Thesis advisor: Kathleen Bailey / This paper seeks to address the inclusion of Kuwaiti women as political actors. Kuwait held elections on May 16, 2009, and Moussoma al-Mubarak, Rola Dashti, Aseel al-Awadhi, and Salwa al-Jassar became the first women elected to the National Assembly. This victory occurred on the fourth anniversary of female enfranchisement in Kuwait. In an attempt to account for variations among the number of women in parliament in Kuwait by drawing on research from the field of descriptive representation, I found that the year of female suffrage, the religion of Islam, Kuwait’s cultural implications of gender-equality, the peculiarities of Kuwait’s electoral system, and timing and framing to be particularly important in the case of Kuwait. A consideration of substantive representation is also relevant to Kuwait, as early signs of involvement of the women members of Parliament indicate that women’s interests are on the political agenda in Kuwait. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science.

Many scholars believe in order to have democratic legitimacy, females should be represented in governing bodies at all levels. Significant literature on female descriptive representation in the U.S. for women’s policy responsiveness confirms the importance between the percentage of females in the legislature and public policy that represents women’s interests. At the same time, there is research suggesting female representatives do not always represent women’s interests. This study examined female descriptive representation and incorporation and its effect on substantive representation of female group salient issues and answered the following research question: Does an increase in female descriptive representation, institutional mechanisms of influence, or other political conditional factors lead to better substantive representation of female group salient issues? This research project replicated Robert Preuhs’ 2006 work by studying the conditional effects of female descriptive representation in the state legislature from 1983-2002. The study is important because it turns to state level data and accounts for all mechanisms of influence, as well as conditional effects of a liberal governing coalition, to determine whether female descriptive representation exerts policy influence. Five theoretical models were presented and tested in this work: The Presence Model, the Simple Incorporation Model, the Specific Institutional Incorporation Model, The Broad Institutional Incorporation Model, and The Party as a Substantive Representative Model. The dependent variables selected were per pupil educational expenditures, percentage of children without health insurance, welfare benefits, and percentage of child support collected. An OLS model with a lagged dependent variable and panel correlated standard errors was used to estimate the coefficients for each dependent variable. Female descriptive representation and incorporation did have some influence on substantive representation with welfare benefits and percentage of child support collected. The female influence is important and increasing the number of females in the legislature will result in more policy and benefits for issues important to women in society. However, examining the issues in a different way or with different dependent variables may provide better results indicating the importance of female descriptive representation on substantive representation of female group salient issues.

It is generally accepted among scholars that increases in descriptive representation result in increases in substantive representation. Although women's descriptive representation has increased in recent years, women are still underrepresented in politics. One reason for women's underrepresentation is that female candidates must overcome additional barriers in order to get elected, including on the low number of women in the pipeline to elected office, party gatekeeping, women's lower levels of political ambition, and voters' negative gender stereotypes about female candidates. Changes in women's descriptive representation and recent salience of women-friendly policies, such as abortion and paid maternity leave, has caused me to investigate whether implementation of these women-friendly policies result in an increase in women's descriptive representation. I assert that women-friendly policies reduce the barriers women must overcome to get elected to office. Specifically, the presence of more women-friendly abortion and paid maternity leave policies will result in an increase in women's descriptive representation at the state level. I find partial support for a relationship between these women-friendly policies and higher levels of women's descriptive representation. State-level abortion protections are associated with higher levels of women's descriptive representation in the state legislature.

Ao percorrer a trajetória do conceito de autoria na sociedade e, em particular, em diferentes áreas do conhecimento científico, verifica-se que este ganhou destaque durante a Modernidade e, a partir deste período, vem sofrendo alterações sucessivas. Em meio aos debates constantes sobre a -autoria? em diferentes áreas do conhecimento, é importante desenvolver pesquisas integrando o contexto da natureza social à representação documental. Trata-se de uma investigação exploratória e teórica, pautada nas pesquisas bibliográfica, documental, histórica e comparativa, que tem como objeto de estudo o conceito de autoria e de autor na representação documental, através dos códigos de catalogação adotados para a representação descritiva no Brasil, a saber: as Normas para catalogação de impressos, mais conhecidas como Código da Vaticana, o Código de catalogação anglo-americano (CCAA ou AACR) e Resource description and access (RDA). Como o autor é representado nos registros bibliográficos conforme as orientações pré-estabelecidas nos códigos de catalogação, reflexões acerca da autoria e sua forma de representação são fundamentais para se criar vínculos entre os registros bibliográficos, entre os documentos e para os usuários. Reflexões teóricas acerca de questões socioculturais e a representação documental buscam ir além da visão tecnicista e atribuir uma função social à representação descritiva, capaz de mobilizar uma sociedade do conhecimento, provendo acesso ao documento, respeitando as particularidades de seus usuários e, consequentemente, contribuindo para a representação, circulação, uso e produção de novos conhecimentos. / Analyzing the trajectory of the concept of authorship in society and, in particular, in different areas of scientific knowledge, one can conclude that it rose to prominence during Modernity and, from this period on, has been going through continuous change. Amidst constant debates about -authorship? in diverse areas of knowledge, it is important that research be carried out to integrate the context of social nature and documental representation. It is about an exploratory, theoretical investigation, based on bibliographic, documental, historical and comparative research whose object of study is the concept of authorship and of author in documental representation, by means of cataloguing codes adopted by descriptive representation in Brazil, namely: the Rules for the catalog of printed books, better known as Vatican code, the Anglo-American cataloguing rules (AACR) and Resource description and access (RDA). As the author is represented in the bibliographic records according to guidelines established in the cataloguing codes, reflections about authorship and its form of representation are instrumental for links to be created between bibliographic records, documents and users. Theoretical reflections about sociocultural issues and documental representation seek to go beyond the technicist view and assign a social function to the descriptive representation, thus being able of mobilizing a knowledge society by providing access to documents, respecting particularities of users and, consequently, contributing to the representation, circulation, use and production of new knowledge.

Orientador: Plácida Leopoldina V. A. da Costa Santos / Banca: Mariângela Spotti Lopes Fujita / Banca: Marcos Luíz Mucheroni / Resumo: A informação é essencial neste limiar do Século XXI, assim como sua transmissão. A catalogação descritiva, como área da Biblioteconomia responsável por transmitir as informações contidas em acervos de qualquer natureza, por meio da construção de formas de representação, deve acompanhar a evolução das necessidades dos usuários. Esta constatação preocupa especialistas da área. A padronização, na representação das informações e documentos é imprescindível e também o objeto de trabalho da catalogação descritiva como forma de garantia do intercâmbio de registros bibliográficos. A preocupação cresce com a rapidez com que as informações são geradas e disponibilizadas em diferentes formas. Este trabalho propõe-se a analisar o estado da arte do esquema Resource Description and Access (RDA) elaborado pela International Federation of Libraries Associations (IFLA), para uso de catalogadores e bases de dados bibliográficos. A análise baseia-se em pesquisas bibliográficas on-line. A evolução da catalogação e seus códigos de regras; a influência das tecnologias nos meios de comunicação, especificamente na troca de informações bibliográficas; a compatibilidade de conceitos visando a comunicação eficiente entre máquina, catalogador e informações codificadas para atendimento dos usuários foram utilizadas para a construção da parte histórica do trabalho. O estudo do RDA foi elaborado reunindo-se as necessidades informacionais, a catalogação descritiva e o novo esquema para compreender sua abrangência e a sua possível aceitação internacional, como uma forma de possibilitar o controle bibliográfico e ampliar o acesso e uso das informações disponíveis nos mais diversos ambientes informacionais. O RDA, por ser um esquema em fase de elaboração somente pode ser analisado do ponto de vista teórico. Nossa análise verificou que o RDA é um esquema eficaz, por aliar a teoria à prática. / Abstract: Information and its transmission are essentials at the threshold of the XXI century Descriptive cataloging being an area of the Library Science is responsible for transmitting information existing inside of holdings of all types. This is made by building forms of representation and must follow the evolution of the needs of users. This affirmation worries specialists of the area. Standardization is indispensable in the representation of information and documents and it is also the aim of descriptive cataloging work; it is a grant for the exchange of bibliographic records. The worry increases as fast as the creation of new information available in different forms. The goal of this work is to analyze the state-of-the art of the standard "Resource Description and Access (RDA)" developed by the International Federation of Libraries Associations (IFLA) for catalogers and workers in bibliographic database. This work is founded in on-line bibliographic researches. The building of the historic of this work was based in the following factors: evolution of cataloging and its codes of rules; influence of technology in the communication media specifically in the exchange of bibliographic information; compatibility of concepts to reach an efficient communication between machine, cataloger and coded information to attend the user. This study of RDA was elaborated getting together the informational needs, the descriptive cataloging and the new standard, in order to understand its scope and if it is possible the international acceptance of it, as a form of bibliographic control as well as a way to enlarge the access and use of information available in the most different informational environments. Since RDA is a standard that is being developed, it may only be studied at the theoretical point of view. We verified that RDA is an effective standard since it links theory and practice. / Mestre

Ao percorrer a trajetória do conceito de autoria na sociedade e, em particular, em diferentes áreas do conhecimento científico, verifica-se que este ganhou destaque durante a Modernidade e, a partir deste período, vem sofrendo alterações sucessivas. Em meio aos debates constantes sobre a -autoria? em diferentes áreas do conhecimento, é importante desenvolver pesquisas integrando o contexto da natureza social à representação documental. Trata-se de uma investigação exploratória e teórica, pautada nas pesquisas bibliográfica, documental, histórica e comparativa, que tem como objeto de estudo o conceito de autoria e de autor na representação documental, através dos códigos de catalogação adotados para a representação descritiva no Brasil, a saber: as Normas para catalogação de impressos, mais conhecidas como Código da Vaticana, o Código de catalogação anglo-americano (CCAA ou AACR) e Resource description and access (RDA). Como o autor é representado nos registros bibliográficos conforme as orientações pré-estabelecidas nos códigos de catalogação, reflexões acerca da autoria e sua forma de representação são fundamentais para se criar vínculos entre os registros bibliográficos, entre os documentos e para os usuários. Reflexões teóricas acerca de questões socioculturais e a representação documental buscam ir além da visão tecnicista e atribuir uma função social à representação descritiva, capaz de mobilizar uma sociedade do conhecimento, provendo acesso ao documento, respeitando as particularidades de seus usuários e, consequentemente, contribuindo para a representação, circulação, uso e produção de novos conhecimentos. / Analyzing the trajectory of the concept of authorship in society and, in particular, in different areas of scientific knowledge, one can conclude that it rose to prominence during Modernity and, from this period on, has been going through continuous change. Amidst constant debates about -authorship? in diverse areas of knowledge, it is important that research be carried out to integrate the context of social nature and documental representation. It is about an exploratory, theoretical investigation, based on bibliographic, documental, historical and comparative research whose object of study is the concept of authorship and of author in documental representation, by means of cataloguing codes adopted by descriptive representation in Brazil, namely: the Rules for the catalog of printed books, better known as Vatican code, the Anglo-American cataloguing rules (AACR) and Resource description and access (RDA). As the author is represented in the bibliographic records according to guidelines established in the cataloguing codes, reflections about authorship and its form of representation are instrumental for links to be created between bibliographic records, documents and users. Theoretical reflections about sociocultural issues and documental representation seek to go beyond the technicist view and assign a social function to the descriptive representation, thus being able of mobilizing a knowledge society by providing access to documents, respecting particularities of users and, consequently, contributing to the representation, circulation, use and production of new knowledge.

This research aims to understand how black descriptive representation comes about and why black descriptive representation matters, at the state level. What distinguishes this research from previous works is its simultaneous analysis of different forms of descriptive representation at the subnational level, rather than in Congress or at the local level. This research argues black descriptive representation can take four different forms: dyadic, collective, parity and caucus. An important and understudied mechanism for black descriptive representation is the formation of state legislative black caucuses and their potential to influence policy and behavior. Subnational descriptive representation need not have negative tradeoffs for black substantive policy representation, as has been found with minority representation in Congress (Lublin 1997). Black representation is akin to a diamond, and looking at it from only one perspective is similar to judging a diamond only by its color, instead of also judging it by its hardness and fluorescence, as well as its clarity, shape, and size. In short, this work recognizes the multifaceted nature of black representation in the states. This research defines a theory of black descriptive representation as taking four different forms: dyadic, collective, parity, and caucus. Dyadic descriptive representation is the one-to-one relationship between a legislator and a voter, and heretofore it has received the most scholarly attention. This one-to-one relationship may occur between a minority citizen and their elected representation in Congress, in the state legislature, or in local government (Bobo and Gilliam 1990; Barreto, Segura, and Woods 2004), but this work focuses on dyadic descriptive representation in Congress. Although some argue that dyadic descriptive representation leads to better policy outcomes for blacks (Whitby 1997; Hutchings, McClerking, and Charles 2004), and encourages blacks to engage in politics (Gay 2001; Gay 2002; Tate 2003; Banducci, Donovan, and Karp 2004; Griffin and Keane 2006), others argue that dyadic descriptive representation is not only unnecessary to implement policies beneficial to blacks (Swain 1993), but also that it may actually lead to poorer policy outcomes for the group (Lublin 1997). That is, there is a tradeoff between increasing the number of black representatives (descriptive representation) and passing policies beneficial to the group (substantive representation). Collective descriptive representation is the relationship that an individual has with elected officials with whom they share a group identity. For blacks, collective descriptive representation may include the percentage of black lawmakers in the state legislature or Congress. An argument developed in this research is that collective descriptive representation in the state legislature, a topic rarely studied by scholars of race and ethnicity, may maximize both descriptive and substantive representation, and as a result, it may encourage black political behavior and lead to better policy outcomes for the group. Both parity and caucus descriptive representation are extensions of collective descriptive representation in the state legislature. Parity descriptive representation examines the extent to which the percentage of blacks in the state legislature is equal to a state's black population and is a measure of racial equity in electoral representation. Caucus descriptive representation is the formal organization of black lawmakers within a state legislature. Almost no published research has empirically studied legislative black caucuses in the states (for an exception see King-Meadows and Schaller 2006). Since the four forms of descriptive representation are distinct, the expectation is that they be caused by different factors. Moreover, this research builds on previous work by measuring and defining collective descriptive representation in all fifty states and is the first research to argue that state legislative black caucuses shape political behavior.

Various questions regarding Latinos’ descriptive representation in the mayoralty are examined in this dissertation including: Where and why are Latino mayors elected? Why do Latino mayoral candidates emerge and win? And, is there is a link between Latino ethnicity and electoral outcomes in municipal elections? The empirical results of a cross-sectional analysis of U.S. cities from 1981-2006 suggest that institutions such as term limits and mayor-council governments influence the representation of Latinos in the mayoralty. These effects, however, are conditioned by Latinos’ numerical strength in a city – which suggests that Latino descriptive representation in the mayoralty is largely a function of population size. Despite the prominence of this factor, the results further reveal that Latinos need to swell the ranks of the city council to provide a steady supply of qualified Latino candidates to ultimately win the mayoralty. An analysis of 648 mayoral elections in 113 cities in the Southwest further tests theories of Latino candidate emergence and success based on city-level factors – that supply elections with Latino candidates – as well as strategic factors in elections – that influence Latino candidates’ cost-benefit decision calculus. The results reveal a combined effect of supply and strategy on candidate emergence and success. For example, in cities where Latinos are sizeable (+40 percent) and the electoral context is more competitive (i.e., where turnout is high, more candidates are on the ballot, and when incumbents are not vying for reelection), Latino candidates are more likely to emerge. A similar pattern occurs with regard to the success of Latino candidates except that the individual candidate’s previous political experience is particularly influential in improving their chances of winning. Given the theoretical expectation regarding the impact of ethnicity on electoral outcomes in municipal elections, I also examine whether Latino ethnicity shapes turnout rates and the margin of victory. Latino ethnicity is not statistically associated with these outcomes. However, other factors such as the election timing and the type of election (i.e., runoff election, open seat) seem to be more influential. In sum, the research here examines various aspects of Latino representation in the mayoralty that is the most comprehensive to date.

Although Asian Americans have the highest growth rate, their electoral participation does not commensurate with their numerical strength. This research explores the causes of Asian Americans' low level of electoral participation. I argue that acculturation presents barriers for Asian Americans to exert their political power. This project combined a survey-based experiment on and in-depth interviews with Asian Americans in Austin, in addition to existing data (CPS and the PNAAPS). I first estimate the effects of socioeconomic status on turnout across racial and ethnic groups. The results demonstrate that while education and income have limited effects on Asian American turnout at the aggregate level, their positive influence on turnout still holds for Asian Americans at the individual level, though the effect varies by nativity. Furthermore, education and income effects on turnout are greatest among Whites. The differences of these effects between Whites and Asians are especially prominent among the higher socioeconomic stratum. I next find that acculturation experiences, group connectedness, and hybrid identity elevate levels of turnout among Asian Americans. Those who are more residentially stable and sense shared Asian culture are more likely to vote, while the Asian-born are less likely to vote. In addition, experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination are likely to turn Asians away from their American-ness, while shared cultural commonality helps to foster the "Asian American" identity. Last, the experiment results suggest that a lack of ethnic cues for Asian Americans may have contributed to their low turnout rates: Asian American voters value descriptive representation, and ethnic cues effectively operate among them, especially the less politically engaged. While voters' support for a coethnic candidate is evident in the study, the evidence of their cross- or pan-ethnic support is limited. The project provides a window into the political incorporation of immigrant populations. The study speaks to the literature on political participation, racial/ethnic politics and identity politics. In addition, the findings broaden our understanding of minority political behavior, and the process by which immigrant populations incorporate into American political system, a promise of democratic representation. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-02-06Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:55:06Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 correa_rmr_me_mar.pdf: 280516 bytes, checksum: 216222ad82d3401a2b10e3a13169b6a9 (MD5) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / A informação é essencial neste limiar do Século XXI, assim como sua transmissão. A catalogação descritiva, como área da Biblioteconomia responsável por transmitir as informações contidas em acervos de qualquer natureza, por meio da construção de formas de representação, deve acompanhar a evolução das necessidades dos usuários. Esta constatação preocupa especialistas da área. A padronização, na representação das informações e documentos é imprescindível e também o objeto de trabalho da catalogação descritiva como forma de garantia do intercâmbio de registros bibliográficos. A preocupação cresce com a rapidez com que as informações são geradas e disponibilizadas em diferentes formas. Este trabalho propõe-se a analisar o estado da arte do esquema Resource Description and Access (RDA) elaborado pela International Federation of Libraries Associations (IFLA), para uso de catalogadores e bases de dados bibliográficos. A análise baseia-se em pesquisas bibliográficas on-line. A evolução da catalogação e seus códigos de regras; a influência das tecnologias nos meios de comunicação, especificamente na troca de informações bibliográficas; a compatibilidade de conceitos visando a comunicação eficiente entre máquina, catalogador e informações codificadas para atendimento dos usuários foram utilizadas para a construção da parte histórica do trabalho. O estudo do RDA foi elaborado reunindo-se as necessidades informacionais, a catalogação descritiva e o novo esquema para compreender sua abrangência e a sua possível aceitação internacional, como uma forma de possibilitar o controle bibliográfico e ampliar o acesso e uso das informações disponíveis nos mais diversos ambientes informacionais. O RDA, por ser um esquema em fase de elaboração somente pode ser analisado do ponto de vista teórico. Nossa análise verificou que o RDA é um esquema eficaz, por aliar a teoria à prática. / Information and its transmission are essentials at the threshold of the XXI century Descriptive cataloging being an area of the Library Science is responsible for transmitting information existing inside of holdings of all types. This is made by building forms of representation and must follow the evolution of the needs of users. This affirmation worries specialists of the area. Standardization is indispensable in the representation of information and documents and it is also the aim of descriptive cataloging work; it is a grant for the exchange of bibliographic records. The worry increases as fast as the creation of new information available in different forms. The goal of this work is to analyze the state-of-the art of the standard “Resource Description and Access (RDA)” developed by the International Federation of Libraries Associations (IFLA) for catalogers and workers in bibliographic database. This work is founded in on-line bibliographic researches. The building of the historic of this work was based in the following factors: evolution of cataloging and its codes of rules; influence of technology in the communication media specifically in the exchange of bibliographic information; compatibility of concepts to reach an efficient communication between machine, cataloger and coded information to attend the user. This study of RDA was elaborated getting together the informational needs, the descriptive cataloging and the new standard, in order to understand its scope and if it is possible the international acceptance of it, as a form of bibliographic control as well as a way to enlarge the access and use of information available in the most different informational environments. Since RDA is a standard that is being developed, it may only be studied at the theoretical point of view. We verified that RDA is an effective standard since it links theory and practice.