Thesis (M.Phil.)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The democratic order is still in its early evolutionary stages in South Africa. Although the success of the 1994 democratic elections kindled hope for a promising future, democracy needs to be safeguarded if it is to develop in South Africa. Safeguarding a democracy requires a constant scrutiny of governing policies and procedures to ensure that they remain conducive to its positive development. Of fundamental importance to the transmission of democracy is an electoral system and its policies. Any electiongoverning policy that reduces public confidence in the electoral system is not conducive to the development of a democracy. This study analyses the policy of voter registration as it directly impacts on the format of an election. Since this policy is being applied for the first time in the short history legitimate democratic elections in South Africa, the study looks beyond the noble objectives as given by the policymakers. The lEC and the Government argue that the policy is aimed at improving the legitimacy of the electoral system by eliminating the ID related forms of electoral fraud. The significance of the study lies in its critical analysis of the actual policymaking process of this legislation, as well as its implementation. In order to assess the democratic legitimacy of the policymaking stage, the study takes a closer look at the roles of all the stakeholders in the policymaking process. Further, the study describes the constitutional controversies of the provisions of the policy, as well as its actual registration process. The understanding behind the latter description is that a policy is of no use if it cannot be implemented. In short, by describing, explaining and analysing the policy from its historical, legislative, and implementation phases, the study gives an insight into how this new policy relates to the development of the South African democracy. Although this study found no conclusive evidence of the negative impact of the policy on the outcome of the election, the nature of debates, the practical difficulties of implementation by the IEC, as well as the Court debates have all raised new questions that could require further analysis. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die demokratiese bewind in Suid-Afrika is tans nog in die vroeë stadia van ontwikkeling. Hoewel die sukses van die demokratiese verkiesings in 1994 die vertroue in die moontlikheid van 'n belowende toekoms laat styg het, moet voortdurend gewaak word teen afbreek van die demokrasie in Suid-Afrika, en ruimte gemaak word vir die verdere ontwikkeling daarvan. Die beveiliging van 'n demokrasie verg aanhoudende noukeurige beskouing van die regering se beleid, en die uitvoer daarvan, om te verseker dat dit die positiewe ontwikkeling van die demokrasie bevorder. Die verkiesingstelsel en beleid is van fundamentele belang vir die vestiging van demokrasie. 'n Beleid wat die algemene vertroue in die verkiesingstelsel benadeel, sal nie die ontwikkeling van enige demokrasie bevorder nie. Hierdie studie ontleed die direkte invloed van die kieserregistrasie-beleid op die formaat van die 1999 verkiesing. Aangesien hierdie beleid vir die eerste keer in die kort geskiedenis van Suid-Afrikaanse verkiesings toegepas word, kyk die studie verder as die edele doel beoog deur die skeppers van die beleid. Die OVK en die Regering beweer dat die beleid gerig is daarop om die regverdigheid van die verkiesingstelsel te verbeter deur die uitskakeling van ID-verbonde verkiesingsbedrog. Die studie is veral belangrik in die kritiese ontleding van die skeppingsproses van die beleid self, sowel as die implementering daarvan. Om die demokratiese regverdigheid van die skeppingstadium van die beleid te kan beoordeel, val die soeklig veralop die rol van alle deelnemers aan hierdie proses. Die grondwetlike probleme met dele van die beleid sowel as die registrasieproses word beskryf. Hierdie beskrywing word gedoen vanuit die oogpunt dat 'n beleid geen doel kan dien tensy dit geïmplementeer kan word nie. Kortliks, deur die beleid te beskryf, te verduidelik en te ontleed in sy historiese, wetgewende en implementeringsfases, gee die studie 'n insig in die verhouding van hierdie nuwe beleid tot die ontwikkeling van die Suid-Afrikaanse demokrasie. Hoewel geen afdoende bewyse van 'n negatiewe invloed van die beleid op die uitkoms van die verkiesing deur hierdie studie bewys is nie, is sake wat verdere ontleding kan verg geopper in verband met die aard van die besprekings om die beleid, die praktiese moeilikhede van implementering deur die OVK, asook die besprekings in die hof.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-08-29T11:33:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Raquel Coelho Dal Rio Silveira.pdf: 1129028 bytes, checksum: 222b057dc4313e5827e18f6a84fbe86e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-29T11:33:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Raquel Coelho Dal Rio Silveira.pdf: 1129028 bytes, checksum: 222b057dc4313e5827e18f6a84fbe86e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-09 / The present paper begins with the concept of law, politics, democracy and ethics and the relation between them. It does a critical analysis of some institutes of the Electoral Law, aiming to demonstrate how the model of financing of electoral campaign in Brazil interferes in the governability and governance of the country, generating corruption, crisis of representativeness and, ultimately, compromising the implementation of public policies and the democratic ideal. Also, in spite of the constitutional prediction of political parties pluralism, proves that the existence of excessive number of parties and the lack of intra-party democracy, as it happens today, has been harmful. The Electoral Court, for its part, in the way it is structured, also deserves criticism. Considering the Court’s federal nature, its jurisdiction must be exercised by federal judges. Finally, some suggestions are made, to improve the Electoral Law in Brazil / O presente trabalho parte dos conceitos de Direito, Política, Democracia e Ética e da relação existente entre eles. Faz-se uma análise crítica de alguns dos institutos do Direito Eleitoral, objetivando demonstrar como o modelo de financiamento de campanha eleitoral no Brasil interfere na governabilidade e governança do país, gerando corrupção, crise de representatividade e, em última análise, comprometendo a implementação de políticas públicas e o ideal democrático. Outrossim, apesar da previsão constitucional do pluripartidarismo político, comprova-se que a existência de um número excessivo de partidos e a ausência de democracia intrapartidária, tal como se verificam hoje, têm-se mostrado nocivas. A Justiça Eleitoral, por seu turno, da forma como está estruturada, também merece críticas. Em razão de sua natureza federal, deve ter sua competência exercida por juízes federais. Por fim, são feitas algumas sugestões, visando ao aprimoramento do Direito Eleitoral no Brasil

The partisan election of state judges and costly litigation make the civil justice system in the United States vulnerable because they undermine the values upon which the system was founded. The public’s trust that courts administer justice fairly and impartially is questioned by partisan elections funded by large corporations. Moreover, with the advent of electronically stored information, and the market’s control over the price of legal resources, access to the civil justice system is limited by wealth. This thesis seeks to address these problems and analyze the solutions that are most effective and comprehensive.

No description available.

This research produces original empirical estimates of Hispanics in Florida’s Dept. of Corrections (FDOC) and uses those estimates to measure the impact felony disenfranchisement is having on Hispanics in Florida. Research institutions find that data on Hispanics in the criminal justice system, particularly in Florida, is either lacking or inaccurate. This research addresses this problem by applying an optimal surname list method using Census Bureau data and Bayes Theorem to produce an empirical estimate of Hispanics in FDOC’s data. Using the Hispanic rate derived from the empirical FDOC analysis, the rate of Hispanics in the disenfranchised population is estimated. The results reveal that FDOC systematically undercounts Hispanics (and overcounts Whites) by nearly 8 percent—i.e., there are over 2.5 times more Hispanics in FDOC data than actually reported by FDOC. However, even when applying the upward adjusted rate of Hispanics to the disenfranchised population, Hispanics are still underrepresented and less likely to be disenfranchised than their White and Black counterparts in Florida. This research provides an accurate up-to-date state of the data with respect to Hispanics in FDOC; it applies a surname method which other researchers can use to address lacking or inaccurate data on Hispanics in the criminal justice system; and it calls into question research that relies on FDOC’s inaccurate race data. Taken together, these findings might facilitate answers to many pressing questions on felony disenfranchisement in Florida and its impact on the political process.

In a democracy it is the citizens who choose their leaders. Through elections, the people constitute government to preside over public affairs. However, in several African countries the quality of the elections has been vitiated by fraud, incompetence, unequal playing field and violence. Part of the problem is historical. Within the first decade of attaining independence in the 1950s and 1960s, many African regimes rapidly descended into autocracy and many countries formally recognised one-party regimes. Despite many one-party regimes having been abolished after the democratisation wave of the late 1980s and early 1990s, challenges of holding free and fair elections persist. Several elections held since this democratic wave were generally not considered by independent observers as free and fair. Indeed Africa has become well known for flawed elections, such as was the case in the 2007 elections in Kenya, the 2008 elections in Zimbabwe and the 2010 elections in Ivory Coast. Due to the stifled democratic climate, where even elections had a predetermined outcome, coups became a common and regular method of showing discontent or removing government. While the phenomenon of problematic elections is going on, at the continental level, Africa seems to be making renewed commitment towards democratic governance. With the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU) through the adoption of the Constitutive Act of the African Union in 2000, the AU, inter alia, committed to promoting “democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance” and seems determined to depart from the legacy of poor governance. It is in view of the foregoing background that this research sought to investigate the challenges the judiciary in Africa has faced in adjudicating presidential election disputes. And, in light of the growing trend towards establishing common African democratic standards and seeking collective solutions, the research also sought to explore the viability of establishing a continental supranational mechanism for resolving disputed presidential elections through adjudication. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LLD

Amid increasing trends of market concentration and corporate political activity in the United States, this thesis takes a quantitative approach to evaluating Luigi Zingales’ political theory of the firm. Using data from the Economic Census and from the Center for Responsive Politics, I find that concentration as measured by four and eight largest firms’ share of establishments exhibits a significant positive relationship to corporate lobbying at the intensive margin. On the other hand, concentration as measured by four and eight largest firms’ share of employment exhibits a significant negative relationship on politically active firms’ decision to lobby at the extensive margin. Through drawing upon existing quantitative literature on this subject, I conclude that Zingales’ theory remains sound and its implications on the political economy of the United States are bleak. Further research should look into politically feasible policy solutions to this troubling relationship.

My dissertation examines the influence of partisanship in decision making on redistricting in state commissions and judicial rulings. My central questions are twofold. First, do Republican- and Democratic-appointed federal judges engage in decision making that favors their respective parties? Second, what is the extent of partisan voting on bipartisan state redistricting commissions? These issues possess considerable substantive importance. Some states have considered moving redistricting responsibility out of the legislature and into state commissions, while some political scientists and legal scholars have suggested more vigorous court involvement in the regulation of redistricting. Implicit in many of these arguments is the assumption that federal courts and state commissions will act as neutral arbiters. But, very little social science research exists on the behavior of these institutions. My investigation combines quantitative and qualitative evidence, using interviews I conducted of federal judges and redistricting commissioners across the country, together with statistical analyses of court decisions and commission votes. I have 138 court cases from 1981 to 2006, totaling 414 observations or judicial votes. I argue that federal judges are neither neutral arbiters nor partisan maximizers. Rather, federal judges act as constrained partisans. Judges do not necessarily favor their own party's plans in court cases anymore than they do plans created by both parties under divided government. But, when a federal judge reviews a redistricting plan drawn up by a different party, and where the judge's own party is the victim of partisan line-drawing, she will be more attuned to issues of unfairness in the process. Under circumstances where Supreme Court precedent is unclear, partisan cues become more salient for the judge, increasing the probability she will rely on partisan influences to declare the plan invalid. Interestingly enough, these partisan effects in judicial voting vanish in cases where the Supreme Court delineates unambiguous rules, such as litigation concerning 1 person 1 vote equal population claims. My analysis of state redistricting commissions, based on the votes of commissioners and in-depth interviews with them, illustrates that commissions, like courts, are also not immune to partisan decision-making. Partisan factors tend to be the overriding concern of commissioners. / text

In a democracy it is the citizens who choose their leaders. Through elections, the people constitute government to preside over public affairs. However, in several African countries the quality of the elections has been vitiated by fraud, incompetence, unequal playing field and violence. Part of the problem is historical. Within the first decade of attaining independence in the 1950s and 1960s, many African regimes rapidly descended into autocracy and many countries formally recognised one-party regimes. Despite many one-party regimes having been abolished after the democratisation wave of the late 1980s and early 1990s, challenges of holding free and fair elections persist. Several elections held since this democratic wave were generally not considered by independent observers as free and fair. Indeed Africa has become well known for flawed elections, such as was the case in the 2007 elections in Kenya, the 2008 elections in Zimbabwe and the 2010 elections in Ivory Coast. Due to the stifled democratic climate, where even elections had a predetermined outcome, coups became a common and regular method of showing discontent or removing government. While the phenomenon of problematic elections is going on, at the continental level, Africa seems to be making renewed commitment towards democratic governance. With the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU) through the adoption of the Constitutive Act of the African Union in 2000, the AU, inter alia, committed to promoting “democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance” and seems determined to depart from the legacy of poor governance. It is in view of the foregoing background that this research sought to investigate the challenges the judiciary in Africa has faced in adjudicating presidential election disputes. And, in light of the growing trend towards establishing common African democratic standards and seeking collective solutions, the research also sought to explore the viability of establishing a continental supranational mechanism for resolving disputed presidential elections through adjudication. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. D.

Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished