This dissertation is a literature study of the legal regime of political parties in post-apartheid South Africa. A constitutional perspective is adopted throughout the study in order to confine the topic to the realm of South African law. Hence, the focus of the study is to identify legal rights contained in chapter two of the Constitution and to also identify other provisions of the Constitution that have a bearing on political parties. As mentioned in the conclusion, section 19 of the Constitution, set the scene for the development of this study. An analysis of the constitutional provisions highlighted in this study, case law and present legislation dealing with political parties reveals that there is a need for comparative research and the adoption of adequate legislation to regulate the functioning of political parties in South Africa. It is submitted that the regulation of parties by statute is required to ensure a just political order whereby the functioning of political parties is in line with the Constitution.

Secessionist movements have been found historically on both sides of the political spectrum, and sometimes have tried to remain apolitical completely, but because of the rise of partisan politics, secessionism has inevitably become politicized. Variations in Western European secessionism can be noticed, and as such, explanations put forward may be deemed insufficient, or incomplete. In my thesis I tested the hypothesis that secessionism varied on the political spectrum because it has been consolidated against ideological Others (in Scotland against Thatcher’s Conservatives between 1974 and 1990). I tested this methodologically through process tracing and theoretically by looking at the consolidation of the Scottish National Party through reactive nationalism. Specifically I analyzed the nationalist discourse used to justify ideological positioning in the 1970s and 1980s in propaganda materials and archival documents, and if and how this ideological choice was reflected or interpreted in newspapers (for opinions on how this consolidation was perceived by the electorate).

There are many major shipping companies which operate fleets comprised largely of vessels which are time chartered and subsequently sub-chartered on voyage terms. Legal risks will arise for the time charterer due the differing natures and terms of time and voyage charters. The essential question examined in this thesis is that of whether, and to what extent, legal risk can be minimized by the negotiation of equivalent contractual terms under time and voyage charter parties. The key areas addressed in this thesis are delivery under time charters compared to readiness under voyage charters, off hire under time charters versus suspension of laytime under voyage charters, obligations relating to cleanliness of cargo spaces, rights and responsibilities relative to safe berths and ports, the time charterer's position under bills of lading, and issues relating to redelivery of the vessel and consequent voyage charter liability if the vessel is unable to undertake the final voyage. The methodology applied is an examination of the case law, with a primary focus on the extensive body of English jurisprudence. This analysis of the case law is accompanied by a consideration of provisions of major charter party forms. The analysis leads to the conclusion that risk, to varying degrees, can be minimized through the application and clarification of contractual language. With respect to readiness of the vessel it is considered that risk will be reduced through agreeing contractual language which requires early notification of the vessel's delay. As regards off hire and laytime wording that clarifies non physical deficiencies is proposed. With regard to vessel cargo spaces intermediate cleanliness is identified as the greatest risk. Safe port and berth warranties are determined to represent an area of easily manageable risk, while letters of indemnity relating to bills of lading continue to represent very significant risk with suggested but no certain solution. Finally, with respect to redelivery a final voyage clause for time charters has been proposed which serves to almost eliminate risk in this area. Therefore, it is broadly concluded that risk can be managed but not eliminated through drafting of appropriate contractual terms.

Prostitution, sex in exchange for consideration, has never been illegal in Canada; however, activities surrounding prostitution have been criminalized in the Criminal Code. These prohibited activities include: working indoors (s. 210 keeping a common bawdy house), providing services to sex workers (s. 212(1)(j) living off of the avails of prostitution), and communicating in public for the purposes of prostitution (s. 213). In 2007 two former and one current sex worker, Terri Jean Bedford, Valerie Scott and Amy Lebovitch challenged the constitutionality of the above laws, arguing that they increased sex workers’ vulnerability to harm. Six years later on June 13th, 2013 the Supreme Court of Canada heard the landmark case Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford. Prior to hearing the case, the Supreme Court Justices read the submitted factums outlining the arguments of the appellants, respondents, and their interveners. The final decision was released on December 22nd, 2013 and the unanimous decision to strike down all three laws was made. Using a discourse analysis inspired by Michel Foucault, this study ‘unpacks’ the meanings that are constituted within the factums submitted to the Supreme Court regarding the people who engage in sex work and the institution of prostitution. The convergences and divergences within the discourses are presented. Drawing on these findings, while applying the work of Wedeking’s (2010) strategic legal framing alongside the governmentality perspective of risk, the tensions surrounding risk and choice are further explored. In doing so, the relationship between risk (taking/avoiding) and choice (making) is teased out. In this thesis I argue that risk and choice are strategically framed in the submitted factums to demonstrate the (un)constitutionality of Canada’s prostitution laws. Furthermore, I argue that both the appellants and respondents agree that risk avoidance is an acceptable self-governance strategy for sex workers, however they diverge on what they consider to be acceptable risk avoidance measures. The conclusion of this study discusses the decision of Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford to strike down the three prostitution laws and the subsequent introduction of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.

Amidst a considerable body of literature on erotic dance, the voices of third parties, that is, the people who organize, supervise, manage or coordinate the labour of dancers, seldom appear. Yet, these third parties provide a setting and services that are vital to dancers’ entrepreneurial success. Furthermore, perceptions of third parties as exploitative and coercive perpetuate framings of erotic dance – and sex work in general – as harmful, which in turn invisibilize dancers’ work, as well as their skills, labour rights and grievances. Drawing from qualitative interviews with 15 third parties and 15 dancers, as well as regional regulatory texts, this dissertation seeks to trouble these stigmatic assumptions by shedding light on the work of third parties and the organization of labour in Ontario’s erotic dance sector. Mapping the occupational roles and relationships amongst third parties (e.g., managers, bouncers, disc jockeys) reveals the organizational structure and peripheries of the strip club. Through this map, we see how third parties together form the organizational structure, which operates as a parallel entity to dancers who, as independent contractors, are for the most part responsible for their own work activities and income. At the same time, because dancers and third parties must equally provide quality service to their shared customers, they are both interdependent on, and independent of, each other. This relationship ‘plays out’ through occupational and situationally adaptive performances, which reiterate and resist normative gender, racial, and class scripts to produce the ‘party’ environment of the strip club. Simultaneously ambiance and organizational culture, the ‘party’ environment shapes third parties’ and dancers’ occupational performances for, and perceptions of, each other. The continuity of performance required to maintain this environment also results in third parties reproducing certain regulatory discourses and mechanisms in their surveillance and rule enforcement practices, and disregarding and subverting others, which in turn impacts upon dancers’ safety. Third parties’ relationships with each other and dancers are also permeated by stigma, stereotypes and perceptions of risk that echo regulatory and broader social discourses. These findings demonstrate that third parties’ engagement with regulation and normative discourses are deeply inter-related and impact the quality of the services they provide to dancers. On this basis it is argued that the context and conditions of dancers’ labour will be improved by rethinking narrow-minded regulatory frameworks and social norms.

The thesis is about the representation of the women in the politics, especially in The Czech Republic. The goal is to answer on the question, if this approach depends on the position of the political party on the ideological left-right spectrum. First the thesis is focused on the development of the women's position in the society since the 18th century and on the women's right struggle within feminism. The second part of thesis presents the methods, which support the women's political activity. The last capture analyzes the approach to the women in politics of seven political parties, which won the seat in the Chamber of Deputies in Parliament of The Czech Republic in the years 2006 and 2010. It compares their approach to policy of equal gender representation in the party's documents and in the reality. The result of the analysis is that the power of the party is more important than its position on left-right spectrum in the approach to women. The more powerful party is the less opportunities have the women in politics.

One of the purposes of political parties is to reduce a heterogeneous polity into a few political elements. This thesis determines if there is a relationship between political parties and social cleavages in Canada. I have used provincial election results and census data from 1956 to 1991. Electoral results are converted into two measures of party system size, the effective number of parties (the number of significant parties in a legislature) and the competitive number of parties (the number of relevant parties in an election). Social heterogeneity is measured by converting census data into a series of indexes that measure the ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity. 1 also examine the affect of rural/urban and centre periphery cleavages in provincial politics. I have found that there is a significant relationship between social heterogeneity and party system size in Canada. Of the cleavage structure examined, ethnicity is positively correlated with party system size and the size of a province's rural population is negatively correlated with party system size. Curiously, religion and language have mixed affects; religion is positively correlated with the number of parties that get elected but negatively correlated with the number of parties that win seats. Similarly, the size of a provinces French speaking population has a positive relationship with the number of parties that win seats but a negative relationship with the vote distribution among parties. There are two important conclusions in this thesis. First, there is substantial evidence that social heterogeneity influences party systems size in Canadian provinces. This result challenges institutional explanations which suggest that party systems in polities that use plurality electoral systems which elect single members will not be affected by social diversity. My second conclusion is the identification of a largely untouched area of research on provincial party systems. European theorists have used social structural approaches for fifty years to explain how societies and political parties co-evolve. This thesis proves that this approach has an important role to play on this side of the Atlantic. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

La mondialisation croissante et les changements sociétaux transforment le management qui semble devoir évoluer vers une gestion de la performance par la promotion de l'excellence. La responsabilité sociétale d'entreprise (RSE) émerge à cet égard comme un thème d'importance substantielle et évolutive. Cependant, en dépit des efforts des chercheurs et de la préoccupation continue des entrepreneurs et des citoyens issus de plusieurs pays en matière de RSE, beaucoup d'études empiriques sur la RSE proviennent des (ou se concentrent presque exclusivement sur) pays anglophones. De surcroît, malgré la portée internationale des activités des entreprises et la mobilité internationale montante des managers, nous connaissons peu l'étendue des différences entre les pays et leurs similitudes sur le plan de la RSE. Dès lors, il est essentiel que les chercheurs et les organisations saisissent la manière dont la RSE est perçue dans le monde et dont elle fonctionne ainsi que les liens entre la performance et RSE.Partant de l'histoire de la RSE et de la littérature académique récente, nous avons construit un cadre conceptuel fondé sur l'appréhension de trois tendances clés de la RSE, à savoir généralisation, institutionnalisation et internationalisation, et de trois écoles principales théoriques de la RSE, à savoir école classique, école des parties prenantes et école stratégique.Nous avons ensuite mené notre étude empirique en nous appuyant sur un échantillon constitué de deux groupes (294 individus de Chine et de France) et en collectant les données au moyen d'un questionnaire. Cette étude empirique porte, d'une part, sur la relation qui existe entre l'attitude managériale envers la RSE, le dynamisme des parties prenantes, l'acceptation de la RSE dans la firme, l'activité de l'entreprise, les difficultés rencontrées, la performance sociétale de l'entreprise et, d'autre part, sur le mécanisme de fonctionnement de la RSE et les différences de perception du rôle de l'entreprise dans la société dans les cultures chinoise et française.Nous avons dans un troisième temps élaboré un modèle intégré de la RSE constitué de 6 dimensions selon la logique principe-processus-résultats. Les traitements statistiques réalisés (corrélations, régressions et SEM) au moyen des logiciels SPSS et AMOS ont permis d'obtenir des résultats satisfaisants. Ces résultats mettent en évidence d'un côté le mécanisme de fonctionnement de la RSE dans la firme, et d'un autre côté, les divergences et les convergences en termes d'attitudes, d'activités, de difficultés et de performances sociétales.À partir de ces résultats, des suggestions pour optimiser les démarches de la RSE sont proposées sur le plan de l'intégration stratégique, de l'innovation et de la gestion des parties prenantes. Enfin, des investigations pour des voies de recherches futures sont recommandées telles que des études contextuelles relatives aux comportements organisationnels et au dynamisme des parties prenantes.Mots-clés : RSE, attitude, parties prenantes, mécanisme de la RSE, performance / The deepening globalization and the social changes transform the management which seems to move towards the performance management through the promotion of excellence. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has thus emerged as a theme of substantial and progressive importance. However, despite the efforts of researchers and continuing concern of entrepreneurs and citizens from multiple countries on CSR, many empirical studies on CSR come from (or focus almost exclusively on English-speaking countries). Yet, given the international scope of business activities and the rising international mobility of managers, we know too little about the differences and similarities on the plan of CSR between countries. Therefore, it is essential that researchers and organizations know if the CSR is perceived in the same manner in the world, and how CSR works as well as the connections between the corporate performance and CSR.Starting from the history of CSR and the recent academic literature, we construct a conceptual framework based on the understanding of the three key trends in CSR, e.g. generalization, institutionalization and internationalization, and on the three main theoretical schools of CSR, namely, classical school, stakeholder school and strategic school.Following this, we conduct our empirical study by relying on a sample constituted from two groups (294 individuals from China and France) and by collecting the data by way of a questionnaire. This empirical study focuses, on the one hand, on the relationship between managerial attitude to CSR, stakeholder dynamic, acceptance of CSR in the firm, firm's activity, difficulties and social performance of the firm; and on the other hand, on the mechanism of operation and perception difference of the role of business in society in Chinese and French cultures.We then elaborate an integrated model of CSR with 6 measures according to the logic process-principle-results. The statistical treatment (correlation, regression and SEM) realized by SPSS and AMOS software permit us to obtain satisfactory results. These results reveal, on one side, the functioning mechanism of CSR in the firm, and on the other side, the divergence and convergence of attitudes, activities, difficulties and social performance.From these results, suggestions for optimizing CSR efforts are proposed in regard to the strategic integration, innovation and stakeholder management. Lastly, for future research, investigations are suggested to be pursued on contextual studies, organizational behavior and stakeholder dynamic.Keywords: CSR, attitude, stakeholder, CSR mechanism, performance

The thesis deals with the transformation of the Brazilian Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT). Its aim is to identify reasons for more than a decade interval between the renewal of direct presidential election under the universal suffrage and the victory of the left in a society that is marked by extreme inequality of wealth distribution. The second issue which is covered is how the party managed to consolidate power and keep it for three consecutive terms. Using modified concepts of mass, catch-all and cartel party the author tests the hypothesis that the electoral victory of the left was conditioned by the domination of the leftist side of political spectrum by the PT, as a result of building a mass (program-oriented) party, which subsequently tailored its campaign to focus on centrist voters (shift to the catch-all format, or votes-oriented party). The maintenance of power is based on crafting oversized coalitions with parties across the political spectrum, i.e. including the right-wing parties. However, these coalitions are created only to support government; the Workers' Party never forms electoral coalitions with prominent rightest parties. Furthermore, the thesis discusses the functioning of the so-called coalitional presidentialism, the typologies of current leftist governments in Latin America and also presents the basic elements of the Brazilian political system.

The mail goal of this work is to provide enough arguments, on which basis we can come to a conclusion if an act about limits on election costs of political parties in the Czech Republic could bring a positive effect. The work compares data on economic activities of political parties in the Slovak Republic with political parties in the Czech Republic. Experts on election costs define some interest groups which can benefit from this law. These groups include large and small parties, incumbents and challengers parties. The work does not neglect the analysis of non-governmental organizations that have attempted to monitor the implementations, effects and loopholes of such a law. The conclusion brings the finding that the voters may be influenced by a number of important factors, such as political and social situation in the country, by the well prepared and carried out campaign i.e. it is also found out that election costs does not play such an important role that is assigned to them. Regulation in the form of an upper limit of election expenses can be considered as another marketing tool that is used to obtain political party voters.