Among scholars in the field of state and local politics, the value of using the state and local levels of analysis cannot be overemphasized. Examining political trends at these levels often provides us with far more information about the United States than only looking at the national level. This is true particularly for subjects like elections, parties, and realignment. The research reported here adds to a body of literature that focuses on the state level when examining elections and party realignment. In this thesis I focus on the dynamics of elections in West Virginia. The main focus of this research is to see to what to extent West Virginia has experienced a realignment of its political party system. Due to regional differences within the state I anticipate that more change will occur farther north and east. The data used here to explore these differences are at the county and state legislative district levels and were gathered from the Secretary of State's office in West Virginia (on-line) and from the 1980 and 1990 U.S. census. Such measures as turnout, registration and election results at the federal and state levels will be used to indicate changes in partisan competition. / Master of Arts

The Australian Federal government has well-defined guidelines for undertaking program evaluations. Advertising and Public Relations campaigns support program aims, and are subject to the same guidelines. However, an examination of actual practice in the Australian Federal government, as observed by the Office of Government Information and Advertising in Canberra, suggests that there are significant differences in the extent to which Public Relations campaigns, as opposed to advertising campaigns, are systematically evaluated. Evaluation theory, Public Relations theory, strategic planning theory, and public administration theory provide insights into methods of managing and reporting on communication campaigns designed to forward government objectives. A literature review and an assessment of existing models of Public Relations evaluation were undertaken, and a synthesis of several theoretical and practical approaches led to the construction of a model of Public Relations evaluation which could be applied to Australian government communication campaigns.

Mechanization signaled the end of the cavalry but the renaissance of heavy cavalry doctrine. The tank heralded the return of breakthrough operations and maneuver warfare. Initially, the western cavalries refused doctrinal revision and chose instead to fight bitter rear guard actions against Fullerist zealots. / The Canadian Cavalry, prompted by Blitzkrieg's triumphs, effortlessly evolved into a tank force---virtually overnight. Canadian doctrine, however, was ersatz. Denied its own vast training areas, the RCAC was sandwiched into southern England and saddled with British warfighting techniques developed in the Western Desert. In Normandy, Canadian operational art was driven by Generals Simonds and Crerar, both gunners, who had neither the skill nor experience to conduct armoured warfare. Hampered by General Montgomery's inability to reproduce a strategic offensive comparable to that demonstrated on the Russian front, Allied armoured forces were squandered in mismanaged frontal attacks. / In the United States, the attempts to protect the horse forced a praetorian's revolt that ended with General Chaffee garroting the US Cavalry, eliminating it from future battlefields. The doctrinal dominance of the American Armored Force was subsequently threatened by a cabal under artillery General Leslie McNair who imposed the Tank Destroyer philosophy. Internecine squabbles and economic nationalism prevented America from producing a tank capable of meeting German panzers on even terms. Though failing technically, the US Armored force succeeded doctrinally via the Louisiana maneuvers and produced a balanced Armored Division. General Bradley's 12th Army Group arrived in France with a purposeful dogma that had been further refined at the Combat Command, Divisional, and Corps level in North Africa and Sicily. / American armour maneuvered during Operation Cobra but it did not fight massed panzers; this was soon redressed in Lorraine where American armoured doctrine reached tactical maturity. Canadian armour fought tank battles throughout Operations Spring, Totalize and Tractable, but it did not maneuver. American and Canadian armour's best opportunity for strategic victory occurred in Normandy. The Canadians, despite better tanks and favourable terrain, failed operationally and received no second chance.

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A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master’s of Technology: Fine Arts, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / This study seeks to examine the exponential growth of social media technology as a key component in recent American political campaigning, as well as its use and impact on the larger disciplines of marketing and branding. Adopting the approach of a case study with the focus firmly on the current American president, Barack Obama, the study identifies the key media and technologies used in the build-up to the 2008 American presidential elections in order to unpack and understand how such media channels, technological platforms and patterns were successfully utilised. References are also made to the concepts of ‘branding’ and ‘super branding’ in the discussion, and to the myriad ways in which social media has helped create and roll-out what has since become commonly known as ‘brand Obama’. To provide a framework for the discussion and in order to further understand the rapid growth and proliferation of social media on the political campaigning landscape, a comparison is made with the 2004 American presidential election campaign. This, it is posited, will assist us understand the drivers of new media technologies especially as they are used to create and impact positively on the growth of political super brands.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Nuwe media het ’n duidelike impak op die manier waarop moderne politieke partye en partyleiers hulle verkiesingsveldtogte bestuur. Hierdie studie fokus daarom op die vraag: Hoe is nuwe media tydens die 2014 Suid- Afrikaanse nasionale verkiesing gebruik? Dit word gedoen deur konteks te gee aan wat nuwe media behels, hoe dit in die moderne politiek gebruik word, en wat die impak is wat nuwe media op verkiesings en verkiesingsveldtogte het. Drie gevallestudies, die Obama-veldtog, asook die 2014 verkiesings in Indië en Brasilië, word gebruik om spesifieke elemente oor die impak wat nuwe media op verkiesings het, uit te wys. Die ontleding word dan gebruik om ’n kriteria-raamwerk te skep waarteen spesifieke Suid-Afrikaanse politieke partye se gebruik van sosiale media in die 2014 verkiesing gemeet word, om hulle sukses al dan nie daarmee te bepaal. Die sukseskriteria maak dit moontlik om politieke partye in ’n rangorde te plaas en punte aan hulle toe te ken. Die punte-telling, uit ’n totaal van 50, word dan gebruik om te bepaal waarom die partye sukses behaal het, of nie. Nog 50 punte word toegeken op die basis van ’n subjektiewe oordeel oor taalgebruiken aanslag asook geteikende kieserskommunikasie op nuwe media platforms, meer spesifiek Twitter. Dit word gedoen deur insigte uit ’n studie van relevante literatuur oor die verkiesingveldtog, Suid-Afrika se demografiese en geografiese verskille asook om te oordeel of die partye wat in die studie bestudeer word kommunikasie strategieë benut het om die verskillende groeperings van kiesers te teiken. Die studie bevind dat die spesifieke partye, gemeet teen die raamwerk vir kriteria vir sukses, sowel as die subjektiewe opinie oor taalgebruik en aanslag in kommunikasie, hulle sleg van hul taak gekwyt het in die 2014 nasionale verkiesing in Suid-Afrika. Hulle het in meeste gevalle, met die DA as ’n uitsondering, nie geslaag om die nodige digitale-platforms te vestig en om suksesvol deur die nuwe media platforms te kommunikeer nie. Hulle het ook nie geslaag om die apatie van die Suid-Afrikaanse jeug aan te spreek nie en daar was ’n gebrek aan geteikende en relevante kommunikasie met spesifieke sosiale groepe. Die partye het ook nie daarin geslaag om die kiesers wat partyloos is, of van party wil verander, ’n beter opsie te bied nie. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: New media is seen as having a big impact on the way modern political parties run their campaigns during election periods. This paper focuses on answering the question: How was new media used in the 2014 South African national election? It does this by creating a context regarding the understanding of what new media is, how it is used in politics, and what impact it has on electioneering and political campaign strategies. Three case studies, the Obama campaign and the 2014 Indian and Brazilian elections, are used to highlight how new media has impacted on elections. This analysis is then framed into a set of criteria for success that is used to measure the chosen South African political parties against, to determine whether or not they used new media well in the 2014 South African national election. A set of criteria for success thus makes it possible to rank and assign points to each party and from those points determine whether that party used new media well or poorly. Each party is given a score out of 50. The other 50 points were awarded based on a subjective view regarding the actual use of language and focused voter communication on new media platforms, specifically Twitter. This was done by looking at the insights garnered from the literature regarding electoral campaigning, South Africa’s demographic and geographic differences and seeing if the parties analysed in this study employed communication strategies to target these voter differences. This study found that the parties identified, when measured against the set of criteria for success that was created and the subjective views of the way in which the parties communicated, did not use new media well in the 2014 South African national election. They failed in most cases, with the DA being the exception, to build the necessary online platforms or to communicate effectively through new media platforms. There was also too little focus on addressing voter apathy in the youth and there was a lack of targeted communication to specific social groups. Parties also failed to present themselves as a viable alternative to voters who did not already identify with a party or those who were looking for an alternative party.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:11:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carolina Gonzalez Colombo Arnoldi Martini.pdf: 9719021 bytes, checksum: 2f0c46ca848a62773140741bc7b6067f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-13 / Since 2008 the social media are asserting themselves as a source of information and participation in presidential races, notably at Barack Obama s campaign. This new phenomenon was also used in Brazilian s 2010 election campaigns. There are numerous speculations about the use of these media during campaigns. There are some people saying that Brazilian s public that uses social network is selected, therefore directed only to a portion of the population and not so powerful as campaign s vehicle. On the other hand there are other people arguing that these media extend the accessibility of the population, making it the best ally of a candidate. Within this context the purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is scope for candidates act in the media during the electoral campaign to examine, whether voters are willing to receive the candidates in these networks to analyze, whether there was interest expertise and success in the use of these candidates media (Through the comparative analysis between the candidates). Therefore, I try to understand if there is an opportunity for candidates to take advantage of social networking tools for the campaigns and analysis if the on-line electoral voters have the same pattern of general electoral voters. Through authors like Christakis and Fowler for whom the Internet has made us hyper; Aggio Camilo, who campaigns broke with traditional barriers and jump in online spaces where most of the voters who used the Internet builds profiles, interact, and produces consumes information involvement, sharing and cooperation; Castells (2006) who proposes that the policy in contemporary society depends directly on the media, and Niklas Luhmann with his autopoise black boxes; intend to set guidelines that can tell us if there is one type of audience with its own characteristics in how they relate, but also to use the political-electoral information in favor of the candidate. The paper was based fundamental in the analysis of communication s strategies inside the social medias Facebook, Orkut and Twitter, by the main candidates to the presidency, Dilma Rousseff, José Serra and Marina Silva. The results were obtained in three steps. Analysis of electorate characteristics. Analysis of elector s voting intentions. Analysis of the interaction of the candidates within social networks, Facebook, Orkut and Twitter. Our findings indicate that there was interest by the population on issues related to political campaigns; there was a large audience for the candidates within social networks; there was differentiation between the candidates within the networks studied, and Jose Serra was the candidate who obtained the best performance overall / Desde 2008, as mídias sociais online vêm se fixando como uma fonte de informação e participação nas disputas presidenciais, marcadamente com início na campanha de Barack Obama. Em 2010, esse fenômeno até então inédito no Brasil, também foi utilizado nas campanhas eleitorais. Alguns afirmam que o público brasileiro das redes sociais é selecionado, portanto, direcionado apenas a uma parcela da população, não sendo um bom veículo de campanha. Por outro lado, outros defendem que essas mídias ampliam a acessibilidade da população, tornando-se o melhor aliado de um candidato. Dentro desse contexto, a proposta deste trabalho é analisar se existe campo para os candidatos atuarem nas mídias eleitorais durante a campanha, analisar se os eleitores estão dispostos a receber os candidatos nessas redes, analisar se houve interesse, atuação e sucesso pelos candidatos no uso dessas mídias (será realizada analise comparativa entre os candidatos). Desta forma, procuro compreender se existe oportunidade para os candidatos usufruírem das redes sociais como ferramentas de campanha e verificar se existe o mesmo padrão dos eleitores em geral com os eleitores on-line. Através de autores como Christakis e Fowler para quem a internet nos tornou hiperconectados; Camilo Aggio, para quem as campanhas romperam com as barreiras tradicionais, e se lançam nos espaços online onde grande parte dos eleitores que utiliza a internet constrói perfis, interage, produz e consome informações de envolvimento, compartilhamento e cooperação; Castells (2006) que nos propõe que na sociedade contemporânea a política depende diretamente da mídia; e Niklas Luhman com sua autopoise das caixas pretas; pretendo traçar diretrizes que possam nos indicar se existe um tipo de audiência com características próprias na maneira de se relacionar, como também de utilizar as informações político-eleitorais em favor do candidato. O estudo se baseou fundamentalmente na análise das estratégias de comunicação dentro das mídias sociais Facebook, Orkut e Twitter, pelos principais candidatos à Presidência da República, Dilma Rousseff, José Serra e Marina Silva. Os resultados foram obtidos através de três etapas. Análise das características do eleitorado. Análise das intenções de voto dos eleitores. Análise da interação dos candidatos dentro das redes sociais, Facebook, Orkut e Twitter. Os achados deste estudo indicaram que a existe interesse por parte da população em assuntos relacionados às campanhas políticas; existe uma ampla audiência para os candidatos dentro das redes sociais; houve diferenciação entre os candidatos dentro das redes estudadas, tendo José Serra como o candidato que obteve o melhor desempenho no geral

This thesis examines the early military career and life of Lieutenant General Sir Frank Berryman from 1894 through to the end of his involvement in the Middle East campaigns. It begins with his family background and education on the outskirts of Melbourne before tracing, in detail, his personal life and military career until the end of 1941. The specific focus of this investigation is not just his military education and his role in the Cyrenaica and Syrian campaigns, but also the development of his personality and character. Personality and character provides a window of insight that not only helps to illuminate Berryman?s performance as an officer and his professional relationships but it also allows for a deeper understanding of this complex individual. This thesis argues that these, the 'lost years' and 'forgotten battles' , are integral to developing an understanding of this exceptional officer. In Berryman we see an important staff officer and commander whose place in Australia's military history has been largely overlooked. One of the central themes of this work is that Berryman has been misunderstood and misrepresented within the existing historiography. He was one of the most important figures in the Australian Army during the Second World War and it was during the period covered in this thesis that he established his reputation as a commander and staff officer. Key to this investigation, therefore, is the themes of Berryman's developing leadership and culture of command. This work seeks to reveal the nature and experience of a highly successful officer who is also, to a great extent, representative of a generation of permeant Staff Corps officers who have largely been ignored within the genre of Australian military biography. Ultimately this thesis concludes that Berryman was a central figure in the Australian Army's success in Cyrenaica and Syria. He demonstrated all of the qualities essential for a successful commander and senior officer and it was in these battles and his earlier military and life experiences that set the stage for his exceptional performance and contribution to the success of the Australian Army, not only in the Middle East but also later in the South West Pacific Campaigns.

This paper explores public health campaigns as they relate to tweens and their use of technology. After considering how this demographic utilizes both traditional and new media, further examination was done on general health problems that affect this group. Three major health issues were then chosen for analysis. A relevant campaign for each issue was also evaluated, as were its overall marketing and communication efforts. The health problems and corresponding campaigns chosen include childhood obesity and the “Let’s Move” campaign, electronic aggression and the “Stop Bullying” campaign and youth suicide and the “WeCanHelpUs” campaign. From these analyses, recommendations for ways to improve each campaign were provided, as were general conclusions for reaching this demographic more efficiently and effectively. / text

The principal theory in the field of public relations, grounded in the landmark Excellence Study headed by J.E. Grunig (1992), has moved from viewing activist groups as posing a threat to organizational effectiveness, to recognizing their positive influence on the development of Excellent public relations practices, to incorporating the activist perspective into the main research agenda. The public relations practices of activist groups are similar to those of their target organizations, and research has demonstrated that both parties are more likely to achieve their respective goals if both use symmetrical strategies. Factors that have been found to be critical to the success of activist groups include their ability to maintain the viability and legitimacy of the organization and the issue(s) it pursues, and their ability to build relationships of trust with its members, complementary organizations, legislative bodies, and the press. Since web-based communication has become a principal source of counterbalancing their disadvantage in resources vis-à-vis the targeted institution(s), the ability to take advantage of the potential of online media has also become critical to the success of activist groups. Another important source for counterweighing the “deep pockets” of their corporate or governmental adversaries, and thus a critical factor for success, is the “motivation and fervor” of the members of activist groups. Whereas the public relations behavior of corporations and governments is primarily cued by highly rational and regulated guidelines at the organizational (meso) level, activist public relations behavior is often grounded in highly emotional considerations at the personal (micro) level. This raises the question: how can the public relations practices of an activist group affect its members at the personal level? Bandura’s model of self-directed change (1990) offers a promising framework for addressing this question, as it facilitates the evaluation of an activist group’s public relations campaign in terms of its effectiveness in reinforcing the motivation, social and self-regulatory skills, and self-efficacy of individual members. The model suggests that effective activist public relations practices are not only successful in preserving viability and legitimacy at the meso level, but also enhance empowerment at the micro level. / text