The current forms of representative democracy have come to face various fundamental challenges such as: decrease in political participation, distrust in partisan politics and politicians and perhaps increase of ideological polarization. To take solace in the belief that the current democratic tools are far from perfect yet the finest in modern societies, has not contributed to solution-oriented modifications of its efficacy. In this thesis Lua Nazerian intends to address the inadequacies and inherent limitations in the current form of representative democracy, by analyzing its underlying assumptions through a critical examination of the fundamental challenges in Classical pluralism, Agonist and Deliberative democratic theory. Furthermore, it proposes some modifications drawn from the Socratic idea of the non-pursuit of power, the bottom-up political approach and the learnings from the worldwide Baha’i community. The study is carried out within the field of international relations with a normative approach as well as it incorporates a case study of the Baha’i electoral and decision-making principle. Nevertheless, by using the Socratic idea together with the Baha’i principles in a bottom-up approach shifts then the paradigm from the inherent competitive culture of representative democracy to a more inclusive solution-oriented culture of learning.

The purpose of this study is to illustrate where the boundary between being professional and being private in the line of work as a personal assistant lie, this study will focus on the perspective of the unit manager. This to clarify the ethical approach in the assistance matters for the unit manager. To answer the study's purpose and questions, six individual semi-structured interviews have been held with unit managers responsible for personal assistance in municipal activities. During the interviews, the unit managers shared their own experiences about the subject of the study. The empirical material has been analyzed with the help of normative ethics theories of duty and sense ethics. The result of the study shows that unit managers find it difficult to take a stand as where the boundary between being professional and being private in personal assistance lies. There are many different factors to take into consideration when discussion where the boundary lies for each individual. Having good municipal guidelines regarding the work of the assistance is something the unit managers see as a good tool for taking a position on questions about the work of the assistants. The empirical material also highlights that there is a lot of ethical dilemmas in the matter of personal assistance, and how the unit managers handle these.

A democracia é, atualmente, o modelo preeminente de organização e de exercício da autoridade política. No entanto, os regimes políticos democráticos existentes ao redor do mundo nem sempre satisfazem critérios de justiça substantiva. Isto é, a democracia política pode existir, e perdurar ao longo do tempo, mesmo que se verifiquem violações claras de exigências normalmente associadas à justiça política e social. A partir dessa constatação, a questão substantiva desta dissertação é o exame da maneira pela qual considerações de justiça política e social são tratadas pela literatura da teoria democrática. O ponto de partida é o exame da teoria democrática minimalista. A despeito da acurácia e parcimônia analítica dessa teoria, as respostas que ela oferece à questão substantiva aqui examinada podem não ser satisfatórias. Portanto, são analisadas as formas de lidar com a nossa questão substantiva também no campo da teoria política normativa. Nesta análise, a principal alternativa teórica examinada é o liberalismo político de John Rawls, com o objetivo de desvendar em que medida o conteúdo normativo dessa teoria é menos ou mais compatível com as dimensões que são enfatizadas pela teoria democrática minimalista e que a tornam atraente. / Democracy currently is the most prominent model of organization and of exercising political power. However, democratic political regimes existing around the world do not always satisfy criteria of substantive justice. In other words, political democracy may exist and endure for long periods, even alongside with clear violations of requirements normally associated with political and social justice. In the face of this fact, the substantive question of this dissertation is the examination of the way how the literature on democratic theory deals with considerations of political and social justice. The starting point is the examination of the minimalist democratic theory. In spite of the accuracy and analytic parsimony of this theory, its answers to the substantive question, here examined, may not be satisfactory. Therefore, the ways in which the normative political theory deals with our substantive question are also analyzed. In the present analysis, John Rawls political liberalism is the main theoretical alternative examined, according to the objective of discovering in to what extent the normative content of Rawls theory is less or more compatible with the dimensions emphasized by the minimalist democratic theory, and that make it attractive.

O poder constituinte, tal como entendido pela teoria constitucionalista clássica, é definido como poder bruto, original, ilimitado e incondicionado, a partir do qual nasce o Estado e, por consequência, a ordem jurídica. Esse poder, definido como supraestatal, não encontra limites no direito e, nas concepções democráticas, é titularizado pelo povo soberano. Essa concepção teórica passa por uma releitura no trabalho, a fim de se definir o poder constituinte como poder comunicativo criador da norma constitucional, de aparição episódica, por meio do qual é possível filtrar os argumentos morais, ético-políticos e estratégicos expostos pelos cidadãos na esfera pública democrática, representativos de um modo de vida compartilhado que se impõe politicamente. De acordo com a releitura apresentada, os postulados da ilimitação material e da incondicionalidade do poder constituinte não se sustentam em face do paradigma da racionalidade comunicativa e dialogal. Na qualidade de momento de fundação e fundamentação da ordem constitucional, o poder constituinte precisa respeitar direitos pressupostos, garantidores da autonomia individual, e institucionalizar os procedimentos discursivos que viabilizam a reprodução do direito legítimo. Entendido como processo extraordinário, no qual os interesses e os valores permanecem latentes na sociedade, o exercício do poder constituinte representa um momento único para análise do discurso de fundamentação normativa, objeto central da tese. Associando-se fundamentação normativa com legitimidade política, nos termos da teoria democrática exposta por Jürgen Habermas, conclui-se que o cerne da legitimidade das ordens estatais organizadas democraticamente é a institucionalização de uma ordem jurídica fundamentada discursivamente por intermédio de um procedimento de deliberação pública, no qual todos os potenciais atingidos pela norma possam exprimir o seu assentimento. O poder constituinte, ao estruturar o estado, garante que o processo de formação da vontade e da opinião pública se estabilize e o consenso seja alcançado. / Constituent power, based on classical constitutional theory, is defined as raw, original, limitless and unconditional power, from which the state and, consequently, legal order are born. Such power, defined as supranational, knows no boundaries in the law and according to democratic notions it is held by the sovereign people. This thesis reexamines that theoretical conception in order to define constituent power as a communicative power which creates constitutional norm; it appears occasionally and it allows for a selection of moral, ethical-political and strategic arguments introduced by citizens in the public democratic sphere which represent a shared way of life that imposes itself politically. According to this reexamination, postulates of constituent powers material illimitation and unconditionality cannot resist to the paradigm of communicative and dialogical rationality. As the founding moment and grounds of constitutional order, constituent power must respect presupposed rights which guarantee individual autonomy and institutionalize discursive procedures which enable the reproduction of legitimate law. Understood as an extraordinary process in which interests and values remain latent in society, exercise of constituent power represents a unique moment to analyze the normative grounds discourse, the core issue of this thesis. Combining normative grounds and political legitimacy, in the terms of the democratic theory introduced by Jürgen Habermas, the conclusion is that the essence of legitimacy of democratically-organized state orders is the institutionalization of a legal order based discursively through a process of public deliberation, where all individuals potentially affected by the norm may express their consent. By structuring the state, constituting power ensures that the public will and opinion formation process will become stable and consensus will be reached.

Esta pesquisa investiga alguns aspectos das vozes verbais nas gramáticas normativas de língua portuguesa. Alguns conceitos como o de voz passiva e de partícula apassivadora são objeto de discussão por parte de diferentes autores da gramaticografia de língua portuguesa que tem adotado pontos de vista distintos e até antagônicos sobre cada um destes aspectos. Este trabalho também busca demonstrar que a gramática normativa de língua portuguesa atual não renovou a sua teoria sobre as vozes verbais, que remonta a Dionísio o Trácio com seu manual escrito há mais de dois mil anos atrás, e que necessita, deste modo, identificar as fragilidades de sua teoria e renová-la com o instrumental teórico de que dispõe as modernas correntes da linguística. / This research investigates some aspects of the verbal voices in the normative grammar of portuguese language. Some concepts like passive voice and the clitic SE are discussed by many authors in the portuguese language gramaticography that have adopted different and opposite points of view about each one of these aspects. This work also intends to demonstrate that the normative grammar of portuguese language nowadays did not renew its theory about verbal voices, which remonts to Dionísio of Trácia with his manual which was written two thousand years ago, and it needs identify the fragilities of normative grammar theory and needs to renew it with the theorical instrumental available in the modern linguistics currents.

O estudo analisa e sistematiza tecnicamente a atuação dos usos negociais não só enquanto pautas interpretativa e integrativa dos contratos empresariais como, também, especificamente, um elemento objetivo formador de obrigações contratuais empresariais em decorrência da repetição de condutas negociais, daqueles que exercem a empresa, praticadas habitualmente, com intuito de padronizar as relações, de reforçar a confiança e de estabilizar as expectativas. A pesquisa tem como objetivo estudar os usos negociais, diferenciando-o dos demais relevantes elementos consuetudinários, abordando o seu conteúdo e o seu alcance no processo contratual empresarial. Serão identificadas e analisadas as funções desempenhadas pelos usos negociais nos seus diferentes papéis – hermenêutico, integrador e normativo – ainda que não se possa, em variadas situações, categorizá-los a priori em apenas uma dessas dimensões. O objetivo específico deste estudo é investigar a extensão e a relevância da atuação dos usos negociais em relação aos contratos, em especial no contexto empresarial, buscando investigar eventuais critérios para a aferição de juridicidade vinculante ao poder normativo social. Mesmo diante do princípio constitucional da reserva legal, vigente no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, o trabalho revela as vantagens e até mesmo a necessidade da (re)valorização dos usos negociais, os quais podem, inclusive, predominar – ainda que apenas materialmente – à lei, em determinadas situações, sem, contudo, descurar da primazia da intenção das partes. / This study analyzes and technically systematizes the trade usage practices not only as an interpretative and integrative guideline of business contracts, but also specifically as an objective element that shapes business contractual obligations as a result of the repetition of business conducts by those who run the company in order to standardize relations, strengthen trust and stabilize expectations. The research aims to study the concepts of the most relevant customary institutes, addressing their content and their scope in the formation, development and compliance of business contracts, as well as to explore what the functions of trade usages are in their different roles - hermeneutic, integrative and normative - although it is not possible, in various situations, to categorize them a priori in only one of these dimensions. The specific objective of this study is to investigate the extent and relevance of the trade usage practices in relation to contracts, especially in the business context, seeking to investigate any criteria to measure the legality binding on social regulatory power. Even in view of the constitutional principle of the legal reserve, in force in the Brazilian legal system, the work reveals the advantages and even the need for trade usage (re)valorization, which may even predominate - albeit only materially - to the law in certain situations, without however neglecting the primacy of the parties' intention.

A democracia é, atualmente, o modelo preeminente de organização e de exercício da autoridade política. No entanto, os regimes políticos democráticos existentes ao redor do mundo nem sempre satisfazem critérios de justiça substantiva. Isto é, a democracia política pode existir, e perdurar ao longo do tempo, mesmo que se verifiquem violações claras de exigências normalmente associadas à justiça política e social. A partir dessa constatação, a questão substantiva desta dissertação é o exame da maneira pela qual considerações de justiça política e social são tratadas pela literatura da teoria democrática. O ponto de partida é o exame da teoria democrática minimalista. A despeito da acurácia e parcimônia analítica dessa teoria, as respostas que ela oferece à questão substantiva aqui examinada podem não ser satisfatórias. Portanto, são analisadas as formas de lidar com a nossa questão substantiva também no campo da teoria política normativa. Nesta análise, a principal alternativa teórica examinada é o liberalismo político de John Rawls, com o objetivo de desvendar em que medida o conteúdo normativo dessa teoria é menos ou mais compatível com as dimensões que são enfatizadas pela teoria democrática minimalista e que a tornam atraente. / Democracy currently is the most prominent model of organization and of exercising political power. However, democratic political regimes existing around the world do not always satisfy criteria of substantive justice. In other words, political democracy may exist and endure for long periods, even alongside with clear violations of requirements normally associated with political and social justice. In the face of this fact, the substantive question of this dissertation is the examination of the way how the literature on democratic theory deals with considerations of political and social justice. The starting point is the examination of the minimalist democratic theory. In spite of the accuracy and analytic parsimony of this theory, its answers to the substantive question, here examined, may not be satisfactory. Therefore, the ways in which the normative political theory deals with our substantive question are also analyzed. In the present analysis, John Rawls political liberalism is the main theoretical alternative examined, according to the objective of discovering in to what extent the normative content of Rawls theory is less or more compatible with the dimensions emphasized by the minimalist democratic theory, and that make it attractive.

Social intelligence has a huge impact on the determination of human behaviour in the society. The use of norms can contribute to advances in this social intelligence by the provision of appropriate behaviour based upon the understanding of social situations. Hence, the domain of virtual characters research has given much attention to take advantage of these characteristics of norms particularly in engineering human-like behaviour. However, a lack of capability in reasoning about norms as well as a lack of norm autonomy in virtual characters have significantly diminished the naturalism in virtual characters behaviour. Within this context, a hybrid approach incorporating social and individual reasoning inspired by socio-cognitive theory is taken into account in this thesis. To this end, we propose DNA 3 , Distributed Norm Aware Agent Architecture, established through the integration of (i) the institution, a normative framework performing the social reasoning, (ii) N-Jason, a (BDI-type) cognitive agent carrying out run-time norm-aware deliberation and (iii) a virtual character in charge of perception and realisation of actions. The institution takes responsibility of (i) analysis of state of external worlds by recording a sequence of event occurrences observed by multiple virtual agents, (ii) reasoning about situationally appropriate behaviour with an assistance from Answer Set Programming (ASP) solver depending upon the social context virtual characters encounter and (iii) in turn detachment of a new set of norms, more precisely normative consequences of specific actions, to virtual characters. This contributes to the enhancement in the flexibility in specifying and reasoning about social norms subject to changes of social situations. Those detached norms are involved in the reasoning process of in- dividual virtual characters. In here, a norm-aware BDI-type agent, N-Jason, performs a practical reasoning to select a plan to execute between norms and goals. Basically, N-Jason offers a generic norm execution mechanism on top of norm aware deliberation to contribute to the exploitation of run-time norm compliance. The selection of agent behaviour is achieved in the norm-aware deliberation process by intention scheduling with deadlines and priorities. This improves the rationality in the choice of behaviour with taking into account the preference on norms and goals in agent mind by evaluation of the importance and imminence between feasible plans triggered by both norms and goals. The design and simulation of politeness is presented as an evaluation of DNA 3 with respect to the effectiveness and adequacy in modelling virtual characters behaviour. The emphasis in here lies on the capability that is able to exhibit different types of appropriate polite behaviour in response to frequent changes in social situations. This is mainly driven by two main activities: prediction of other participants’ intention is carried out by norm-aware virtual characters whilst the understanding of context and reasoning about relevant social behaviour is performed in normative frameworks. For this purpose, three case studies are provided in this thesis: (i) politeness in navigation of individuals, (ii) politeness in the formation and navigation of groups during a guided tour, and(iii) evacuation model as a politeness in the emergency situation. The evaluation is conducted by measuring: (i) the appropriateness of in response to scenarios (e.g.a number of avoiding collisions) and (ii) the reliability of agent decision making (e.g. a response time in relation to norms with the highest priority and the most urgent).

Com base em instrumentos qualitativos de pesquisa, essa dissertação analisa a implementação da justiça restaurativa como uma política pública, tomando como foco de análise o processo que resultou na institucionalização das práticas restaurativas, que antes eram realizadas de forma informal pela ONG Justiça Restaurativa para o Século 21, até elas serem tomadas a cargo pelo Poder Judiciário do Rio Grande do Sul. Uma das propostas desta pesquisa foi compreender como ocorreu o processo de implementação da justiça restaurativa no estado do Rio Grande do Sul, com enfoque nas categorias valorativas expressas pelos entrevistados: juízes e facilitadores atuantes em setores do Poder Judiciário. Para alcançarmos este intento, realizamos um mapeamento das experiências existentes nos municípios pesquisados, que nos permitiu conhecer as formas plurais pelas quais a política pública pode ser utilizada e como as propostas estão sendo operacionalizadas nas iniciativas locais. Examinando a produção sociológica e da análise de políticas públicas sobre o tema, buscamos relacionar, por um lado, as perspectivas teóricas que destacam os fundamentos normativos e cognitivos vinculados às normas e às instituições sociais, juntamente com a teoria crítica e o conceito de reconstrução normativa; por outro, os estudos sobre implementação de políticas públicas que privilegiam as ideias e crenças dos atores envolvidos. Tais abordagens permitem examinar o processo de implementação da Justiça Restaurativa no estado, com destaque para as principais problemáticas surgidas no processo e para a forma através da qual “a imagem da política” foi e está sendo reproduzida pelos seus defensores. Por meio da análise das representações proferidas pelos agentes ao longo do trabalho de campo, foi possível perceber que a defesa da Justiça Restaurativa como uma política pública importante para o sistema de justiça abrange duas linhas de argumentação discursiva: a) uma institucional, que relaciona esta metodologia com a modernização e a ampliação do acesso à justiça, bem como com a redução da carga processual, b) outra que a considera uma proposta mais humanizada, eficaz e dialogal de justiça. / Based on qualitative research instruments, this dissertation analyze the implementation of restorative justice as a public policy, focusing on the process that resulted in the institutionalization of restorative practices, which were previously carried out informally by the NGO Restorative Justice for the Century 21, until they have been take over by the Judicial Branch of Rio Grande do Sul. One of the proposals of this research was to understand how the process of implementation of restorative justice occurred in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, focusing on the categories of values expressed by the interviewed: judges and facilitators acting in sectors of the Judiciary. In order to achieve this, we mapped the existing experiences in the municipalities surveyed, which allowed us to know the plural forms by which the public policy can be used and how the proposals are actually operationalized in local initiatives. Examining the sociological production and the public policies analysis of public policies about the subject, we seek to relate, on the one hand, the theoretical perspectives that highlight the normative and cognitive elements linked to social norms and institutions, together with the critical theory and the concept of reconstruction normative; and, on the other hand, studies on the implementation of public policies that privilege the ideas and beliefs of the actors involved. Such approaches have allowed us to examine the process of implementation of Restorative Justice in the state, highlighting the main issues raised in the process and the way in which the "image of politics" was and is being reproduced by its advocates. By means of the analysis of the representations uttered by the agents interviewed throughout the field work, it was possible to perceive that the defense of Restorative Justice as an important public policy for the justice system covers two lines of discursive argumentation: a) an institutional one, which relates this methodology with the modernization and expansion of access to justice, as well as with the reduction of the procedural burden, b) another that considers it a more humanized, effective and dialogical proposal of justice.

Magister Artium - MA (Psychology) / Aggressive behaviour is prevalent in the South African context. This is evident in the high rates of interpersonal violence including rape, intimate partner violence and homicide. Young adults appear to be both the main perpetrators and victims of aggressive behaviour. Normative beliefs about aggression have been identified as a central factor underlying aggressive behaviour. Normative beliefs refer to an individual's cognitions about the acceptability of specific behaviours and serve to regulate actions. Despite the identified salience of normative beliefs in influencing aggressive behaviour, limited research has been conducted within South Africa on this topic. This study thus investigated normative beliefs about aggression held by young adults attending university. The study also aims to investigate whether prior exposure to trauma, self-esteem and demographic factors (e.g. age, gender and family size) predicted normative beliefs about aggression. Results indicated that exposure to traumatic events, as well as state self-esteem significantly predicted normative beliefs about aggression. Gender differences were evident in various subscales. Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained by the Senate Higher Degrees Committee of the University of the Western Cape, as well as the University of the Western Cape registrar.