This dissertation focuses on the concept of human rights, and in particular on how we should understand the interests protected by human rights and human rights' correlative duties. The work consists of three papers. Human rights and interests In the first paper I consider which conditions interests have to satisfy in order to be protected by human rights. I call these the Interest Conditions. I argue that we need to distinguish between two kinds of Interest Conditions: qualitative and quantitative ones. This means that we need to consider both which type of interests, and how much of these interests, human rights protect. I then consider the content of these conditions. Political accounts and fidelity to human rights practice In recent years, considerable attention has been received by so called "political accounts" of the analysis of human rights. According to these theories, one of the distinctive features of human rights is that they play a certain political function. In particular, a large number of political accounts hold that human rights have political correlative duties. I call this thesis 'Political Duties'. Political Duties has been defended on the grounds of the desideratum of fidelity, according to which the analysis of human rights ought to be faithful to human rights practice. I consider two ways of interpreting this desideratum and the corresponding versions of the argument in support of Political Duties. I argue that neither version successfully supports the thesis. The universal scope of positive duties correlative to human rights In the third paper I focus on duties correlative to human rights. We can distinguish between two different kinds of duties: negative and positive ones. Negative duties are duties not to perform an action, while positive duties are duties to perform an action. I focus on the latter and, in particular, I concentrate on the question of their scope - that is, on understanding who holds them. I defend a refinement of the thesis that all individuals hold positive duties correlative to human rights, which I call the Universal Scope Thesis.

The press is credited with playing a central role in the consolidation of democracy by informing citizens, engaging them in the process of public decision making and governance and stimulating wide and inclusive debate on public matters. In emergent democracies like Zambia, the extent of the media's role as a public sphere, not to mention its impact, is not known. The study set out to investigate the extent of the press' public sphere role, particularly how Zambian newspapers report Parliament and how such coverage informs public opinion. It found that though the press covers Parliament, the nature of coverage does not empower newspaper readers with the kind of context, background and interpretation they would otherwise need to engage in public discourses on matters that affect them from an informed perspective. In the main, the role of the press in informing citizens is not fully realised, not only because uninformative character of coverage, but partly because of low literacy levels and the limited reach of local newspapers. It was against this background that the study recommended ways in which the Zambian press could re-focus its approach to parliamentary news coverage to make it more informational and more inclined towards playing a public sphere role, at least to the newspaper-reading public. Making parliamentary coverage an integrated newsroom function was the main recommendation. It provided the basis for suggesting a practical editorial option for the coverage of the legislature that accommodates the integration of context, background and interpretation into parliamentary news.

This dissertation examines media coverage of the 2011- 2012 famine in Somalia by the websites of BBC News, CNN and Al Jazeera. Using both quantitative and qualitative content analyses, it asks why coverage of the famine began as late as it did, despite ample evidence of the coming famine. It further surveys the famine-related news reports for evidence of four paradigms through which the causes of famine can be understood; as a Malthusian competition between population and land, as a failure of food entitlements as conceived of by Sen (1981), as critical political event (Edkins, 2004), or as an issue of criminality (Alex de Waal, 2008). Findings include a dramatic silencing of victim’s accounts of famine, despite a reliance on their photographic images, as well as an overwhelming preference for Malthusian accounts of the famine. Late media coverage is explored via a new-values paradigm which links the sudden outburst of media coverage for the famine to a formal UN declaration, and suggests that this may have created a new elite-relevance to the event which did not exist before, and therefore making it of relevance to domestic publics.

In recent years, many reality television formats have been transplanted into China and have become top-ranked shows under the influence of the Korean Wave. In order to unravel the complexity of propaganda in popular culture, this thesis focuses on analyzing China's adaptation of transnational television formats in central and private stations. I excavate how China tries to unify the nation and build the party-state's hegemonic status by way of disseminating political messages in popular media, as well as the state's governance of the influences of globalization and foreign ideas in domestic productions. I also put forth that foreign ideas conveyed in recent formats shed light on issues in China such as class and ethnicity, audiences' ambivalent reception of propagandist programs, and the exportation of China's formats. The genre of reality TV, including production and reception, discloses tension and collaboration between state and commercial TV, the local and the global, and within the Chinese community.

xi, 112 p. : ill. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT PN6149.P64 V36 2000 / This thesis examines the performance of political pranks by contemporary radical activists and anarchists. Pranks, used symbolically to subvert authority and collapse hierarchy, have become important tools for grassroots political movements. Activists utilize pranks as a form of "culture jamming" to undermine, humiliate, and educate. This thesis documents political pranks pulled by Earth First!, the Yippies, the Biotic Baking Brigade, and the Eugene Anarchists for Torrey (EAT) Campaign to show how pranks are performed and narrated within anarchist subcultures. Drawing on cultural and performance studies, as well as on anarchist theories, this thesis demonstrates how pranks can become performances of resistance and criticism that disrupt the status quo. / Committee in charge: Dr. Daniel N. Wojcik, Chair; Dr. Suzanne Clark; Dr. Carol Silverman

This thesis applies T.M. Scanlon's version of contractualism to the problem of future generations. I begin by analyzing Rawls' contractarian account of just savings and find that there is no plausible composition of the original position that can deal with the inclusion of future people. I then examine Scanlon's contractualism and some objections to it before moving on to applying it to future people. I argue that the disanalogies between the intra- and inter-generational contexts do not preclude including future people in the contractualist framework, and that the theory avoids the non-identity problem. Part II of the thesis applies contractualism to three intergenerational topics and develops principles governing them: resource conservation, procreation, and population size. To conclude, I address how to deal with the fact that, in the case of future generations, we often have imperfect knowledge of what they will need, how our actions will affect them, and how many of them there will be.

M.A. / The central problem of this research is to highlight the question of whether the public service should be subject to political control and how such control should be exercised. The objective of this dissertation was mainly to explore, describe and analyse the role of the institutions, mechanisms and processes of political control over the public service including perspectives in terms of the functional dependence of public servants in relation to these institutions, mechanisms and processes. It was also a purpose of this study to establish the nature of political control over the public service and the practical actions that could be taken at an institutional level to promote the balance of political control, political principles and the functional dependence of public servants in the state bureaucracy. The study also explored the variables influencing the meanings, foundations and processes of political control over the public service through the application of a literature study in terms of a conceptual and institutional overview of the state related concepts, phenomena, institutions, structures and processes that influence control over the public service. Furthermore, the variables influencing the meanings, foundations and processes of control, accountability and responsibility in terms of control over the public service in a democratic system of ministerial responsibility were also explored. The study also provided an integration and validation of the determinants of the hierarchical position of public servants in relation to political control over the public service as an essential ingredient of representative democracy.

M.A. (Corporate Communication) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

South Africa has become a significant role player in the international relations since being readmitted into the world community after the first democratic election in 1994. The primary focus of country’s international relations is the African continent. South Africa has played a pivotal role in bringing peace across the continent. There has also been an increase in South Africa’s engagement with the continent on economic and trade issues. South Africa’s economic diplomacy has been scrutinized from different angles. There has been perceptions of a South Africa with imperialists or hegemonic tendencies resembling those of the West. There are also those who view South Africa’s economic role in the continent in the positive light as a contributor to economic growth and development. The South African governments have always preached the notion of the “African agenda” and the interest in fair trade and engagement with the continent. This study assesses different debates regarding South Africa’s economic diplomacy in Africa and explores if this is benefiting the continent’s development. The study also considers if such economic diplomacy has positive spin off for the South African economy. Since economic diplomacy is operated at government level the study also considers how economic diplomacy is coordinated in South Africa. There are a number of recommendations presented for the improvement of economic diplomacy in South Africa.

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