Magister Commercii - Mcom (Political Studies) / While they have emerged as global ideals based on the recognition of liberty, dignity and universal rights to 'all individuals' within the global community, human rights have faced numerous criticism and scepticism from the Global South. This research paper argues that such scepticism has had negative impact on the drive for the protection and promotion of human rights and International Human Rights Law in global politics. Given such huge challenges, this research paper points out that, unless the global human rights discourse undergoes significant reform and shift, its Western-centric domination will result into more harm than good in the international community's agenda for human rights protection and promotion. Postcolonial Africa has been at the forefront of the debate on the power-political use of the notion. As such, it has been argued that human rights discourse has influenced relations and policies between the West and the Third World, especially Africa. In this relationship, human rights have been viewed as a strategic tool for powerful states in global politics, to use in their quest to legitimise the case for political change. Furthermore, human rights have also been employed by governments seeking to justify their interference in the domestic affairs of other states, especially the West in the case of postcolonial Africa. It has therefore emerged that the human rights rhetoric/ discourse has been understood by postcolonial Africa as serving to establish a powerful perspective relating to the present and past collective experiences of injustice, exclusion and domination within global politics. Here, the global human rights regimes and Africa seem to be at a crossroads regarding the role of human rights in international politics.

Os estudos a respeito do funcionamento do Congresso brasileiro não deixariam dúvidas: os trabalhos no interior da arena legislativa são organizados em termos partidários. Os atores políticos raramente conseguem agir individualmente. Partidos políticos estruturam e viabilizam a atuação dos parlamentares. Contudo, a despeito deste acordo sobre a importância dos partidos, haveria um momento específico do processo político em que os parlamentares conseguiriam agir individualmente, sem sofrer os constrangimentos dos partidos políticos: na alteração do orçamento. Seria esse o momento ideal para que os parlamentares ajam informados exclusivamente por seu interesse individual. Seria este também o momento oportuno para que o Executivo negocie com os parlamentares para obter o apoio que necessita para aprovar matérias. Os partidos sairiam de cena e o parlamentar individual viria para o centro do palco. Esse trabalho, no entanto, segue na contramão dessa vertente argumentativa e buscará mostrar como até nesse momento de atuação individual, a presença dos partidos políticos não apenas pode ser detectada, como ainda se mostra crucial. O objetivo geral aqui será o de mostrar como os parlamentares atuam por meio de seus partidos políticos ao promoverem alterações no orçamento. / The literature on the decision-making process in the Brazilian Congress asserts that partisanship is the main factor organizing the legislative arena. Brazilian legislators are rarely able to act individually (i.e. without the support and authorization of their party leaders). However, in spite of this agreement on the importance of the parties, part of the literature also states that members of congress have the ability to operate without suffering the constraints of political parties in amending the budget bill introduced by the Executive at this crucial moment of the legislative process. Individual interests should show up exactly at this crucial moment of the legislative process. Moreover, the budget-making process should configure an excellent opportunity for the Executive to negotiate with legislators in order to obtain support for its own policy agenda. By this argument parties are absent and legislators, as individuals, would come to the center of the stage. My work, however, goes against this perspective and seeks to show the reasons why even when one should expect individual behavior, political parties show their strength and importance. My overall goal is to demonstrate that, against the expectations, partisanship matters for the budget-making process in Brazil.

Sistemas multiagentes muitas vezes apresentam características que os aproximam de sociedades de agentes e, como as humanas, possuem normas e organizações com o objetivo de coordenar as interações entre os seus membros. Coalizão é um tipo de estrutura organizacional temporária, montada com objetivos específicos. A teoria dos jogos estuda formalmente o fenômeno coalizional, se detendo em demonstrações de propriedades e características dessa estrutura. A área de sistemas multiagentes, por outro lado, tem mostrado significativo interesse nas estruturas coalizionais como forma de organizar a cooperação entre os agentes, dedicando-se ao desenvolvimento de algoritmos para formação de coalizões. Esse trabalho apresenta um algoritmo de formação de coalizões para compartilhamento de recursos, denominado heurística ganha-ganha. Definimos um modelo que utiliza a abstração de recursos para representar tanto a posse de habilidades e objetos, quanto para representar os objetivos dos agentes. Um jogo de votação k-ponderado é utilizado para implementar o processo decisório de quais coalizões são válidas e o algoritmo testa iterativamente cada vizinhança de um agente na busca de associações vantajosas. Demonstramos que o algoritmo incrementa monotonicamente o bem-estar da sociedade e converge para uma estrutura coalizional. Também mostramos empiricamente que a heurística é eficiente para compartilhamento de recursos em situações de abundância de recursos, montando coalizões em poucas iterações e com uma quantidade grande de agentes. / Multiagent systems frequently show characteristics that come closer to agent societies and, like the humans ones, have norms and organizations in order to coordinate the interactions of its members. Coalition is a type of temporary organizational structure, assembled with specific goals. Game theory formally studies the coalitional phenomenon focusing in the demonstrations of properties and characteristics of this structure. The area of multiagent systems, on the other hand, has devoted significant interest in coalition structures as a way to organize cooperation between its members, and has been dedicated to the development of algorithms for coalition formation. This dissertation presents an algorithm to coalition formation named win-win heuristic. We define a model which uses the abstraction of resources to represent either, the possession of abilities and objects, or to represent the agents target. A k-weight voting game is used to implement the decision process of what coalitions are worth and an iteratively algorithm tests each agent neighborhood in the pursue of better associations. We demonstrate that the algorithm monotonically increases the society welfare and converges to a coalitional structure. We also show empirically that the heuristic is efficient for resource sharing in situations of availability of resources, building coalitions with few iterations and a large amount of agents.

The British entered the War of the First Coalition against Revolutionary France in 1793 diplomatically isolated and militarily unprepared for a major war. Nonetheless, a French attack on the Dutch Republic in February 1793 forced the British to dispatch a small expeditionary force to defend their ally. Throughout the Flanders campaign of 1793, the British expeditionary force served London as a tool to end British isolation and enlist Austrian commitment to securing British war objectives. The 1793 Flanders campaign and the Allied war effort in general have received little attention from historians, and they generally receive dismissive condemnation in general histories of the French Revolutionary Wars. This thesis examines the British participation in the 1793 Flanders campaign a broader diplomatic context through the published correspondence of relevant Allied military and political leaders. Traditional accounts of this campaign present a narrative of defeat and condemn the Allies for their failure to achieve in 1793 the accomplishments of the sixth coalition twenty years later. Such a perspective obscures a clear understanding of the reasons for Allied actions. This thesis seeks to correct this distortion by critically analyzing the relationship between British diplomacy within the Coalition and operations in Flanders. Unable to achieve victory on their own strength, the British used their expeditionary force in Flanders as diplomatic leverage to impose their objectives on the other powers at war with France.

abstract: This project seeks to explore how organizations work toward refugee and immigrant integration through forming different types of coalitions and strategic networks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify when coalitions emerge between refugee organizations and immigrant rights groups in order to examine their development, from how the coalitions broadly conceive of refugee and immigrant rights, to how they organize resources and information sharing, service provision, policy advocacy, and policy implementation. The project is guided by the question: What explains the formation of coalitions that advocate for both immigrant rights and refugee rights? Through examining the formation and development of these coalitions, this thesis engages at the intersections of immigration federalism, refugee studies and human rights scholarship to reveal deeper complexities in the politics of immigrant integration. The project sharpens these three scholarly intersections by three multi-level jurisdictions – California and Arizona in the United States and Athens in Greece – and by employing comparative analysis to unpack how national governments and federalism dynamics shape coalition building around immigrant integration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Justice and Human Rights 2019

Community collaborations have become increasingly common responses to prevent the occurrence of complex public health problems, such as violence, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and others. A key unanswered question is: what predicts sustainability of collaboratives? This article explores this question through a cross-site evaluation of 12 local collaboratives funded through the National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention (NFCVP). Conducted as longitudinal case studies, the evaluation is distinct from previous efforts in incorporating data from multiple sources. The results confirm findings from previous studies that have identified having a history of collaboration, a diverse and broad coalition, a clear vision and operation guidelines, and diversified and sufficient funding as key sustainability factors. In addition, this study has found that collaborations that are growing and expanding are more likely to have high resident involvement, a mix of professional and grassroots representation, and a facilitating, rather than direct, role in conducting prevention activities.

Ineffective environmental policies pose a problem for municipalities as they strive to create sustainable communities. Improving these policies may establish standard practices that assist municipalities in meeting related environmental goals. Statistics show the municipalities within this study operate at different levels of goal achievement. Little is known, however, about the influences that directly affect the development of environmental policies. The purpose of this study was to determine the ways in which public officials address environmental issues and the factors considered in policy discussions that lead to their decisions. The theoretical framework comprised Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith's advocacy coalition and Arrow's rational choice theory. This phenomenological study explored the experiences of city council members within a region of 10 cities in southern California. Interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 5 city council members from 4 adjoining cities, 1 city staff member, and 1 agency representative with knowledge of all 10 cities. Data were analyzed with 3 cycles of coding to identify themes and patterns. Emergent themes included meeting community needs, educating the public, being fiscally responsible, and "doing the right thing." Participants recognized the effect of their personal influences and biases, particularly religious beliefs, on environmental policy decisions, although political affiliation appeared to be unrelated to these biases. The implications for positive social change include informing and educating both public officials and community members about regional environmental issues and their related community needs and goals.

This thesis sets out to examine the capacity of new governments to influence partisan-based policy and legislation. It examines two newly elected Queensland governments - the Nicklin Country-Liberal government in 1957- 1961 and the Goss Labor government in 1989- 1990 and analyses the introduction by those governments of major industrial relations legislative reform. The Nicklin Coalition government was elected to the Queensland parliament in 1957 after the collapse of the Gair Labor government. The Coalition was committed to extensive industrial relations legislative reform but had not prepared for, or anticipated the constitutional, administrative and legal problems associated with such reform. Nor had it taken into account the concessions that would need to be made to the state's trade unions in order to effect its reforms. Consequently it was not until 1961 that it found the time was propitious for the introduction of its major legislative reforms and the restructuring of the state's principal industrial relations legislation. By contrast, in 1989 the Goss government elected as a consequence of the National Party's collapse in the face of the Fitzgerald Inquiry of 1987 had prepared itself for government. As a result it was able to take advantage of its newly elected status and the existence of the Hanger Report (1988) to introduce its legislative intentions quickly, in such a way that it did not alienate the business community. Preparation and circumstances therefore allowed Labor to repeal earlier legislation supported by business and introduce its own changes with little or no opposition. The thesis concludes that their political and economic inheritance and the existing policy environment will in varying degrees limit new governments. But their ability to introduce partisan-based legislative change quickly is also determined by the degree of preparation for the process of government, undertaken prior to their election. This thesis demonstrates that new governments can make a difference and effect changes to the industrial relations environment. However if this potential is to be realised and new governments are to take advantage of their newly elected status it will require a significant degree of administrative preparation or a considerable period of acclimatisation to the rigours of office.

Improving systems of public education through the development and implementation of innovative reforms is a socially and politically complex process, particularly when systems of public education merge with external agencies that enter the process with unique resources and with perspectives and intents derived from experiences unlike those found in traditional public school cultures. Pursuing a better understanding of this process, this qualitative case study examines the interorganizational partnership that developed Metro High School, an innovative, STEM high school program in Columbus, Ohio. With this single, public/private partnership as a case, this study examined the school reform context within which the partners worked and from which they derived influential perspectives and resources. The objective was to better understand the interaction and manifestation of perspectives, resources, and intentions, as the now influential school was being developed and implemented. Data gathered through interviews, documents, and observations have been analyzed and synthesized into conclusions about the interactive effects of the partners on the development of the school and its subsequent policy influence. Factors found to have affected the effort include favorable reform policy conditions and experienced school designers, commitment to well-defined STEM and Coalition of Essential Schools principles, ample resources from skilled, high capacity partners with political and intellectual influence, conceptual alignment across the partnership, a commitment to equity, and effective community-based negotiations. Negotiations were facilitated by strong leadership working from the base of a multi-district foundation that provided the administrative space for the school’s largely autonomous development. This study, utilizing sociopolitical theories of educational change and implementation that recognize the influence and value of multiple perspectives and constructive variability, suggests implications for interorganizational partnership work that is undertaken for developing and negotiating the terms of new systems of public school organization and new learning environment designs. In regard to the research literature on implementation, school change, and reform, this study—though not generalizable and limited in scope to a single site—sheds light on the complexity of implementing collaborative educational change in urban environments.

Übernimmt eine Protestpartei Regierungsverantwortung, sieht sie ihre Prinzipien und Forderungen der realpolitischen Nagelprobe ausgesetzt. Es ist ein Dilemma von Anspruch und Wirklichkeit, ein Spagat zwischen Protestimage und Regierungspolitik / der diese Parteien oftmals zu zerreißen droht. Anhand der Fallstudien von vier mitregierenden Protestparteien in Deutschland sollen folgende Fragen beantwortet werden: Was macht eine Partei zur Protestpartei? Was waren die Ursachen für die Wahlerfolge der Grünen, der AL, der STATT-Partei und der Schill-Partei? Wie verliefen die Koalitionsverhandlungen? Welche Forderungen konnten die Protestparteien gegenüber ihren großen Koalitionspartnern durchsetzen? Wo mussten sie Abstriche machen? Welche Reformvorhaben wurden angedacht und welche wurden tatsächlich umgesetzt? Welche innerparteilichen Konflikte ergaben sich aus der neuen Rolle der Protestparteien? Letztendlich zeigt sich: Protestparteien scheitern nicht an ihrem schmalspurigen Programm, geringer Stammwählerschaft oder unerfahrenem Personal, sondern weil sie naturgemäß in die „Erwartungsfalle“ tappen. / “If a protest party assumes the responsibility of government its principles and demands will be put to the tough test of practical politics. The ensuing dilemma between standards and reality, its protest image and government policy often threatens to tear these parties apart. Taking four protest parties involved in government in Germany as an example, the following questions will be examined: What turns a party into a protest party? What were the reasons for the electoral successes of the Greens, the AL, the STATT party and the Schill party? What took place during the coalition negotiations? What demands were the protest parties successfully able to push through against their large coalition partners? On which points did they have to give in? What plans for reform were developed and which of them were actually implemented? What internal conflicts emerged within these parties after their role as protest parties changed? The final analysis comes to the following conclusion: Protest parties do not fail because of a narrow-minded programme, lack of electoral support or inexperienced staff, but because their very nature causes them to fall into the “expectation trap”.