O trabalho testa, no plano da política subnacional brasileira, a hipótese de que a judicialização da política está associada à competição política. Na primeira parte, após constatar que muitos autores relacionam a judicialização à vontade dos magistrados ou a mecanismos institucionais, apresentam-se abordagens que associam o fenômeno a fatores exógenos às instâncias judiciais, como por exemplo a competição entre os atores políticos relevantes. Filiando-se a esta última corrente, a pesquisa analisa dados empíricos referentes à intervenção do Supremo Tribunal Federal nas políticas estaduais do Rio Grande do Sul e do Ceará, unidades federativas que apresentam elevado e reduzido níveis de competição, respectivamente. Verificou-se que os índices de judicialização são mais elevados no Rio Grande do Sul. Isso ocorre porque as forças políticas neste estado estão em constante conflito, o que faz com que a competição extrapole ô âmbito do Executivo e do Legislativo, estendendo-se em direção ao Poder Judiciário. Já no Ceará, uma pequena elite hegemônica restringe a competição política, inviabilizando a participação de grupos de oposição no policy-making, seja nos tradicionais órgãos representativos, seja nos tribunais. / This paper tests the hypothesis, in terms of Brazilian subnational politics, that the judicialization of politics is associated with political competition. After noting that several authors relate judicialization to the volition of magistrates or institutional mechanisms, the first section presents approaches that associate the phenomenon with factors exogenous to judicial courts, such as competition between the relevant political players. In line with this last concept, the research analyzes empirical data regarding the intervention of the Federal Supreme Court in the state policies of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) and Ceará (CE), federative units that exhibit high and low levels of competition, respectively. Judicialization rates were found to be higher in Rio Grande do Sul. This is because the political forces in the state are in constant conflict, causing competition to move beyond the scope of the Executive and Legislative branches, extending towards the Judiciary. In Ceará, however, a small hegemonic elite restricts political competition, precluding the participation of opposition groups in policy-making, whether in traditional representative bodies or in the courts.

O trabalho testa, no plano da política subnacional brasileira, a hipótese de que a judicialização da política está associada à competição política. Na primeira parte, após constatar que muitos autores relacionam a judicialização à vontade dos magistrados ou a mecanismos institucionais, apresentam-se abordagens que associam o fenômeno a fatores exógenos às instâncias judiciais, como por exemplo a competição entre os atores políticos relevantes. Filiando-se a esta última corrente, a pesquisa analisa dados empíricos referentes à intervenção do Supremo Tribunal Federal nas políticas estaduais do Rio Grande do Sul e do Ceará, unidades federativas que apresentam elevado e reduzido níveis de competição, respectivamente. Verificou-se que os índices de judicialização são mais elevados no Rio Grande do Sul. Isso ocorre porque as forças políticas neste estado estão em constante conflito, o que faz com que a competição extrapole ô âmbito do Executivo e do Legislativo, estendendo-se em direção ao Poder Judiciário. Já no Ceará, uma pequena elite hegemônica restringe a competição política, inviabilizando a participação de grupos de oposição no policy-making, seja nos tradicionais órgãos representativos, seja nos tribunais. / This paper tests the hypothesis, in terms of Brazilian subnational politics, that the judicialization of politics is associated with political competition. After noting that several authors relate judicialization to the volition of magistrates or institutional mechanisms, the first section presents approaches that associate the phenomenon with factors exogenous to judicial courts, such as competition between the relevant political players. In line with this last concept, the research analyzes empirical data regarding the intervention of the Federal Supreme Court in the state policies of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) and Ceará (CE), federative units that exhibit high and low levels of competition, respectively. Judicialization rates were found to be higher in Rio Grande do Sul. This is because the political forces in the state are in constant conflict, causing competition to move beyond the scope of the Executive and Legislative branches, extending towards the Judiciary. In Ceará, however, a small hegemonic elite restricts political competition, precluding the participation of opposition groups in policy-making, whether in traditional representative bodies or in the courts.

The standardized testing regime begun under No Child Left Behind and continued with the Common Core is being challenged. Opt Out is a national movement in which parents refuse to have their children partake in state mandated tests. This case study examines the Opt Out movement through the lens of political spectacle which suggests public policy is largely formed through dramatic public acts that reinforce existing inequalities. Arguing that Opting Out is inherently a dramatic public act, the study examines the Opt Out movement’s impact on legislative educational policy formation in the State of Arizona. Opt Out legislation and texts formed from the accompanying legislative debate, relevant media, and interviews with legislators are critically analyzed to further explain the mechanics of political spectacle. Theoretical aspects of political spectacle such as the current political spectacle framework and current methodological issues involved with the theory are also critiqued with possible solutions proposed.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy has become a topic of intense policy debate at the state level in the United States (U.S.). Solar supporters have pointed to the economic development, environmental, and public health benefits this technology can provide. However, electric utilities and other interests have fought to scale back or cut favorable state PV policies as grid-connected solar PV installations have increased, due to decreased profits, grid complications, and customer fairness, among other reasons. This research first uses a hierarchical regression analysis with cross-sectional data from the years 2012–2013 to examine the suite of state-level policies used to encourage state non-utility PV installations. Comparing the impact of various policy approaches to other factors such as electricity costs, electricity market deregulation, per capita income, and the availability of solar energy resources, this research finds net energy metering to be the most important policy driver of non-utility PV installed capacity. Given this finding, the research shifts its focus to community net energy metering or shared solar, which is an innovative policy approach that allows multiple consumers to share the costs and benefits of ownership in an off-site solar PV facility, opening market access to a wide variety of individuals. Using the punctuated equilibrium framework and semi-structured telephone interviews with policy experts across the U.S. from the solar industry, environmental groups, government, and electric utilities, this research discovers that electric utility lobbying and an overall lack of attention have hindered community solar enabling legislation. However, opportunities exist for future development via increased participation, collaboration, and key events that may alter the policy equilibrium. Finally, this method is utilized in Virginia to more narrowly study why the state has dismissed community solar legislation multiple times. Such an approach is useful in understanding how other historically laggard states may adopt community net energy metering or shared solar legislation in the future.

O problema que esta pesquisa coloca é se as análises mais correntes acerca do trabalho docente oferecem uma base adequada para a compreensão da realidade de profissionais do ensino. A hipótese central é que aquelas análises, realizadas sobre determinados aspectos da prática educativa e da relação com a sociedade, em geral não encaram de maneira profunda as contradições do Estado e das relações sociais capitalistas e suas implicações para a interpretação do trabalho docente. São análises que se dividem entre as que priorizam os aspectos de proletarização, de gênero e de saberes profissionais. O exame das vicissitudes de tais perspectivas foi feito por meio do estudo dos artigos publicados em dois periódicos educacionais de circulação nacional: a revista Educação & Sociedade e a revista Cadernos de Pesquisa. O estudo mostrou que aquelas análises se moldam em função do contexto político e social e de uma imagem pública do professorado, dependentes de alterações recentes na forma de gestão do Estado. A análise crítica de algumas daquelas abordagens, a partir da teoria marxiana do capital enquanto relação social, permitiu introduzir aspectos da dinâmica de reprodução do capital e, especificamente, da forma-Estado. Mediante a mobilização de conceitos como o de trabalho abstrato e trabalho concreto, de trabalho produtivo e improdutivo, de serviços, de trabalho imaterial, de subsunção formal e real do trabalho ao capital, dentre outros, desenvolveu-se a crítica dos debates travados no campo educacional brasileiro, com a qual se pode compreender o próprio trabalho docente. Com isso, a hipótese levantada se mostrou verdadeira, pois, as análises examinadas se revelaram limitadas a apreensões conjunturais, desconsiderando determinações fundamentais do trabalho docente que resultam de um processo histórico vinculado ao desenvolvimento da forma-escola e à subordinação do trabalho docente ao Estado. / The problem that this research raises is whether the most current analysis on the teaching work offer an adequate basis for the understanding of the reality of the teaching professionals. The central hypothesis is that those analysis, conducted on certain aspects of the educational practice and its relationship with society, in general, do not face in a deep manner the contradictions of the State and the capitalist social relations and their implications for the interpretation of the teaching work. They are analyses that are divided among those that prioritize the aspects of proletarization, gender and professional knowledge. The examination of the vicissitudes of such prospects was done through the study of articles published in two educational cientific magazines of national circulation: the Education & Society and Research\'s Notebooks magazines. This study showed that those analysis are shaped according to the social and political context and to a public image of the teachers, dependents of recent alterations in the way of managing the State. A critical analysis of some of those approaches, based on the Marxian theory of the capital as a social relation, enabled to introduce aspects of the dynamics of capital\'s reproduction and, specifically, of the State-form. Through the mobilization of concepts such as abstract work and concrete work, productive and unproductive work, services, immaterial work, formal and real subsuntion of labour to capital, among others, it has developed a critique of the debates carried on in the Brazilian\'s educational field, with which it is possible to understand the teaching work itself. Thus, the hypothesis raised was revealed to be true, since the examined analysis proved to be limited to conjunctural apprehensions, disregarding essentials determinations of the teaching work that result of a historic process linked to the development of school-form and the subordination of the teaching work to the State.

O tema deste trabalho é o papel das assembleias legislativas na produção de leis estadual. A relação Executivo-Legislativo vem sendo tema privilegiado dos estudos de política comparada. No caso da política estadual brasileira, o debate girou em tornou do forte predomínio dos governadores sobre as assembleias. Grosso modo, tal predomínio se traduziria na formação de maiorias governistas ad hoc e no baixo grau de participação dos deputados estaduais no processo decisório. Este trabalho apresenta novas evidências sobre o grau de apoio dos parlamentares ao governo estadual, bem como sobre sua participação na produção de leis. A partir de um estudo de caso da relação entre governo e assembleia no estado de São Paulo, no período 1999-2010, argumenta-se que, tal qual sugerido pela literatura pregressa, o grau de apoio legislativo do governo estadual é consideravelmente alto. Além disso, os parlamentares estaduais apresentam um baixo grau de sucesso na aprovação de suas leis, que são, via de regra, pouco relevantes vis-à-vis aquelas produzidas pelo Executivo. Não obstante, a participação parlamentar na produção de leis é baixa mesmo se o indicador utilizado para aferi-la for a modificação via emendas das proposições do Executivo. As evidências apresentadas neste trabalho indicam que, muito embora as suposições da literatura sobre o alto grau de apoio logrado pelo governo e a baixa participação parlamentar estejam corretas, as explicações dadas para tanto negligenciaram variáveis importantes. A hipótese apresentada aqui é que a baixa participação parlamentar se explicaria sobretudo pelo arranjo federativo brasileiro. A alta concentração de competências na União, de um lado, e a obrigação de que a relação entre os poderes estaduais seja simétrica àquela encontrada no nível federal, de outro, impõem aos parlamentares estaduais fortes limitações na produção de leis. O trabalho indica, ainda, que o baixo grau de participação parlamentar seria uma das principais variáveis explicativas para a formação de grandes coalizões legislativas nos estados. Um ambiente de restrição severa na produção de normas tornaria a própria clivagem entre governo e oposição sem sentido. / The main theme of this thesis is the role of state assemblies in the policy making process. Legislative-Executive relations have been a privileged theme of research in comparative politics. Regarding brazilian state politics, the debate has stressed the strong prevalence of governors over state assemblies. In short, such prevalence means the formation of strong ad hoc legislative majorities and a low degree of legislators impact on the policy making process. This thesis presents new evidence on the degree of state governments legislative support. Drawing on a case study about Legislative-Executive relations in the state of São Paulo (1999-2010), it argues that, as suggested by previous literature, state governments benefit from a strong legislative support. Besides, state legislators present a low degree of success of bills approval, which are usually of little relevance. Still, the impact of legislators on legislative process is low even if one considers the effect of legislators amendments on governors bills. Evidence presented here indicate that, although the assumptions of previous literature about state governments strong legislative support and the low impact of legislators are correct, the explanations for such phenomena neglect important variables. The main hypothesis presented here is that the low impact of legislators on the legislative process is explained rather by the design of brazilian federation. On the one hand, the high concentration of policy areas on the federal government, and, on the other, the fact that state Legislative-Executive relations must replicate its federal counterpart, impose a strong limitation on legislators influence on the legislative process. Still, it is argued that this limitation is a major explanation for the strong legislative coalitions that support state governments. An environment of severe restriction on legislative production make the cleavage between government and opposition pointless.

No description available.

The New York State politicians, notably members of Congress such as Irving Ives, Herbert Lehman, Samuel Dickstein, Emanuel Celler and Jacob Javits, were very involved in the immigration debates for the period from 1945 to 1953. By their interventions, they emerged as fiery supporters of a liberalization of American immigration policy. A willingness to satisfy a multiethnic electorate largely explains their position. But these individuals, mostly defenders of President Truman's foreign policy, also believed in this cold war context that an attenuation of restrictionism in immigration would provide numerous advantages to the nation. If their attitude seems dictated by considerations that were both pragmatic and idealistic, it generated non-negligible results. Thus, the granting of a quota to India in 1946, the act on the war brides in 1945, as well as the legislation affecting the refugees in 1950, were among the measures mainly ascribable to the activities of these politicians.

This thesis analyses the development of the Korean welfare system since the 1960s within the institutional dynamics of Korean politics. Its aim is to contribute to the understanding of Korean politics through the analysis of the Korean welfare state. The thesis argues that the making of social policy has been determined primarily by the politics of legitimation, in particular before democratisation. This thesis identifies the confined institutional circle responsible for crucial social policy decisions. In this institutional terrain, the President and his ministers and policy experts have played the dominant roles. The democratisation since 1987 brought about institutional changes and enabled institutions such as the National Assembly to exercise effective power in social policy-making. The political rationale of social policy is deeply embedded in the structure of social policy institutions, especially the way in which the state intervenes in the financing of welfare programmes. In the mix of welfare financing, the regulator type of state intervention emerges as the dominant feature in Korea. This thesis assesses the outcomes of social policy from two perspectives: the perspectives of redistribution and of social rights. Social policy intervention has so far had little redistributive effect mainly due to the immaturity of the welfare system. In terms of social rights, the universality of rights to health care was achieved in a relatively short period of time. Rights to protection against industrial accidents have made good progress in terms of compensation and protection for the last three decades, despite the limited coverage. However, the quality of social rights that have so far been implemented is low. In two important respects, the approach of the thesis is characterised by methodological broadness. In the policy analysis, the thesis moves beyond an institutional approach to including also the substantive outcomes of institutional changes. In the analysis of outcomes, the thesis covers both the perspective of redistribution and the perspective of social rights.

No description available.