This thesis analyzes the inherent informal political relations embedded in urban planning process in the city of Ankara between 1985 and 2005. It has been argued that, urban planning process is -by nature- a political process and micro level political interactions in urban political sphere can be observed by looking at it. The urban planning process, as a political process interacts with existing political mobilization mechanisms and their spatial reflections. Such an interaction may cause emergence of informal political networks interested in derivation of urban land rent. The emergence, sustenance and persistence of these networks are related with the opportunities and legitimization potential of urban planning process. For the verification of hypothesis of the research the city of Ankara was taken as the subject of case study. A methodology consisting of a two phase research is devised to analyze the nature and the dynamics of these networks In the first phase a conventional statistical analysis the research universe consisting of all the all urban development plans and modifications realized in Ankara between 1985 and 2005 was realized. Then, in the second phase based on the patterns explored in the research universe, a specific example of urban planning process was chosen, which represents the patterns of the research universe. This example, &Ccedil / ayyolu 907 Parcel, then subjected to social network analysis. The results of the research has shown that, when the structure of the local political structure changes altogether as a result of for example local elections, the structure of existing informal political networks and the way they exploit urban land rent changes. In these periods the number of urban development plans and urban development plan modifications increase, while the size of the area covered by these plans tends to decrease and mostly confined to prospective areas in central business district and residential areas. Yet, by the time passes, new and diverse political relations are established congruent with the existing political mobilization mechanisms. This time, although the number of plans decreases, the size of the area covered by plans increase and mostly, vacant land in the fringe of the urban macro form become the target of these networks. Although these networks involve a hierarchy in it, extensive brokerage and patron client relations sustain them.

Why do some authoritarian states have competitive elections? This study shows that whenever there is a balance of power between candidates, competitiveness will ensue. Electoral fraud is often widespread in autocratic states, but if no single candidate or party is in a position to monopolize electoral support the result will be competitive. The contribution here is to analyze the relative strength of all the actors involved in a parliamentary election and to show that electoral returns reflect the district level balance of power, even in autocracies. Three main sources of candidate-level electoral power are identified: state, market, and society. State affiliated candidates in authoritarian states perform well due to favorable treatment by state institutions. Market actors perform well due to financial resources. These actors arise when market reforms create a class of entrepreneurs that defend their interests by running for public office, often challenging state sanctioned candidates. The strength of candidates using social cleavages, here mainly ‘clan’ and ethnic, is found to be exaggerated in the literature. The study also confirms that competitiveness did not result from an active civil society. Competitive  elections matter because they can severely destabilize the regime, as was the case in Kyrgyzstan in 2005. However, electoral competitiveness that is the result of an intra-elite balance of power should not be confused with democracy. This form of self-interested competitiveness where clientelism is pervasive and accountability mechanisms are weak is an affront to the democratic ideal. For those of us who advocate democracy and genuine political participation competitive authoritarian regimes can be used as an informative cautionary tale. Power matters, and especially so in authoritarian states. Understanding the logic behind competitive authoritarianism helps us revise strategies for lasting democratic reforms.

This project, based on a study of television producers in Colombia, is an ethnographic exploration of the working conditions of cultural production within a highly contextualized environment such as public service television under state control, using Señal Colombia TV channel as case study. I examine how cultural production is affected by governmental structures and dynamics, whilst exploring the conditions and processes of public service television production, and how television producers experience these processes at an individual level. My primary question is to determine how the production of public service television under state control impacts producers’ practices and perceptions regarding the value and outcomes of their work. In this context, precariousness, autonomy, good work, power and public value have emerged as central areas of constant tension. I link issues regarding cultural work and public value in a media production analysis, obtaining direct empirical data that provides an in-depth description of the current public media production context under state control in Colombia. To explore these intersections, the project brings together interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. The findings exposed that the internal dynamics of both the nation and the organisation significantly affect the concept of public value, making it an ambivalent, uncertain and ill-defined notion. Where governance is state-driven, workers, regardless of their role, subscribe to dominant narratives and discourses that justify their work, and thus contribute to keeping themselves under prescribed creativity. In general, the present study provides a holistic account of cultural work study, focusing on what occurs to cultural work in various contexts of control, and the individual reactions to these contexts. The analysis of cultural work in this context, also broadens current knowledge on the concepts of network sociality and good work under clientelism, and in a non-free-market.

Na área da Ciência Política, estudos sobre o comportamento político e eleitoral, sob diferentes perspectivas analíticas, permitem verificar um conjunto de variáveis e indicadores que elucidam aspectos da cultura política e do processo de construção democrática. O objetivo da presente tese é compreender a lógica do comportamento político de Toledo, PR, a partir da identificação das percepções, motivações e atitudes dos cidadãos em relação à política e às instituições democráticas. Os dados examinados, oriundos de pesquisas realizadas na região, evidenciam um cenário de ceticismo e de decepção frente à atuação dos políticos e do desempenho socioeconômico do regime democrático. Observou-se uma tendência do voto personalista em detrimento do voto programático/partidário, especialmente entre eleitores que expressaram baixos níveis de interesse por política, de confiança institucional e de participação política. O argumento é de que a personalização do poder e práticas como o clientelismo, o nepotismo e a corrupção estão enraizados na cultura política brasileira, apesar dos avanços na institucionalização de procedimentos poliárquicos. / In the area of political science, research on political and electoral behavior from different theoretical perspectives allows us to examine several variables and empirical indicators that enlighten political culture aspects as well as a deep understanding of the democratic construction process. The main objective of this dissertation is to understand the underlying logic of political behavior in Toledo –Parana- Brazil, based upon the analysis of perceptions, motivations and attitudes of citizens in regards to politics and political democratic institutions. The data examined through research conducted in this State show a context where cynicism and deception with politicians and government’s socio-economic performance prevail. The results also indicated a personalistic tendency to vote instead of a programmatic-partisan vote, especially among electors that showed low levels of political interest, as well as reduced indices of institutional trust and political participation. The main argument oft this study is that the personalization of political power and practices such as clientelism, nepotism and corruption are rooted in the Brazilian political culture, in spite of advances in the poliarquical formal democratic procedures.

Na área da Ciência Política, estudos sobre o comportamento político e eleitoral, sob diferentes perspectivas analíticas, permitem verificar um conjunto de variáveis e indicadores que elucidam aspectos da cultura política e do processo de construção democrática. O objetivo da presente tese é compreender a lógica do comportamento político de Toledo, PR, a partir da identificação das percepções, motivações e atitudes dos cidadãos em relação à política e às instituições democráticas. Os dados examinados, oriundos de pesquisas realizadas na região, evidenciam um cenário de ceticismo e de decepção frente à atuação dos políticos e do desempenho socioeconômico do regime democrático. Observou-se uma tendência do voto personalista em detrimento do voto programático/partidário, especialmente entre eleitores que expressaram baixos níveis de interesse por política, de confiança institucional e de participação política. O argumento é de que a personalização do poder e práticas como o clientelismo, o nepotismo e a corrupção estão enraizados na cultura política brasileira, apesar dos avanços na institucionalização de procedimentos poliárquicos. / In the area of political science, research on political and electoral behavior from different theoretical perspectives allows us to examine several variables and empirical indicators that enlighten political culture aspects as well as a deep understanding of the democratic construction process. The main objective of this dissertation is to understand the underlying logic of political behavior in Toledo –Parana- Brazil, based upon the analysis of perceptions, motivations and attitudes of citizens in regards to politics and political democratic institutions. The data examined through research conducted in this State show a context where cynicism and deception with politicians and government’s socio-economic performance prevail. The results also indicated a personalistic tendency to vote instead of a programmatic-partisan vote, especially among electors that showed low levels of political interest, as well as reduced indices of institutional trust and political participation. The main argument oft this study is that the personalization of political power and practices such as clientelism, nepotism and corruption are rooted in the Brazilian political culture, in spite of advances in the poliarquical formal democratic procedures.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:25:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2513.pdf: 1263322 bytes, checksum: 12fa2118051d4bec45c62b2cd5403f2c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-10-17 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The present work examine, historically, all the Brazilian period republican observing practical of advantages politics that had been present in the sphere politic to analyze the performance of the gospel members of the house legislative of São Paulo. The choice of the members with religious filiation was given in reason of the expressive increase of evangelicals, temples and visibility of the gospels. The objective of the work is to verify where measured the clientelism it is present in the analyzed group and of that forms this practical if differentiates of the definite clientelist relation for specific literature. For in such a way, the Projects of Law had been analyzed presented by the group during two mandates, understood between the years of 1999 and 2006, taking in consideration categories defined for the authoress of the work. The study it demonstrates that, even so the clientelism is practical current between these politicians, it operates in the direction of attainment of recognition for the religious ones as well as, for the on entities to the denominations of which there are members. And, operates not more in the geographic level, or either, of electoral redoubts as the traditional clientelism when benefiting cities or regions as a whole. This is clearly when comparing the result of the clientelist exchange in the form of fidelization of the vote that is, basically, the electoral success. / O presente trabalho percorre, historicamente, todo o período republicano brasileiro observando as práticas de favorecimento político que estiveram presentes na esfera política para analisar a atuação dos deputados evangélicos da Assembléia Legislativa de São Paulo. A escolha dos deputados com filiação religiosa deu-se em razão do aumento expressivo de fiéis, templos e visibilidade dos pentecostais. O objetivo do trabalho é verificar em que medida o clientelismo está presente no grupo analisado e de que forma essa prática se diferencia da relação clientelista definida pela literatura específica. Para tanto, foram analisados os Projetos de Lei apresentados pelo grupo durante dois mandatos, compreendidos entre os anos de 1999 e 2006, levando em consideração categorias definidas pela autora do trabalho. O estudo demonstra que, embora o clientelismo seja prática corrente entre esses políticos, ele opera no sentido de obtenção de reconhecimento para os religiosos assim como, para as entidades ligadas às denominações das quais fazem parte. E, opera não mais no nível geográfico, ou seja, de redutos eleitorais como o clientelismo tradicional ao beneficiar cidades ou regiões como um todo. Isso fica claro ao comparar o resultado da troca clientelista na forma de fidelização do voto que é, basicamente, o êxito eleitoral.

Peru does not have an articulated and organized student movement that promote clear agendas to improve the quality of higher education. Still, students compete in elections for seats at their university’s governing bodies. This is the case of the National University of Peruvian Amazon (UNAP), where student’s political groups have increased in recent years without a clear agenda about university development. This article explores this paradox describing the new mobilizers for students’ organizations.Firstly, the findings suggest that university’s governing bodies operate under a clientelistic logic between students and authorities. However, at the same time some students have built a new interest in local and regional politics as a result of the Peruvian decentralization process. Therefore, student organizations are also functioning as political operators and supporters of the regional movements.The “big politics” continue to intervene in “petty politics”, and vice versa, turning the university into a relevant arena and students into key actors to understand subnational politics and the functioning of “democracies without parties”. / El Perú no cuenta con un movimiento estudiantil articulado y organizado que busque mejorar la calidad de las universidades públicas y privadas. No obstante, los estudiantes continúan agrupándose al interior de los claustros para postular a cargos de representación en el gobierno universitario. Este es el caso de la Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana (UNAP), donde aumentaron los grupos estudiantiles en los últimos años sin una agenda clara que busque el desarrollo de la universidad. El presente artículo explora esta paradoja y busca comprender los nuevos movilizadores de la organización estudiantil en la UNAP. Encuentra, en primer lugar, que la política universitaria funciona bajo una lógica clientelar entre estudiantes y docentes dentro de los órganos de gobierno universitario, pero además que hay un re-interés estudiantil por la política local y regional a raíz del proceso de descentralización.Las organizaciones estudiantiles estarían funcionando también como operadores políticos y sustitutos partidarios de los movimientos regionales. La política grande continúa interviniendo en la política chica —y viceversa—, convirtiendo a la universidad y los estudiantes en actores relevantes para comprender la política subnacional y el funcionamiento de las «democracias sin partidos».

Na área da Ciência Política, estudos sobre o comportamento político e eleitoral, sob diferentes perspectivas analíticas, permitem verificar um conjunto de variáveis e indicadores que elucidam aspectos da cultura política e do processo de construção democrática. O objetivo da presente tese é compreender a lógica do comportamento político de Toledo, PR, a partir da identificação das percepções, motivações e atitudes dos cidadãos em relação à política e às instituições democráticas. Os dados examinados, oriundos de pesquisas realizadas na região, evidenciam um cenário de ceticismo e de decepção frente à atuação dos políticos e do desempenho socioeconômico do regime democrático. Observou-se uma tendência do voto personalista em detrimento do voto programático/partidário, especialmente entre eleitores que expressaram baixos níveis de interesse por política, de confiança institucional e de participação política. O argumento é de que a personalização do poder e práticas como o clientelismo, o nepotismo e a corrupção estão enraizados na cultura política brasileira, apesar dos avanços na institucionalização de procedimentos poliárquicos. / In the area of political science, research on political and electoral behavior from different theoretical perspectives allows us to examine several variables and empirical indicators that enlighten political culture aspects as well as a deep understanding of the democratic construction process. The main objective of this dissertation is to understand the underlying logic of political behavior in Toledo –Parana- Brazil, based upon the analysis of perceptions, motivations and attitudes of citizens in regards to politics and political democratic institutions. The data examined through research conducted in this State show a context where cynicism and deception with politicians and government’s socio-economic performance prevail. The results also indicated a personalistic tendency to vote instead of a programmatic-partisan vote, especially among electors that showed low levels of political interest, as well as reduced indices of institutional trust and political participation. The main argument oft this study is that the personalization of political power and practices such as clientelism, nepotism and corruption are rooted in the Brazilian political culture, in spite of advances in the poliarquical formal democratic procedures.

Although drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) exist and have an effect on health, crime, economies, and politics, little research has explored these entities as political organizations. Legal interest groups and movements have been found to influence domestic and international politics because they operate within legal parameters. Illicit groups, such as DTOs, have rarely been accounted for—especially in the literature on interest groups—though they play a measurable role in affecting domestic and international politics in similar ways. Using an interest group model, this dissertation analyzed DTOs as illicit interest groups (IIGs) to explain their political influence. The analysis included a study of group formation, development, and demise that examined IIG motivation, organization, and policy impact. The data for the study drew from primary and secondary sources, which include interviews with former DTO members and government officials, government documents, journalistic accounts, memoirs, and academic research. To illustrate the interest group model, the study examined Medellin-based DTO leaders, popularly known as the “Medellin Cartel.” In particular, the study focused on the external factors that gave rise to DTOs in Colombia and how Medellin DTOs reacted to the implementation of counternarcotics efforts. The discussion was framed by the implementation of the 1979 Extradition Treaty negotiated between Colombia and the United States. The treaty was significant because as drug trafficking became the principal bilateral issue in the 1980s; extradition became a major method of combating the illicit drug business. The study’s findings suggested that Medellin DTO leaders had a one-issue agenda and used a variety of political strategies to influence public opinion and all three branches of government—the judicial, the legislative, and the executive—in an effort to invalidate the 1979 Extradition Treaty. The changes in the life cycle of the 1979 Extradition Treaty correlated with changes in the political power of Medellin-based DTOs vis-à-vis the Colombian government, and international forces such as the U.S. government’s push for tougher counternarcotics efforts.

The thesis deals with state-owned enterprises and their potential for corruption. In the first chapter is characterized corruption in the Czech Republic in the context of social, economic and political changes in the end of the twentieth century. This section also contains typology of corruption from Rasma Karklins, which is also the methodological basis of this work. The second part focuses on the characteristics of state-owned enterprises, and also on internal and external control mechanisms, which should reduce their potential for corruption. The third chapter presents in detail the processes and results of legislative changes in recent years, regarding the increase of external control mechanisms of state-owned enterprises.