Early modern Poland-Lithuania figured significantly in the political perceptions of Europeans in the long seventeenth century – not only due to its considerable size and enormous commercial and military resources, but also, and just as importantly, due to its exceptional religious and political situation. This interest in Poland-Lithuania was shared by many Britons. However, a detailed examination of how Britons perceived Poland-Lithuania at that time and how they treated Poland-Lithuania in their political debates has never been undertaken. This thesis utilises a wide range of the previously neglected source material and considers the patterns of transmission of information to determine Britons' awareness of Poland-Lithuania and their employment of the Polish-Lithuanian example in the British political discourse during the seventeenth century. It looks at a variety of geographical and historical information, English and Latin descriptions of Poland-Lithuania's physical topography and boundaries, and its ethnic and cultural make-up presented in histories, atlases and maps, to establish what, where and who Poland-Lithuania was for Britons. Poland-Lithuania's political framework, with its composite structure and unique relationship between the crown and nobility, elicited a spectrum of reactions, and so this thesis evaluates the role that both criticism and praise of Poland-Lithuania played in British constitutional debates. Consequently, the study argues that Britons' perceptions of Poland-Lithuania were characterised by great plasticity. It claims that Britons' impressions of the country were shaped by multiple – real or imagined - borders, whether cultural, economic or political, but also that Britons were affected by the exposure to a uniform, idealised historiography of this country. Crucially, the thesis asserts that references to Poland-Lithuania constituted an ingenious ideological and polemical device that was eagerly used throughout the period by Britons of diverse political sympathies. Moreover, through the examination of the kingdom's geopolitical role, particularly its fluctuating position as a “bulwark of Christendom”, side by side its engagement against Protestants, the thesis challenges the assumption that anti-Catholicism dominated seventeenth-century British perceptions of the world.

Esta tese investiga o papel de ideias e seus portadores organizados em campos de ação estratégica no processo de deslocamento de conteúdos e práticas do campo de ação estratégica da política de combate à corrupção para o da política de educação fiscal, um subcampo da política fiscal. O período de 1998-2014 analisado relaciona-se aos mandatos presidenciais. A base teórica apresenta estudos sobre o papel das ideias em políticas públicas (KINGDOM, 1995; BÉLAND E COX, 2011; FAFARD, 2012; JONH, 2003), a Teoria dos Campos Estratégicos (FLIGSTEIN, 2007; FLIGSTEIN EMACADAM, 2012) e, subsidiariamente, a sociologia da moral (PHARO, 1992). Os procedimentos metodológicos incluíram pesquisa em documentosoficiais de instituições governamentais e societais, acompanhamento de eventos e entrevistas. Idealmente, identificam-se duas interpretações relevantes sobre a política em cada campo investigado. Nas políticas de combate à corrupção, há as interpretações econômico-institucional e moral, respectivamente do grupo desafiante e do grupo dominante. Na política de educação fiscal, as interpretações relacionam-se ao sistema tributário e ao cumprimento voluntário da obrigação fiscal. Dominantes defendem a alfabetização fiscal para elevar o cumprimento voluntário da obrigação fiscal; desafiantes, a formação crítica que transforme o sistema fiscal, reduzindo iniquidades fiscais e fortalecendo seu papel nas políticas de combate à corrupção. A educação fiscal é um subcampo dependente do campo da política fiscal e ambos os campos investigados (políticas de combate à corrupção e educação fiscal) estão imersos em um contexto social ampliado da política de disputa sobre os modelos de Estado, compreendidos idealmente como social e noeliberal. Desafiantes de ambos os campos defendem um Estado social; dominantes, um Estado neoliberal. A estratégia inovadora adotada pelo grupo desafiante das políticas de combate à corrupção, ao transferir ideias para o subcampo da educação fiscal, alterou a relação entre dominantes e desafiantes no campo destinatário. Esse resultado está relacionado a dois fatores: (1) episódios de disputa no campo da educação fiscal que afetaram a coesão dos dominantes; (2) entrada na educação fiscal de atores habilidosos que agiram intencionalmente para alterar o equilíbrio do campo em favor das suas ideias, utilizando múltiplas identidades e dialogando sob um consenso moral sobre o papel positivo da educação. Considerando o contexto histórico, social e político brasileiro, conclui-se que os dominantes do campo da educação fiscal ainda mantêm a dominação, mas a influência hegemônica foi afetada. Osdesafiantes, apoiados pelos migrantes da política de combate à corrupção, estão habilmente transferindo conteúdos e práticas, obtendo avanços e mantendo a disputa aberta no campo. / This thesis investigated the role of ideas and their carriers organized in strategic fields of action in the content displacement process and practices of strategic action field of anticorruption policy for the strategic playing field in the tax education policy, a subfield of fiscal policy. The 1998-2014 period of the analysis was considered in relation to presidential terms. The theoretical basis comprised studies on the role of ideas in public policy (KINGDOM, 1995; BELAND AND COX, 2011; FAFARD, 2012; JONH, 2003), the Theory of Strategic Fields (FLIGSTEIN, 2007; FLIGSTEIN AND MACADAM, 2012), and secondarily the sociology of morality (PHARO, 1992). The methodological procedures included research in official documents of governmental and societal institutions, events monitoring and interviews. Ideally, this study identifies two relevant interpretations of the policy in each field investigated. In the anti-corruption policies, it isidentified the economic and institutional interpretation and moral, respectively in the challenging group and in the dominant group. In fiscal education policy, interpretations are related to the tax system and voluntary compliance with the tax obligation. The dominant advocate a tax literacy to increase voluntary compliance with the tax obligation, and the challenging, a critical training that transforms the tax system by reducing tax inequities and strengthening their role in anti -corruption policies. The tax education is a subfield-dependent on the fiscal policy field and to both fields investigated, tofight corruption and tax education policies, are immersed in a larger social context of the dispute policy on State models, ideally understood as a social state and neoliberal state. Challengers of both fields investigated advocate a welfare state; while the dominant advocate a neoliberal state. The innovative strategy adopted by the challenging group of anticorruption policies by exporting their ideas tothe subfield of tax education changed the relationship between the dominant and the challenging in the recipient field. This result is related to two factors: (1) the dispute episodesin the field of education tax that affected the cohesion of the dominant; (2) the entry into the tax education of skilled actors who acted intentionally to alter the balance of the field infavor of their ideas using multiple identities and dialogue under a moral consensus on the positive role of education. Considering the Brazilian historical, social and political context, it is concluded that the dominant on the fiscal education field still supports the domination of the field, but its hegemonic influence was affected. The challengers, backed by migrants of the anti-corruption policy, are skillfully transferring contents and practices, obtaining advances and keeping the dispute in open field.

Esta tese investiga o papel de ideias e seus portadores organizados em campos de ação estratégica no processo de deslocamento de conteúdos e práticas do campo de ação estratégica da política de combate à corrupção para o da política de educação fiscal, um subcampo da política fiscal. O período de 1998-2014 analisado relaciona-se aos mandatos presidenciais. A base teórica apresenta estudos sobre o papel das ideias em políticas públicas (KINGDOM, 1995; BÉLAND E COX, 2011; FAFARD, 2012; JONH, 2003), a Teoria dos Campos Estratégicos (FLIGSTEIN, 2007; FLIGSTEIN EMACADAM, 2012) e, subsidiariamente, a sociologia da moral (PHARO, 1992). Os procedimentos metodológicos incluíram pesquisa em documentosoficiais de instituições governamentais e societais, acompanhamento de eventos e entrevistas. Idealmente, identificam-se duas interpretações relevantes sobre a política em cada campo investigado. Nas políticas de combate à corrupção, há as interpretações econômico-institucional e moral, respectivamente do grupo desafiante e do grupo dominante. Na política de educação fiscal, as interpretações relacionam-se ao sistema tributário e ao cumprimento voluntário da obrigação fiscal. Dominantes defendem a alfabetização fiscal para elevar o cumprimento voluntário da obrigação fiscal; desafiantes, a formação crítica que transforme o sistema fiscal, reduzindo iniquidades fiscais e fortalecendo seu papel nas políticas de combate à corrupção. A educação fiscal é um subcampo dependente do campo da política fiscal e ambos os campos investigados (políticas de combate à corrupção e educação fiscal) estão imersos em um contexto social ampliado da política de disputa sobre os modelos de Estado, compreendidos idealmente como social e noeliberal. Desafiantes de ambos os campos defendem um Estado social; dominantes, um Estado neoliberal. A estratégia inovadora adotada pelo grupo desafiante das políticas de combate à corrupção, ao transferir ideias para o subcampo da educação fiscal, alterou a relação entre dominantes e desafiantes no campo destinatário. Esse resultado está relacionado a dois fatores: (1) episódios de disputa no campo da educação fiscal que afetaram a coesão dos dominantes; (2) entrada na educação fiscal de atores habilidosos que agiram intencionalmente para alterar o equilíbrio do campo em favor das suas ideias, utilizando múltiplas identidades e dialogando sob um consenso moral sobre o papel positivo da educação. Considerando o contexto histórico, social e político brasileiro, conclui-se que os dominantes do campo da educação fiscal ainda mantêm a dominação, mas a influência hegemônica foi afetada. Osdesafiantes, apoiados pelos migrantes da política de combate à corrupção, estão habilmente transferindo conteúdos e práticas, obtendo avanços e mantendo a disputa aberta no campo. / This thesis investigated the role of ideas and their carriers organized in strategic fields of action in the content displacement process and practices of strategic action field of anticorruption policy for the strategic playing field in the tax education policy, a subfield of fiscal policy. The 1998-2014 period of the analysis was considered in relation to presidential terms. The theoretical basis comprised studies on the role of ideas in public policy (KINGDOM, 1995; BELAND AND COX, 2011; FAFARD, 2012; JONH, 2003), the Theory of Strategic Fields (FLIGSTEIN, 2007; FLIGSTEIN AND MACADAM, 2012), and secondarily the sociology of morality (PHARO, 1992). The methodological procedures included research in official documents of governmental and societal institutions, events monitoring and interviews. Ideally, this study identifies two relevant interpretations of the policy in each field investigated. In the anti-corruption policies, it isidentified the economic and institutional interpretation and moral, respectively in the challenging group and in the dominant group. In fiscal education policy, interpretations are related to the tax system and voluntary compliance with the tax obligation. The dominant advocate a tax literacy to increase voluntary compliance with the tax obligation, and the challenging, a critical training that transforms the tax system by reducing tax inequities and strengthening their role in anti -corruption policies. The tax education is a subfield-dependent on the fiscal policy field and to both fields investigated, tofight corruption and tax education policies, are immersed in a larger social context of the dispute policy on State models, ideally understood as a social state and neoliberal state. Challengers of both fields investigated advocate a welfare state; while the dominant advocate a neoliberal state. The innovative strategy adopted by the challenging group of anticorruption policies by exporting their ideas tothe subfield of tax education changed the relationship between the dominant and the challenging in the recipient field. This result is related to two factors: (1) the dispute episodesin the field of education tax that affected the cohesion of the dominant; (2) the entry into the tax education of skilled actors who acted intentionally to alter the balance of the field infavor of their ideas using multiple identities and dialogue under a moral consensus on the positive role of education. Considering the Brazilian historical, social and political context, it is concluded that the dominant on the fiscal education field still supports the domination of the field, but its hegemonic influence was affected. The challengers, backed by migrants of the anti-corruption policy, are skillfully transferring contents and practices, obtaining advances and keeping the dispute in open field.

Esta tese investiga o papel de ideias e seus portadores organizados em campos de ação estratégica no processo de deslocamento de conteúdos e práticas do campo de ação estratégica da política de combate à corrupção para o da política de educação fiscal, um subcampo da política fiscal. O período de 1998-2014 analisado relaciona-se aos mandatos presidenciais. A base teórica apresenta estudos sobre o papel das ideias em políticas públicas (KINGDOM, 1995; BÉLAND E COX, 2011; FAFARD, 2012; JONH, 2003), a Teoria dos Campos Estratégicos (FLIGSTEIN, 2007; FLIGSTEIN EMACADAM, 2012) e, subsidiariamente, a sociologia da moral (PHARO, 1992). Os procedimentos metodológicos incluíram pesquisa em documentosoficiais de instituições governamentais e societais, acompanhamento de eventos e entrevistas. Idealmente, identificam-se duas interpretações relevantes sobre a política em cada campo investigado. Nas políticas de combate à corrupção, há as interpretações econômico-institucional e moral, respectivamente do grupo desafiante e do grupo dominante. Na política de educação fiscal, as interpretações relacionam-se ao sistema tributário e ao cumprimento voluntário da obrigação fiscal. Dominantes defendem a alfabetização fiscal para elevar o cumprimento voluntário da obrigação fiscal; desafiantes, a formação crítica que transforme o sistema fiscal, reduzindo iniquidades fiscais e fortalecendo seu papel nas políticas de combate à corrupção. A educação fiscal é um subcampo dependente do campo da política fiscal e ambos os campos investigados (políticas de combate à corrupção e educação fiscal) estão imersos em um contexto social ampliado da política de disputa sobre os modelos de Estado, compreendidos idealmente como social e noeliberal. Desafiantes de ambos os campos defendem um Estado social; dominantes, um Estado neoliberal. A estratégia inovadora adotada pelo grupo desafiante das políticas de combate à corrupção, ao transferir ideias para o subcampo da educação fiscal, alterou a relação entre dominantes e desafiantes no campo destinatário. Esse resultado está relacionado a dois fatores: (1) episódios de disputa no campo da educação fiscal que afetaram a coesão dos dominantes; (2) entrada na educação fiscal de atores habilidosos que agiram intencionalmente para alterar o equilíbrio do campo em favor das suas ideias, utilizando múltiplas identidades e dialogando sob um consenso moral sobre o papel positivo da educação. Considerando o contexto histórico, social e político brasileiro, conclui-se que os dominantes do campo da educação fiscal ainda mantêm a dominação, mas a influência hegemônica foi afetada. Osdesafiantes, apoiados pelos migrantes da política de combate à corrupção, estão habilmente transferindo conteúdos e práticas, obtendo avanços e mantendo a disputa aberta no campo. / This thesis investigated the role of ideas and their carriers organized in strategic fields of action in the content displacement process and practices of strategic action field of anticorruption policy for the strategic playing field in the tax education policy, a subfield of fiscal policy. The 1998-2014 period of the analysis was considered in relation to presidential terms. The theoretical basis comprised studies on the role of ideas in public policy (KINGDOM, 1995; BELAND AND COX, 2011; FAFARD, 2012; JONH, 2003), the Theory of Strategic Fields (FLIGSTEIN, 2007; FLIGSTEIN AND MACADAM, 2012), and secondarily the sociology of morality (PHARO, 1992). The methodological procedures included research in official documents of governmental and societal institutions, events monitoring and interviews. Ideally, this study identifies two relevant interpretations of the policy in each field investigated. In the anti-corruption policies, it isidentified the economic and institutional interpretation and moral, respectively in the challenging group and in the dominant group. In fiscal education policy, interpretations are related to the tax system and voluntary compliance with the tax obligation. The dominant advocate a tax literacy to increase voluntary compliance with the tax obligation, and the challenging, a critical training that transforms the tax system by reducing tax inequities and strengthening their role in anti -corruption policies. The tax education is a subfield-dependent on the fiscal policy field and to both fields investigated, tofight corruption and tax education policies, are immersed in a larger social context of the dispute policy on State models, ideally understood as a social state and neoliberal state. Challengers of both fields investigated advocate a welfare state; while the dominant advocate a neoliberal state. The innovative strategy adopted by the challenging group of anticorruption policies by exporting their ideas tothe subfield of tax education changed the relationship between the dominant and the challenging in the recipient field. This result is related to two factors: (1) the dispute episodesin the field of education tax that affected the cohesion of the dominant; (2) the entry into the tax education of skilled actors who acted intentionally to alter the balance of the field infavor of their ideas using multiple identities and dialogue under a moral consensus on the positive role of education. Considering the Brazilian historical, social and political context, it is concluded that the dominant on the fiscal education field still supports the domination of the field, but its hegemonic influence was affected. The challengers, backed by migrants of the anti-corruption policy, are skillfully transferring contents and practices, obtaining advances and keeping the dispute in open field.

Ce triptyque d’essais présente le caractère versatile et évasif du concept moderne de capital social à plusieurs niveaux – global, national et régional, ainsi que dans le présent et dans le passé. Le premier article conteste l’hypothèse prédominante selon laquelle il y a une cohabitation entre l’engagement civique et la démocratie. Malgré sa validité au niveau général, la relation n’est pas confirmée si les catégories hétérogènes sont désagrégées. Pour les pays post-communistes de l'Europe, la relation entre le type de régime et la tendance de s'associer ressemble à celle des démocraties latines consolidées si la participation dans les associations volontaires est choisie comme mesure de la vitalité du capital social. Par conséquent, la vie civique moins intense ne prédit pas de difficultés pour la démocratie. Le deuxième article est une compilation originale de plus de 100 organisations classifiées selon les standards contemporains et une collection de présentations d'une douzaine d'organisations bulgares, les plus populaires depuis le XIXème siècle. Cette contribution importante à l’historiographie de la vie associative bulgare jusqu’à 1944 est le résultat d'un travail qui combine des entrevues avec des historiens et une recherche dans les archives. Le panoptique organisationnel sert de réfutation empirique de l’hypothèse qui attribue la faiblesse organisationnelle présente du poste-communisme à la pénurie de vie organisationnelle développée par le passé. ii Les mérites du troisième article sont doubles. Au niveau empirique on démontre que l’organisation culturelle la plus importante en Bulgarie a apparu comme une institution nationaliste imitant les organisations similaires des autres pays Européens. Elle s’est développée graduellement par une adaptation des expériences étrangères aux conditions locales. La collection des références bulgares est unique et représente le produit d’un travail méticuleux sur les documents et les entrevues. Au niveau abstrait, on confirme l’applicabilité de la théorie du transfert de la politique publique à un cas historique existant avant la théorie elle-même. Finalement, l’analyse détaillée des précurseurs du cabinet de lecture bulgare représente une contribution à la sociologie politique de l’histoire de la lecture. Mots clés: Europe de l’Est, poste-communisme, démocratie, société civile, engagement civique, organisations volontaires, troisième secteur, affiliation, transfert d'idées, apprentissage organisationnel. / A triptych of essays presents the versatility and the evasiveness of the trendy concept of social capital on several planes – global, national, and regional, as well as in the present and in the past. The first article challenges the influential hypothesis that there is cohabitation between civic engagement and democracy. While valid at a general level, the relationship is not confirmed once heterogeneous categories are disaggregated. For the European post-Communist countries, the pattern of the relationship between the regime type and the propensity to associate closely resembles the one in Latin mature democracies, provided that membership in voluntary associations is chosen as a measurement of social capital. Less intensive civic life does not bode for predicaments in democracy. The second article is an original compilation of more than 100 organizations classified according to contemporary standards and a collection of narratives about a dozen of the most popular organizations in Bulgaria since the 19th century. This invaluable contribution to the historiography of Bulgarian associational life until 1944 is the result of field work which combined personal interviews with historians of the organizations and archival research of original documents. The organizational panopticon serves as an empirical refutation of the hypothesis inferring that present organizational weakness of post- Communism is due to the lack of developed organizational life in the past. The merits of the third article are twofold. On empirical level it is demonstrated that the most important cultural organization in Bulgaria emerged iv as a nation-building institution modeled initially by imitating similar ones in other European countries and later by adapting foreign experiences to the local specific conditions. The collection of original Bulgarian references is unique and it is again a product of meticulous work with documents and personal interviews. On a more abstract level it confirms the applicability of the voluminous and unstructured theory on policy transfer to a historical case existing before the appearance of the theory itself. Last, but not least, the overview of the major European precursors of the Bulgarian reading club represents a modest tribute to the less known field of political sociology of history of reading. Keywords: Eastern Europe, post-Communism, democracy, civil society, civic engagement, voluntary organizations, Third sector, membership, transfer of ideas, lesson-drawing.

Ce triptyque d’essais présente le caractère versatile et évasif du concept moderne de capital social à plusieurs niveaux – global, national et régional, ainsi que dans le présent et dans le passé. Le premier article conteste l’hypothèse prédominante selon laquelle il y a une cohabitation entre l’engagement civique et la démocratie. Malgré sa validité au niveau général, la relation n’est pas confirmée si les catégories hétérogènes sont désagrégées. Pour les pays post-communistes de l'Europe, la relation entre le type de régime et la tendance de s'associer ressemble à celle des démocraties latines consolidées si la participation dans les associations volontaires est choisie comme mesure de la vitalité du capital social. Par conséquent, la vie civique moins intense ne prédit pas de difficultés pour la démocratie. Le deuxième article est une compilation originale de plus de 100 organisations classifiées selon les standards contemporains et une collection de présentations d'une douzaine d'organisations bulgares, les plus populaires depuis le XIXème siècle. Cette contribution importante à l’historiographie de la vie associative bulgare jusqu’à 1944 est le résultat d'un travail qui combine des entrevues avec des historiens et une recherche dans les archives. Le panoptique organisationnel sert de réfutation empirique de l’hypothèse qui attribue la faiblesse organisationnelle présente du poste-communisme à la pénurie de vie organisationnelle développée par le passé. ii Les mérites du troisième article sont doubles. Au niveau empirique on démontre que l’organisation culturelle la plus importante en Bulgarie a apparu comme une institution nationaliste imitant les organisations similaires des autres pays Européens. Elle s’est développée graduellement par une adaptation des expériences étrangères aux conditions locales. La collection des références bulgares est unique et représente le produit d’un travail méticuleux sur les documents et les entrevues. Au niveau abstrait, on confirme l’applicabilité de la théorie du transfert de la politique publique à un cas historique existant avant la théorie elle-même. Finalement, l’analyse détaillée des précurseurs du cabinet de lecture bulgare représente une contribution à la sociologie politique de l’histoire de la lecture. Mots clés: Europe de l’Est, poste-communisme, démocratie, société civile, engagement civique, organisations volontaires, troisième secteur, affiliation, transfert d'idées, apprentissage organisationnel. / A triptych of essays presents the versatility and the evasiveness of the trendy concept of social capital on several planes – global, national, and regional, as well as in the present and in the past. The first article challenges the influential hypothesis that there is cohabitation between civic engagement and democracy. While valid at a general level, the relationship is not confirmed once heterogeneous categories are disaggregated. For the European post-Communist countries, the pattern of the relationship between the regime type and the propensity to associate closely resembles the one in Latin mature democracies, provided that membership in voluntary associations is chosen as a measurement of social capital. Less intensive civic life does not bode for predicaments in democracy. The second article is an original compilation of more than 100 organizations classified according to contemporary standards and a collection of narratives about a dozen of the most popular organizations in Bulgaria since the 19th century. This invaluable contribution to the historiography of Bulgarian associational life until 1944 is the result of field work which combined personal interviews with historians of the organizations and archival research of original documents. The organizational panopticon serves as an empirical refutation of the hypothesis inferring that present organizational weakness of post- Communism is due to the lack of developed organizational life in the past. The merits of the third article are twofold. On empirical level it is demonstrated that the most important cultural organization in Bulgaria emerged iv as a nation-building institution modeled initially by imitating similar ones in other European countries and later by adapting foreign experiences to the local specific conditions. The collection of original Bulgarian references is unique and it is again a product of meticulous work with documents and personal interviews. On a more abstract level it confirms the applicability of the voluminous and unstructured theory on policy transfer to a historical case existing before the appearance of the theory itself. Last, but not least, the overview of the major European precursors of the Bulgarian reading club represents a modest tribute to the less known field of political sociology of history of reading. Keywords: Eastern Europe, post-Communism, democracy, civil society, civic engagement, voluntary organizations, Third sector, membership, transfer of ideas, lesson-drawing.