Electoral geographers are mostly concerned with mapping the responses of voters to different political candidates, while they also work to explain the factors that influence those responses. Yet most studies do not consider how different geographic contexts can affect the political perceptions of voters. In particular, people who live in close proximity to one another may come to embrace similar beliefs and values, while broader social and economic processes may divide these individuals into separate camps. Thus, electoral studies performed at the local level may produce different results than those done at the regional or national level. In exploring how different scales of analysis can give different interpretations of voting patterns, this research gathered data from a series of elections that took place in Virginia. These elections, which occurred between 2003 and 2006, span a variety of federal and state offices, with each presiding over a certain geographic jurisdiction. The study proceeded to map the results of each election in terms of three different types of geographic areas: precincts, counties, and legislative districts. The maps displayed the majority winners within each of these areas, giving a rough indication of the bases of support for each of the different candidates. The study then determined the number of instances where two neighboring areas both favored the same candidate, as well as the number of cases where they voted for opposing candidates. These data helped to shed light on the autocorrelation structure of voting patterns in Virginia, revealing how people in the same general vicinity tend to vote together. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that smaller geographic units (e.g., precincts) exhibit greater autocorrelation in voting than do larger areas. This observation agrees with the concept of sectionalism, which asserts that location and culture are key influences on voting behavior. However, the data also suggest that class differences are a major source of electoral cleavage, as people from different social and economic backgrounds tend to settle in different areas. The use of multiple scales of analysis thus presents multiple explanations for the voting trend of a given location. / Master of Science

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Despite the fact that South Africa in terms of its Constitution and foreign policy believes in making human rights central to its activities, on many occasions in the UNHRC, it has been found voting opposite to these values. In this regard, it has been found aligning itself with the countries known for poor human rights records. Subsequently, this raises the question of whether the current foreign policy of South Africa is still driven by the high regard for human rights. As a result, this paper endeavours to look specifically at the voting records and patterns of the Government of South Africa as a member of the UN Human Rights Council (2008-2010 and 2013-2015). It will assess such a record with a view to determine whether the Government's foreign policy is in compliance with its international human rights obligations.

In 2002, John Judis and Ruy Teixeira published The Emerging Democratic Majority, a book that postulated that the United States was in the beginning of a political realignment that would spell the end of the Reagan-era coalition that gave Republicans an electoral advantage on the presidency. The authors claimed an electorate that would favor the Democratic Party would emerge to take its place. Since Senator Barack Obama’s victory in the 2008 presidential election was powered by a coalition that looked much like the one Judis and Teixeira described, it appeared the authors’ thesis was being borne out by actual election results. However, the events of the 2000s and early 2010s have lent both credibility and doubt to this possible realignment, and have drawn attention to the problems of regular realignment theory. Exploring the premise laid out by Judis and Teixeira from their work, The Emerging Democratic Majority, as well as observations about the changing composition of the American electorate, I analyze key groups in the American electorate to determine if these groups are trending more Democratic in presidential and congressional races since the 1988 presidential election. Findings showed several of these groups regularly supported Democratic candidates but did not consistently trend to the Democrats from year to year. Changes across time often depended on match-ups of nonconsecutive years, with Democrats in the year 2008 drawing especially strong support from hypothesized voter groups. While Democrats can count on the support of groups such as voters who achieve high levels of college education or voters with secular outlooks on life, their success still depends highly on candidate quality and advantage on issues and cannot be taken for granted.

No description available.

This is a study of Korean presidential elections. Its purpose is to determine how Koreans voted in the 1992 and 1997 presidential elections and to examine the factors that contributed to winners. In addition, the study compares the two elections by developing three models: candidate choice, voter turnout and political interest models. Using post election data from the Korean Social Science Data Center a multinomial logit regression was used in the candidate choice model. It shows that Korean voters selected their candidates mainly in terms of interest in the elections, age, orientation toward the governing or opposition parties, the regional effects of the Southwest (Honam) and the Southeast (Youngnam), and the evaluation of merged parties in 1992 or a united candidacy of parties in 1997. A Monte Carlo simulation was also employed to test the traditional assumption of candidate strength. It indicates that Kim Young-Sam had a more cohesive support from his older supporters in the 1992 election while Kim Dae-Jung had a greater cohesive support from his older supporters in the 1997 election. Both Kim Young-Sam's and Kim Dae-Jung's loyalists were crucial to the winning candidates in the 1992 and 1997 elections respectively. How did people vote? To address this question a logit analysis of voter turnout was employed. Comparing the 1997 election to that of 1992 the findings suggest that low-probability voters in 1997 had: low efficacy, a negative evaluation of the Central Election Management Commission, claimed to be independent, young, and lived in areas other than Youngnam and Honam. Their lower turnout was a significant factor in the opposition candidate, Kim Dae-Jung's election. Finally, since political interest is closely related to political participation, an ordered logit model of political interest was developed. The results showed that the media and popularity of major candidates significantly contributed to Korean voters' interest in the elections.

O objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi analisar o comportamento dos Estados em instituições internacionais por meio do estudo de caso da Comissão de Direitos Humanos (CDH) da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU). O comportamento dos Estados foi deduzido a partir de seus votos na CDH, mais precisamente, a análise dos padrões convergentes e divergentes entre os votos dos Estados-Membros da Comissão entre 1995 e 2005. A partir do trabalho empírico, buscou-se responder à questão de pesquisa se haveria padrões de votação que permitissem identificar comportamentos dos Estados na Comissão. Os resultados encontrados fornecem subsídios para que determinados comportamentos sejam identificados e novas questões de pesquisa sejam elaboradas. / This research aimed to analyze the performance of the States in international institutions based on a case study on the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights (CHR). The States´ votes were used as the main source of information to compare their behavior at the Commission, more precisely, to analyze the converging and diverging voting patterns among the Commission Member-States from 1995 to 2005. The research question that guided this study was if there the CHR would present voting patterns that allow the identification of States´ behavior in it. The results of the empirical study provide inputs for certain behaviors to be identified and for new research questions to be raised.

O objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi analisar o comportamento dos Estados em instituições internacionais por meio do estudo de caso da Comissão de Direitos Humanos (CDH) da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU). O comportamento dos Estados foi deduzido a partir de seus votos na CDH, mais precisamente, a análise dos padrões convergentes e divergentes entre os votos dos Estados-Membros da Comissão entre 1995 e 2005. A partir do trabalho empírico, buscou-se responder à questão de pesquisa se haveria padrões de votação que permitissem identificar comportamentos dos Estados na Comissão. Os resultados encontrados fornecem subsídios para que determinados comportamentos sejam identificados e novas questões de pesquisa sejam elaboradas. / This research aimed to analyze the performance of the States in international institutions based on a case study on the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights (CHR). The States´ votes were used as the main source of information to compare their behavior at the Commission, more precisely, to analyze the converging and diverging voting patterns among the Commission Member-States from 1995 to 2005. The research question that guided this study was if there the CHR would present voting patterns that allow the identification of States´ behavior in it. The results of the empirical study provide inputs for certain behaviors to be identified and for new research questions to be raised.

No description available.