Political parties in the Czech Republic have a dominant position in decision-making and nomination of public representatives. At the same time they must deal with complex problems, such as pension reform. I suppose therefore that they need an expert opinions for building their decision-making. Therefore, I would like to figure out my research how to deal with this, how they are able to generate the requisite expertise and how that expertise is used in the final decision. I wonder how institutional arrangements of political parties affects the process of creating professional views on public policy, namely to focus on the reform of the Czech pension system. Where and how exactly are formed the expert views on the functioning of the pension system in different political parties? I would like to reveal the basic criteria that determine who is considered an expert, and how this person is related to the organization of political party. I also focus on mainstreaming expertise during the subsequent political decisions. The basic methods of research will document analysis, interviews and observations.

In 2006 a new training route for Educational Psychologists (EPs) was introduced, which extended the entry criteria to applicants from a range of professional backgrounds. The related literature indicates that this was a contentious issue. The aim of the current study is to explore the relationship between the role of the EP and professional background using an interpretive methodology. Twelve participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. The participants were four EPs, four primary Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCos), three secondary SENCos and a Portage Worker. The aim of the study is also to establish what skills and qualities the participants perceive to be necessary to be an effective and credible practitioner. Following analysis of the interview data, a number of themes emerged. In terms of desirable EP attributes, the participants’ responses fell into three broad categories, interpersonal skills, psychological skills and other qualities. The participants perceived the EP role as either expert or collaborative, although some expressed a degree of uncertainty about the nature of the role. All of the participants alluded to a link between experience and credibility, although the nature of desirable experience varied between personal and professional experience. Participants who viewed the role of the EP within an expert model favoured teaching experience over other forms of pre-training experience. The second stage of this study is set in the context of the recent changes to the initial training of Educational Psychologists (EPs). The broad aim of the study is to explore beliefs that are held in relation to the relationship between the role of the EP and professional background. In particular, stage two aims to explore the participants’ belief systems in greater depth. It was therefore deemed that Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) would provide an appropriate psychological framework to inform the design of the study and interpretation of the data. Six of the twelve participants who were interviewed at stage one of this study participated in follow-up interviews using a self-characterisation technique. Their responses were laddered in order to elicit superordinate constructs, until an end point was agreed upon between participant and researcher, which are referred to as ‘core constructs’. The data were clustered in relation to the themes arising from stage one, resulting in six clusters, collaboration, motivation and applying psychology being ranked as most important for EPs. The use of PCP as a theoretical framework has provided a psychological perspective from which to address beliefs regarding the professional background of EPs.

O Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) é uma das instituições mais importantes do país, e tem recebido cada vez mais atenção da sociedade brasileira. Ano a ano, a corte é acionada para julgar dezenas de milhares de casos, muitos deles com impacto direto na vida econômica, política e social do país. Investigar quais são os fatores que influenciam o comportamento dos ministros do STF é fundamental para compreendermos o processo de tomada de decisões do Tribunal. Apesar de existirem estudos importantes sobre o resultado das ações de controle de constitucionalidade, ainda existe espaço para estudar o comportamento individual dos ministros. O objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar o comportamento individual dos ministros do STF, utilizando-se as votações dos ministros frente às ações de controle de constitucionalidade que foram decididas de forma colegiada. A proposta de trabalho é verificar como os ministros se agrupam e quais fatores influenciam sua divisão. Para isso, propomos a utilização do método de estimação de pontos ideias. Nossa hipótese primária de trabalho é que existe uma influência da indicação presidencial no comportamento dos ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal. Dessa forma, haveria uma divisão da Corte entre os ministros nomeados por diferentes partidos. A hipótese secundária seria que as trajetórias profissionais dos ministros também influenciam em sua forma de decidir, sendo possível, portanto, identificar divisões entre os ministros a partir desta variável. Os resultados do presente trabalho indicam que variáveis associadas aos modelos atitudinais do comportamento judicial, partidos dos presidentes que indicaram os ministros, ideologia e filosofia judicial dos ministros, são variáveis mais relevantes para explicar as agrupamentos e dissensos no STF do que as que dizem respeito as trajetórias profissionais dos juízes. / The Supremo Tribunal Federal - STF (Federal Supreme Court) is one of the most relevant institutions in Brazil, and it has increasingly gained attention from Brazilian society. Year after year, the Court is demanded to rule thousands of cases, a lot of them with direct impact in the countrys economic political and social life. To investigate which factors influence the Justices behavior is paramount to understand the decision-making process of the Court. The goal of this work is to analyze the Justices individual behavior, by looking at the Justices individual vote in Constitutional Review cases that were decided in collegiate manner. This dissertation verifies how the Justices cluster themselves and which factors influence their division. For that, we employ the ideal point estimation method. Our primary hypothesis states that the presidential nomination exerts influence in the Justices behavior. In this way, it would be possible to identify a division in the Court among Justices nominated by different parties. Our secondary hypothesis states that the Justices professional background also exerts influence in how they decide, therefore making possible to identify divisions among Justices by taking this variable as a dividing line. The results of the present work indicate that the variables associated with the attitudinal models of judicial behavior, presidential party responsible for Justice nomination, ideology and Justices judicial philosophy are more relevant variables to explain the clusters and dissensus in STF than variables linked to magistrates professional background.

O Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) é uma das instituições mais importantes do país, e tem recebido cada vez mais atenção da sociedade brasileira. Ano a ano, a corte é acionada para julgar dezenas de milhares de casos, muitos deles com impacto direto na vida econômica, política e social do país. Investigar quais são os fatores que influenciam o comportamento dos ministros do STF é fundamental para compreendermos o processo de tomada de decisões do Tribunal. Apesar de existirem estudos importantes sobre o resultado das ações de controle de constitucionalidade, ainda existe espaço para estudar o comportamento individual dos ministros. O objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar o comportamento individual dos ministros do STF, utilizando-se as votações dos ministros frente às ações de controle de constitucionalidade que foram decididas de forma colegiada. A proposta de trabalho é verificar como os ministros se agrupam e quais fatores influenciam sua divisão. Para isso, propomos a utilização do método de estimação de pontos ideias. Nossa hipótese primária de trabalho é que existe uma influência da indicação presidencial no comportamento dos ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal. Dessa forma, haveria uma divisão da Corte entre os ministros nomeados por diferentes partidos. A hipótese secundária seria que as trajetórias profissionais dos ministros também influenciam em sua forma de decidir, sendo possível, portanto, identificar divisões entre os ministros a partir desta variável. Os resultados do presente trabalho indicam que variáveis associadas aos modelos atitudinais do comportamento judicial, partidos dos presidentes que indicaram os ministros, ideologia e filosofia judicial dos ministros, são variáveis mais relevantes para explicar as agrupamentos e dissensos no STF do que as que dizem respeito as trajetórias profissionais dos juízes. / The Supremo Tribunal Federal - STF (Federal Supreme Court) is one of the most relevant institutions in Brazil, and it has increasingly gained attention from Brazilian society. Year after year, the Court is demanded to rule thousands of cases, a lot of them with direct impact in the countrys economic political and social life. To investigate which factors influence the Justices behavior is paramount to understand the decision-making process of the Court. The goal of this work is to analyze the Justices individual behavior, by looking at the Justices individual vote in Constitutional Review cases that were decided in collegiate manner. This dissertation verifies how the Justices cluster themselves and which factors influence their division. For that, we employ the ideal point estimation method. Our primary hypothesis states that the presidential nomination exerts influence in the Justices behavior. In this way, it would be possible to identify a division in the Court among Justices nominated by different parties. Our secondary hypothesis states that the Justices professional background also exerts influence in how they decide, therefore making possible to identify divisions among Justices by taking this variable as a dividing line. The results of the present work indicate that the variables associated with the attitudinal models of judicial behavior, presidential party responsible for Justice nomination, ideology and Justices judicial philosophy are more relevant variables to explain the clusters and dissensus in STF than variables linked to magistrates professional background.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T16:16:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Moses capa.pdf: 673534 bytes, checksum: c1268412baf31b9f936d494dabb13a1f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-08 / Due to the proliferation of the Accounting Sciences High Education Courses, the Accounting Federal Council CFC has created the Sufficiency Examination because the teaching poor quality, giving, at such examination, emphasis to the ethical questions. Nowadays, the professional accountant has a practicalmechanical accounting knowledge larger than an accounting reasoning. This investigation, through my (auto)biographical trajectory study in a professional formation perspective, aims to identify the most determining elements in the Accounting Sciences Professor formation, and verify how much the investigation exercise has been present in this formation as well as examine if investigation, as an educational principle reflects itself in the teaching practice. It is necessary to understand that in the trajectory from Accountant to Accounting Sciences Professor, often results from an invitation to successful professionals in the area, who do not necessarily have the adequate pedagogical formation to teach. It is also the scope of this study, based on a better understanding of the practical aspects of a trajectory from an Accountant to Accounting Sciences Professor, to suggest some possible ways for the continuing education programs for these professors. Thus from the Education and Educators point of view, I assume as references Freire, Demo and Schön; from the High Education viewpoint, Cunha and Buarque; from the Accounting Sciences viewpoint, Iudícibus and Marion. The methodology utilized to elaborate this study was the (auto)biographical investigation, with reference, mainly, in Nóvoa and Josso. The results suggest that the tendency to reproduce the banking education, received at school from Elementary School to College, can only be reverted if the subject, without leaving the teaching practice job, has the opportunity to study the theoretical basis of the formal educative processes and to bring them to reflection upon his practice. The study demonstrates that the (auto)biographical investigation with the formative finality can be of great help in this reflexive process. Thus it is suggested that these strategies be utilized in the continuing education process of the Account Sciences Professors.(AU) / Devido à proliferação dos Cursos do Ensino Superior de Ciências Contábeis, o Conselho Federal de Contabilidade CFC criou o Exame de Suficiência, por ter constatado que a qualidade do ensino deixava a desejar, procurando, nas provas, dar ênfase às questões éticas. Atualmente, o profissional contador possui um conhecimento prático-mecânico da contabilidade muito maior do que um raciocínio contábil. Este trabalho, mediante o estudo de minha trajetória (auto)biográfica na perspectiva da formação profissional, busca identificar os elementos mais determinantes na formação de um professor de Ciências Contábeis e verificar em que medida o exercício da pesquisa esteve presente nesta formação, bem como examinar se a pesquisa, enquanto princípio educativo, se reflete na prática docente. É necessário entender que na trajetória de Contador a professor de Ciências Contábeis, este movimento se dá, na maioria das vezes, pelo convite a profissionais que deram certo no mercado de trabalho e que, portanto, nem sempre possuem formação pedagógica adequada para o exercício docente. É também finalidade deste estudo, ao compreender melhor a experiência de um percurso de Contador a professor de Ciências Contábeis, sugerir alguns possíveis caminhos para a formação continuada dos professores deste campo do conhecimento. Para tanto, do ponto de vista da Educação e Formação de Educadores, assumi como referências Freire, Demo e Schön; do ponto de vista do Ensino Superior, Cunha e Buarque; do ponto de vista das Ciências Contábeis, Iudícibus e Marion. A metodologia utilizada na elaboração deste trabalho foi a pesquisa (auto)biográfica com referência, principalmente, em Nóvoa e Josso. Os resultados sugerem que a tendência a reproduzir a abordagem bancária, recebida nos bancos escolares, do primário ao ensino superior, só pode ser revertida na medida em que o sujeito, sem abandonar o trabalho prático de docência, tem a oportunidade de estudar os fundamentos teóricos dos processos educativos formais e traz os mesmos para a sua reflexão sobre a prática. É perceptível, também, o quanto a investigação (auto)biográfica, com finalidade formativa, pode ser de grande ajuda neste processo reflexivo. Por isto mesmo, sugere-se, ao concluir, que no processo de formação continuada dos professores de Ciências Contábeis sejam utilizadas estas estratégias.(AU)

The aim of this thesis is an analysis of activities of the Parliamentary Institute (PI) which serves as an expert base for the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The Parliamentary Institute resolves the tasks of scientific, informative and educational nature for the Chamber of Deputies as well as the Senate. The PI originated from an initiative of deputies who lacked apolitical and unbiased information of a professional nature in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, the need for objective information persists to this day. The importance of the PI thus lies primarily in the fact that it enables legislators to create good quality laws and control the executive by providing them with the specific unbiased information. The text focuses on the establishment, development, structure, functions and outputs of the institute.

This study has looked at how the diversity of representatives’ backgrounds changed after the introduction of the Binominal parity vote in the French local elections. The aim was to contribute to our understanding of the impact of gender quotas in other dimensions than gender. Another aim was to explore the workings of the Binominal parity vote, which has a unique design and obligates candidates to run as pairs, constituting of one man and one woman. The diversity of each local council in 2011 and 2015 was measured with the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). By looking at the changes in HHI, the study has shown that the diversity of representatives and candidates has increased in terms of age and profession, but decreased in terms of party representation. The exact workings of the mechanisms behind the changes have not been established, but some preliminary conclusions have been made. The relationship between the gender quota’s effectiveness and the change in diversity is strong, but statistically insignificant. Societal gender differences cannot be the sole driver of the changes, as the diversity increased among both women and men. If the increased district magnitude from one to two contributed to the increase in diversity, it was not through the strategic matching of representatives, as they are shown to be almost randomly matched.