nikolai Mikhailovich Iadrintsev, sought to reconceptualize the relationship between European Russia and Siberia while publicizing regional needs. For regionalists, ending the system of Siberian exile, fostering the development of education, and pushing Siberia’s political and economic development would make Siberia a vital and vibrant region of the empire and end Siberia’s traditionally subservient status. Forces constantly pushed regionalism, as regionalists found their movement shaped, in turn, by the Russian state, Siberian realities, revolutionary forces, and civil war. Regionalists struggled to come to terms with their desire to see Siberia included in the Russian Empire in meaningful ways even as the government treated the region as an economic, political, and cultural afterthought. While regionalists endeavored to construct viable alternatives for regional development, evolving reality did as much, if not more, to shape regionalism, pushing its adherents in new and surprising directions, sometimes against their will.

The aim of this study is to assess the extent to which the Saudi Arabia National Dialogue and activities of King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue (KACND) represent a viable attempt to address socio-political issues; whether the ongoing National Dialogue process accurately reflects the aspirations and concerns of contemporary Saudi society; what its impact on socio-political development may be; and how it relates to wider regime strategies and to the evolution of the Saudi polity. The thesis examines KACND’s institutions, practices and impacts, as well as Saudis’ perceptions of all these. It does so by embedding the analysis in a survey of the evolution of broader Saudi socio-political dynamics; drawing in particular on Gramsci, it asks whether the system is moving from a form of patrimonial state to one of ideological hegemony, and whether the KACND is a catalyst in this transition or may even be part of the apparatus that is driving this transition, including its indirect or unintended effects. To that end, the thesis examines the mutual relationship between KACND and the key Saudi social constituencies, with their attendant issues. In particular, it explores the extent to which the KACND’s activities directly and indirectly impact on internal cross-constituency communication and discourse in the Kingdom. The thesis explores the legitimisation of state-society dialogue in Saudi Arabia, focusing on the direct and indirect consequences of the National Dialogue process with reference to the role and activities of KACND. It examines the expanding activities of KACND, including the evolving range of issues discussed as part of the institution’s activities, and the scope of participants. It highlights the shift from ideology-based National Dialogue Meetings such as on national unity and women’s rights, to service-based National Dialogues such as on employment and health. It also examines the newly established Cultural Discourse and assesses the impact of this initiative as a space for ideological debate. The study is based on extensive fieldwork in Saudi Arabia from 2009 to 2011, referencing information and official documentation not previously available, and drawing on findings from a wide range of focus groups, interviews, and participant observation with National Dialogue participants, KACND officials, government ministers, lawyers, journalists, scholars and members of minority constituencies