Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Public policy – congresses”

Human sex trafficking is a significant issue in the modern world. The International Labor Organization has estimated that 4.5 million people are the victims of forced commercial sexual exploitation worldwide. The United States' laws on human sex trafficking can be found in 22 U.S.C. -§7104 Prevention of Trafficking, and promulgate the strategy of prevention of trafficking, protection of trafficking victims, and punishment of traffickers. Under the terms of 22 U.S.C. -§7104, federal contractors can be penalized if any of their employees or subcontractor employees engage in a commercial sex act. The reliance on the private sector to curb sex trafficking through federal contracts is a nuance, and there is a gap in the literature regarding the Congressional rationale for creating a federal contract policy that places federal contractors in the position of being liable for the off-duty activities of their employees. This research question focused on understanding this shift in usage of federal contract policy to influence individual behavior expressed in this Act. A content analysis of documents was performed which relied on official U.S. government documentation, including transcripts of Congressional hearings. The findings indicate that the legislation was a tactical response to a pair of scandals involving U.S. personnel overseas, combined with a belief in money as a motivating force, international political factors, and moral certainty among elected officials that the Federal Government had to 'do something.' Positive social change was addressed in the process of this study by providing greater insight into the legislative thought process regarding federal procurement related statutes, and by providing future reformers with additional information regarding effective legislative strategies.

Thesis advisor: Marc Landy
By examining the interactions between the presidency and the other branches of government, research illuminates the causes and mechanisms by which the presidency, and its power, ebbs and flows. Due to the nature of the powers directly granted to the president within the Constitution, much consideration has been given to presidential power through the prisms of national security, international affairs, and times of national emergency. Yet the presidency consists of more than the roles of commander- and diplomat-in-chief. By looking beyond the more obvious considerations of presidential power, the complexity of the institution’s development is not only revealed, but more fully explained. Consequently, this dissertation analyzes the development of presidential power by looking at the less obvious. It considers the use of formal executive tools to implement congressionally delegated and supported authority in an area of domestic policy: the creation of federally protected public lands. Instead of seeking to understand how the use of presidential power impacted an area of public policy, this research flips that perennial question on its head by asking: how has public land policy contributed to the development of presidential power? The research presented here shows, through the analysis of five public land categories, that the consistent application of executive power within this policy realm, combined with Congressional acceptance of this application, enhanced the overall power of the American presidency
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science

The Christian Right has been a major contributor to the policy process since the 1980s, helping shape the national agenda by illuminating a number of social issues and influencing elections with strong grassroots campaigns. For political scientists, Christian Right organizations provide a rich source of information for studying interest group activity, electioneering, and general political theory. In particular, their efforts to lobby various policy issues such as prayer in school, education, abortion, and traditional marriage, has caused them to become a distinct coalition of advocacy groups, and the focus of much research by many scholars. However, as we advance into the twenty-first century, new biotechnology-related issues have emerged that challenge Christian Right organizations and their values. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the involvement of the Christian Right between 2001 and the beginning of 2009 in legislative debates regarding stem cell research policy, and attempt to distinguish its effective and non-effective lobbying strategies, and the general perception of its influence. This study addressed three research questions. First, to what extent do Christian Right organizations participate in the legislative process regarding stem cell research? Second, what is the perceived influence of its lobbying activities on federal stem cell research legislation? Third, in what ways does the Christian Right engage in lobbying legislators on stem cell research legislation? Within these broad research questions, the following subsequent study objectives were pursued: 1) learn about the reasons for the Christian Right’s influence or lack of influence; 2) understand the goals of its advocacy efforts; 3) learn about its use of outside and inside lobbying strategies; 4) better understand the approach used by Christian Right organizations in lobbying legislators who were undecided about a particular stem cell research legislation; 5) learn about the kind of rhetoric it used; and 6) find out what, if any, forms of coalition building it engaged in as part of its advocacy efforts. In addition, this study examined why legislators voted against the majority of their political party when it came to stem cell research legislation. The epistemological approach for this study was qualitative. Data consisted of verbal responses to semi-structured questions during telephone interviews with representatives from Christian Right organizations, advocacy groups that support the expansion of stem cell research policy, former legislators, and current staff members. In addition to the in-depth interviews, data was also obtained through organizational and government documents. Finally, this dissertation analyzed the Christian Right and its participation in the development of stem cell research legislation through the lens of the advocacy coalition framework. In doing so, the study captures of the essence of the stem cell debate and the role of the Christian Right within it, and offers a new theoretical framework for examining the Christian Right.

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CAPES
A pergunta a que esta tese pretende responder é: os parlamentares são omissos ao debate da política externa? Para isso, levanta-se elementos que possibilitam a compreensão sobre o interesse congressual na política externa, especificamente, na tramitação dos atos internacionais. O período da análise compreende os anos de 1988 a 2014 e será realizada tanto para a Câmara dos Deputados quanto para o Senado Federal. É comum encontrar na literatura especializada argumentos que focam nos conceitos de delegação, abdicação ou participação limitada pelas regras constitucionais. A partir desta bibliografia foram esquematizados seis objetivos específicos: 1) identificar os instrumentos de atuação na arena legislativa nos temas da política externa; 2) explorar as possíveis conexões entre a atuação parlamentar e a intervenção do Executivo; 3) pesquisar se há relação entre a atuação parlamentar e o tipo de ato internacional; 4) examinar a atuação parlamentar focando na relação governo versus oposição, partidos políticos (ideologia) e interesses locais das bases eleitorais; 5) investigar a formação profissional/acadêmica dos deputados e senadores (expertise); e 6) analisar empiricamente a política externa como política pública. Utiliza-se o multimétodo, isto é, a visão metodológica que é a favor da combinação consciente dos instrumentos analíticos qualitativos e quantitativos. E, por fim, as principais conclusões do trabalho vão no caminho oposto daquele defendido por grande parte dos pesquisadores da área.
The question that this thesis aims to answer is: are the parliamentarians silent in the debate on foreign policy? For this, it raises elements that enable the understanding of congressional interest in foreign policy, specifically in dealing with international acts. The period of analysis covers the years 1988-2014 and will be held for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is common to find in the specialized literature arguments that claim that constitutional rules limit delegation, abdication and participation. From this bibliography were outlined six specific objectives: 1) to identify the instruments of legislative action on issues of foreign policy; 2) to explore the possible connections between the parliamentary action and the intervention of the Executive; 3) to investigate whether there is a relationship between the parliamentary action and the kind of international act; 4) to examine the parliamentary action, focusing on the relationship government versus opposition, political parties (ideology) and local interests of the constituencies; 5) to investigate the professional and/or academic education of deputies and senators (expertise); and 6) to empirically analyze foreign policy as public policy. It is used the multi-method, i.e., the methodological vision that is in favor of conscious combination of qualitative and quantitative analytical tools. Finally, the main conclusions indicate the opposite direction from what most researchers have been advocating.

Book Summary: Offering a unique resource for students, scholars, and citizens, this work fully explains all of the 21 enumerated powers of the U.S. Congress, from the "power of the purse" to the power to declare war. • Presents comprehensive coverage of all congressional powers through authoritative essays by recognized experts • Enables readers to connect the long-ago goals and perspectives of the Founding Fathers to current issues and controversies • Facilitates a fully contextualized understanding of the legislative power of Congress―and the extent and limitations of leverage that it can wield on domestic and foreign policy • Provides an accessible gateway to further, more detailed research of each of the individual congressional powers • Includes appendices containing the full texts of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union and the Constitution of the United States

During the last four decades, precisely from the early 1970s, U.S. foreign policy has played a dominant role in the U.S. political landscape. The current political discourse is predominantly marked by divided government, polarized politics and gridlock. Such a contentious political environment has proved to be detrimental for efficient and effective policy-making in foreign policy. There are significant factors that profoundly complicate the process of decision making and congressional-presidential relations. Partisan and ideological differences under the conditions of divided government are dominant in the current political process and in turn affect the prospects of legislative-executive consensus and dissension. Other factors such as media salience, public opinion, and electoral imperatives also complicate the dynamics of legislative-executive relations. In an era in which heightened political brinkmanship has enveloped Washington politics, continuum of consensus and dissension between Congress and the president on strategic foreign policy issues has virtually become a norm. This dissertation examines the dynamics of legislative-executive relations in two high politics U.S. foreign policy issue areas of treaty process and war powers. It appears that in contemporary U.S. foreign policymaking the trajectory of a continuum of legislative-executive consensus and dissension is a new normal and potentially irreversible, as Congress and the president try ardently to preserve their respective constitutional prerogatives.

Empirical investigation across these two issue areas demonstrates a new era of a resurgent Congress marked by its greater assertive role and acting as a consequential player in the foreign policy domain. The passage of the War Powers Resolution in 1973 by Congress, overriding a presidential veto, has profound implications in the modern political landscape. It was a pivotal moment that permanently transformed the future road map of congressional-presidential relations. Since then the U.S. political system has been relentlessly experiencing an institutional power struggle in the foreign policy domain. Findings suggest that when Congress determines to confront the president and exercise its constitutional responsibilities it becomes very difficult for the president to overcome such congressional resistance. Interbranch competition has virtually created a consistent trajectory of a continuum of legislative-executive consensus and dissension in the foreign policy decision-making process.

Orientador: Valeriano Mendes Ferreira Costa
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
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Resumo: A partir de meados dos anos 90 do século XX até os dias atuais, parte da literatura internacional sobre criminalização, segurança pública e justiça criminal (sobretudo nos EUA e Inglaterra) sinalizou o abandono da política criminal tradicional - chamada de penal welfarism. Esta política, baseada na tradição liberal dos direitos humanos e pautada no ideal de ressocialização do criminoso, teria sido substituída por uma política penal mais dura, abrangente e agora mais voltada para a defesa social. Modificou-se o funcionamento estratégico da justiça penal contemporânea e sua importância. A partir desse enquadramento teórico geral, este trabalho analisa quais foram as políticas criminais adotadas pelo Parlamento brasileiro. Para isso analiso a produção das principais leis aprovadas em segurança pública e justiça criminal no Congresso Nacional brasileiro no período de 1989 a 2006. Divido a pesquisa em dois momentos: i) um mapeamento do material apontando quais são os partidos, estados e casas proponentes; mandatos presidenciais que sancionaram as leis; número de leis aprovadas por ano e o tempo de tramitação das leis de acordo com a casa propositora; ii) os tipos gerais (modelos) de punição propostos pelas normas. Proponho nas considerações finais que é possível pensar: coexistências na política criminal entre criminalização, recrudescimento penal e leis que despenalizaram ou buscaram efetivar direitos dos réus; ii) apesar da coexistência ou (e) sobreposição entre estes domínios na política criminal, o Parlamento e o Executivo 'escolhem' o uso simbólico do Penal como forma fundamental de resolução de conflitos, a partir de demandas estatais (ou da sociedade civil) por maior (ou mais pesada) criminalização de condutas
Abstract: From the mid-90s of the twentieth century until today, part of the international literature on criminality, public safety and criminal justice (primarily in the U.S. and England) signaled the abandonment of traditional criminal policy - called the penal welfarism. The policy, based on the liberal tradition of human rights and on the ideal of social resocialization of criminals, would have been replaced by a tougher criminal justice policy, more comprehensive and now more focused on social defense. The strategic functioning of criminal justice and its contemporary relevance has changed. From this general framework, this research examines the criminal policies which were adopted by the Brazilian Parliament. To that end, I analyze the production of the major laws approved on public safety and criminal justice in the Brazilian Parliament in the period from 1989 to 2006. The research is divided into two different moments: i) a mapping of the material indicating which are the proponent parties, states and houses; presidential mandates, the number of laws adopted per year and the time of the drafting of laws in according to the proponent house ii) the general types (models) of punishment proposed by the laws. I propose in my final considerations that: the coexistence in Brazilian criminal policy of criminalization and the stiffening of criminal laws/expansion of rights in Brazil. Despite this coexistence or (and) overlap between these areas, the Parliament and the Executive 'choose' the symbolic use of the penal laws as a fundamental form of conflict resolution from state (or civil society) demands for more extensive (or heavier) criminalization of conducts
Mestrado
Ciencia Politica
Mestre em Ciência Política

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Esta dissertação teve como objetivo descrever e analisar quantitativamente e qualitativamente a produção legislativa que trata da questão da saúde, em tramitação, nos anos de 2007 e 2008, no Congresso Nacional. Foi realizado um estudo descritivoexploratório com corte transversal e abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa. O material de análise do estudo foi constituído por 112 projetos de lei em tramitação na Comissão de Seguridade Social e Família (Câmara dos Deputados) e 32 projetos de lei na Comissão de Assuntos Sociais (Senado Federal), relacionados à saúde, com data de apresentação entre janeiro de 2007 a dezembro de 2008. A pesquisa teve duas fases distintas: na primeira fase foi realizada uma pesquisa quantitativa através da estratificação, classificação e análise dos Projetos de Lei. Na segunda fase houve uma abordagem qualitativa através de um questionário com perguntas fechadas a um grupo de profissionais que atuavam no sistema de saúde, com a finalidade de avaliar a relevância, viabilidade, alinhamento estratégico e impacto dos projetos selecionados. Ao final da pesquisa, os seguintes resultados foram obtidos: das 144 proposições, 57,6% dos PL’s selecionados foram apresentados no ano de 2007 e 42,4% em 2008. O PT (12,5%) foi o partido político que mais apresentou PL's seguido do PMDB (11,1%) e PSDB (10,4%). Apenas 25,7% dos parlamentares que apresentaram PL's relacionados à saúde são da área da saúde. Um ano após a coleta de material de análise do estudo, foi verificado que a maioria (93,7%) dos PL's continuava em tramitação, 4,9% foram arquivados e apenas 1,4% foram transformados em Norma Jurídica. Quanto ao foco de atenção dos projetos de lei relacionados à saúde, mais da metade (57,7%) dos PL's estava relacionada com o Sistema Público de Saúde e apenas 4,2% se referem à natureza orçamentária (financiamento da saúde). Em relação aos resultados do questionário aplicado, 78,1% dos respondentes encontravam-se insatisfeito/muito insatisfeito com o Poder Legislativo e 41,8% dos respondentes classificaram o Sistema Público de Saúde como ruim/péssimo. Já no Sistema Privado de Saúde, apenas 9,6% o consideraram ruim/péssimo. Quanto aos critérios avaliativos dos projetos de lei, mais da metade (51,5%) dos respondentes declararam que não entenderam no PL a forma de viabilizar (Viabilidade) o proposto, 40,6% responderam que não existe relevância nos projetos de lei apresentados, 52,7% responderam que não existe alinhamento estratégico às prioridades e às políticas de saúde do país e 52,5% disseram que a recusa do projeto de lei não traria impactos negativos e/ou seria prejudicial para a sociedade brasileira. Quando simulado uma consulta pública, mais da metade (54,4%) respondeu que aprovaria o projeto de lei que analisou, 30,1% reprovariam e 10,1% se abstiveram da escolha. Por meio dos dados deste estudo, pôde-se perceber que a produção legislativa, no âmbito da saúde, é baixa; os parlamentares com formação acadêmica na área da saúde produzem pouco (25% da amostra) e a transformação dos projetos de lei em Norma Jurídica é mínima (apenas 1,4% da amostra). Outro aspecto importante verificado foi o alto índice de insatisfação com o Poder Legislativo e com o Sistema de Saúde Público Brasileiro, além da baixa qualidade da produção legislativa no Congresso Nacional.
This dissertation had the objective to describe and analyse qualitatively and quantitatively the legislative production which deals with health, at the National Congress, happening in 2007 and 2008. It was done a descriptive-exploratory study with transverse cut and quantitative and qualitative approach. The material of analysis from the study was constituted by 112 draft bills which were performed at Social Security and family (House of representatives) and 32 draft bills at the Social Subjects (Federal Senate), related to health, which were performed from January 2007 to December 2008. The research had two distinctive phases, at the first phase there was a quantitative research through stratification, classification and analysis of the draft bills. At the second phase there was a qualitative approach made through a questionnaire containing closed questions to a specific group of professionals who performed in the Health System and the objective was to analyse the relevance, viability, strategic balance and impact of the selected projects. At the end of the study, the following results were found; from the 144 possibilities, 57,6% of the draft bills selected were presented in 2007 and 42,4% in 2008. The Labour Party, PT, was the one which most presented draft bills (12,5%) followed by PMDB (11,1%) and PSDB (10,4%). Only 25,7% of the Members of the Congress who presented draft bills deal with Health Policy. After a year of gathering the material to analyse the study, was verified that the majority of the draft bills (93,7%) were still being done, 4,9% were filed and only 1,4% were transformed in juridical norm. Considering the aim of the draft bills related to health, more than a half (57,7%) of the draft bills are related to the SUS ( Public Health Care ) and only 4,2% are related to quotation (financing for health). Considering the result of the applied questionnaire, 78,1% from the questioned people were dissatisfied, very dissatisfied with the Legislative Power and 41,8% classified as bad, extremely bad; at the private Health System only 9,6% considered bad, extremely bad. In relation to the criteria of the draft bills, more than a half (51,5%) from the questioned people declared that they did not understand, in the draft bills, the way of making viable what was proposed, 40,6% answered that there is no relevance; 52,7% answered there is not strategic balance from the draft bills to the priorities and the health policies of the country and 52,5% answered that the refusal of the draft bills would not bring negative impacts or would be prejudicial to the Brazilian society. Through a public enquire, more than a half (54,4%) answered they would approve the draft bill they analysed; 30,1% would not approve and 10,1% did not answer. Through the data of this study we can perceive that the Legislative production, related to health, is low; the members of the congress with academic graduation in the health area has a low output (25% of the amount) and the draft bills which become juridical norm is minimal (only 1,4% of the amount). It is important to point out the high rate of insatisfaction with the Legislative Power, with the Health Public Brazilian System and the low quality of the legislative production at the National Congress.
TEDE
BV UNIFESP: Teses e dissertações

The purpose of “Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez: A Case Study of Social Media as an Agenda Setting Tool in the U.S. House of Representatives” is to explore the impact of a politician’s social media presence on agenda setting in Congress. It was born out of the research question, “how do freshman members of the House of Representatives seek power and influence in their first term?” I answer this using Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a case study, as she is a current freshman legislator with undeniable power and influence. I studied Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tweets from two time periods: the month leading up to her election and her second month in office. I categorized and counted each tweet into 4 categories that yielded quantifiable results. Subsequently, I did a textual analysis of certain tweets from the two periods and explained their relevance to her shift in content and success as a public figure. I found that since being elected, the proportion of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez tweets about National issues increased by four times more than during her primary. Additionally, after being elected, her tweets about her District were proportionally one-fourth of they were during her primary campaign. I interpret this finding as Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s efforts to influence the national agenda, a task rarely taken on by a freshman Representative. I also found that she had nearly doubled the proportion of tweets that fall under the Extraneous category, utilizing personal anecdotes, inspirational messages, feminist actions and insights, and calls for progressive leadership that connect with her audience and set her apart from strictly policy-oriented politician Twitter accounts. Altogether, I have analyzed Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter presence and believe it to be a key element of her success in agenda setting as a freshman Congress member.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship between the executive and legislative branches of American federal government, during periods within which these two branches are led by different political parties, to discover whether the legislative branch attempts to independently legislate and enact foreign policy by using "the power of the purse" to either appropriate in support of or refuse to appropriate in opposition to military engagement abroad. The methodology for this research includes the analysis and comparison of certain variables, including public opinion, budgetary constraints, and the relative majority of the party that holds power in one or both chambers, and the ways these variables may impact the behavior of the legislative branch in this regard. It also includes the analysis of appropriations requests made by the legislative branch for funding military engagement in rejection of requests from the executive branch for all military engagements that occurred during periods of divided government from 1946 through 2009.
ID: 029809199; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-112).
M.A.
Masters
Political Science
Sciences

La Libye est l’un des pays arabes les plus importants du fait de sa grande richesse pétrolière, ainsi que de sa situation stratégique, en bord de Méditerranée et proche du Sud de l’Europe. Cependant, depuis son indépendance en 1951, elle a connu différents mouvements politiques ayant généré une influence considérable sur tous les domaines de la vie en Libye ; de ce fait, cette étude traite en premier lieu l’influence des mouvements politiques, de l’indépendance en 1951 jusqu’à la chute de Kadhafi en 2011, sur l’organisation des pouvoirs publics territoriaux. Cette influence s’est caractérisée par une instabilité de cette organisation ainsi que de l’aménagement du territoire. Se basant sur cette réalité, nous avons analysé dans cette étude les moyens mis en place par les gouverneurs libyens d’utiliser cette organisation dans le but de garantir la permanence de leur pouvoir, en maintenant notamment une constante insécurité juridique et administrative. Cette instabilité organisationnelle et l’insécurité juridique ont eu un impact majeur sur le processus d’aménagement du territoire. En effet, les pouvoirs territoriaux devraient être en mesure de tenir un rôle large afin de mener à bien ce processus, rôle issu des rapports directs qu’ils entretiennent avec le peuple et ses besoins. Cette relation devrait constituer le principe premier de l’organisation des pouvoirs à tous les niveaux. Ainsi en deuxième lieu, nous avons étudié l’influence de l’insécurité juridique et de l’instabilité de l’organisation des pouvoirs territoriaux sur le processus d’aménagement du territoire. Cet impact est relatif à la répartition des compétences en planification urbaine et aux appareils locaux de contrôle, ce qui a entrainé à son tour un arrêt de l’élaboration et de la mise en œuvre des plans et des schémas de développement. De tels troubles ne pouvaient que mener à une remise en question de l’efficacité des solutions proposées par les autorités compétentes pour réduire les problèmes de l’accès aux services nécessaires pour tous les citoyens
Libya is one of the most important Arab countries due to its great oil wealth and its strategic geographic position, along the Mediterranean sea and close to southern Europe. However, since it’s independence in 1951, it has experienced different political movements which had left a great influence, on all aspects of life in Libya. From this fact, our study deals first of all with the influence of political movements, since independence in 1951 until the fall of Qaddafi in 2011, and the structure of locale public territorial authorities. This infuence has been characterized by the instability of the organization and the planning of local public territorial authorities. This study is based on the analysis, which is the use of the instability as mean to ensure the durability of power, including maintaining a constant legal and administrative uncertainty. This territorial structure instability and legal uncertainty has had a major impact on the process of planning of local government. Indeed, the territorial authority should be able to carry out this process, and playing a role which comes from a direct relationship of the people and their needs. This relationship should be the first principle of the organization of power at all levels. Secondly, we studied the influence of legal uncertainty and instability in the organization of territorial authorities on the process of planning at the local level. This impact is linked to the sharing of competences in urban planning and local control apparatus, which in turn led to an interruption of the enlargement and implementation of plans and development schemes. Such disorders could only lead to troubling the effectiveness of solutions proposed by the competent authorities to reduce the problems of access to necessary services required by all citizens

The ongoing urgency of addressing AIDS in South Africa has kept academics and activists focussed primarily on the immediate crises of AIDS ‘in the present’. This thesis, covering the period 1980 – 1995, examines narratives about, and responses to, AIDS ‘in the past’ and explores the interplay between these narratives and elites in medical and political communities trying to address AIDS during a period of political transition. The thesis begins by examining the hegemonic medico-scientific narratives about AIDS that featured in the South African Medical Journal, an important site of enquiry as AIDS was primarily conceived of as a ‘medical issue’. The SAMJ narratives, which often relied on constructed ‘AIDS avatars’, framed understandings of the syndrome and influenced responses to it by medical and political communities. The first community that the thesis explores is the African National Congress (ANC) in exile, which had to address AIDS in exile communities and prepare health strategies for ‘the new South Africa’. Secondly, the thesis analyses government responses to AIDS and argues that four phases of response can be identified. These phases were characterised by minimum concerns about obtaining information and providing health advice; efforts to gather infection data while exploiting political and public fear; attempts to extend health education and (belatedly) encourage broader engagement; and finally, consultative, democratic ideals. The thesis then examines the National Medical and Dental Association (NAMDA) a progressive medical organisation that worked with the ANC on influential health (and AIDS) strategies. NAMDA members ‘crossed over’ between various medical and political communities and both reinforced and challenged hegemonic AIDS narratives. Finally, the thesis moves from the abstract, via the practical, to the personal and concludes with a detailed account of the experiences of two sexuality activists at the intersections of these communities and narratives. By focussing on these medical and political communities, and analysing the relationships between these communities, the existing AIDS narratives, and individuals, the thesis also reveals the constructions of morality, ‘race’, gender, and sexuality that infused them. In doing this it shows how polemic and politics combined to influence practical responses to, and personal experiences of, AIDS.

Anti-corruption movements play a vital role in democratic development. From the American Gilded Age to global demonstrations in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, these movements seek to combat malfeasance in government and improve accountability. While this collective action remains a constant, how government elites perceive and respond to such agitation, varies. My dissertation tackles this puzzle head-on: Why do some democratic governments respond more tolerantly than others to anti-corruption movements? To answer this research question, I examine variation across time in two cases within the world’s largest democracy: India. I compare the Congress Party government's suppressive response to the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in 1975, and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government’s tolerant response to the India Against Corruption movement in 2012. For developing democracies such as India, comparativist scholarship gives primacy to external, material interests – such as votes and rents – as proximately shaping government behavior. Although these logics explain elite decision-making around elections and the predictability of pork barrel politics, they fall short in explaining government conduct during credibility crises, such as when facing nationwide anti-corruption movements. In such instances of high political uncertainty, I argue, it is the absence or presence of an ideological checks and balance mechanism among decision-making elites in government that shapes suppression or tolerance respectively. This mechanism is produced from the interaction between structure (multi-party coalition) and agency (divergent cognitive frames in positions of authority). In this dissertation, elites analyze the anti-corruption movement and form policy prescriptions based on their frames around social and economic development as well as their concepts of the nation. My research consists of over 110 individual interviews with state elites, including the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, party leaders, and senior bureaucrats among other officials for the contemporary case; and a broad compilation of private letters, diplomatic cables and reports, and speeches collected from three national archives for the historical study. To my knowledge this is the first data-driven study of Indian politics that precisely demonstrates how ideology acts as a constraint on government behavior in a credibility crisis. On a broader level, my findings contribute to the recently renewed debate in political science as to why democracies sometimes behave illiberally.

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Based on the fact that higher courts are assuming a greater role in Brazil today, as is the global trend in complex contemporary societies, in the shaping of public policy and regulation, the study aims to map the evolution – and progressive democratization – of the checks and balances structure established in the 1988 Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, i.e., the selection process of justice for Federal Supreme Court, Brazil’s apex constitutional court. The text analyses the institutional/constitutional framework of the selection process for new justices, and exemplify changes in the profile of political players, in the network of competences of institutions involved in the process and in the social, political, economic and cultural context that pushed through the practical transformation of the institutional selection model without altering, however, the format originally established in the 19th Century. By mapping the origin and evolution of the constitutional formula for collaboration between the Executive and Legislative branches in choosing the members of the Judiciary’s highest court, the study finds the origin of the Brazilian model in the US experience, describing the latter and making parallels between the two. Taking the 1988 Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil as a milestone, the work demonstrates the even greater mobilization of political and social players concerning the selection process, especially in relation to the hearings and confirmation of appointments for the Federal Supreme Court by the Federal Senate Constitution, Justice and Civic Rights Commission (CCJ). Finally, the studies analyzes actual CCJ hearing sessions and some of the main discussions therein so as to draw lessons that may guide the debate on the evolution of the selection process of justices to the Federal Supreme Court , including as an early control tool used by those involved in the creation of future public policy through Federal Supreme Court decisions.
Partindo da constatação de que o Brasil acompanha hoje um fenômeno global de protagonismo das cortes supremas nas sociedades complexas contemporâneas, notadamente na criação de políticas-públicas e regulação, o estudo procura mapear a evolução – e progressiva democratização – de uma estrutura de freios e contrapesos prevista na Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988 ('Constituição'), qual seja, o processo de seleção dos ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal. Ao longo do texto é analisada a arquitetura institucional e constitucional do processo de indicação e aprovação de novos ministros, bem como exemplificadas mudanças no perfil dos atores políticos, no plexo de competências das instituições envolvidas e no contexto social, político, econômico e cultural que forçaram a transformação prática do modelo de seleção institucional, sem alteração, no entanto, da formatação originalmente prevista desde o Século XIX. Mapeando a origem e evolução da fórmula constitucional de colaboração entre o Poder Executivo e o Poder Legislativo para a escolha dos membros da cúpula do Poder Judiciário, o estudo identifica a origem do modelo brasileiro na inspiração da experiência norte-americana, descrevendo esta e os paralelos possíveis com aquele. A partir do marco central da Constituição, o trabalho procura demonstrar uma progressiva mobilização de atores políticos e sociais em relação ao processo de escolha, notadamente em relação ao momento em que os indicados para o Supremo Tribunal Federal são sabatinados pela Comissão de Constituição, Justiça e Cidadania do Senado Federal. Finalmente, são analisadas concretamente as sabatinas e algumas das suas principais discussões, buscando extrair lições que sirvam de norte colaborativo para a evolução da forma de seleção dos ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal, inclusive como instrumento de controle prévio de seus membros, futuros elaboradores de políticas-públicas.

My research project is a break from the current trend in the literature that focuses on the conflict associated with roll call voting—party polarization and institutional friction. I am interested in determining how policy characteristics of roll call decisions can affect legislators' vote choices. Bills not only differ according to issue content—agricultural policy versus social welfare policy—but also according to how ambiguous they are—a collection of disparate issues versus one specific issue. Using a dataset of House roll calls from 1985-2004 and the Policy Agendas Project content coding scheme, I show that variation in both policy area and policy ambiguity of a given bill is associated with variation in the accuracy of ideology in predicting roll call vote choice.
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Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2007.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 20, 2008) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Finocchairo, Charles J., Johnson, Gregg B. Includes bibliographical references.