<p>This dissertation identifies an important strategy the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses to manage crisis events online: the entertainment-oriented narrative. It appears in three forms: (1) likening the reality to an unreal TV show or a fictional scene; (2) using cute emojis and anthropomorphism to represent crisis-related concepts; and (3) framing the country as a pop star (idol) and encourage citizens to defend it regardless. The CCP uses these tactics to trivialize the importance of crises, deflect public criticism, and discourage the public from critical thinking. Case studies show that this strategy has become a regular practice of the government that worked effectively when the crises do not seriously and massively affect local citizens' lives.</p>

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / How much emphasis is afforded to the role of soft power has significant implications for the study of hegemony and predictions regarding the future of US hegemony and the rise of China as a hegemon. The fact that much mainstream work (particularly neorealism) continues to neglect the role of soft power in international relations is seen as a disturbing shortcoming. This study wishes to address this perceived shortcoming by exploring the role of ‘soft power’ as an integral non-material aspect of hegemony by focusing on the perspectives of selected authors (Cox, Nye, Waltz, Keohane), and applying them to the cases of the United States of America and China. It is contended that there is a need for a shift of emphasis in International Relations (IR)- away from the hard power centric analysis towards a ‘soft power’ analysis that focuses on ideas. This study further argues that recognising the importance of the role of ‘soft power’ will result in a more effective analysis and understanding of hegemony in the international system. This is not to disregard ‘hard power’ as an aspect of hegemony, but rather to emphasise ‘soft power’ as it is often neglected or underscored by scholars in their analysis of hegemony and power structures within international relations. The United States of America is a prime example of how ‘soft power’ can help a state to prevent decline through consensus and alliance formation. The Chinese on the other hand have become increasingly aware of the importance of soft power– whilst the US have recently neglected it as a sustaining capability for hegemony. Thus China is growing and nurturing its ‘soft power’ capabilities in order to create an image of a benevolent super power, whilst the US is increasingly being perceived as malevolent- which is not conducive to hegemony in the international system. It is argued that if the Chinese can attain ideological dominance within the global structure, they could become the new hegemon.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Democracy is understood by many to be a government for the people by the people. As far as academic or scholarly traditions are concerned however, this is a rather populist depiction of the concept. According to the intellectual tradition, democracy is such when a system of governance meets several conditions. For the purpose of this study, the institutionalist tradition or theory of democracy which sees democracy as being dependent on institutions of contestation (elections) and participation (parliament) as well as others, is an important variable. However, the very same theory on democracy is not limited to institutions as the sole requirements for democracy. For the economic determinists, the point is that whilst institutions are important for democracy, they are not sufficient. In order for there to be such, favourable socio-economic conditions are important as well and these include affluence amongst other issues. The scientific orientation of this study being comparative, it seeks to take both the institutionalist variable of elections and the economic determinist variable of affluence as operational measures of the state of democracy in South Africa and Zimbabwe. As an additional operationalisation, the issue of civil and political liberties as per Freedom House classifications is also investigated in a similar comparative manner. The outcomes of the study show that at an electoral level, South Africa's model of proportional representation in the seat allocation system gives minorities a voice as opposed to Zimbabwe's fast past the post system based on the winner takes all principle. It was also established that the electoral machinery in Zimbabwe is more chaotically arranged and thus susceptible to abuse than in South Africa. At a socio-economic level, conditions have also been found to be a lot more favourable to the consolidation of democracy in South Africa than in Zimbabwe because of a wide array of issues, the most serious one being the declining income patterns for the average Zimbabwean as compared to the South African. Though the issue of high income inequality in South Africa should be highlighted as a threat, it should also be noted that in Zimbabwe, the apparent disrespect of the rule of law has an added negative implication for Zimbabwe as Freedom House has highlighted the declining of the country from partly free of 3.4 in 1980 to a partly free of 6.5 in 2000. The overall analysis comes to the conclusion that given the findings above, it seems South Africa's democracy can still hold stronger given an accelerated equitable distribution of wealth whilst for Zimbabwe, the revitalisation of democracy needs to start from the re-engineering of institutions to the regeneration of the concept of respect for the rule of law. Thus the comparison seems to show a democracy better suited for consolidation than the other. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Demokrasie word deur talle verstaan as regering van die volk deur die volk. Hierdie is egter 'n populêre voorstelling van die konsep. Volgens intellektuele tradisies, moet 'n demokrasie aan sekere vereistes voldoen. Vir die doel van hierdie studie, word die institusionele denke aanvaar wat die demokrasie as afhanklik van sulke instellings soos mededinging (verkiesings) en deelname ('n parlement) beskou. Dieselfde denke beklemtoon ook dat instellings nie die enigste vereistes is me, byvoorbeeld vir ekonomiese deterministe, is instellings nodig maar nie genoegsaam nie. Dit beteken dat gunstige sosio-ekonomiese toestande ook moet geld, spesifieke relatiewe hoë welvaartspeile. Die wetenskaplike orientasie van hierdie studie is vergelykend. Dit vergelyk sowel ekonomiese as institusionele kriteria, asook twee state, Suid-Afrika en Zimbabwe. 'n Addisionele saak word ook geoperasionaliseer, te wete burgerlike vryhede en politieke regte. Hier word Freedom House se klassifikasies aanvaar. Die studie toon dat op die vlak van verkiesings, Suid-Afrika se proporsionele verteenwoordigingstelsel kleiner partye en minderheidspartye verteenwoordiging bied, teenoor Zimbabwe se wenner-vat-alles-stelsel. Die Zimbabwiese stelsel was meer vatbaar vir wanbestuur en onvrye en onregverdige verkiesings. Op die sosio-ekonomiese vlakke is toestande vir die konsolidasie van demokrasie in Suid-Afrika veel beter as in Zimbabwe, waarvan die vernaamste die afname in welvaartspeile in Zimbabwe is. Hierteenoor is die styging van ongelykheidsvlakke in Suid-Afrika 'n negatiewe faktor. In Suid-Afrika is vryheidsindekse van Freedom House egter steeds op 'n hoë vlak, terwyl die Zimbabwiese vlakke drasties agteruitgaan, byvoorbeeld vanaf 3.4 in 1980 tot 'n onvrye vlak van 6.5 in 2000 waar 'n punt van 7 totaal onvry is. Die konklusie is dat demokrasie in Suid-Afrika konsolideerbaar is, terwyl Zimbabwe ook instellings sal moet red van ondergang. Die herstel van regsoewereiniteit kan 'n beginpunt wees. Die vergelykings wys dus uit dat Suid-Afrika veel beter daaraan toe is as Zimbabwe.

Party membership levels in the new democracies of central and east European were predicted to remain universally low, stymied by post-communist legacies, the availability of state funding and the prevalence of mass media communications (van Biezen, 2003; Kopeck&yacute;, 2007). However, more than two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, membership levels vary considerably between countries, and also between individual parties within party systems. Using freshly gathered party membership data, elite surveys and interviews, this thesis explores a number of institutional hypotheses to test whether, as in western democracies, electoral institutions influence how parties organise and campaign. This thesis finds that national electoral systems, municipal electoral rules and business funding regulations have an observable impact on how parties use their members. In particular, 'decentralised' electoral systems encourage greater involvement of members in voter contacting and other small campaign tasks. This thesis concludes that, contrary to the dominant literature, the availability of state funding has little impact on party membership recruitment. Instead, central and east European parties' attitudes to members are shaped by a complex interaction of institutional, cultural, ideological and strategic factors.

This PhD thesis compares Egypt and Syria’s authoritarian political systems. While the tendency in social science political research treats Egypt and Syria as similarly authoritarian, this research emphasizes differences between the two systems with special reference to institutions and co-optation. Rather than reducibly understanding Egypt and Syria as sharing similar histories, institutional arrangements, or ascribing to the oft-repeated convention that “Syria is Egypt but 10 years behind,” this thesis focuses on how events and individual histories shaped each states current institutional strengthens and weaknesses. Specifically, it explains the how varying institutional politicization or de-politicization affects each state’s capabilities for co-opting elite and non-elite individuals. Beginning with a theoretical framework that considers the limited utility of democratization and transition theoretical approaches, the work underscores the persistence and durability of authoritarianism. Chapter two details the politicized institutional divergence between Egypt and Syria that began in the 1970s. Chapter three and four examines how institutional politicization or de-politicization affects elite and non-elite individual co-optation in Egypt and Syria. Chapter five discusses the study’s general conclusions and theoretical implications. This thesis’s argument is that Egypt and Syria co-opt elites and non-elites differently because of the varying degrees of institutional politicization in each governance system. Rather than view one country as more politically developed than the other, this work argues that Syria’s political institutions are more politicized than their Egyptian counterparts. Syria’s political arena is, thus, described as politicized-patrimonialism. Syria’s politicized-patrimonial arena produces uneven co-optation of elites and non-elites as they are diffused through competing institutions. Conversely, the Egyptian political arena remains highly personalized as weak institutions and individuals are manipulated and molded according to the president’s ruling clique. This is referred to as personalized-patrimonialism. As a consequence, Egypt’s political establishment demonstrates more flexibility in ad hoc altering and adapting its arena depending on the emergence of crises. This study’s theoretical implications suggest that, contrary to modernization and democratization theory’s adage that institutions lead to a political development, politicized institutions within a patrimonial order actually hinder regime adaptation because consensus is harder to achieve and maintain. It is within this context that Egypt’s de-politicized institutional framework advantages its top political elite. In this reading of Egyptian and Syrian politics, Egypt’s personalized political arena is more adaptable than Syria’s. These conclusions do not indicate that political reform is a process underway in either state.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Heidelberg. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-213).

The aim of this research is to evaluate the efficiency of service delivery in specific communities, namely Wards 22 and 36, in order to assess whether residents of those communities understand the service delivery process and whether there is enough communication and relationship within the councillors and residents. It is aimed at looking at the relationship between ward councillors and the residents of the community that they are given to represent. Service delivery is something that South Africa has been battling with for years. As much as there is progress within our country, a lot still needs to be done in order to satisfy the citizens of this country. That is where the purpose of this research thus come in, it looks at what the municipality has done to assist its people in matters that are urgent, such as housing, running water and electricity, to name a few. As stated above, this research looks at the implementation, or lack thereof of the municipality, on things that they had said they would attend to in the two wards, ward 22 and ward 36.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: All the countries in the world at one or another stage undergo reform or transformation primarily for political reasons and/or to adapt to the challenges and demands placed on the national governments by their electorate or populace. The type of reforms, that is, centralised or decentralised which are implemented in turn is dependent on the political conditions that prevail in a country as well as its system of government. Any reforms which take place, whether in a developed or developing country, will have an impact on its political system as well as governmental structures which in turn will influence the intergovernmental relations in that country. Thus, any reforms implemented in a country with a centralised system of government will result in the weakening of the position of the national government in terms of power and functions. Conversely, reforms introduced in a country with a decentralised system of government will invariably strengthen the national government and weaken the lower levels of government in terms of legislation and executive power and functions. For the purpose of this dissertation, the following criteria have been identified for comparison in respect of the decentralised reforms which have been implemented in the selected developed and developing countries, namely: • political system; • local political structure; • local functions; and • local finance. The decentralised reforms which have taken place in the selected countries since the 1960's were evaluated individually in respect of the aforementioned criteria, whereupon a comparative evaluation was made between South Africa and the developing countries, namely, Botswana and Nigeria, as well as between South Africa and the selected developed countries, namely, Britain and the United States of America. The foregoing evaluations infer alia revealed that decentralisation was implemented in the selected countries in various degrees or forms, namely, deconcentration, delegation, devolution and privatisation, the latter form by way of contracting out and/or by local authorities playing an enabling or facilitating role in respect of the provision of facilities and services. Flowing from the evaluations, an integrated approach was followed to formulate an effective system of local government for South Africa with regard to the four criteria identified for the study, bearing in mind infer alia that South Africa is an advanced developing country, which in turn has an impact on the extent of the decentralised reforms which can practically be implemented. The macro organisational decentralised reform proposals regarding the political system in South Africa entail: • the separation of the legislative and the executive; • the granting of greater guaranteed autonomy to the provincial and local governments; and • the provision of local charters and listing of municipalities in the Constitution of 1996. Turning to the local political structure, a decentralised two tier structure is proposed for metropolitan areas, a three tier structure for non-metropolitan areas, that is, the districts as well as the establishment of land boards in tribal areas and the appointment of commissioners in the districts to facilitate development planning and to eo-ordinate the activities of the provincial and local government agencies. With regard to the third criteria identified for the study, various functions are proposed to either be devolved or delegated to the local sphere of government, the functions to be executed by the different tiers of local government within the context of the decentralisation, functions which should be eontracted out by local government and in respect of which functions private-public partnerships should be established with relevant bodies or organisations. Finally, additional sources of revenue are proposed for municipalities in both the metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, the increase in the rate of certain levies and taxes, the transfer of certain taxes between the tiers of local government, the introduction of a hybrid system of local government finance and for an integrated plan to be developed for the management of public finance. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: AI die lande in die wêreld ondergaan op een of ander tydstip hervorming en transformasie hoofsaaklik vir politieke redes en/of om aan te pas by die vereistes en uitdagings wat op nationale regerings deur die bevolking of kiesers geplaas word. Die soort hervorming, dit wel sê, sentralisasie of desentralisasie wat geïmplementeer word, is op sy beurt afhanklik van die politieke toestande wat in 'n land heers, asook die land se stelsel van regering. Enige hervormings wat plaasvind, hetsy in 'n ontwikkelde of ontwikkelende land, sal 'n impak hê op sy politieke stelsel asook owerheidstrukture wat weer op sy beurt 'n invloed sal hê op die interowerheidsverhoudinge in daardie land. Derhalwe, enige hervorming wat in 'n land met 'n gesentraliseerde stelsel van regering geïmplementeer word, sal die posisie van die nasionale regering verswak in terme van magte en funksies. Daarenteen, sal enige hervormings wat in 'n land met 'n gedesentraliseerde stelsel van regering geïmplementeer word, die posisie van die nasionale regering in terme van wetgewende en uitvoerende magte en funksies, versterk en dié van die laer vlakke van regering verswak. Vir die doel van hierdie verhandeling, is die volgende kriteria geïdentifiseer vir vergelyking met betrekking tot die desentralisering hervormings wat geïmplementeer is in die geïdentifiseerde ontwikkelde en ontwikkelende lande, naamlik: • politieke stelsel; • plaaslike politieke struktuur; • plaaslike funksies; en • plaaslike finansies. Die desentralisering hervormings wat in die geïdentifiseerde lande sedert die 1960's plaasgevind het, is individueel ge-evalueer met betrekking tot bogenoemde kriteria, waarna 'n vergelykende evaluasie tussen Suid-Afrika en die geïdentifiseerde ontwikkelende lande, naamlik, Botswana en Nigerië, asook tussen Suid-Afrika en die geïdentifiseerde ontwikkelde lande, naamlik, Brittanje en die Verenigde State van Amerika, gemaak is. Die voorafgaande evaluasies het onder andere aan die lig gebring dat desentralisasie in die geïdentifiseerde lande in verskeie grade of vorms geïmplementeer was, naamlik, dekonsentrasie, delegasie, devolusie en privatisering, die laasgenoemde vorm deur middel van uitkontraktering en/of deur plaaslike owerhede wat 'n ondersteunende of fasiliterende rol speel met betrekking tot die voorsiening van geriewe en dienste. Voortspruitend uit die evaluasies, is 'n geïntegreerde benadering gevolg om 'n effektiewe stelsel van plaaslike regering vir Suid-Afrika te formuleer met verwysing na die vier kriteria wat vir die studie geïdentifiseer is, met inagneming inter alia van die feit dat Suid-Afrika 'n gevorderde ontwikkelende land is, wat op sy beurt 'n impak het op die omvang van die gedesentraliseerde hervorming wat prakties geïmplementeer kan word. Die makro-organisatoriese gedesentraliseerde hervormingsvoorstelle betreffende die politiese stelsel in Suid-Afrika behels: • die skeiding tussen die regsprekende en die uitvoerende magte; • die toekenning van groter gewaarborgde outonomie aan die provinsiale en plaaslike regerings; en • die voorsiening van selfbeskikkingshandveste en notering van munisipaliteite in die Grondwet van 1996. Met verwysing na die plaaslike politieke struktuur, word 'n gedesentraliseerde twee-vlak struktuur vir metropolitaanse gebiede voorgestel, en 'n drie-vlak struktuur vir nie metropolitaanse gebiede, dit wil sê vir distrikte sowel as die vestiging van landelike rade in stamgebiede en die aanstelling van kommissarisse in distrikte om ontwikkelingsbeplanning te fasiliteer en om die aktiwiteite van die provinsiale en plaaslike regeringsagentskappe te koordineer. Met verwysing na die derde kriteria wat vir die studie geïdentifiseer is, word verskeie funksies voorgestel wat op die plaaslike sfeer van regering afgewentel of gedelegeer kan word, funksies wat deur die verskillende vlakke van plaaslike regering binne die konteks van desentralisasie uitgevoer kan word, funksies wat deur die plaaslike regering uitgekontrakteer kan word en met verwysing na funksies waar privaat-publieke vennootskappe met betrokke liggame en organisasies gestig behoort te word. Ter afsluiting word addisionele bronne van inkomste vir munisipaliteite voorgestel in beide metropolitaanse en nie-metropolitaanse gebiede, die verhoging van die skaal van bepaalde heffings en belastings, die oordra van bepaalde belastings tussen die vlakke van plaaslike regering, die instelling van 'n gemengde stelsel van munisipale finansies en 'n geïntegreerde plan wat vir die bestuur van openbare finansies ontwikkel kan word.