The dissertation examines the process of retrenchment in a public institution with reference to the execution of such a process by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The aim is to establish whether or not the retrenchment was substantively and procedurally fair as required by legislation. Notwithstanding the fact that the staff may have been disadvantaged by the short retrenchment notice (the staff did not have representation prior to the announcement, and the swiftness of the process did not, under the circumstances, provide the staff with enough time to comprehensively apply their mind to the underlying issues), the dissertation finds that the retrenchments had been substantively fair given the fact that the IEC could not retain all staff because of budgetary constraints. The dissertation also finds that the process had been procedurally fair in accordance with section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995. / Public Adminstration and Development Studies / M.A. (Public Administration)

Souvent prônée au regard de l’abondant discours politique et juridique dont elle fait l’objet, mais en même temps fréquemment et subtilement « torpillée », « combattue », la transparence des élections est l’une de ces notions-méridien des temps modernes.La présente thèse lève ainsi le voile sur ce que, quelle qu’en soit la forme, cette notion est tout logiquement reprise − et tant bien que mal consolidée ou en voie de consolidation − dans l’ordre juridique interne des différents États, notamment africains et tente de faire prendre conscience que, à l’analyse, une telle consécration, ou le cas échéant une telle consolidation, apparait bien plus embarrassée. En sus de cela, d’un point de vue de théorie et de pratique juridiques, naissent des incertitudes, au double regard de sa nature et de sa portée juridiques, instaurant ainsi un climat d’insécurité juridique dont il devient donc impérieux de sortir. Sans doute est-ce parce que, assez récente dans un domaine lui-même en quête d’autonomie : le droit électoral, cette notion se révèle très redoutable à cerner. Cette modeste contribution tente-t-elle justement de répondre à l’ensemble de ces préoccupations. Dans cette perspective, le travail pionnier de la Cour constitutionnelle du Bénin qui a érigé la transparence électorale en un principe à valeur constitutionnelle mérite d’être poursuivi. Elle est donc davantage un « construit » qu’un « donné ». En tout état de cause, un tel approfondissement assurerait une cohérence au droit public et renforcerait la sécurité juridique. Cette exigence est donc un terreau fertile à l’éclosion et au triomphe de la démocratie libérale. À y voir de près, elle est à même de réaliser la révolution juridique chère à Montesquieu et que n’a pu, malheureusement, pérenniser le principe de séparation des pouvoirs : la modération du pouvoir politique dans l’État. / Often advocated in view of the abundant political and legal discourse of which it is the object, but at the same time and often subtly "torpedoed", “fought”, transparent elections are one of these meridian notions of modern times.Whatever form it may take, this Thesis is lifting the veil on this notion which is logically repeated, and somehow not well consolidated or being consolidated - in the internal legal order of the various States, particularly African States and which tries to make people aware that, in the analysis, such a consecration, or if any such consolidation, appears more embarrassed. In addition to this, a point of view of legal theory and practice, uncertainties arise, the double view of its nature and scope of legal, thus creating a climate of legal insecurity that it becomes imperative to quit Without any doubt, this recently field is seeking itself autonomy, and this concept , electoral law proves to be very formidable to understand. This modest contribution, consequently tries to answer all these concerns. In this perspective, the pioneering work of the Constitutional Court of Benin which erected electoral transparency principle to a value worth pursuing. Therefore, it is more of “a constructed” than a "given”. In any event, such a deepening should ensure coherence to public law and enhance legal certainty. This requirement is a fertile ground for the emergence and triumph of liberal democracy. A close look at it, it is able to perform the legal revolution dear to Montesquieu who could not, unfortunately, perpetuate the principle of separation of powers: the moderation of political power in the state.

Electoral System Choice in the Context of the Democratic Transition and Consolidation Diploma thesis examines the influence of exogenous factors on motivation and preferences of electoral reform actors based on their power position and value-driven approach in Czechoslovakia. It deals with the relation among mode of transition, the electoral reform type and the electoral system type as outcome for the founding elections. It attempts to identify the difference of conditions for electoral system change during the democratic transition and the consolidation in Czechia; to compare their exogenous factors. It also examines which values were emphasized by electoral reform actors and which values were embodied by their preferred electoral systems. It classifies the type of electoral reform process. It also provides the overview of chosen electoral system parameters and evolution of its changes.

The study of electoral defence and its stated advantages are an integral part of American political science. Post-war, much academic literature has emerged in an attempt to identify and explain rising re-election rates of congressional incumbents and the political consequences of such a phenomenon (Mayhew 1974; Fiorina 1977; Cain, Ferejohn & Fiorina 1987; Gelman & King 1990; King 1991). Conversely, the study of political incumbency in Britain can be attributed to a handful of scholars who tend to consider the repercussions at parliamentary level (Williams 1967, King 1981, Cain, Ferejohn and Fiorina 1984, Norton 1990 & 1994, Norris, Valance & Lovenduski 1992). Consequently, incumbency advantage at the local level remains a relatively under-researched topic in England, confined to the sub-chapters of Rallings & Thrasher (1997). The aim of this thesis is to research and present evidence in support of incumbency effects in English local elections and the extent to which they influence their outcome, in that, incumbent candidates fare better than less experienced candidates, to different degrees across the three major parties. It will do so using survey and electoral data collected by The Elections Centre at Plymouth University, drawing on established methods from the literature and demonstrating via a variety of data and methods, that incumbency advantage is indeed a real phenomenon effecting the outcomes of local elections in England. The research provides substantial evidence for Sophomore Surge and Retirement Slump effects throughout the period examined (1974-2010). These methods of estimation feature alongside a number of others, which are constructed to uncover the significance of defending, rather than challenging for a council seat. A number of influences on the advantage that defending councillors maintain are also presented, including district magnitude, ward size and rural/urban classification. Results reveal a modest advantage for Conservative and Labour incumbent candidates, whilst the effects are shown to be stronger for the Liberal Democrats, a finding that is in step with the existing literature on electoral trends and the local campaign strategy of the party (Dorling et al, 1998; McAllister et al, 2002; Russell & Fieldhouse, 2005; Cutts 2006).

選舉是實行民主政治最有效的方法之一，而選區劃分的方式將直接或間接的影響投票結果與民主政治理念的施行。 然而在選舉法規或行政區域發生變動時，舊有的選區劃分方式需要隨之調整。而傳統人工的方式具有許多缺點，如：耗費人力資源、人口分配不均、難以兼顧形狀及行政區完整等等。若每次行政區域發生變動，都需要重新劃分，將花費許多不必要的人力、物力及時間，因此利用電腦以完成自動劃分的技術逐漸受到重視。 本論文中我們打破現有的政治與人文鴻溝，嘗試以系統化的方法對選區劃分作全面性的查驗。我們利用計算幾何學的特性與人工智慧搜尋的技巧，儘量找出可能的劃分方式再進行評估。我們依據中選會的建議採用村裡為劃分之最小行政區域，從數以十萬計之合理解中，根據形狀等客觀條件篩選出較佳之劃分方式，進而將歷史投票行為加入考量，以對篩選出的劃分方式作進一步評估與分析。 實作中我們以台南市為對象，在不同的人口限制及形狀條件下，分別比較所能找到的合理解數目。同時選出一部分的劃分方式，和中選會的劃分方式比較，結果顯示我們的方法可以全面性的分析選區劃分，不同的劃分方式可能產生不同的選舉結果。 / Election is one of the most effective way of conducting democratic politics, and mean of electoral redistricting shall post effect, either directly or indirectly, on electoral outcome as well as delivering ideas of democratic politics. As election regulations or administrational districts experience alterations, the present electoral districting is forcefully accompanied with adjustments. Electoral redistricting using traditional human labor works reveal several flaws such as: human resource wastage, uneven population distributions, hard to maintain shape contiguity and compactness, as well as the completeness of administration districts. Every single alteration experience in administration district requires redistribution, thus expensing on unnecessary human labor, resources and time. As such, it had brought great attention on techniques of automatic redistribution by means of modern computer technologies. In this thesis, we shall breakthrough a giant gap between politics and humanity; conduct a thorough examination on systematic approach on electoral redistricting. We are going to utilize characteristics of computational geometry and artificial intelligence searching techniques to find out every conceivable means of redistricting then evaluation the performance of them. By recommendation of Central Election Commission (hence CEM), we will adopt the classification of township as basic unit of administrational district, from counts of thousand adequate explanations, by objective factors of shape accordance and others, select the better means of redistricting methods, and afterward put into concern of historical voting behavior, conduct a further evaluation and analysis upon chosen redistricting method. In actual practices we had selected Tainan City as the experiment target, under different population limitations and factors of form, compare the searchable numbers of decent explanation respectively. We choose some redistricting outcomes, and put into comparison with redistricting method of the CEM. The results indicated our approach is able to conduct a thorough redistricting analysis, as well as more diversified comparing to CEM's outcome. The result of this experiment also reveals different election outcome with adoption of different redistricting methods.

我國立法委員選舉自1992年全面定期改選以來，一直是採用以「複數選區單記非讓渡投票制」為主的特殊選舉制度，直到2005年第七次修憲始變革為「並立式混合制」，並已於2008年1月12日第七屆立委選舉中首度實施。 由於台灣與日本均位居東亞關鍵位置，並同為該區民主發展之典範，類似的政經發展脈絡，於是經常成為學界探討比較的對象。除了近似的經濟發展模式外，於政治層面上，兩國亦皆由「一黨獨大」的政體開始演變。尤其，兩國更先後於1994年及2005年修改國會選舉制度，且不約而同從「複數選區單記非讓渡投票制」改採「並立式混合制」。 任一國家選舉制度之變革，往往都會對其政黨體系、甚至政治運作造成相當程度之影響。因此本研究將針對此次選舉所採取的新選制，從理論、制度及實際各層面，參照日本選制改革與施行之經驗，進行新選制對我國政黨體系影響之初探。 / The overall election of legislator in our country has been reelected regularly since 1992, and it has been adopting primarily the “Single Non-Transferable Vote with Multimember-District system” (SNTV-MMD), a special electoral system. Until the seventh amending of the Constitution transformed into the “Mixed-Member Majoritarian” (MMM) in 2005, which has implemented in the seventh session of legislators’ election for the first time in January 12, 2008. Owing to both of the positions of Taiwan and Japan are very important in the East Asia, and also are the models of the development of democracy in the area. They have similar political and economic developing situation, so they are usually compared to each other by the academic community. Besides the similar economic development pattern, in the political side, both of the two countries began to evoluting from “predominant-party system”. Above all, the two countries reformed the electoral system of congress in 1994 and in 2005. They also adopted the “MMM” instead of the “SNTV-MMD” coincidentally. Changes of the electoral system in any country will impact on party system even political arrangement in a considerable degree. Therefore, I’ll focus on the new system of this election from the different sides of theory, institution, and reality in this research. According to the reformation of the electoral system of Japan and the practical experiences, doing a preliminary study of how the impact of the new electoral system on Taiwan’s party system.

This thesis examines the conditions under which democratically elected policymakers are more likely to provide policies that compensate individuals that lose from international trade. It develops and empirically tests a theoretical framework of compensation in open economies that accounts for differences in the degree to which governments benefit losers from trade. It first develops a theory of preference formation based on economic geography, and then argues that electoral and legislative institutions jointly condition the supply of compensation. The theoretical analysis provides three sets of observable implications evaluated using micro- and macro-level data in Europe and Latin America. First, exposure to international competition increases demand for policy that compensates for the costs of trade, but this effect is more pronounced among those individuals in economically specialised and uncompetitive contexts where reemployment in the event of a shock is difficult. Second, policymakers in proportional electoral systems face weak incentives to target trade losers in geographically concentrated and uncompetitive regions. In contrast, majoritarian institutions generate incentives to increase compensation when trade losers are geographically concentrated. Another implication is that under some conditions, the presence of a strong upper house that represents regional interests dampens the provision of compensation, and the relative effect of electoral rules. The empirical implications of the argument are tested using a multi-method research strategy that combines cross-national and case study analyses and draws on quantitative and qualitative techniques. Chapter 3 tests the micro-level implications of the model using survey data for European regions over 2002-2006. The findings indicate that regional economic specialization and regional competitiveness jointly condition the impact of trade on preferences for compensation. Chapter 4 systematically tests the extent to which the geographical concentration of trade losers conditions the effect of electoral institutions on levels of compensation. It uses panel data from 14 European countries from 1980 to 2010. The findings indicate that where trade losers are concentrated, lower district magnitude leads to more compensation. Chapters 5 and 6 conduct case studies of compensation in Spain and Argentina, both countries that underwent deep liberalisation and offer significant variation at the regional and institutional level. Chapter 5 explores preferences over compensation in selected regions in Spain and Argentina, and shows that regional specialisation and competitiveness were important in shaping levels of support for compensation. Chapter 6 examines the role of electoral institutions and legislative veto bargaining in shaping the politics of compensation in Spain and Argentina.

"The primary concern of this work is to present a clearer picture of the Reconstruction period in Texas, particularly as it relates to the black. Little consideration is given to those blacks elected to public office; rather concern is placed on those outside the then 'Establishment.' To view the black in terms of those elected to public office only presents a distorted picture and negates the influence blacks had on electoral politics. In the main, evidence presented by most historians writing on this period has tended to ignore a major factor which has influenced Texas politics, namely violence. Those who acknowledge the presence of this violence tended to 'understand' the southern white and thus justify the use of this violence. The influence of violence is massive and some attempt must be made to understand the actual way in which it was directed. Here it is only established that violence was racial with some political overtones. There is no doubt that further research will prove very valuable in understanding this period."-- leaf 1.

Cette thèse s'intéresse au lien qui existe entre le système électoral et deux comportements importants de la vie civique, soit la participation à une élection et la désertion stratégique du candidat préféré vers un autre candidat. Ces thèmes sont abordés dans de nombreux et de très importants ouvrages en science politique. En passant par la théorie (Downs, 1957) jusqu'à des études de terrain par l'entremise de sondages (Abramson, 2010; Blais, 2010), diverses méthodologies ont été employées pour mieux expliquer les choix des électeurs. Ma contribution à l'avancement des connaissances dans ce domaine passe par l'usage de la méthode expérimentale pour mieux saisir les similitudes et différences dans les comportements des électeurs sous le système uninominal à un tour (UT) et la représentation proportionnelle (RP) ainsi que les mécanismes au niveau individuel qui produisent ces similitudes et différences. Le cœur de la thèse est composé des trois articles dont voici les résumés : Article 1. Des élections expérimentales faites à Montréal, Paris et Bruxelles permettent d'estimer l’influence directe du mode de scrutin sur la décision des électeurs de voter ou non, et de voter pour leur parti préféré ou non. En tout, 16 groupes de 21 électeurs votent sous différents systèmes électoraux, soit le UT et la RP. Les préférences sont attribuées aléatoirement et connues de tous les participants. Nos résultats indiquent que le vote n'est pas globalement plus sincère et que la participation électorale n'est pas plus élevée sous le système proportionnel. Toutefois, nous observons moins de désertion d'un petit parti sous le système proportionnel. Article 2. Les expériences permettent également d'expliquer pourquoi les électeurs votent parfois pour un parti autre que leur parti préféré. La conclusion principale est que la décision de voter de façon sincère ou non est influencée par les préférences individuelles, mais aussi par les perceptions des chances de gagner des candidats ainsi que des chances que son propre vote puisse décider le résultat de l'élection. Les électeurs qui désertent leur premier choix prennent en considération quel candidat est le plus près de leurs positions politiques, mais également de la viabilité de cette alternative. De plus, les électeurs qui aiment prendre des risques ont davantage tendance à déserter. Article 3. Le modèle de l'électeur pivot est mis à l'épreuve pour mieux comprendre la décision de voter ou non lors d'une élection. Nos expériences permettent de répliquer, avec un devis expérimental différent, les résultats importants des travaux de Duffy et Tavits (2008). Nos résultats confirment que la perception d'être pivot augmente la participation, que ces perceptions sont sujettes à la surestimation et que cette surestimation ne décline pas complètement dans le temps. Nous allons également plus loin que les recherches de Duffy et Tavits et nous trouvons que la participation n'est pas plus forte sous RP que sous UT et que la probabilité d'être pivot a un impact plus important chez les électeurs évitant de prendre des risques. / This thesis focuses on the relationship between the electoral system and two important behaviors of civic life: participation in an election and the strategic desertion of the preferred candidate. These topics are addressed in very important books in political science. From theory (Duverger, 1954; Downs, 1957) to empirical research using surveys (Abramson, 2010; Blais, 2010), various methodologies have been used to better explain voter's choices. My contribution to knowledge is the use of experimental methods to better understand both similarities and differences in voter behavior under the plurality system (PLU) and the proportional representation (PR) system and the individual level mechanisms that produce these similarities and differences. The core of the thesis consists of three articles summarized below: Article 1. Experimental elections conducted in Montreal, Paris and Brussels estimate the direct influence of the voting system on the voters' decision whether to vote or not, and vote for their preferred party or another party. In all, 16 groups of 21 voters take part in elections under different electoral systems. The systems are simple plurality and proportional representation. Preferences are randomly assigned and known by all participants. Our results indicate that voting is globally not more sincere and that voter turnout is not higher under the proportional system. However, we observe less desertion of small parties under the proportional system. Article 2. We perform a laboratory experiment to explain why voters sometimes vote for a party other than the preferred one. The main conclusion of the paper is that in addition to voter preferences, perceptions of winning chances and belief in the possibility of affecting the outcome are key factors in the voter’s decision to vote sincerely or not. When they desert their first choice, voters consider their preferences and the viability of the alternatives. Voters who like to take risks are more prone to desert. Article 3. This paper examines the decision to vote or not in experimental elections. We replicate the important findings of Duffy and Tavits (2008) with a different design. Our results support their finding, that is, turnout is affected by the belief that one's vote counts and overestimation of the probability that one's vote counts does not decrease completely over time. Going beyond previous research, we also find that turnout is not higher under a proportional system than under a plurality system, and beliefs about being in a pivotal disposition have a greater impact on turnout among the risk averse.

Cette thèse examine les théories politiques profanes qui sont mises de l’avant dans les articles et les reportages des journalistes politiques. Par «théories profanes», nous entendons les constructions intellectuelles informelles qui aident les journalistes à appréhender et à concevoir la vie politique. Nous les définissons ici par opposition aux théories scientifiques des universitaires. Ces théories sont examinées sous trois angles différents, au travers de trois articles scientifiques distincts. Notre principal objectif est de déterminer dans quelle mesure et pour quelles raisons les théories journalistiques profanes convergent ou divergent des théories universitaires scientifiques. Au premier chapitre, nous nous demandons ce que les journalistes font, en nous attardant aux critères sur lesquels ces derniers s’appuient pour analyser la personnalité des chefs de partis politiques. Plus précisément, nous cherchons à savoir si les journalistes tiennent compte des considérations politiques jugées importantes par les citoyens. Afin d’atteindre cet objectif, nous réalisons une analyse de contenu des reportages diffusés dans les grands bulletins d’information télévisés au sujet de l’ex-chef du Parti québécois, André Boisclair. Au second chapitre, nous poussons notre réflexion un cran plus loin en nous demandant ce que les journalistes disent précisément dans les théories qu’ils développent. Pour ce faire, nous examinons les théories développées par les journalistes pour expliquer le comportement des parlementaires. De manière spécifique, nous contrastons les théories académiques de la dissidence politique avec ce qui s’est écrit dans les grands journaux canadiens à l’occasion de quatre votes particulièrement serrés ayant eu lieu à la Chambre des communes à propos de la prolongation de la mission canadienne en Afghanistan et de l’abolition du registre des armes d’épaule. Enfin, nous nous attardons à ce que les journalistes pensent de leurs propres théories, en les interrogeant sur les raisons qui les poussent à mettre ces dernières de l’avant et sur la manière dont ils s’y prennent pour les développer. Nous nous attardons aux mécanismes qui rythment la pensée des journalistes et nous portons notre regard sur les matériaux dont ceux-ci se servent pour construire les théories qu’ils incluent dans leurs reportages. Pour ce faire, nous réalisons des entrevues semi-dirigées avec des journalistes politiques affectés à la couverture de l’élection présidentielle française de 2012. Nos questions portent notamment sur le chemin intellectuel qu’ils parcourent lorsqu’ils tentent de comprendre et d’expliquer le comportement des politiciens, ainsi que sur la façon dont ils conçoivent les campagnes électorales et le rôle qu’ils sont appelés à jouer à l’intérieur de celles-ci. Nos conclusions sont à l’effet que les journalistes construisent bel et bien des théories profanes de la vie politique afin d’aller au-delà des simples comptes rendus factuels et de répondre à ce qu’ils considèrent être une nécessité de leur travail. Les théories qu’ils mettent de l’avant tiennent compte des considérations politiques jugées importantes par les électeurs, et elles ont des traits communs avec certaines des idées sous-tendues par les théories scientifiques des universitaires. Ces théories s’articulent autour des observations que font les journalistes, et des conversations auxquelles ils prennent part ou dont ils sont témoins. Elles reflètent la plupart du temps l’expérience ou le vécu du journaliste. Les théories journalistiques profanes se distinguent toutefois des théories scientifiques en ce qu’elles ne sont ni formalisées, ni explicitement nommées. Elles n’ont pas la sophistication des théories universitaires, et elles sont parfois reléguées à l’arrière-plan de la couverture médiatique au bénéfice d’aspects plus théâtraux de la vie politique. Les journalistes développent par contre des mécanismes pour valider leurs théories. La contribution de cette thèse à l’avancement des connaissances se manifeste sur les plans conceptuel, théorique et empirique. Sur le plan conceptuel, nous étayons davantage le concept des théories journalistiques. Notre thèse permet de mieux comprendre la couverture médiatique de la politique, en mettant en lumière un de ses aspects jusqu’ici négligé par les politologues, soit le fait que les journalistes construisent et utilisent des théories politiques qui leur sont propres pour appréhender l’univers au sein duquel ils évoluent. Sur le plan théorique, nous faisons ressortir les objectifs et les impératifs qui guident les journalistes qui développent ces théories. Enfin, sur le plan empirique, nous donnons pour une rare fois l’occasion aux journalistes de s’exprimer sur la manière dont ils perçoivent leur propre travail. / This thesis examines the lay theories that political journalists put forth in their articles and analyses. “Lay theories” should be understood to mean the informal intellectual constructions that help journalists make sense of political life, in opposition to political scientists’ academic theories. These theories are investigated from three different perspectives, which are presented in three separate academic articles. The goal is to determine to what extent and for what reasons journalistic lay theories converge with or diverge from the academic scientific theories. The first chapter examines what journalists do, by looking at the criteria on which reporters rely in order to build their theories about the personality of political leaders. More precisely, the chapter aims at determining if these theories are based on political considerations deemed important by citizens. More specifically, this chapter explores the character traits to which journalists resort when they theorize and assess the personality of political leaders. To do so, it analyses reports broadcast on television news programs about former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair. The following chapter goes further into how lay theories are understood by looking at what journalists say in these theories. Focussing on the theories developed by journalists to explain MP behaviour, it compares the academic literature on intra-patry dissent with what has been written on the subject in Canada’s national newspapers. More precisely, it studies four particularly divisive votes that took place in the House of Commons about the extension of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan and the abolition of the long-gun registry. The third and last chapter studies what journalists think of their own theories by questioning them on their reasons for building those theories. In other words, the third chapter studies the intellectual underpinnings of these lay theories. It examines the thinking patterns of journalists and investigates the material that they use to build their theories. Interviews conducted with political journalists who covered France’s 2012 presidential election provide the data for this chapter. Questions are asked about the way in which reporters see electoral campaigns and the role journalists play in them. This thesis shows that journalists do indeed construct lay theories that go beyond strictly factual accounts of political events, in order to fulfil what they consider a job necessity. The theories they put forward take into account political considerations deemed relevant by citizens and share common ground with ideas put forth by academics. Journalists often articulate these theories on the basis of what they observe and hear around them. These theories are the result of reporters’ knowledge and experience. Nonetheless, lay theories differ from academic theories insofar as they are neither formalised, nor explicitly labelled. Being less sophisticated than academic theories, lay theories are sometimes relegated to the background of political coverage to allow for more dramatic coverage of political life. On the other side, journalists develop mechanisms to validate their theories. This thesis makes a threefold contribution. At the conceptual level, it expands political science’s understanding of lay theories. It sheds light on a neglected aspect of media coverage of political life, i.e. the fact that journalists construct and use their own political theories to better understand political life. At the theoretical level, it clarifies the goals and imperatives that guide journalists who build these theories. Finally, at the empirical level, it gives journalists a rare occasion to express their view on how they perceive their own work.