The aim of this essay is to study the electoral process of Rwanda, and whether or not an authoritarian development can be found within the electoral process. This will be achieved through a case study of Rwanda, categorising the changes made in its electoral process since 1991 as either semi - authoritarian or authoritarian. Furthermore, the electoral process is divided into three phases: the pre - existing conditions, the procedure, and final ly the outcome. The theoretical framework consists of theories regarding both semi - authoritarianism and authoritarianism. The study finds that the pre - existing conditions and the outcome have transitioned from being defined as semi - authoritarian to be defi ned as authoritarian, while the procedure remains semi - authoritarian. This illustrates the discrepancy between the different phases of the electoral process, as opposed to them being synchronised. The final analysis concludes that Rwanda’s electoral proces s has become more authoritarian since 1991.

Se pencher sur « les élections que fait le peuple » dans la République de Genève revient à se fixer un double objectif. Il s’agit d’une part d’éclairer un des points obscurs de l’historiographie genevoise pendant les quelques trente dernières années du « long sommeil » du Conseil général, avant la crise de 1707 ; d’autre part d’approfondir des questionnements plus généraux concernant l’histoire du vote et de la procédure électorale sous l’Ancien Régime à partir du terrain genevois, qui est de ce point de vue d’une richesse exceptionnelle. Ces deux approches permettront de réinterroger le concept de formalité, qui a été souvent utilisé à propos de ces élections, en faisant varier les échelles et les points de vue.Sans occuper une place centrale dans le système constitutionnel genevois ni dans l’accession aux charges, les élections populaires gardent une importance autant théorique que pratique à Genève (1ère partie, à quoi sert-il d’élire ?). Si la légitimité vient d’ailleurs, que ce soit dans la théorie gouvernementale qui conçoit le pouvoir comme le patrimoine de certaines familles, ou dans l’opposition bourgeoise en 1707, qui veut avant tout restaurer l’exercice direct de la souveraineté par le Conseil général (vote des lois, de l’impôt etc.), et n’envisage à aucun moment un système représentatif, l’élection populaire crée néanmoins un lien particulier entre certains magistrats et le peuple (Ch.1). Si les résultats sont souvent prévisibles, ils ne le sont pas totalement et des enjeux demeurent si l’on y regarde d’assez près : le jeu est plus ouvert quand un poste de syndic est vacant et, si les syndics sortants sont toujours reconduits sur notre période, il est arrivé plusieurs fois que les citoyens menacent de « faire sauter les vieux » (Ch.2). Les multiples précautions qui sont adoptées dans la manière d’élire montrent aussi que ces élections populaires demeurent importantes, d’une façon d’ailleurs différente pour le gouvernement et pour les citoyens (2ième partie, comment élire ?). Malgré l’ordre aristocratique qu’affirment les préséances, la fiction de la souveraineté théorique du peuple doit être préservée par le rituel électoral (Ch.3). Si l’organisation spatiale du vote et la technique du vote auriculaire mettent les électeurs sous pression, les citoyens s’insurgent finalement contre ce système et obtiennent le vote par billet et l’isoloir, grande nouveauté dans l’Europe d’alors (Ch.4). Certains citoyens s’impliquent enfin d’une manière quelque peu particulière dans l’élection à travers les brigues, qui sont pour les brigueurs comme pour les brigués un grand moment de sociabilité, dont nous pouvons découvrir les différents acteurs grâce aux sources exceptionnelles que constituent les dossiers d’enquête des procès pour brigue (Ch.5). / By leaning on « The elections the people does » in the Republic of Geneva, we have set to reach two objectives. On the one hand, we wanted to shed light on a subject which has been largely overlooked by the scholarly literature concerning the 30 last years of the “long sleep” of the General Council. On the other hand, we wanted to raise larger questions about the history of voting and electoral proceedings in the Ancien Regime through the exceptionally well-documented case of Geneva. In crossing these two approaches, we will reinterrogate the concept of formality, which has often been used about these elections, and use various scales of analysis and points of view. Even if popular elections do not play a central role in the constitutional system or in the accession to offices, they still have a theoretical and practical importance in Geneva (1st part. What is the use of elections?).Though legitimacy lies elsewhere, both in governmental theory which considers power as the patrimony of certain families, and for the citizens in the opposition party in 1707 who want to restore the sovereignty of the General Council through the direct exercise of its powers (the vote of laws, of new taxes etc.) and never envision a representative system, popular elections still create a particular link between some magistrates and the people (Ch.1). Though the outcome of these elections is often highly predictable, it is not always so and we see that there are stakes if we look close enough: the game is more open when one of the seats for the syndicate is vacant and, though the incumbent syndics are always reelected during our period, citizens have threatened several times that they would “skip the old ones” (Ch.2). The multiple precautions adopted in the manner of electing also show that these popular elections matter, and in a different way for the government and for citizens(2d part. How to elect?). Despite the aristocratic hierarchy maintained by the order of precedence, the electoral ritual must preserve the theoretical sovereignty of the people (Ch.3). Though the spatial organization of the vote and the practice of the auricular vote put citizens under pressure, they finally rise against this system and obtain the vote by ballot and the voting booth, a great novelty in Europe at the time (Ch.4). Finally, some citizens are involved in the election in a quite peculiar way, by taking part in electoral cabals, which are a great social occasion both for cabal leaders and for bribed voters, and which we can discover in great details thanks to exceptional primary sources such as the investigation files in the trials for caballing (Ch.5).

Memoria (licenciado en ciencias jurídicas y sociales) / No autorizada por los autores para ser publicada a texto completo / A grandes rasgos se podría sostener que estos son datos que rodean a todo aquel que quiera adentrarse en un análisis de El Mercurio, ergo, elementos que tuvimos en cuenta a la hora de encarar esta investigación. Ante tal escenario lo óptimo era contar con herramientas de análisis que nos permitieran llevar el enfoque a planos ricos en lo que al estudio se refiere, pretendiendo con ello alcanzar coherencia, tanto en lo teórico como en los resultados prácticos. Así el Constructivismo se presenta como un marco teórico altamente atractivo, principalmente porque a nuestro juicio satisface plenamente las pretensiones esbozadas precedentemente, presentando además un alto potencial en lo que a análisis del fenómeno de los mass media se refiere.

Memoria (licenciado en ciencias jurídicas y sociales)

In recent years a wave of right-wing populist parties has sweep in Europe. Two of these are Sweden’s Swedish Democrats and Norway’s Progress Party. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to research on how political parties are portrayed in mainstream media and how that may influence political party success in the elections. Content of two daily newspapers over two months before the last parliamentary elections in Sweden and Norway is examined within the study. The method used is a quantitative content analysis. The result was added to the agenda setting theory. From the result, an analysis was conducted to reveal how publication in newspapers can be expected to affect or not affect the selected parties’ successes in the elections. The result shows that the Progress Party receives more space in the daily press than the Swedish Democrats. Both parties are often mentioned in relation to other parties. In several articles, other parties want to show that there is a difference between their basic values, as opposed to the right-wing populist parties. Negative value words appear in the articles, especially in the case of the Swedish Democrats. There are both negative and neutral values in the case of the Progress Party. However, the articles often appear in a neutral way. The conclusion is that the daily press does not seem to have influence over the political parties’ successes in the elections in this case.

Magister Legum - LLM

In developed democracies, incumbents are consistently found to have an electoral advantage over their challengers. The normative implications of this phenomenon depend on its sources. Despite a large existing literature, there is little consensus on what the sources are. In this three-paper dissertation, I find that both electoral institutions and the parties behind the incumbents appear to have a larger role than the literature has given them credit for, and that in the U.S. context, between 30 and 40 percent of the incumbents' advantage is driven by their "scaring off" serious opposition. / Government

Magíster en Economía Aplicada / En este artículo estudio si el financiamiento a los parlamentarios chilenos bajo la Cámara Secreta de las Donaciones, entre 2005 y 2009, pudo influir sobre su comportamiento cuando votaban proyectos de ley en el Congreso. Para esto utilizo una herramienta de Natural Language Processing (NLP) con la cual clasifico los distintos proyectos de ley como beneficiosos o perjudiciales para las empresas, basándome en la similitud de los textos de los proyectos de ley y aquéllos encontrados en internet de organizaciones manifiestamente pro-empresa (asociaciones gremiales, etc) o anti-empresa (sindicatos, organizaciones de defensa de los consumidores, etc). Luego, con las iniciativas clasificadas, analizo si existe relación entre mayor financiamiento obtenido y votaciones más pro-empresa, controlando por distintas características observables de los parlamentarios. Los resultados indican que, si bien existe una correlación positiva del financiamiento y votaciones pro empresa, tras controlar por distintas características del parlamentario, en general no hay relación entre mayor financiamiento bajo la Cámara Secreta de las Donaciones y votaciones más favorables hacia las empresas. Sin embargo, un análisis más específico muestra que quienes reciben un mayor financiamiento en el distrito por parte de pocos donantes tienen un comportamiento más pro empresa y, que quienes reciben mayor financiamiento votan más en favor de las empresas los proyectos relacionados con la comisión de Salud.

Contemporary electoral system of Czech Republic is not optimal. It is really difficult to find favorable and also acceptable system. After the velvet revolution and the political and economic transformation was hard to find operational governments. The winning party is not able to create a majority government. There are just minority governments or governments with support of some opposite M.P.s. Is it the change of electoral system the possible way to solution of problematic situation after elections? The thesis takes into account historical context and present discussion about possible changes of electoral systems.

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the formation and the development of the electoral system to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, with a focus on the impact of the decisions of the Constitutional Court on the current variables of an electoral system. The first part (the theoretical one) offers an explanation of the main terms used in the area of electoral systems. It especially deals with a classification of electoral systems by presenting the two main families of the electoral systems. Furthermore, an explanation of the basic terms used in the area of electoral systems is provided. The two main formulas for a seat allocation to parties are explained. The second part of the thesis is broader. It concentrates on the electoral system used in the Czech Republic for elections to the Chamber of Deputies. First of all, it pays attention to the formation of a constitutional provision concerning the electoral system. After that, it examines the electoral law relating to elections to the Czech Parliament, taking into account amendments of this piece of legislation. This part of the thesis also provides an in depth analysis of the decisions of the Czech Constitutional Court relating to the dimensions of the electoral law. Moreover, extensive parts are devoted not only to the implemented reforms of the electoral systems, but also to the ones that were not put into practice. Finally, recent proposals for amendments of the variables of the electoral systems are mentioned and evaluated.