Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Political and economic autonomy'

This thesis investigates the effects of village economic wealth and economic autonomy on the authoritarian control of local government over village elections in China. With new data - qualitative evidence and quantitative data collected from the extensive fieldtrips to a county in Guangdong Province, this study finds that given that village elections operate within China’s one party authoritarian regime and the official purpose of the elections is to solve the grassroots governance crisis, local government have the incentive to control the elections in their favour, that is, to have incumbents and/or party members elected. Using the election of party members to the village committee chairman position and the re-election of incumbent chairmen as proxies for the inclusiveness and contestation dimensions of village elections, this study demonstrates that collective village wealth triggers fierce electoral competition, as collective village wealth represents the lucrative benefits candidates can obtain from holding the office. However, the success of authoritarian control hinges on village economic autonomy - the opportunities for economic development beyond the control of local government. If economic resources are controlled by local government, economic development might strengthen the capacity of local government to control the elections in their favour. Even if opponents win the elections, they are inclined to be co-opted by the local government - becoming party members, because their economic gain and maintenance of power are affected by the authoritarian local government control over economic resources. In most villages in the sample, authoritarian control prevails in village elections. The findings of this thesis suggest that until now the elections have been maintained within the boundary of the CCP’s authoritarian governance. In rural China, for elections to serve the function of promoting democracy and fostering checks and balances of power - neither manipulation by the local government nor manipulation by rich opponents - the key lies in the economic empowerment of villagers.

During 1996 and 1997 an Australian parliamentary committee conducted an inquiry into greater autonomy for Torres Strait Islanders, but by 2000 the future of the issue seemed unclear. This thesis explores what the notion of autonomy has meant for Torres Strait and for Torres Strait Islanders in the past, and what it might mean in the future. The thesis uses material from the period before European contact to just after the end of the parliamentary inquiry. ¶ Several analytical tools were utilised to explore the concept of autonomy. Major among these to propose and then analyse the relationship between autonomy’s economic and political components. The thesis also introduces the paired concepts of negative and positive autonomy to provide a counterpoint to ideas of welfare colonialism. Cross cutting these economic and political elements is a consideration of both regional and corporate forms of autonomy. The thesis argues that it is necessary to consider the factors which people can use to legitimise a case for autonomy and these are identified and discussed. ¶ Although previous research and historical material are utilised, unique parts of the thesis include an analysis of: the formal submissions and hearings associated with the parliamentary inquiry; the Torres Strait’s location between Australia and Papua New Guinea; and the Strait’s small-island make-up. In this latter regard, comparisons are made with models and examples of autonomy found in small island states and territories in the Pacific. ¶ The findings include that we must consider two groups of Torres Strait Islanders, those in Torres Strait and those on mainland Australia. Whereas those in the Strait have been able to legitimise a case for a form of autonomy those on the mainland have not. Islanders in the Strait have achieved a degree of regional autonomy; those on the mainland are unable to make a case to be part of this regional autonomy, or to achieve a form of corporate autonomy. The status of Islanders in the Strait is influenced by several factors including the Strait’s location on the border with Papua New Guinea, the associated Treaty with that country, and the nature and the accessibility of the in-shore fishery. A major finding however is that although Islanders have achieved a degree of regional political autonomy, which may be progressed yet further, they have been unable to embrace non-Indigenous people within this. Their present aspiration for regional political autonomy therefore is limited to one that would apply only to Indigenous-specific affairs. This stands in some conflict with their aspiration for regional economic autonomy which would include their control over the entire regional fishery which they presently share with non-Islanders. ¶ Though Islanders have achieved some degree of political autonomy, they depend on substantial government financial transfers to the region. Despite this they have also achieved some economic autonomy, particularly through being involved in the region’s fishery. Juxtaposing negative and positive autonomy with political and economic autonomy shows that a dependence on government economic transfers does not preclude gains in political autonomy. This can be contrasted with the notion of welfare colonialism.

The thesis takes as its point of departure the "long-run monetary union" between France and fifteen French-speaking African countries to provide insights into how the rules, mechanisms and practices underlying the monetary dependence of these African states operate. The main objective of the study is to contribute towards a better understanding of the institutions and principles governing the CFA franc zone with the intention of helping policy-makers to take optimal decisions.

A well-designed monetary policy could generate employment and pro-poor growth. But designing and administering a good policy will depend on the objective of policy designers. In principle, monetary authorities could choose between a fixed exchange regime and a flexible exchange regime. Of this, the above African countries adopted a managed regime with France since 1945. In this study, I examine the relationship between monetary autonomy and poverty reduction in the Franc Zone. The discussion focused on the impact of monetary independence on poverty incidence and poverty gap in the fifteen African nations.

I utilized two OLS model equations. The functions were estimated using data from a panel of 14 countries (the exception being Equatorial Guinea because insufficient data were available) in the CFA franc zone and covering the 1984-2011 period. Seven predictor variables were forced into the models. With regard to the findings, only four of them such as inflation and, more importantly, credit to private sector, centralization rate, exchange rate and gross national savings are important to headcount index and the depth of poverty reduction in the CFA franc zone.The results therefore suggest that monetary sovereignty measured by the specified variables is a driving force for poverty reduction in the CFA franc zone.

This thesis examines the correlation between economic growth and the prevalence of a number of institutions that according to a theory elaborated by economists Christer Gunnarsson and Mauricio Rojas are growth promoting. The economic development and the institutional quality of four African countries, namely Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, is examined by comparing index scores for relevant institutional factors. The results show that some correlation between economic growth and the prevalence of the institutions examined can be confirmed, why the theory only gains moderate support. A minor attempt is also made to trace potential correlations between the level of economic equality and the institutions in question, but no correlation is found in this respect.

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The objective of this work is the study of the Brazilian economic policy autonomy in the context of increasing capital mobility and financial liberalization initiated on the 1990s. In order to accomplish our purpose, it is made a brief presentassesation of the evolution of the international financial system and of the debate between liberalization and capital controls on the theoretical and empirical literature with the purpose of comprehending how the functioning of the international financial system may restrict the economic policy autonomy and whether this restriction is desirable or not. The analysis of econometrical papers that tried to assess the impacts of the Brazilian financial liberalization showed that given the divergences of the results, it is not possible to corroborate the hypothesis that the financial liberalization generated the benefits proclaimed by its defenders. About the works that discussed the economic policy autonomy, the results didn t allow a definitive conclusion. It was made an econometrical exercise to assess the impacts of the financial integration, represented by capital flows, over the economic policy autonomy. The results suggest a loss on the economic policy autonomy in the period jan/1995 dec/1999 and that such loss didn t occur in the period jan/1999 dec/2007, although the capital flows had been relevants on explaining the interest rate
O objetivo deste trabalho é o estudo da autonomia da política econômica brasileira no contexto de crescente mobilidade de capitais e liberalização financeira iniciada a partir dos anos 90. Para tanto, faz-se uma breve apresentação da evolução do sistema financeiro internacional e do debate entre liberalização e controles de capitais na literatura teórica e empírica com o propósito de compreender de que forma o funcionamento do sistema financeiro internacional pode restringir a autonomia de política econômica dos países e se essa restrição é desejável ou não. A análise de trabalhos econométricos que trataram dos impactos da liberalização financeira brasileira mostrou que, dada a divergência dos resultados, não é possível corroborar a hipótese de que a liberalização financeira brasileira trouxe os benefícios apregoados por seus defensores. Em relação aos trabalhos que discutiram a autonomia de política econômica, os resultados não permitiram uma conclusão mais segura. Foi realizado um exercício econométrico para avaliar os impactos da integração financeira, representada pelos fluxos de capitais, sobre a autonomia de política econômica. Os resultados sugerem a perda de autonomia de política econômica no período jan/1995-dez/1998 e que não houve essa perda no período jan/1999-dez/2007 embora os fluxos de capitais tenham se mostrado relevantes na explicação da taxa de juros

All’interno del quadro teorico del Capability Approach ‘agency’ viene definito come ciò che permette agli individui di raggiungere i propri obiettivi. Quando il concetto di ‘agency’ viene studiato attraverso misure soggettive, insorge il problema delle preferenze adattive. Lo scopo di questa Tesi è di testare una metodologia che possa catturare la percezione individuale di ‘agency’ nelle diverse dimensioni che compongono la nostra vita, limitando i problemi di misurazione dovuti delle preferenze adattive. Per questo fine, ci affidiamo al ‘Relative Autonomy Index’. Inoltre, utilizziamo la metodologia di ‘Achoring Vignette’ per aumentare la comparabilità tra le percezioni dei singoli individui. Nella prima parte, indaghiamo se il nostro metodo effettivamente riduce l’incomparabilità individuale attraverso uno studio pilota. I risultati dimostrano come il nostro metodo sia in grado di catturare differenze nel comportamento di risposta. Nella seconda parte, sulla base di una seconda raccolta di dati, applichiamo la nostra metodologia al fine di indagare l'impatto dei Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale sul livello di autonomia di un gruppo di produttori italiani. I nostri risultati indicano che il coinvolgimento con i Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale evita la riduzione dell'autonomia percepita dai quei produttori che non sono coinvolti con i Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale.
Within the Capability Approach, agency is one of the components that enable individuals to be empowered. When subjective measures are applied to the study of agency, the problem of ‘adaptive preferences’ arises. The aim of this thesis is to test a methodology that captures the individual perception of agency, while taking into account the bias coming from adaptive preferences. We rely on the Relative Autonomy Index to capture the individual’s agency in several dimensions. In addition, in order to increase the comparability between the individual’s perceptions, we employ the Anchoring Vignette methodology. We investigate whether our methodology reduces the individual incomparability through a pilot study. The results of this preliminary exercises show that our methodology is able to capture dissimilarities in response behaviours. Through a second data collection, we apply our methodology in order to investigate the impact that the commercial relationship between Solidarity Purchasing Group and Italian producers has on the latter. Our findings suggest that the involvement in the Solidarity Purchasing Group has a mainly positive impact on producers’ level of autonomy, which remains at lower levels for producers that did not develop a relationship with the Solidarity Purchasing Group.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-228).
This thesis examines and critically assesses five arguments for the autonomy of the political. The arguments I examine are those of Niccol6 Machiavelli, Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes, Carl Schmitt, and John Rawls. After presenting what I believe to be the most plausible reconstructions of these arguments for the autonomy of the political, I conclude that none of these arguments succeed in their task. The arguments of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Bodin, and Schmitt each fail to establish an autonomous political account of justification or political legitimacy. Rawls' argument, on the other hand, succeeds in establishing a plausible and distinctively political standard of justification, but fails to establish that the political is autonomous. I conclude that there is an inescapable conflict between the thesis that the autonomy of the political and the idea that the state's actions could be acceptably justified or that the state could be legitimate.
by Joshua Flaherty.
Ph.D.

Individual autonomy is crucial to both liberalism and feminism and, to some extent, for similar reasons: that is, the insistence on everyone being able to shape her own life and not just have it shaped for her. As it is currently understood, however, this ideal is a source of great dissatisfaction for feminists. For one, it is blind to the ‘problem of oppression’ –that is the way social factors, such as oppressive gender norms, can affect individuals’ capacity to lead a selfgoverned life. In addition, on the political level, autonomy is aligned with individualism, independence and rationality. This makes it an exclusionary ideal, which, under the cover of universalism, promotes a prejudiced and narrow vision of what agents and preferences should be seen as worthy of respect. I refer to this as the problem of exclusion. My thesis is an attempt to reframe our understanding of autonomy in order to answer these two problems. I argue that the relational accounts of autonomy feminists have articulated should be understood as motivated by the need to address these key concerns (Ch. 1). However, none of the relational accounts developed so far truly succeed in simultaneously addressing the problem of oppression and the problem of exclusion (Ch. 2). I suggest that this is because they are still too individualistic in their focus and remain fixed on the question of what individual agent and/or preference should be considered autonomous. In order to ensure we avoid the problem of exclusion, I propose we remain agnostic towards this question. This results in a systematic presumption of autonomy, which commits us to demonstrate respect to all agents (especially vulnerable ones), as well as to their declared preferences. Such a commitment, however, should not lead us to overlook the problem of oppression. In order to address this problem, I argue that we should devote our attention to the way the socio-relational context structures how agents can plausibly exercise their autonomy. In other words, in order to address the problem of oppression without reproducing the problem of exclusion, we need to stop focusing on the question of who should be considered autonomous and instead refocus on the question of what structural changes might promote the autonomy of all (Ch. 3). I call the resulting account an ‘agnostic and structural’ understanding of autonomy. I argue that such a conception of autonomy is promising as it offers an inclusive conception of self-government, which nonetheless gives us grounds to vindicate substantial emancipatory policies. I then present a set of case studies in order to show how such a conception of autonomy could help us deal with entrenched gender inequalities. Doing so enables me to illustrate the difference adopting an ‘agnostic and structural’ conception of autonomy could make in the areas of our legal system that are underpinned by an individualistic understanding of autonomy. Legal frameworks surrounding parental leave (Ch. 4), divorce and separation (Ch. 5), domestic violence (Ch. 6) and even our understanding of criminal responsibility (Ch. 7), I argue, could be effectively reframed using the kind of understanding of autonomy I propose.

A presente tese tem por objetivo principal estudar a legitimação jurídico-moral da regulação estatal. Trata-se de tema de grande relevância e extrema atualidade em decorrência de dois fatores. Por um lado, desde o fenômeno da virada kantiana e da retomada da preocupação com o estabelecimento de uma teoria da justiça, tornou-se necessária a análise de justificação jurídico-moral de toda e qualquer instituição político-jurídica positivada. Por outro lado, entre as inúmeras instituições político-jurídicas positivadas, cresce cada vez mais a utilização das medidas jurídicas regulatórias, através das quais o Poder Público direciona ou controla a conduta dos agentes com o intuito de atingir determinada finalidade. Instituto econômico que é, ao interferir na alocação de riquezas, bens e serviços no mercado, a regulação estatal há tempos já vem sendo objeto de análise em uma perspectiva de legitimação econômica. Tradicionalmente, ainda dentro do paradigma da racionalidade, os economistas sempre apontaram as falhas de mercado como as razões a justificar as regulações estatais em um viés econômico. Mais recentemente, por sua vez, os adeptos da economia comportamental, rompendo ou relativizando as lições da Rational Choice Theory, têm apontado também as ações irracionais em heurística como razões a justificar as regulações estatais em um viés econômico. Ocorre, entretanto, que a regulação estatal é um instituto interdisciplinar. Ao direcionar ou controlar a conduta dos indivíduos, limitando ou implementando direitos e liberdades, a regulação constitui instituto simultaneamente jurídico e moral. A presente tese, portanto, buscará apresentar as razões a servir de justificação para a regulação estatal em uma perspectiva jurídico-moral. Neste ponto, adotar-se-á como paradigma de aferição de legitimação jurídico-moral das instituições político-jurídicas positivadas (entre as quais as regulações estatais) um liberalismo-republicano, consistente na compatibilização do liberalismo-igualitário com um republicanismo moderado. Desta forma, o estudo buscará defender a possibilidade de a legitimação jurídico-moral das diversas regulações estatais encontrar fundamento em um ou alguns de três valores jurídico-morais: a autonomia individual privada, as condições igualitárias e a autonomia pública. No que diz respeito à implementação da autonomia individual privada e das condições igualitárias, primeiramente, a tese defenderá a possibilidade de ser realizada uma nova leitura jurídico-moral dos institutos econômicos das falhas de mercado e das ações irracionais em heurística. Neste sentido, o conceito de falhas de mercado e o conceito de ações irracionais em heurística, em uma leitura jurídico-moral como razões a justificar a legitimação das regulações estatais, devem ser entendidos como situações em que o atuar livre dos agentes no mercado viole ou deixe de implementar os valores jurídico-morais fundamentais da autonomia individual privada e das condições igualitárias. Ainda no que diz respeito às influências liberal-igualitárias, a tese sustentará que, mesmo na inexistência de falhas de mercado ou de ações irracionais em heurística, será possível o estabelecimento de regulações estatais que encontrem justificação no valor jurídico-moral fundamental da igualdade, desde que tais regulações estejam destinadas a implementar as condições igualitárias mínimas necessárias à manutenção da própria autonomia individual privada e da dignidade humana. Por outro lado, no que diz respeito às influências republicanas, será exposto que as regulações estatais podem encontrar legitimação jurídico-moral também no valor jurídico-moral fundamental da autonomia pública. A saber, as regulações podem se encontrar legitimadas jurídico-moralmente quando da implementação dos projetos e políticas deliberados pelos cidadãos e pela sociedade no exercício da soberania popular, desde que tais projetos coletivos não violem os requisitos mínimos de dignidade humana dos indivíduos. A tese defenderá que os princípios da proporcionalidade e da igualdade podem exercer um papel de destaque na análise de legitimação jurídico-moral das regulações estatais. O princípio da proporcionalidade, neste ponto, será útil instrumental metodológico na aferição de legitimação jurídico-moral de uma medida regulatória em uma perspectiva interna, quando da aferição da relação estabelecida entre os meios e os fins da regulação. O princípio da igualdade, por sua vez, será útil instrumental metodológico na aferição de legitimação jurídico-moral de uma medida regulatória em uma perspectiva comparativa entre as diversas medidas regulatórias existentes. Por fim, uma vez enfrentados os pontos mais sensíveis pertinentes à justificação de toda e qualquer medida regulatória bem como estabelecida uma teoria geral acerca da legitimação jurídico-moral da regulação estatal, a presente tese realizará um estudo de caso acerca da legitimação jurídico-moral especificamente das regulações que utilizam argumentos de natureza paternalista. Trata-se de regulações que, ao direcionar a conduta de agentes com o intuito de zelar por bens, direitos e interesses destes próprios indivíduos cuja liberdade é restringida, apresentam-se extremamente controversas. Será exposto que, desde a clássica obra On Liberty de JONH STUART MILL, o paternalismo jurídico vem sendo tradicionalmente associado a uma conotação pejorativa de violação aos valores jurídico-morais fundamentais. A tese, porém, adotará posição segundo a qual as regulações paternalistas podem eventualmente encontrar legitimação jurídico-moral na promoção ou proteção dos valores jurídico-morais fundamentais da autonomia individual privada e da igualdade. Além disto, defenderá o estudo que os institutos econômicos das falhas de mercado da assimetria de informações e dos problemas de coordenação bem como os institutos econômicos das ações irracionais em heurística, adotados na nova leitura jurídico-moral proposta, servirão de instrumental útil na identificação das situações em que tais regulações paternalistas se encontram legitimadas jurídico-moralmente diante da premissa liberal-republicana.
The main objective of this thesis is to study the juridical-moral legitimation of public regulation. The theme is both important and current due to two factors. On one hand, since the Kantian turn and the retake of the concern with the establishment of a theory of justice, it became necessary to analyze the juridical-moral justification of every single positive political-juridical institution. On the other hand, among the countless positive political-juridical institutions, each day it increases the use of regulation, measures trough witch the State directs or controls the conducts of the agents in order to achieve a certain goal. Being an economic institution, as it interferes in the allocation of wealth, goods and services in the market, public regulation has already been for years object of analysis in a perspective of economic legitimation. Traditionally, still inside the paradigm of rationality, the economists have always pointed out the market failures as reasons to justify public regulation in an economic sense. More recently, the followers of the behavioral economics, breaking up with or mitigating the lessons of the Rational Choice Theory, have pointed out also the irrational actions in heuristics as reasons to justify public regulations in an economic sense. It happens, though, that regulation is an interdisciplinary institution. While it directs or controls conducts of individuals, limiting or enforcing rights and liberties, regulation presents itself also and at the same time as a juridical and moral institution. The thesis, then, will try to present the reasons that can be used in the justification of public regulation in a juridical-moral perspective. At this point, it will be used as a paradigm for the juridical-moral legitimation of the positive political-juridical institutions (among them the public regulation) a republican-liberalism, witch consists in an agreement established between the egalitarian-liberalism and a moderate conception of the republicanism. So being, the study will try to defend that the juridical-moral legitimation of the many existent public regulations can find foundation in one or some of three juridical-moral values: private individual autonomy, egalitarian conditions, and public autonomy. Concerning the enforcement of private individual autonomy and of egalitarian conditions, at first place, the thesis will defend the possibility of a new juridical-moral reading of the economic institutions of market failures and of irrational actions in heuristics. The concept of market failures and the concept of irrational actions in heuristic, in a juridical-moral reading as reasons to justify the legitimation of public regulations, should be understood as situations in witch the free acting of the agents in the market violates or isnt capable of enforcing the fundamental juridical-moral values of private individual autonomy and of egalitarian conditions. Still concerning the egalitarian-liberal influences, the thesis will hold up that, even when market failures and irrational actions in heuristics do not exist, it will be possible the establishment of public regulations that find justification in the juridical-moral foundation of equality, as long as these regulations are bound to improve the egalitarian conditions necessary to the maintenance of human dignity and private individual autonomy. On the other hand, concerning the republican influences, it will be shown that public regulation can find juridical-moral legitimation also in the fundamental juridical-moral value of public autonomy. This means that regulations might be juridical-morally legitimate when they implement projects and policies deliberated by citizens and society in the exercise of popular sovereignity, as long as these collective projects do not violate the minimum standards necessary to ensure human dignity. The thesis will defend that the principles of proportionality and of equality may play an important role in the analysis of juridical-moral legitimation of public regulation. The principle of proportionality can be an useful methodological instrument in the analysis of the juridical-moral legitimation of a regulatory measure in an internal perspective, questioning the relationship established between the means and ends of the regulation. The principle of equality, on its turn, can be an useful methodological instrument in the analysis of the juridical-moral legitimation of a regulatory measure in a comparative perspective between the numerous existent regulatory measures. At last, once studied the most important issues concerning the justification of every single regulatory measure and once established a general theory about the juridical-moral legitimation of public regulation, the thesis will develop a case study about the juridical-moral legitimation specifically of the regulations that use paternalistic arguments in their support. Those regulatory measures, as they direct the conducts of agents aiming to protect goods, rights and interests of these same individuals whose liberties are restricted, are very controversial. It will be shown that, since the classical work On Liberty by JOHN STUART MILL, legal paternalism has been traditionally associated to a negative connotation of fundamental juridical-moral value violation. The thesis, though, will adopt the position that regulatory measures may find juridical-moral legitimation in the enforcement or protection of the fundamental juridical-moral values of private individual autonomy and of equality. Besides, it will hold up that the economic institutions of market failures information asymmetry and coordination problems as well as the economic institutions of irrational actions in heuristics, adopted in the new juridical-moral reading suggested, may be useful tools in the identification of the situations in witch such paternalistic regulations are juridical-morally legitimate in face of the republican-liberalism.

“Liberal Democracy” is a common term in political theory, and it is used as if it had a commonly accepted referent, with both normative and descriptive content. This is certainly the case in democratic theory, where it on the one hand seems to refer to a normative democratic model; on the other hand it is used descriptively, to refer to real-life democracies. The deliberative democratic sub-field is not an exception; on the contrary, the term is frequently used albeit rarely defined; yet the concept it refers to is supposedly developed enough to allow detailed propositions about its citizens’s political behaviour. This essay is an attempt to analyze how Liberal Democracy is used by three deliberative democrats (Jürgen Habermas, John Dryzek and Stephen Elstub), in order to understand the democratic model (or models), whether normative or descriptive, they refer to. It is an analysis of how the term is used in some of the authors’ texts, what it denotes and connotes. This is done against the backdrop of their respective deliberative theories; Habermas, Dryzek and Elstub were chosen qua Deliberative Democratic theorists, not just democratic theorists. Habermas’s usage of Liberal Democracy is inconsistent. On the one hand it is a rather “open” democracy (i.e., more Dahl than Madison) dependent on active citizens in the public sphere; on the other hand it is a rights-based society where the market forum serves as an imperative, where isolated individuals make political choices as if they where choices at the market forum and even the social interactions are market-structured. My conclusion is that the latter model takes precedence. The following chapter analyzes John Dryzek’s usage of the term. The democratic model Dryzek calls Liberal Democracy shares some similarities with Habermas’s model – the market forum serves as a model for the citizens’ political behaviour. Following Horkheimer and Adorno, Dryzek connects Liberal Democracy to an instrumental rationality considered to be repressive. The instrumental rationality (and the behaviour it creates) leads to a political strait jacket – the citizens’ preferences get reduced to their interests, and politics is nothing but a battle of the interests. Dryzek’s usage of the term is more consistent than Habermas’s. For Stephen Elstub, upholding autonomy is the telos of democracy, irrespective of model. In his discussions of liberal democracy he equates liberal theory (J.S. Mill and John Locke) with liberal democratic theory, and sees the real-life democracies as realizations of the theory. Elstub's discussions of liberal democracy focus primarily on the demos, citizens with endogenous preferences. Contra Habermas and Dryzek, Elstub’s model lacks the behavioural model based on the market forum. An important inconsistency in Elstub’s model is the State’s capacity for institutional changes; the “representative structures” are incapable of the changes necessary to deal with social pluralism, but at the same time the Liberal Democratic system is flexible enough to accommodate his dualist model of democracy. The last chapter sums up the results and places the liberal democratic model in a taxonomy of democratic theories. I argue that in spite of the differences of the authors’ models, they are basically one and the same, normatively and descriptively. It is not primarily a model of democratic institutions – more than anything it is a conception of demos. The demos consist of citizens focused on their self-interest as a basis for their political actions. The democratic taxonomy used in the essay is fairly inclusive, but I conclude that Liberal Democracy does not fit in; it is not so much a theory of institutionalised democracy as a psychological theory.

Thesis(Ph.D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2010
Title from PDF (viewed on 2010-01-28) Department of Bioethics Includes abstract Includes bibliographical references and appendices Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center

I argue against the claim that normative political theory is 'autonomous' with respect to moral philosophy. I take the simple view that political theory is a form of moral philosophy, and is differentiated by pragmatic rather than theoretically significant criteria. I defend this view by criticizing arguments for the autonomy thesis. In the first three chapters I introduce and analyse the autonomy thesis and provide a framework for understanding the various claims that are made in the literature. In Chapters 4 to 8 I proceed to criticize a series of arguments for the autonomy thesis. In Chapter 4 I explain why Kant's division of morality into ethics and right is not as useful as it may seem to those who wish to defend the autonomy thesis, and argues that Arthur Ripstein gives no reason to think that political philosophy is autonomous that can be endorsed independently of commitment to a Kantian normative theory. In Chapter 5 I examine the political liberal argument for the autonomy thesis, concluding that even if a freestanding political conception of justice can be regarded as autonomous, it does not follow that political philosophy can also. Chapters 6 to 8 tackle various political realist arguments for the autonomy thesis. In Chapter 6 I argue that political theory is not required to deal with empirical facts in any way that distinguishes it from moral philosophy, and any argument for its autonomy that is based on a prior claim about the purpose of political theorizing would be question-begging. In Chapters 7 and 8 I provide various arguments against the idea that there is a distinctively political form of normativity, and diagnose some of the mistaken assumptions about morality that I take to lie at the heart of the realist case. In Chapter 9 I conclude.

Si la migration des Africains subsahariens vers l'Europe débute de manière hétéroclite, en termes de lieux, de raisons et de situations, une fois partis de chez eux avec un projet migratoire personnel, ils se réorganisent collectivement durant les étapes qui rythment leur périple. Ils se " reconnaissent " alors entre eux et coopèrent, créant peu à peu une histoire commune, une " aventure ". Une fois le Sahara franchi, les transmigrants subsahariens s'ancrent dans les sociétés maghrébines en greffant leurs propres circulations sur celles des populations locales. Au Maroc, ce sont les populations vivant dans les lieux de relégation socioéconomique (populations ayant elles aussi une relation étroite avec la migration), notamment celles des quartiers populaires périphériques de Rabat, Casablanca ou Tanger, qui traitent et intègrent les phénomènes du passage et de l'installation plus ou moins temporaire de ces nouveaux venus. Dans ces quartiers, qui sont le produit de l'arrivée de migrants de l'intérieur, se superposent alors des formes de mobilités et des logiques et stratégies migratoires hétéroclites. Je décrirai alors la vie sociale des transmigrants subsahariens qui, faisant face à la frontiérisation de l'UE, réussissent, malgré les répressions qu'ils subissent mais à un coût humain exorbitant, à s'organiser afin de circuler sur les routes africaines à la recherche d'une vie meilleure. Puis je présenterai quelques incidences sociopolitiques que de telles politiques transnationales anti-migrants redessinant les frontières Sud de l'Europe et de tels mouvements migratoires tentant de les contourner, supposent dans cette période de globalisation.

I wish to determine when one is justified in paternalistic interferences that override a subject’s autonomy. In order to lay the groundwork for discussing paternalistic interferences with autonomous decisions, I first consider different conceptions of autonomy, welfare, and paternalism, and determine which I mean to use. In particular, I proceed with Dworkin’s characterization of autonomy as a combination of authenticity and self-determination; Nussbaum’s capabilities theory in order to determine welfare; and a definition of paternalism as being an interference with a subject’s liberty or autonomy that is motivated exclusively by consideration for that subject’s own good or welfare. Once I have working definitions for autonomy, welfare, and paternalism, I consider arguments justifying paternalistic interferences. Because I especially wish to determine when paternalistic interferences that conflict with a subject’s autonomous decision are justified, I begin with Scoccia’s arguments for using hypothetical consent — which is based on what would maximize the subject’s welfare — to justify paternalistic acts. Using Scoccia’s argument, I consider a few cases in which concerns for welfare may justify paternalistic acts overriding the subject’s autonomy. However, hypothetical consent does not go very far in justifying paternalistic acts. Therefore, I also consider arguments justifying paternalism in cases where the subject is not necessarily fully autonomous when making or acting upon a decision. For example, Carter argues that paternalistic acts are justified if autonomy has been waived through prior or subsequent consent. Additionally, I look at justifying paternalism when the subject’s autonomy is compromised through involuntariness or incompetence.

The aim of the thesis is to rebut the dominant autonomy-based defence of hate speech within a liberal framework. The thesis argues that liberal egalitarianism is compatible with certain restrictions on free speech. I defend the view that liberal ideals such as equality and autonomy are, contrary to the arguments of many liberals, better achieved by imposing certain restrictions on what citizens are allowed to express. I examine the problem of freedom of expression in the context. of the public/private distinction. In particular, I explore the Rawlsian conception of this distinction, which is based on the idea that principles of justice apply only to the 'basic structure of society'. Citizens are required by justice to treat all others as free and equal citizens, but this seems to hold only when citizens deliberate about 'constitutional essentials and matters of basic justice'. In their private lives and other social contexts citizens are free to treat other people without equal respect and concern, provided that basic rights are not violated. This position is criticised by calling attention to recent developments in Social and Cognitive Psychology. Evidence suggests that much of our behaviour is triggered by features of�· the environment that bypass individuals' rational control: this includes social stereotypes, non-instrumental behaviour, and goal-oriented activity among others. I develop these ideas into a discussion of free speech and autonomy. I argue that autonomy defences of free speech need to assess how the environment directly affects rational processes. Moreover, I argue, given the structure of human cognition, there is no guarantee that attitudes and actions cultivated in the private sphere will not 'spillover' into the public sphere. For this reason, I suggest, political morality must also extend to the justice of our private practices. To the extent that autonomy and justice matter, I argue that we have reasons to limit the expression of certain views, in particular those which trigger processes that bypass rational control. Finally, despite the importance I attribute to the concept of autonomy, I reject the claim that my position endorses a form of liberal perfectionism. I do so by defending a conception of full publicity and demonstrating that the view I articulate is compatible with rejecting perfectionism.

Electoral systems are rules trough which votes translate into seats in parliament. The political economy literature tells us that alternative electoral systems can generate different distributions of power among different social groups in the legislature and therefore lead to dissimilar equilibrium economic policies~ On the other hand, we know from the endogenous economic growth literature that economic policy can affect growth. vVhat the literature is lacking is a clear link between electoral systems and economic growth. The main objective of this thesis is to establish a connection between them. Once this link is constructed we move our focus to a more primitive question: what are the factors that determine which electoral system is chosen over another? Providing an answer to this question is the second objective of the thesis. We build a dynastic model with heterogeneous agents where one of the engines of growth is public capital. In our model there are three social classes with different levels of wealth and productivity. The source of conflict among these social classes is the level of public capital. Alternative electoral systems can generate different distributions of power in parliament and different equilibrium levels of public capital. Different patterns of capital accumulation lead to different economic growth equilibrium. Social classes who are' aware that alternative electoral systems imply different public policy and welfare choose an electoral system following a simple process of bargaining. A precise ranking of electoral systems in terms of economic growth requires the knowledge of the social structure of the country. Alternative social structures can lead to different rankings. Under complete enfranchisement, equal and not polarized societies choose majoritarian electoral systems, while equal but polarized societies generate proportional representation systems. Only highly unequal societies can lead to anarchy. The empirical evidence supports some of the propositions of the thesis.

This PhD has pursued three different and interconnected objectives, each corresponding to one of the three parts of the PhD. In Part I, a historical reconstruction is provided in order to present the background against which some political paradoxes in the present have to be understood in relation to globalization. On the one hand, it presents a range of historical developments that have helped to describe some lineaments of the modern world as a history of domination that underpins the univocal and reductionist conceptual association between modernity and globalization. A connection is established between this view of modernity and imperialism, and between progress and globalization. On the other hand, it discusses the conceptual shortcomings and historical inadequacy of this understanding of modernity against the background of recent findings and offers an interpretation of modernity as being constituted by a tension between a totalizing and a pluralizing interpretation of the world. An alternative pluralizing interpretation of modernity, which is not related to globalization, linked to the concept of autonomy and is best suited to understanding our current condition, is proposed. Part II aims, first, at challenging the narrative of the current hegemony of the liberal understanding of autonomy which underpins political globalization and makes unworkable any notion of a collective self; and second, at retrieving philosophically the normative content with which the concept of autonomy is associated. An assessment of the current global situation is offered which aims at showing the need for the construction of a bounded collective self in order to uphold democracy and challenge the modes of domination that contract theory, as a normative framework for institutional social life, perpetuates by means of legitimation or obfuscation. Part III establishes the historical context in which the views offered in parts I and II have been elaborated. First, a conceptual history of autonomy is provided. To my knowledge, no exhaustive and systematic history of the concept has been researched in scholarship. It has been taken for granted that Immanuel Kant is the inventor of the concept in its modern use, a view reinforced through the impressive work of Jerome B. Schneewind. Allegedly, Kant’s work opens the path to the constitution of individual autonomy as the basic understanding of freedom. In contrast to this understanding, the aim of Part III is to show that in conceptual and in historical terms, autonomy (re)emerges in modernity after its invention in classical Greece as a political concept and as a defining quality of the collective self in its relation with the political Other. At the same time, this part aims at retrieving and grounding historically an alternative interpretation of modernity that challenges the hegemonic and univocal understanding of modernity that has been analysed in Part I. It analyses the different movements of reformation that took place during the first half of the 16th century in the Holy Roman Empire, which culminated in the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, as the experiences under which the concept of autonomy was reintroduced into European modernity. It shows that at the moment when European imperialism was beginning with the “discovery of America”, alternative interpretations and experiences were already at hand, which aimed at challenging precisely this notion of imperialism. Part III thereby grounds in historico-conceptual terms the interpretation of modernity offered in Part I and the assessment of autonomy offered in Part II.
La primera part de la tesi fa un esforç per comprendre el nostre present i les tensions que el constitueixen a través d'una reconstrucció tant històrico-interpretativa i discuteix fonamentalment les teories d'arrel eurocèntrica. Tot i que hi ha raonament teòric, la forma de procedir i argumentar és fonamentalment històrica. Seguint aquest fil, analitzo un seguit de canvis històrics que permeten llegir certs desenvolupaments del món modern com una història de dominació i que, a parer meu, està a la base de l'associació conceptual reduccionista i unívoca entre modernitat i globalització. Des d'aquest angle, estableixo una connexió entre modernitat i imperialisme i entre progrés i globalització per fer-ne la crítica, i proposo una interpretació de la modernitat constituïda per la tensió entre una comprensió totalitzadora o pluralitzadora de món. La segona part de la tesi és predominantment conceptual, encara que es complementa en alguns casos amb observacions històriques. Hi presento l'aproximació interpretativa del concepte d'autonomia i poso en qüestió el seu ús dominant en el present. És en aquest part on s'introdueix i es desenvolupa la filosofia política de la modernitat que correspon a les anàlisis històriques del llibre i on es discuteixen les connexions entre exclusió, dominació i democràcia. La darrera part combina enfocaments històrics, contextuals, interpretatius i conceptuals per poder copsar totes les diverses variables que es posen en joc en la relació entre modernitat i autonomia. És en aquesta part on la història conceptual de l'autonomia és desenvolupada i que té com a objectiu no reduir els fonaments polítics de la modernitat al concepte de sobirania. S'analitzen els diversos moviments de reforma que van tenir lloc durant la primera meitat del segle XVI al Sacre Imperi Romanogermànic i que van culminar l'any 1555 amb la Pau d'Augsburg. Aquest és el rerefons on el concepte d'autonomia es reintrodueix i l'analitzo com un dels conceptes que mostraven en aquell moment la transició d'Europa a la seva època moderna. En contrast, suggereixo que just en el moment en què l'imperialisme global Europeu s'iniciava amb la 'descoberta d'Amèrica', ja estaven en joc interpretacions i experiències alternatives que qüestionaven el concepte de sobirania.

This thesis examines some of the implications for social policy of an account of human nature frequently associated with liberal political theory. Taking as its starting point the claim that the objectives of social policy are contested, it seeks to develop an account of autonomy that will serve as a neutral 'organizational principle' around which to construct social policy. A particular version of personal autonomy is developed and defended against both abstract Kantian moral autonomy, and the individualism often associated with liberal theories. This project is pursued first through a discussion of the relationship of autonomous persons to 'social forms', and then through a critique of libertarian and 'intellectualist' accounts of autonomy. It is argued that, since autonomy is not only employed in the making of choices, but also in the implementing of those choices, it follows that the autonomous person must, of necessity, be viewed 'holistically' for the body is the primary means of implementing the choices autonomous persons make. The health of the body, as well as that of the mind, therefore assumes importance for any social policy that takes autonomy to be a fundamental objective. The implications for such an account of social policy are then explored in two ways. First, through a discussion of the phenomenon of 'medicalization'. Second, through a discussion of the Prevention and Health campaign. In the first instance, it is argued that the assumption that medicalization systematically undermines autonomy is ill-founded because theories of medicalization misunderstand what it is to be autonomous. In the second instance, the discussion of preventive health-care policy serves to illustrate the fundamentally erroneous assumptions of individually-focussed health-care programmes. In conclusion, it is argued that a unified account of autonomous persons must inevitably lead to a more integrated social policy.

There has been much academic work on autonomy and on identity in both political theory and feminist theory. Although this work provides valuable insights, there is arguably less theory that considers both. In part, this is the result of the predominance of a particular liberal position on autonomy depicting an isolated individual. Both communitarians and feminists seek to correct this and argue for a different view of autonomy that takes into account the situated self, but there is little discussion of the identity of this self. Also, feminist theory on identity has mostly been concerned with exposing the extent to which identity is tainted by power and by patriarchy. Inevitably there is little discussion of autonomy. These theorists seek to show the lengths to which autonomy, as a means of liberation, is an illusion. However, this thesis seeks to pursue a different approach. It combines some of the issues raised by feminist theory and contemporary political theory around questions of identity and autonomy with the application of the history of political thought to these questions. The concept of autonomy and identity constructed here hopes to go some way to avoiding the imposition of rigid identities and instead suggests that identity is better understood as changing, multiple, but also something we need to take control of ourselves. In order to support this version of identity there needs to be a concept of autonomy which denotes self-direction to control our identity. As well as control this thesis puts forward a notion of autonomy as a process which means that we have degrees of autonomy, it uses the notion of recognition, it considers the impact of a 'masculine' approach to autonomy and it emphasises autonomy as dynamic.

This dissertation analyzes the origin of the free-flow doctrine, its role in the American mass media coverage of the Third World countries, and in the demand for a New World Information and Communication Order. This dissertation is also intended to serve as an up-date of the development to the call by the Third World, for a New World Information and Communication Order. These goals are accomplished through the application of the weapons of case study, a critical analysis of the United States policy on the mass media, a historical analysis of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's documentary history of the New World Information and Communication Order in Chronological Order 1975-1986, and a comparative analysis of the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), and the International Programme for the Development of Communication(IPDC). The principal assumptions made in this dissertation are that the free flow of information which was strongly advocated and staunchly supported by the United States is a misnomer and a calculated attempt to monopolize the freedom of information dissemination. It also tends to be a successful mechanism for the implementation of the principles of the Darwinian Theory of natural selection - the survival of the fittest. This dissertation also assumes that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) does not seem to be the best arena for correcting the ills prevalent in the global information and communication system.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2004.
"September 2004."
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-104).
(cont.) for both economic profitability and democratic justice, is explored after the roots of the idea of economic bicameralism in socio-economic history and existing socio-economic institutions (such as Works Councils) are reviewed. Economic bicameralism is thus an original form of governance of the firm with regards to both its philosophy and its institutions. It is founded on the recognition that two quests take place within the context of the firm, each of which is pursued primarily by one of the firm's two major agents, capital and labor. In the structure of economic bicameralism, two chambers, one representing each group of agents, govern the firm jointly. The Chamber of Capital assembles the investors in capital, who value an instrumental rationality while seeking profit as their foremost objective; and the Chamber of Labor assembles the investors in person, who display a political rationality and are best understood as seeking democratic justice as their primary goal. While investors in capital remain the sole legal shareholders of the bicameral firm, the governance of the firm is managed by these two chambers, which occupy an equal footing and are consequently bound to cooperate in order to allow the firm to function efficiently. The collaboration hence induced between investors in capital and investors in labor enables the firm to effectively respect the aspiration towards democratic justice that infuses the work experience with the objective of economic profitability that motivates first the investors in capital.
This study contributes to normative democratic theory by exploring the relevance of the democratic ideal within the context of the capitalist economic system. It reviews the five traditional arguments for economic democracy before advancing a sixth, original argument, which both encompasses and surpasses its predecessors, based on the political meaning of the work experience. This provides for an understanding of the "political rationality" that animates workers, who, in investing their own person in the firm, experience work as an expressive, political experience that places them in a public space where their conceptions of the just are challenged in complying with the rules of the workplace. In the traditional capitalist shareholder firm, where workers are not entitled to take part in setting those rules, this political rationality also involves a normative content: an aspiration towards democratic justice within the context of the firm, embodied in the idea that every investor-in person as well as in capital- should have a say in the decisions that concern the organization. Consequently, after reviewing the limits of the traditional models of the shareholder firm and the stakeholder firm, this study introduces a theory of the firm capable of reflecting the two rationalities that animate the firm: on the one hand, the traditional rationality of the capitalist firm which is instrumental, displayed by the shareholders (the investors in capital), which is tied to the quest for economic profitability, and on the other hand the political rationality, displayed by the workers (the investors in person), informed by a quest for democratic justice. The scheme of the bicameral firm, whose institutions are conceived in order to jointly address the quests
by Isabelle Ferreras.
S.M.

The research aims to investigate the relationship between economic freedom, political freedom and economic growth. The Arab Spring placed renewed interest on the topic of freedom, yet current economic conditions seemingly contradicted the established theory. The largest free economies were being outperformed by those with less political and economic freedom.Three objectives were specified to answer the research question. The first objective aimed to determine the association between economic freedom, political freedom and economic growth, for which Spearman’s correlation was used. The second objective aimed to investigate causal relationships between the variables, for which Granger’s causality was employed. The third objective aimed to examine complex relationships between the variables, for which vector autoregression was used.Economic growth was weakly correlated with the independent variables. Civil liberties, political rights and economic freedom, however, had strong correlations with each other. Economic freedom and economic growth had bi-directional Granger-causality. Political rights Granger-caused economic freedom whilst civil liberties Granger-caused political rights and economic freedom. Using vector autoregression, the model consisting of economic growth, economic freedom and civil liberties had the greatest explanatory power towards economic growth. Existing theory therefore remains valid: political freedom enhances economic freedom, which, in turn, enhances economic growth.The relationship between economic freedom, political freedom and economic growth
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-231).
How can states with weak and politicized bureaucracies enforce labor and environmental regulations? Through a study of subnational variation in Argentina, this dissertation develops a framework to explain why bureaucrats are able to enforce regulations in some cases and not others. The framework focuses on two factors: the strength of linkages between bureaucrats and civil society organizations, and the level of administrative capacity in the bureaucracy. Strong linkages can facilitate routinized resource sharing and the construction of pro-enforcement coalitions, and administrative capacity determines whether bureaucrats passively or strategically use societal resources. By explaining variation in patterns of enforcement that are obscured by existing approaches, this research opens up new possibilities for crafting strategies to strengthen regulatory institutions. The dissertation draws on data collected during sixteen months of field research, including over 250 semi-structured interviews and an original survey of labor inspectors.
by Matthew Amengual.
Ph.D.

By pursuing private and collective political action in the nonmarket environment, businesses attempt to influence public policy that shapes their operating environment. This dissertation considers how a firm’s market-based experience and its accumulation of political resources affect how the firm combines private and collective political tactics. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) I investigate how a firm’s alliance experience, political resources and prior collective political experience influence the autonomy of its Corporate Political Activity (CPA). I use fixed effects GLS regression with clustered standard errors to test my model on a panel of 21,329 firm/year observations of 2,779 U.S. property casualty insurance companies over the ten-year period between 2005 and 2014. I find support for the influence of state-level political resources, equity alliances, and the interaction of prior collective CPA experience with regulatory complexity and learning capacity on autonomy. My findings contribute to the growing literature connecting market and non-market strategies by linking collaboration in the political arena to the related market activity of alliance experience. Findings also contribute to our understanding of how participation in a collective provides opportunities for learning, and reveals that taking advantage of this opportunity depends on a firm’s learning capacity and the complexity of its regulatory environment. These findings add insight to the literatures on CPA, inter-organizational learning, collective action and trade associations.

By pursuing private and collective political action in the nonmarket environment, businesses attempt to influence public policy that shapes their operating environment. This dissertation considers how a firm’s market-based experience and its accumulation of political resources affect how the firm combines private and collective political tactics. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) I investigate how a firm’s alliance experience, political resources and prior collective political experience influence the autonomy of its Corporate Political Activity (CPA). I use fixed effects GLS regression with clustered standard errors to test my model on a panel of 21,329 firm/year observations of 2,779 U.S. property casualty insurance companies over the ten-year period between 2005 and 2014. I find support for the influence of state-level political resources, equity alliances, and the interaction of prior collective CPA experience with regulatory complexity and learning capacity on autonomy. My findings contribute to the growing literature connecting market and non-market strategies by linking collaboration in the political arena to the related market activity of alliance experience. Findings also contribute to our understanding of how participation in a collective provides opportunities for learning, and reveals that taking advantage of this opportunity depends on a firm’s learning capacity and the complexity of its regulatory environment. These findings add insight to the literatures on CPA, inter-organizational learning, collective action and trade associations.

Post-colonial states in Africa continue to pursue nation-building and socio-economic development. This process is taking place with the sustained support of global agencies in terms of development cooperation, assistance and aid. Insofar as an endogenous development path which speaks to national priorities can be formulated and implemented by post-colonial states, their relationship with these agencies raises serious questions about such a path if the relationship entails dependence and indeed subordination of post-colonial states. This raises important questions about state autonomy under post-colonial conditions and the possibility of autonomy being compromised. In this light, the thesis examines European Union budget support to Mozambique and, in particular, the relationship between EU budget support and Mozambique state autonomy in pursuing national development. This is particularly pertinent given the massive dependence of the Mozambican state on foreign funding (notably EU funding) with specific regard to the national budget. Despite the broad claims existing in the prevailing literature that nation-state autonomy is seriously undermined in and through the international development system, the thesis argues against reductionist arguments that simply posit post-colonial states as mere instruments of global forces. This system, including European Union budget support, does indeed set the conditions of existence for post-colonial states such as Mozambique. But autonomy is necessarily relative and is subject to different forms and degrees. Ultimately, it is through empirical investigation that the specific form and degree of autonomy can be pinpointed and understood. The thesis contributes to this endeavour and suggests that the relationship between European budget support and Mozambican state autonomy is more complex and tension-riddled than the prevailing literature would seem to suggest.

This thesis explores how the Haliwa-Saponi Indians Halifax and Warren County, North Carolina, challenged the Jim Crow black-white racial classification system between the 1940s and 1960s. To seek political autonomy the Indians worked with and against the dominant strategies of the civil rights movement. The Indians strategically developed Indian-only political and social institutions such as the Haliwa Indian Club, Haliwa Indian School, and Mount Bethel Indian Baptist Church by collaborating with Indians and whites alike. Internal political disagreement led to this diversity of political strategies after 1954, when school desegregation became an issue throughout the nation. One faction of Meadows Indians embraced a racial identity as "colored" and worked within the existing black-white political and institutional system, while another group eschewed the "colored" designation and, when necessary, asserted a separate political identity as Indians; as such, they empowered themselves to take advantage of the segregated status quo.

Due to its competitive political system and strong non-oil export capacity, Mexico is not considered an oil Rentier State. Yet, the consistent and intensive use of crude oil has fundamentally altered the trajectory of its political economy. State institutions, which had consistently relied on oil rents to finance their operations, tend to preserve social stability and political consensus rather than promote development. The central bureaucracy’s need to control oil rent strengthens and reinforces the role of budgetary institutions within politics and administration. Budget institutions provide the government with an inordinate degree of discretion to allocate the budget, a capacity that supports the State’s political legitimation and helps to overcome economic turmoil. Paradoxically, oil produces a policy curse that reinforces the State’s socio-political embeddedness at the expense of its economic leverage. Thus, undermining the incentives for public officials to tax and deliver expenditure quality, thereby deepening the State’s detachment from normal economic behaviour. Oil rent maximization serves to increase the size and cost of public employment and the magnitude of transfers and subsidies at the expense of gross fixed public investment, the maturation of a merit-based bureaucracy, and the Legislature’s role in controlling the Executive. In addition, rents short-term logic is inimical to the country’s long-term strategic planning because they do not provide public and sectoral policies with a sound financial basis. Rentier behaviour is enforced within the State apparatus by a structure of incentives where budgeteers and elected officials are largely exempted, given budgetary secrecy and discretion, to make enforceable and accountable commitments. In order to provide for valid causal inferences and increase explanatory leverage, research findings are supported by a comprehensive use of quantitative and qualitative primary sources (period 1970-2010) as well as pertinent comparative observations from other oil endowed States. Finally, by considering Mexico an outlier, this research refines some of the theoretical and methodological insights of the available literature on rentier States.

This thesis explores the relationship between Chilean political elites and the news media with the aim of better understanding how political elites in Chile have adapted to the process of mediatization of politics. Theoretically grounded within an institutionalist understanding of mediatization processes, this thesis uses a qualitative research strategy to identify the main drivers of mediatization among Chilean political elites, the operational logics structuring politicians’ and journalists’ interactions, and the dynamics of autonomy-control in the relationship between political and media actors. Findings are derived from analysis of sixty semi-structured interviews with politicians, including current and former Cabinet Ministers, parliamentarians and political party leaders, press officers working with politicians, and journalists with experience covering politics in national media outlets. This thesis identifies the core elements of a centralist, elitist and market-grounded political communication culture comprised of political and media actors that engage in routine and frequent exchanges. In doing so, it identifies cultural and structural elements moderating the process of mediatization. Additionally, this study critically examines political elites’ understandings of news media logics, including dynamics of resistance and instrumental adoption of media languages, temporalities, and routines. This is reinforced by power inequalities in the politician-journalist relationship, organisational constraints, and a strong insider culture acting against the development of journalistic autonomy. Overall, this study puts forward the idea that while the mediatization of political actors suggests constraints on political elites’ behaviour, it should not necessarily be equated with loss of autonomy in the political sphere. Additionally, it advances a multi-level approach to mediatization research that enables observation of conflicting patterns of power relations between political elites and the news media, stressing how mediatization processes are open to multiple normative outcomes. Key words: mediatization of politics, political elites, institutional logics, Chile, qualitative research.

This dissertation examines when initiatives by International Development Organizations (IDOs) are more, and less, successful. The core argument is that allowing field-level agents to drive initiatives – what I call organizational Navigation by Judgment – will often be the most effective way to deliver aid. This inverts what a classical application of the principal agent model – the workhorse of studies of public management and bureaucracy – would predict, with better performance resulting from less control. In the delivery of foreign aid the costs of monitoring to the principal are often overshadowed by the deleterious effects of the monitoring itself. The core of the argument is that development implementation requires soft information, tacit knowledge, and flexibility that are crowded out by tight controls or an organizational navigation strategy focused on short term measurement and targets. As a result there are increasing returns to Navigation by Judgment in environments that are uncertain or difficult to understand from the outside and tasks where outputs are difficult to observe and/or poorly correlated with long term intervention goals. Insecure political authorizing environments which constrain the autonomy of IDOs prevent these organizations from Navigating by Judgment in situations where this is the best strategy. Empirically, this dissertation examines a cross-IDO dataset of projects (including over 14,000 projects over 50 years over 9 organizations), which I have assembled. It also examines eight cases of development interventions in Liberia and South Africa. These cases are matched pairs comparing the performance and navigation strategies of the US Agency for International Development (a low autonomy IDO) and the UK’s Department for International Development (a higher autonomy IDO) in capacity building and health sector interventions.
Public Policy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-197).
This thesis examines three topics. The first chapter, entitled "Persistent Effects of Peru's Mining Mita" utilizes regression discontinuity to examine the long-run impacts of the mita, an extensive forced mining labor system in effect in Peru and Bolivia between 1573 and 1812. Results indicate that a mita effect lowers household consumption by around 25% and increases the prevalence of stunted growth in children by around six percentage points in subjected districts today. Using data from the Spanish Empire and Peruvian Republic to trace channels of institutional persistence, I show that the mita's influence has persisted through its impacts on land tenure and public goods provision. Mita districts historically had fewer large landowners and lower educational attainment. Today, they are less integrated into road networks, and their residents are substantially more likely to be subsistence farmers. The second chapter, entitled "Trafficking Networks and the Mexican Drug War" examines how drug traffickers' economic objectives influence the direct and spillover effects of Mexican policy towards the drug trade. Drug trade-related violence has escalated dramatically in Mexico during the past five years, claiming over 40,000 lives. By exploiting variation from close mayoral elections and a network model of drug trafficking, the study develops three sets of results. First, regression discontinuity estimates show that drug trade-related violence in a municipality increases substantially after the close election of a mayor from the conservative National Action Party (PAN), which has spearheaded the war on drug trafficking. This violence consists primarily of individuals involved in the drug trade killing each other. The empirical evidence suggests that the violence reflects rival traffickers' attempts to wrest control of territories after crackdowns initiated by PAN mayors have challenged the incumbent criminals. Second, the study predicts the diversion of drug traffic following close PAN victories by estimating a model of equilibrium routes for trafficking drugs across the Mexican road network to the U.S. When drug traffic is diverted to other municipalities, drug trade-related violence in these municipalities increases. Moreover, female labor force participation and informal sector wages fall, corroborating qualitative evidence that traffickers extort informal sector producers. Finally, the study uses the trafficking model and estimated spillover effects to examine the allocation of law enforcement resources. Overall, the results demonstrate how traffickers' economic objectives and constraints imposed by the routes network affect the policy outcomes of the Mexican Drug War. The third chapter, entitled "Insurgency and Long-Run Development: Lessons from the Mexican Revolution" exploits within-state variation in drought severity to identify how insurgency during the Mexican Revolution, a major early 20th century armed conflict, impacted subsequent government policies and long-run economic development. Using a novel municipal-level dataset on revolutionary insurgency, the study documents that municipalities experiencing severe drought just prior to the Revolution were substantially more likely to have insurgent activity than municipalities where drought was less severe. Many insurgents demanded land reform, and following the Revolution, Mexico redistributed over half of its surface area in the form of ejidos: farms comprised of individual and communal plots that were granted to a group of petitioners. Rights to ejido plots were non-transferable, renting plots was prohibited, and many decisions about the use of ejido lands had to be countersigned by politicians. Instrumental variables estimates show that municipalities with revolutionary insurgency had 22 percentage points more of their surface area redistributed as ejidos. Today, insurgent municipalities are 20 percentage points more agricultural and 6 percentage points less industrial. Incomes in insurgent municipalities are lower and alternations between political parties for the mayorship have been substantially less common. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that land reform, while successful at placating insurgent regions, stymied long-run economic development.
by Melissa Dell.
Ph.D.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’explorer plusieurs phénomènes liés à la migration en prenant en considération différents aspects de la réalité économique contemporaine : l’importance du secteur non-échangeable, l’asymétrie entre les flux migratoires et les flux des investissements, ainsi que les problèmes persistants entre différentes communautés ethniques. Dans le premier chapitre introductif, nous explorons la littérature sur la politique économique de l’immigration et nous étudions les différentes voies par lesquelles les immigrés peuvent affecter le bien-être des résidents domestiques. Dans la deuxième partie, nous développons un cadre théorique afin d’analyser les effets de l’immigration sur le bien-être individuel dans une petite économie ouverte avec le secteur non-échangeable. Nos résultats expliquent pourquoi les résidents domestiques sont généralement opposés à l’immigration peu qualifiée et favorisent l’influx des immigrés hautement qualifiés. Dans le chapitre trois, nous faisons une extension du modèle élaboré dans le chapitre deux, en prenant en compte les flux internationaux du capital. D’abord nous cherchons à décrire le lien entre la migration peu et hautement qualifiée et les investissements directs à l’étranger. Puis, nous analysons le changement dans les attitudes envers l’immigration suite à l’introduction de la mobilité internationale du capital. Dans le quatrième chapitre, nous démontrons comment la diversité ethnique peut affecter les intentions d’émigrer. Nous traitons le cas de la Lettonie où les minorités ethniques constituent 40% de la population. Nous pouvons constater que les individus appartenant aux minorités ethniques sont plus probables d’émigrer et que cette probabilité augmente avec le revenu. Les individus appartenant à la majorité ethnique, au contraire, sont plus probables d’émigrer si leurs revenus sont plus bas
The objective of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of migration-related economic issues in the world today. We concentrate both on immigration and emigration and at various stages of our work address all three parties involved in migration process : people hosting immigrants, people left behind and the migrants themselves. We account for several important features of today’s rapidly globalising life : the importance of the non-traded sector, asymmetry between capital and labour flows, and persisting problems between ethnic communities. The first chapter in an overview of the political economy of immigration literature and addresses the multiple ways in which immigrants may affect natives’ welfare. In particular, we discuss the role of economic and non-economic arguments in shaping immigration attitudes and summarise main labour market and welfare-state effects of immigration. Chapter two develops open economy with a non-traded sector. Our finding provide additional understanding of why native population is generally opposed to low-skilled immigrants and favouring high-skilled foreign workers. The third chapter extends the model developed in chapter two to accommodate internationally mobile capital. First, we investigate whether immigration of high-skilled and low-skilled labour leads to positive or negative FDI. Then, we find out how would immigration attitudes change if a country allows international capital movements. Chapter four investigates how ethnic diversity at home may influence emigration intentions of an individual. We explore the case of Latvia where ethnic minorities constitute 40% of the population. We find that ethnic minorities are more likely to emigrate and are positively self-selected on the basis of income, while the opposite is true for ethnic majority population