No description available.

Thesis advisor: Kathleen Bailey / This paper seeks to address the inclusion of Kuwaiti women as political actors. Kuwait held elections on May 16, 2009, and Moussoma al-Mubarak, Rola Dashti, Aseel al-Awadhi, and Salwa al-Jassar became the first women elected to the National Assembly. This victory occurred on the fourth anniversary of female enfranchisement in Kuwait. In an attempt to account for variations among the number of women in parliament in Kuwait by drawing on research from the field of descriptive representation, I found that the year of female suffrage, the religion of Islam, Kuwait’s cultural implications of gender-equality, the peculiarities of Kuwait’s electoral system, and timing and framing to be particularly important in the case of Kuwait. A consideration of substantive representation is also relevant to Kuwait, as early signs of involvement of the women members of Parliament indicate that women’s interests are on the political agenda in Kuwait. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science.

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This dissertation analyses the origin, purposes, nature, operation and achievements of the Commonwealth's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works (Public Works Committee - PWC), and assesses its utility to parliament. The PWC originated in 1913 as a permanent committee of parliamentarians established to examine government proposals for public works, and report on them to parliament. Its purpose is to provide detailed data on works proposals in order to allow informed voting. In the process parliament also achieves a degree of control over government - ministers and public servants. Unlike most parliamentary audit of government expenditure, the PWC scrutinises proposals before works are built. It is a joint, statutory, scrutiny committee. The proper role for parliamentary committees in general is the checking of government, through influence, criticism, scrutiny, and publicity. The PWC is assessed against this role through an analysis of its legislation and operation, and interviews with involved parliamentarians and bureaucrats. Criteria used include adequacy of evidence obtained, precision and clarity of reports, and degree of influence on government and acceptance of recommendations. In these terms the PWC has little effect in controlling policy making by the executive government - cabinet and ministers. Moreover, specific amendment of its act together with the consequential effects of nominally unrelated legislation, have reduced the scope of Committee activities to an estimated less than half of all Commonwealth public works. This trend is continuing under current policies of corporatising departmental activities and excluding the resulting statutory corporations from PWC examination. These moves prevent parliament playing its proper role in the governance of the country. However, within the ambit of its powers, the PWC generally rates highly against the above criteria, and exerts a significant degree of parliamentary control over government administration - the public service - in the implementation of public works.

The Parliamentary election in Russia held in December, 2011 caused vote fraud scandal and resulted in a wide-scale protest movement which spread all over the country. The Western media repeatedly compared political situation in Russia to ‘Arab spring’. Russian media, in their turn, got divided in two opposite camps regarding their reporting on the issue. This study examines news coverage of the political conflict in two Russian media outlets and interprets the findings within the framework of propaganda. The analysis incorporates two main levels: institutional and textual. In-depth interviews with the journalists were conducted in order to establish what internal and external factors, such as censorship or state control, shaped news reporting and promoted ideological bias. The comparative analysis of news coverage involved two media outlets Russia Today and Radio Liberty, which adhere to different ideological perspectives. The results show that both media represented contrasting versions of the situation and used information selectively in order to pursue certain goals. Nevertheless, the analysis allows to conclude that Russia Today explicitly supported the views of the Russian authorities and oppressed undesirable facts and opinions. Its news policy also evokes an idea of cold war, as it repeatedly appeals to the image of external enemy – the USA. Radio Liberty, in contrast, provided various opportunities to the discontent part of the Russian society to speak out, which can be considered as an attempt to represent the other side of the story, as it was excluded from the news agenda of the state owned media. However, news policy of Radio Liberty also implied certain propagandistic objectives. The study confirms the assumption that propaganda arguably exists within any political doctrine, but can take explicit and implicit forms which are difficult to detect without thorough scrutiny of overall news reportage of certain media. Further research should look at the role of social media in a series of political scandals and protest movement awakening in Russia, as many media experts link the political situation with emergence of new means of communication. It could also compare news representation of the current political conflict in several Russian domestic independent media to detect distinctions and similarities and try to evaluate what kind of an ideology they communicated to the audience.

Magistrinio darbo tema - Parlamentinio valdymo formavimas Lietuvoje ir Estijoje: palyginamoji analizė. Politologo G.E. Isakssono teorijoje pateikiami trys parlamentinio valdymo kriterijai - daugumos, santykinės daugumos ir rinkimų laimėjimo, kuriais vadovaujantis suformuotas parlamentinis valdymas geriausiai atspindėtų rinkėjų išreikštą pasirinkimą, taip sudaryta parlamentinė sistema būtų optimaliai sėkmingiausia. Tačiau teorija nutolsta nuo praktikos, kas ir steigia darbo problemą – šių kriterijų taikomumo paiešką Lietuvos ir Estijos parlamentinio valdymo formavime. Tyrimo objektas, tai yra konkretus darbo atskaitos taškas, yra parlamentinio valdymo kriterijų pritaikomumas formuojant parlamentines Lietuvos ir Estijos valdžias. Magistrinio darbo tikslas – ištirti suformuotas Lietuvos ir Estijos parlamentines valdžias pagal daugumos, santykinės daugumos ir rinkimų laimėjimo kriterijus. Šį tikslą realizuoti padeda išsikelti uždaviniai, pagrindiniai iš jų: palyginti Lietuvos ir Estijos parlamentiniame valdyme aptinkamą parlamentinio valdymo kriterijų pritaikomumą; atrasti ar egzistuoja partinės sistemos rodiklių ryšys su parlamentinio valdymo kriterijų pritaikomumu Lietuvos ir Estijos atvejais; išsiaiškinti daugumos, santykinės daugumos ir rinkimų laimėjimo kriterijų taikomumo ryšį su vyriausybės stabilumu. Tyrimo uždaviniams išspręsti ir darbo tikslą pasiekti padeda lyginamosios analizės, kuri yra naudojama palyginti parlamentinio valdymo formavimą Lietuvoje ir Estijoje... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The topic of Master paper is ‘Parliamentary Government Formation in Lithuania and Estonia: Comparative Analysis‘. When talking about parliamentary government formation, parliamentary doctrine criteria are often mentioned. Three of these principles are discussed here: those of majority, plurality and electoral gain. The more these principles are taken into account the more successful the parliamentary system is assumed to be; or, the more they are carried out, the closer to a situation of optimal parliamentary government the political system gets. The object of research is the implementation of parliamentary doctrine criteria in Lithuania and Estonia parliamentary government formation. The purpose of Master paper is to make a survey of majority, plurality and electoral gain principles implementation in Lithuania and Estonia parliamentary government. Our tasks help us to make the survey: one of task is to compare Lithuania and Estonia parliamentary government according to these parliamentary doctrine criteria. The second one is to find the relationship between party system (which is measured by fragmentation, aggregation, effective party number end electoral volatility) and our mentioned criteria. The third task is to find how majority, plurality and electoral gain principles implementation affect parliamentary government stability in Lithuania and Estonia. We use these methods: comparative analysis, qualitative comparative analysis, descriptive and correlation methods. Our... [to full text]

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Frankfurt am Main, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 333-348).

O objetivo da pesquisa é a análise da instalada e crescente crise do Poder Judiciário no Brasil e da reforma que pretende solucioná-la. Diante do exame perfunctório se verifica que a crise não é somente operacional, ocasionada pelo desaparelhamento do Judiciário, pelo processo, suas excessivas formalidades e por outros motivos apontados pelo meio jurídico. Embora presentes, a principal causa é de ordem institucional, pois trata do exercício de um dos três Poderes de Estado, que já não se apresenta em sintonia com a teoria clássica da separação dos poderes do século XVIII, em face da nova sociedade e da decorrente alteração dos fins do Estado. O Poder Judiciário vem evoluindo no sentido de administrar a Justiça e prestar a jurisdição de forma substancial, com base na concretização da Constituição, especialmente dos Direitos Fundamentais, o que leva, pelo menos aparentemente, a ditar o Direito e imiscuir-se na atividade política, em contradição à teoria clássica da separação dos poderes. De outro lado, nosso sistema de governo presidencialista, com a hegemonia do Poder Executivo, depõe contra a independência do Judiciário ao centralizar a cooptação dos componentes da mais Alta Corte e ingerir na formação dos Tribunais Superiores. Agora com a adoção do controle externo do Poder Judiciário, aumenta a concentração de poderes no Executivo, fazendo frente à pletora de competência que a Constituição atribuiu ao Poder Judiciário. A conclusão é de que a perda é da sociedade, com a subversão do regime democrático. A história dos países mais desenvolvidos está a indicar o caminho do consenso, como sendo o de um novo agenciamento de poderes, adotando-se o sistema parlamentarista e um Tribunal Constitucional independente. / The objective of the research is the analysis of the installed and crescent crisis of the Judicial Power in Brazil and the reform that intend to solve it. In front of the perfunctory we verify that the crisis is not just operational, caused by the lack of apparatus of the Judicial, by the process, its excessive formalities or other reasons pointed by the judicial environment. Although present, the main cause is from institutional order, because it’s about the prosecution of one of the three Powers of the State, which already is not shown in sintony with the classic theory of the separation of the powers from the XVII century, in regard to the new society and the current alteration of the finality of the State. The Judicial Power has been developing in the sense of managing the Justice and render the jurisdiction in a substantional way, based on the realization of the Constitution, specially the Fundamental Rights, that takes us, at least apparently, to dictate the Law and insert itself in the political activity, in contradiction to the classic theory of the separation of the Powers. On the other hand, our presidential government system, with the hegemony of the Executive Power, deposes against the independence of the Judicial centralizing the political choice of the components of the Highest Court and ingests the formation of the Superior Courts. Now with the adoption of the external control of the Judicial Power, raises the concentration of the powers in the Executive, initiating the exuberance of competence that the Constitution attributed to the Judicial Power. The conclusion is that the lost is of the society, with the subversion of the democratic regime. The history of the well developed countries is pointing the way of consensus, as been the way of a new placement of the powers, adopting the parliamentary system and a independent Constitutional Court.

O objetivo desta tese é empreender uma investigação sobre padrões de recrutamento legislativo no Brasil. O ponto de partida consistiu de um exame dos dados biográficos dos deputados federais, eleitos ao longo de 14 legislaturas, entre 1946 e 1998. Procurou-se analisar a experiência política adquirida durante a carreira pública prévia e os vínculos de lealdade partidários firmados pelos parlamentares. A proposição que orienta a análise é de que a estrutura de oportunidades para o ingresso e mobilidade na carreira política, ao incrementar os níveis de circulação parlamentar e recrutamento lateral, tem contribuído para inibir a produção de bancadas coesas no Legislativo federal. / The purpose of this thesis is to accomplish a research concerning the legislative patterns of recruitment in Brazil. Departing from an inquiry of biographical data of federal representatives who were elected during 14 legislatures ( 1946/1998), we have attempted to analyse the political experience that the brazilian federal representatives acquire during their public careers as well as their loyalty party links. The premise that guides the analysis is that the estructure of opportunity of ascension in the political careers, provokes high levels of parliamentary turnover and of lateral pattern of recruitment. These characteristcs have inhibited cohesive benches in the Brazilian Congress.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-10-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:05:44Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_ml_dr_arafcl.pdf: 1457971 bytes, checksum: 76fc9f10b210ce83c92451179f9a91e1 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Atualmente, a pauta de discussões dos parlamentares brasileiros em torno da TV pública tem demonstrado o quanto a relação entre mídia e política encontra-se entrelaçada. Assim, por meio de uma abordagem interdisciplinar envolvendo a Sociologia, a História, a Comunicação e a Ciência Política, esta tese reflete sobre políticas públicas de comunicação e o papel das TV’s Legislativas em funcionamento no Brasil, há mais de 10 anos. Este estudo discute a possibilidade de promoção da democracia, por meio da accountability vertical, entre representantes e representados, na Câmara Municipal de Ribeirão Preto, desde a criação da TV parlamentar local, em 1997. Percorrer a historicidade do processo de criação e desenvolvimento da TV Câmara, analisando agentes e interesses envolvidos nessa trajetória, bem como o dimensionamento da atuação das TVL’s como meio de prestação de contas políticas, com destaque às suas potencialidades e limites para a promoção da democracia, constituíram-se nos principais objetivos do estudo. A metodologia empregada associa-se à pesquisa bibliográfica, a investigação histórico-documental, a exploração de fontes audiovisuais como gravações de programas de TV e depoimentos, além de questionários, num estudo de caso sobre a TV Câmara de Ribeirão Preto. Os resultados permitiram considerar que as TV’s Legislativas têm um importante papel para a democracia, mas que seu potencial de accountability ainda não é devidamente explorado. / Nowadays, the agenda of the Brazilian parliamentarians' discussions around the public TV has been demonstrating it as the relationship between media and politics is interlaced. Like this, through an interdisciplinary approach involving the Sociology, the History, the Communication and the Political Science, this thesis contemplates on public politics of communication and the paper of Legislative TV's in operation in Brazil, there is more than 10 years. This study discusses the possibility of promotion of the democracy, through the vertical accountability, among representatives and represented, in the Chamber of the City of Ribeirão Preto, from the creation of the local parliamentary TV, in 1997. To travel the historicity of the creation process and development of the TV of the Chamber of the City, analyzing agents and interests involved in that trajectory, as well as the dimension of the performance of TVL's as middle of accounts rendered politics, with prominence to your potentialities and limits for the promotion of the democracy, they were constituted in the principal objectives of the study. The used methodology associates to the bibliographical research, the historical-documental investigation, the exploration of audiovisual sources as recordings of programs of TV and interviews, besides questionnaires, in a study of in case on the TV of the Chamber of Ribeirão Preto. The results allowed to consider that Legislative TV's has an important paper for the democracy, but that your accountability potential is not still explored properly.